Workhaus Celebrates International Women’s Day

Workhaus celebrated International Women’s Day with a roster of inspiring female leaders. Our Event Center was filled with guests eagerly awaiting a panelist discussion hosted by Workhaus’s very own Takara Small, an award-winning tech journalist.

Takara sat down with Fatima Zaidi, journalist and co-founder of Quill Inc., Sunta Sem, CMO at Willful, and Reem Khan, VP at Accuracity to discuss women in leadership. We had youth from Sancta Maria House, a home for at-risk young, attend in the hopes to inspire the next generation of leaders.The Importance of Work-Life Balance 

It’s better for your business to take some time away and have a healthy work-life balance. Taking time away helps you to be more productive and be a stronger leader. And we must lead by example. Showing your team that it’s okay to check out to get some rest will lead them to take care of themselves too. 

Creating Safe Spaces 

Surprisingly, both women and men can have Maternity leave biases or biases against employees with children. But it’s worth the wait when you have an outstanding employee who needs maternity leave, and it exists for a reason. If an employee is loyal to you – you should be loyal to them.  

The Importance of Therapy 

If you can afford it, it’s worth every penny. Especially for entrepreneurs and the stress and anxiety that comes with being responsible for others’ livelihood. If you can’t don’t be scared to open up with a close friend or a family member. Venting is an important part of self-care. And if you aren’t taking care of yourself you won’t have enough energy to help others or run your business. 

Women Leaders Don’t Have to Hide  

There is a bias that women are too emotional to be leaders, and that they should work on being more assertive and closed off. But people respond to empathetic and honest leaders, and if you can do that, then you are a truly strong leader. Once again, lead by example. If you want an empathic, honest and collaborative team, then you need to be open with them. 

Diversity in Business

Diversity in business matters! Reem Khan outlined how various companies look for certifications to ensure that they have diverse suppliers, whether it be with female owned business or with minority owned businesses. 

Workhaus was honoured to have various sponsors turn up for this discussion. Storyteller provided us with refreshing beer while Brosecco and Medusa Vodka gave us the tools to create our very own signature International Women’s Day drink! Smoothies were provided by Evive Smoothie while food was by Phancy Food. FASHION Magazine donated magazines from their March issue to celebrate the event. 

International Women’s Day is a day to honour and celebrate the achievements of women throughout history and across the globe, regardless of race, age and sexuality. It’s a moment where we can reflect on how far women have come, and how much further still we have to go. Workhaus was honoured to have such strong women on our panel to discuss these topics with our guests. 

This event was the first of many – if you would like to be a part of our events mailing list, please reach out directly to events@workhaus.ca 

Happy International Women’s Day from our haus to yours!