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Photo by Ilya, Stocksy
WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT
Power. Award winning sci-fi writer and feminist Octavia Butler wrote, “God is change” and that our power as “Earthseed” is not to worship or prevent change, but to shape it.
This month on LiisBeth magazine, we offer five new features that we hope will encourage you to reflect on how you attend, yield, resist and work to influence the force of change–which lately, is coming at us like a freight train.
Our stories highlight instruments in the changemaker’s toolkit: Protesting, learning, the power of changing our perceptions and personal transformation.
We know nothing is permanent. People, groups, governments all around you–some whose vision you may deeply disagree with–are working to shape change that affects your life, community and our planet. Don’t sit back. Work to help create the kind of world you hope for.
FEBURARY STORY POLL & QUICKIE READER SURVEY: Do you read or follow LiisBeth? Our hard-working team would love to hear from you! Please consider helping us improve by completing the five-minute LiisBeth reader survey. Results will be shared in March. Here is the link!
NEW FEATURES ON LIISBETH
VIA Rail status update February 21, 2020 at Union Station, Toronto, Ontario.
Photo by Lana Pesch
WHAT PIPELINE PROTESTS TELL US
The status quo can be no more: The clear and compelling links between Environmental Rights, Indigenous Rights and Women’s Rights. A perspective from the mining industry by Sabrina Dias.
Decolonize Your Mind Exhibit. Photo: Krui.fm Radio 2016
DECOLONIZING OUR HEARTS
When you hear the word “decolonization” what comes to mind? Land acknowledgements, the KAIROS “Blanket Exercise” or the Medicine Wheel? Learning Indigenous traditions and the history of colonization? The act of offering the lands that were taken from Indigenous people back to their rightful owners. Now there’s a workshop on the topic that will provoke months of contemplation on how to see the world anew.
Photo by Juliana Malta on Unsplash
NEWS SO WHITE IT’S BLINDING
Lack of diversity in media is bad for democracy, business, and justice. And readers. But what’s the solution?
DOWNLOADABLE PDF!
Looking for help? Funding? Business Advice? Check out the Canadian women’s entrepreneurship support ecosystem (mostly national and provincial level players) by downloading this info graphic here.
PK’S VIEWPOINT
Love Locks…at The Distillery District..Photo by: @ptx4ever
HOW TO BE IN RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH ENTREPRENEURSHIP
We think about our enterprises a lot. We compare our progress to other enterprises and their founders. Nancy Wilson, Founder and Executive Director of the Canadian Women’s Chamber of Commerce, recently wrote a wonderful piece about “business envy“.
But what if we stopped comparing our businesses to other businesses? Change the locus of our perception?
This week, I asked myself if I was in right relationship (authentic, real) with the crucible of entrepreneurship. While evaluating my work as an entrepreneur, I had to first dismantle–and re-build my perceptions. Here are the narratives that work for me. They help me see beauty and growth versus disappointment.
Photo provided by Seema Pubari
MARCH FEMINIST IN RESIDENCE
We are very pleased to announce that Seema Pubari will be joining the Feminist Enterprise Commons (FEC) as Feminist in Residence (FiR) during the month of March.
Pubari is an SEO copywriter, storyteller and digital marketing strategist who speaks five languages. She left the corporate world in 2008 to raise her child. She is a South Asian feminist entrepreneur with her own consulting enterprise and the founder of Tiffinday.com, an independent Canadian food business and certified B-Corp that specializes in delicious and healthy vegan South Asian stews.
Liisbeth recently had a chat with Pubari to get her thoughts on the importance of shaping the next generation of feminists, why we need to outlaw the word ‘mompreneur’, and how her unique business perspectives will inspire participants in the FEC. Check out the full Q&A here.
DOWNLOADABLE!
The feminist movement is immutably unified on purpose–but not always on the the best way to get there.
The movement drives social change but is also shaped by it, which makes it challenging for curbside bystanders to comprehend.
Blaise Wilson of EgaFem investigated and sought to help us understand types and shifts within the feminist movement over the last 100 years. Her work was the outcome of a stakeholder analysis project. Wilson created this chart to help navigate the facets of the feminist movement.
