About Me
Seeing Possibility; Unleashing Positive Impact
I thrive on helping people expand what feels possible when the path forward seems uncertain, unclear, overwhelming or impossible. On supporting them to find and start on that path. And on empowering them to move forward and reach their destination, including overcoming the obstacles that make them stumble, and getting back up until they DO succeed.
Currently, one of the ways I do this is through empowering women to grow their financial freedom by telling inspirational stories like this one as part of my live interview series Financial Phoenix Rising, through teaching women how to understand & start investing, through funding and supporting startups and founders via SheEO, as a coach and advisor for leaders, startups and people wanting to transition into a career in tech, and as a competition judge, speaker, community builder, mentor, and supporter of under-represented groups in tech and beyond. Previously, I applied my strategic and relationship-building strengths to my role as Director of Artificial Intelligence Strategy for the enterprise-wide-servicing AI team of the Bank of Montreal (BMO), North America’s 8th largest bank by assets, that has over 45,000 employees serving more than 12 million customers. There I helped our team define and deliver AI solutions that positively impacted customers and businesses in areas of growth, loyalty, productivity, and performance. I also created and built relationships, identified new AI and partnership opportunities, and delivered customer success.
Prior to that, I’ve held roles that involved Product Management, Customer Success, UX Design, Business Development, Account Management, People Leadership and Entrepreneurship for companies ranging from tech startups like Taima (acquired by Convergys), Shopify, professional services companies like Myplanet, and household names like Rogers. I’ve also run my own businesses, and been a consultant and advisor for AI startups in the legaltech, healthtech and fintech industries, like ROSS intelligence and Wave Financial.
Thought Leadership, Advising, Coaching & Mentorship
I also provide thought leadership through writing, speaking and running workshops on topics like the upcoming Investing 101 for Canadian Women, Understanding your Managed Investments, and Investing in Crypto for Canadian Women as well as past workshops on AI, Strategy, Product, User Experience, Leadership, Diversity and Inclusivity. I do this for individuals, teams, high-school and post-secondary students, and non-technical audiences. I also advise startups and post-secondary institutions, judge startup competitions, lead mentorship and leadership groups of various kinds, and coach leaders and entrepreneurs, including founders through the SVZ Startup Incubator. Contact me if you’d like to chat about needs related to any of these.
Authenticity, Diversity, Inclusivity & Empowerment
As a woman, an ‘out’ LGBTQ+ identified person, and a leader in AI and tech I’m committed to showing up authentically and to community-building, outreach, support, and empowerment initiatives, for under-represented groups. I was named one of Canada’s Top 25 Most Influential Women (2020), am the co-founder of an organization for women leaders in tech, am a leader on the Vision50 team that is defining and driving the 10 year strategy for TSVL, an over 600 member LGBTQ+ Toronto Sports League, am on the Lead team for Ladies Who Strategize, a 1,500 global community of women-identified and non-binary strategists, am a certified workshop Facilitator/Trainer for #IamRemarkable, a Google initiative empowering women and under-represented groups to celebrate their achievements in the workplace and beyond by improving their self promotion motivation and skills, and by challenging the social perception around self promotion, and am a Strategic Advisor (Volunteer), for Ryerson University’s Tri-Mentoring Program.
In the past I was also the Director of Lesbians Who Tech Toronto (2016-2018), the local chapter of LWT Global, the largest LGBTQ community of technologists in the world -committed to visibility, intersectionality, and changing the face of technology -with 40,000 non-binary, LGBTQ women, queer women of colour (and allies) in tech and in over 40+ city chapters worldwide. Contact me if you’d like to learn more about any of these initiatives.
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