We find it super useful.
(Source: egafeminist.blogspot.com)
We have over 2,800 subscribers.
Less than 30 per cent contribute financially.
~ ~ ~
If you believe feminist media matters, consider contributing $3/month
and help us SUPPORT, BUILD & GROW the feminist economy
LIISBETH FIELD NOTES
PIAD EP10 Why Do Reps Vote Against The ERA?
FAB TWO-MINUTE VIDEOS TO SHARE FOR IMPACT!
We love these! Patriarchy Is A Drag is a new weekly video series that centers around women and women’s issues. It was started in 2020 by Merle Becker, former MTV Producer / Director (Beavis & Butt-Head, Daria, Total Request Live). We asked Merle via email why she was making these videos.
She wrote: “After the election of Donald Trump, and the steady erosion of women’s rights since then, I found myself increasingly involved in political activism and the push for the advancement of women’s rights. So, I created the PIAD weekly video series to help educate people about women’s issues by using humor, and to hopefully inspire others to take action.”
The PIAD Facebook page (and other socials) feature daily quotes from inspirational women, as well as links to other articles that relate to (smashing the) Patriarchy. Worth checking out! As Gloria Steinem stated, “Women of colour were always more likely to recognize discrimination, so they were always leading the women’s movement.” In this vein, PIAD remains committed to intersectionality by including / amplifying the voices of the marginalized, transgender women, and women of colour.
Merle added “As bell hooks reminds us, “As long as women are using class or race power to dominate other women, feminist sisterhood cannot be fully realized.”
You can access the series so far here.
© Photograph: Rochelle Brockington / EyeEm
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY IS MARCH 8, 2020–WHAT’S YOUR PLAN?
In a gender-just world, we wouldn’t need to label a single day as International Women’s Day, but until that world exists we join forces and work together.
This year, the International Women’s Day 2020 campaign theme is #EachforEqual. The campaign theme provides a unified direction to guide and galvanize continuous collective action, with #EachforEqual activity reinforced and amplified all year.
Here is a FULL list of 500+ IWD2020 global events that include talks, panels, conferences, comedy shows and musical performances.
(Source: International Women’s Day)
Details about Toronto’s march is noted below.
Photo Credit: Greenpeace Canada
INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE ART
Museum of Vancouver’s newest feature exhibition Acts of Resistance, showcases the artwork of seven Indigenous artist activists from the Pacific Northwest, whose designs flew from the Iron Workers Memorial bridge on July 3, 2018 to protest the Trans Mountain Expansion Pipeline project. Swaysən, Will George, a Tsleil-Waututh grassroots leader, not only designed one of the featured banners, but also rappelled from the Second Narrows bridge as part of the seven-person aerial blockade to prevent an oil tanker from leaving terminal.
In this exhibition, Will George will share his firsthand experience as a member of the aerial blockade in a video created in collaboration with multi-media artist Ronnie Dean Harris, whose artwork also flew in the path of tanker traffic.
Acts of Resistance features all seven of the 40-foot-long streamers created for the aerial blockade. Featured artists include: Brandon Gabriel, Will George, Ronnie Dean Harris, Ocean Hyland, Jackie Fawn Mendez, Marissa Nahanee, and Ed Archie Noisecat. Six of the banners have been donated to MOV, while the seventh is on loan from Swaysən, Will George, who continues to use his banner for public outreach. All of the banners underwent several conservation treatments to make them ready for exhibition, as the wrinkles from their time in police custody have proven difficult to remove.
On March 5, there will be a Guest Artist Talk where Coast Salish artists will speak to their individual approaches to protest design, their art practices and the cultural and aesthetic influences that inform their work. This is a rare opportunity to hear from diverse artists within Indigenous communities as they address the challenges and successes of representing their Nations and the politics of sovereignty through individual artistic practices.
(Source: Museum of Vancouver)
WHAAT? THEY NEVER TOLD ME THERE’S A FEMINIST BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS?
If you are a feminist (any gender can be a feminist), and have been wondering how to apply your feminist values in the design and operations of your new venture, this session will provide you with an overview of some of the core themes, tools and conversations happening in the community.
How and why does the FBMC differ from the conventional business modelling approach? Can using this lens help you find new ways to stand out? Grow? Deepen your approach to equity, diversity and inclusion work? Have greater impact? We think it will.
Facilitators: CV Harquail, PK Mutch, Tracey Robertson. To sign up, register here. $35.00
FEMINIST FREEBIE!
The International Feminist Art Fest (FAC) is but two weeks away! Here are a few updates on the event!
FAC has partnered with Black Women Film! for their film night on March 6. They have also partnered with Native Women in the Arts (NWIA) to present Jeneen Frei Njootli, an incredible award-winning interdisciplinary artist, as this year’s keynote performance.
LiisBeth is super proud to be a sponsor this year!
Two FREE TIX to the ENTIRE FAC event will go to the first two people to comment on the Art of Change story we published last November. See you there!
Photo of Farzana Doctor by Tanja Tiziana
NO MORE NICE GIRLS BOOK REVIEW
Farazana Doctor is a writer, activist, psychotherapist and a celebrated and award-winning Canadian author. Liisbeth reached out to Doctor to write a review of Lauren McKeon’s lasted book, No More Nice Girls (House of Anansi, March, 2020), that will be published just in time for IWD2020.
Watch your inbox for the review plus a new playlist in the coming weeks!
Common themes in Doctor’s writing include loss, relationships, community, healing, racism, LGBT rights, diasporic identity and feminism. Her latest book, Seven (Dundurn Press, August 2020), is a story about inheritance and resistance, among other things, and includes a plotline that features a group of feminists who speak out against khatna, an age-old ritual they insist is female genital cutting.
On her blog, Doctor writes a letter to Seven’s readers with a list of things she would like people to know. The list includes this note: While this is a work of fiction, its characters are based on a real community. Few people have heard of Dawoodi Bohras; we are a fairly insular sub-sect of Shia Muslims. We are known for being polite, entrepreneurial, and cooking the tastiest daal.
Advance praise for Seven: “In her grand tradition, Farzana Doctor once again pushes us forward with nuanced, layered, inter-generational prose, to bring visibility to an important social issue. An urgent and passionate read.”-Vivek Shraya, author of I’m Afraid of Men.
WHAT WE’RE READING
In the age of girl bosses, Beyoncé, and Black Widow, we like to tell our little girls they can be anything they want when they grow up, except they’ll have to work twice as hard, be told to “play nice,” and face countless double standards that curb their personal, political, and economic power. Today, long after the rise of girl power in the 90s, the failed promise of a female president, and the ubiquity of feminist-branded everything, women are still a surprisingly, depressingly long way from gender and racial equality. It’s worth asking: Why do we keep trying to win a game we were never meant to play in the first place?
Award-winning journalist and author Lauren McKeon examines the varied ways in which our institutions are designed to keep women and other marginalized genders at a disadvantage and shows us why we need more than parity, visible diversity, and lone female CEOs to change this power game. She uncovers new models of power — ones the patriarchy doesn’t get to define — by talking to lawyers insisting on gender-neutral change rooms in courthouses, programmers creating apps to track the breakdown of men and women being quoted in the news media, educators illustrating tampon packaging with pictures of black bodies, mixed martial artists teaching young girls self-empowerment, entrepreneurs prioritizing trauma-informed office cultures, and many other women doing power differently. As the toxic, divisive, and hyper-masculine style of leadership gains ground, threatening democracy here and abroad, McKeon underscores why it’s time to stop playing by the rules of a rigged game.
No More Nice Girls charts a hopeful and potent path forward for how to disrupt the standard (very male) vision of power, ditch convention, and build a more equitable world for everyone.
(Source: Goodreads.com)
I don’t think you can expect society to change if you’re not ready to take the first step.
In the 1970s Beverly walks into an office of Black activists, wanting to join the Movement, and has to prove she’s committed enough to fight. Some forty years later, in the Hip Hop Generation, Nicole reunites with her ex-boyfriend on a basketball court, wondering where he’s been, when a police officer stops them.
In this striking debut, Amanda Parris turns the spotlight on the Black women who organize communities, support their incarcerated loved ones, and battle institutions, living each day by a ride-or-die philosophy, strengthening their voices and demanding to be heard.
The Other Side of the Game won the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Awards for drama. Maja Ardal, Megan Gail Coles and Curtis Peeteetuce made up the jury.
“Other Side of the Game courageously examines the struggles of young black women and their loved ones as they navigate an unjust system,” the jury said.
“Parris crafts a portrait of the early years of black activism and parallels it with the present day. Enraging and engaging, this gripping and passionate play challenges dominant narratives to reveal the painful truths of life for marginalized Canadians in our society.”
(Source: CBC.ca)
“Parris’s play does the worthy work of combatting the idea that Black women are superhuman, able to bear the weight of their communities, fight societal racism on micro and macro levels, and care for their families while managing a tight budget.”
(Carly Maga, Toronto Star)
AND FINALLY . . . IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!
- For decades, Native business owners in the US have been excluded from national and global economies due to the persistent lack of infrastructure on many reservations to establish an online presence or a storefront. Rez Rising is a first-of-its-kind tool that brings much needed visibility to these businesses. The growing platform is an initiative of Change Labs, a Native-led organization supporting Native entrepreneurs by providing creative workspace, tools, resources, and community. Join the movement to #BuyNative from over 500 Native-owned businesses in the Southwest and strengthen Native economies by buying directly from Native American entrepreneurs. One of its creators is Heather Fleming, executive director of Change Labs, spoke with KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny about the vision behind Rez Rising. (Source: Rezrising.org)
- “While you don’t have individually the power to dethrone a Mark Zuckerberg, what you do have the power to do — today, tomorrow and the next day — is to start joining things.” – Anand Giridharadas. In his book, Winner Takes All, former New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas investigates how the global elite’s efforts to ‘change the world’ also obscure their role in causing the problem. Listen to the episode on IDEAS with host Nahlah Ayed at a public event hosted by the Samara Centre for Democracy. (Source: CBC.ca/radio/ideas)
- Inspired by sports league drafts, the annual Fintech and Financing Conference (FFCON) applications for the inaugural Fintech Draft are open until February 29, 2020. Designed to identify and feature emerging and high growth startups and scaleups, you can apply to get drafted in three categories: pitching, export readiness, or product demo at FFCON20 RISE. Qualifying participants will be profiled online and reviewed by expert fintech scouts, and will compete in one of three Fintech Draft competitions: pitching, export readiness, or product demo at the 6th annual Conference and Expo taking place from March 23 and 24 in downtown Toronto. (Source: FFCON20)
- Google is launching an accelerator for early-stage tech startups in Kitchener-Waterloo. The accelerator will be the tech giant’s first in Canada and the 12th globally. The new three-month accelerator program will host two cohorts this year, with eight to 10 startups in each. Ashley Francisco, Canada startup ecosystem lead at Google, will be heading up the new accelerator, according to The Logic. The theme for the first cohort is yet to be confirmed, and the company will explore various potential themes, such as health and gaming, in the next few weeks. Applications for Google’s new accelerator open in March and the first cohort is set to start in April. (Source: Betakit.com)
- Five years ago, filmmaker Paula Eiselt uncovered a shocking act of defiance in an unexpected setting that she now sees as a Hasidic variation of the Me Too movement. 93Queen is a documentary that follows Rachel “Ruchie” Freier, a no-nonsense Hasidic lawyer and mother of six who is determined to shake up the “boys club” in her Hasidic community by creating Ezras Nashim, the first all-female ambulance corps in NYC. In the Hasidic enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn, Freir challenges the community’s status quo in the face of fierce opposition. With unprecedented access, 93Queen offers a unique portrayal of a group of empowered women set on shattering the glass ceiling in the unlikeliest of communities. In the midst of this already ground-breaking endeavor, Ruchie announces that she will run for civil court judge in Brooklyn, and after a hard-fought and contentious election, she becomes the first Hasidic woman elected to office in the United States. (Sources: 93Queen, CBC.ca/passionateeye
That’s a wrap for Dispatch #60!
So we have BIG news! LiisBeth is in the process of converting to a women-member/led nonprofit multi-stakeholder cooperative! We know, that’s a mouthful. What it means is that its incubation period under Eve-Volution Inc (B Corp) is over. Time for change. Liisbeth Media is now ready to stand on its own.
Over the next several weeks, you will be hearing from us about our progress. We would love your input on many things, including member benefits you would like to see offered. Why? Because we hope all of you will seriously consider becoming a co-operative member and play a part in helping build a strong, sustainable, feminist media cooperative–the first of its kind on many levels.
As part of getting ready for this shift, we would love you to gift us just 4 minutes to complete our 2020 survey.
We also wanted to share that last week, the LiiisBeth advisory board and staff unanimously voted to stand with the Wet’suwet’en and Indigenous peoples of Canada. We have submitted our official statement of support. If you are interested in the wording, you can find it here.
We hope you enjoyed this month’s newsletter and features. If you have not done so already, please consider checking out the Feminist Enterprise Commons! (Two months free!)
With gratitude and heartfelt thanks for your continued readership, engagement and support.
Peace out. Spring is coming. xoxo
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Artwork by Tara Tomlinson
WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT
Twenty-two days into new decade—many of us have been taking this time to recover from the holiday season, reset, prioritize, and look at what’s missing in our work…and play. If you’ve resolved to consume less, work smarter, resist more, and pay more attention to your wellbeing, could sobriety be the new rebellion? On the tech front, there is good news: inclusive hiring practices are improving but is the dial moving? Incubators and accelerators are terrific spaces to create and learn, but here’s a taste of what’s not getting addressed. There’re more women-focused capital funds than ever but are they missing the mark? What does fewer boots on the ground at #WomensMarch2020 mean?
Let’s make this a decade to be present and establish uncomfortable connections required to fuel systemic change. If we don’t, who will?
See you in the Commons, LiisBeth’s new FEMINIST ENTERPRISE SPACE for connecting, learning, organizing for change.
JANUARY STORY POLL & QUICKIE READER SURVEY: We are all in this together! Take action! We need just 4 minutes of your time to let us know what you think. What’s on your mind? How are we doing? What are we missing? What story themes are you most interested in seeing in 2020? We’re listening. Survey takes just 4 minutes, tops!
NEW FEATURES ON LIISBETH
Dr. Sarah Saska of Feminuity / Photo supplied by Sarah Saska
TIME’S UP TECH
Sarah Saska has a feminist fix for tech’s gaping gender hole–and it can help us build a better future.
DOWNLOADABLE PDF!
Feminuity’s Case for Intersectionality paper that considers why a “Gender-Only” approach to advance women in tech isn’t enough.
DON’T MOCK THESE COCKTAILS
A Toronto duo mixes up romance, business and a really great line of booze-free drinks that make you still feel like a grown up when you curiously choose to socialize sober!
Photo by Vanessa Lee on Unsplash
PROGRESS OR PINKWASHING? WHO BENEFITS FROM DIGITAL WOMEN-FOCUSED CAPITAL FUNDS?
Thumbs up for Barb Orser! She calls ’em as she sees them. And references LiisBeth as a “digitally enabled intervention that supports the growing feminist economy” in this new study. The paper suggests an immediate need for reporting standards, and enhanced transparency with respect to fund ownership structure, performance and impacts. Read the introduction and download the study (free!) here.
If you have had experiences trying to access financing from these funds, let us know what it was like! Tell us your story anonymously here.
PK’S VIEWPOINT
Photo by Hans-Peter Gauster on Unsplash
WHAT YOU WON’T LEARN IN AN ACCELERATOR
If we want to create a gender and eco-just inclusive world, we need to be able to grow sustainable social enterprises. Supporting startup co-operatives are part of the answer. But are incubators and accelerators up to the task? Are today’s startup ecosystems up to the task?
Rivera Sun, Feminist in Residence for February, 2020
FEBRUARY’S FEMINIST IN RESIDENCE–RIVERA SUN!
We are sooo pleased to announce that Rivera Sun will be our Feminist in Residence (FiR) during the month of February in the Feminist Enterprise Commons (FEC). Sun is a changemaker, a cultural creative, and the author of 12 books about protest. She is an advocate for nonviolence and social justice, and the editor of Nonviolence.news.
Sun’s topic of the month is this: “Should SHEOs Get Political? Ethical Activism for Business.” In the workshop, she will help us take a critical look at Mondragon, REI, Chick-fil-A’s LGBTQ struggles, and other case studies. Sun will also help us unpack the ethics of our economic clout in civic issues and discuss how we can weigh in without overpowering citizen voices.
The Feminist Enterprise Commons is LiisBeth’s new, non-Zuckerberg, online learning community for those who want to go deeper into their feminist learning, leadership and social changemaking journey. To read more about the “why”, click here.
As the FiR in the FEC (we know that sounds weird, but also kind of fun), Sun will be posting discussion questions and downloadable reading material and tools for you to keep. She will also be hosting a ZOOM video workshop for those of you interested in learning more about the how to be an activist and a successful enterprise founder at the same time. If you would like to learn more about Sun, you can find her here or read about her in LiisBeth here. What will you learn? Solutionary ideas that will inspire you to step up to the challenges of our times.
CV Harquail was our FiR in January! We’ll tell you about March’s FiR in our February newsletter.
FEMINIST FREEBIE!
Be the first to comment on one of this month’s LiisBeth features online and receive a FREE COPY of Rivera Sun’s new book, RISE AND RESIST! We will mail it right to your doorstep!
We have over 2,800 subscribers.
Less than 30 per cent contribute financially.
~ ~ ~
If you believe feminist media matters, consider contributing $3/month
and help us SUPPORT, BUILD & GROW the feminist economy
LIISBETH FIELD NOTES
On Saturday, January 18th, we marched to support women in over 250 other Women’s March 2020 around the world in support of reproductive rights, plus gender and eco-justice.
YES! THERE WAS A TORONTO’S WOMEN’S MARCH 2020 (Click image for 2.5 minute video!)
NPR reports that Washington DC’s 2020 Women’s March drew a smaller but passionate crowd. Toronto drew an even smaller crowd. But no less passionate. If you missed the march last Saturday, this is your chance to still experience being there–in a blizzard–virtually! Next year, expect something different on Women’s March day. The U.S. election will be over and there will be plenty to say. #wecantkeepquiet
CONGRATULATIONS ABIGAIL SLATER FOR REPRESENTING CANADA IN THE JUST RELEASED 2018-2019 GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP MONITOR (GEM) REPORT!
Abigail is a ex-officio LiisBeth advisory board member! So we are super proud of her! To read the report, click here.
Thre are a lot of noteworthy recommendations in this year’s report including a call to address stereotypes of who entrepreneurs are and what entrepreneurship is. The report states “From an economic development perspective, expanding societal views to embrace a more inclusive vision of entrepreneurship is a critical action that can be supported by all ecosystem participants. The GEM Global Report for this year focused on a theme of ‘entrepreneurship of all kinds’ which embraces women entrepreneurs. This inclusive approach is more beneficial and far-reaching than a continued emphasis on past models.”
MEET TARA TOMLINSON-FEMINIST ARTIST
This month’s LiisBeth newsletter cover art was created by Tara Tomlinson, founder of Deprogramme, a startup, art based enterprise focused on the creation of educational, political and Black centered art pieces. Deprogramme conducts multifaceted expressions of art, through different mediums. They specialize in digital art poster prints, acrylic canvas commissions and line art tattoo designs. You can find more of Tomlinson’s work on Instagram.
Photo by: Toyrific Garden Games
HOW MANY VENTURE FUNDS IN CANADA DECIDED TO CHALLENGE THE GENDER BAR?
The U.S. based Billion Dollar Fund for Women consortium was created in 2018 to mobilize capital that would invest in women-founded companies within the next decade. By June 2019, it had met its target. A total of over 70 funds from six continents and over 25 countries have so far pledged to deploy capital towards women-founded companies by 2020, equating to a total of $1 billion. Today, they have re-branded as the Beyond The Billion Fund. They want to go further still.
It’s a great initiative and given the times, not surprising they met their goal so quickly.
But before we get too excited, it’s important to note the bar that was set was a low one, considering the total investment dollars run by funds across the globe. The initiative requires funds to sign a pledge. There is no repercussion should the fund not meet the goal. The “we the good” halo effect lives on whether it happens or not.
So, with only a pledge at stake, and timely reputational value to reap, how many Canadian funds do you think signed up?
When the TBDF for women launched in Canada, it was able to secure eight pledges. Today, a year later, with efforts by its Canadian sponsors Lally Rementilla (Quantius) and Jonathan Hera (Marigold Capital), it has 16. Nice improvement. The catch is, there are over 150 venture funds in Canada.
Hard to believe the percentage of funds participating remains so low. We hope the rest will sign on soon.
In the meantime, give it up for the good ones: Alate Partners, BCG Ventures, Cycle Capital, Ecofuel, Disruption Ventures, Dream Maker Ventures, Grand Challenges Canada, Investissement Quebec, Loyal VC, Marigold Capital, MaRS Catalyst Fund, Medteq, Pique Ventures, Quantius, REDDS Capital and StandUp Ventures.
If you are looking for venture capital, make sure to check them out!
Effie T. Brown / Photo courtesy of Gamechanger
FEMALE-FOCUSED FILM FUND
Known for her producing work on socially and culturally-minded projects like Dear White People and Real Women Have Curves, Effie T. Brown has been a game-changing advocate for inclusivity in the industry. That said, the veteran producer is bringing her work to the next level as she has been named the CEO of Gamechanger.
Launched in 2013, Gamechanger is the first film financing fund by and for women. Brown will bring her expertise to help broaden the fund’s scope to include projects by and about people of color, LGBTQ+ and people with disabilities. In addition to films, Gamechanger is set to expand its reach to television and digital content with a new, fully monetized development fund that will enable it to buy, option and develop IP for television, streaming and digital platforms.
“As a black female producer who’s been in the business for over 20 years, I know how hard it is to not only get into the room but to then secure financing when you have a culturally diverse or gender specific point of view,” said Brown. “I am beyond thrilled to join Gamechanger as CEO and help level the playing field by providing equity financing for production, development monies as well as strategic partnerships for people with disabilities, LGBTQ+, women, and people of color. What also makes us different is that the diversity of our content is as diverse as our investor pool. Our investors understand that it is going to take all of us pooling our monies together to ensure that these inclusive voices are given the opportunity to own their story from script to screen.” (Source: Deadline)
Based on research on the psychology of leadership, Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic shows that if leaders were selected on competence rather than confidence, humility rather than charisma, and integrity rather than narcissism, we would not just end up with more competent leaders, but also more women leaders. In fact, he argues, the main obstacle preventing competent women from becoming leaders is the lack of career obstacles for incompetent, patriarchal men.
WHY DO SO MANY INCOMPETENT MEN BECOME LEADERS? WORTH WATCHING.
Based on research on the psychology of leadership, Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic shows that if leaders were selected on competence rather than confidence, humility rather than charisma, and integrity rather than narcissism, we would not just end up with more competent leaders, but also more women leaders. In fact, he argues, the main obstacle preventing competent women from becoming leaders is the lack of career obstacles for incompetent, patriarchal men.
WHAT WE’RE READING
On her first book tour at the age of 26, Lee Maracle was asked a question from the audience, one she couldn’t possibly answer at that moment. But she has been thinking about it ever since. As time has passed, she has been asked countless similar questions, all of them too big to answer, but not too large to contemplate. These questions, which touch upon subjects such as citizenship, segregation, labour, law, prejudice and reconciliation (to name a few), are the heart of My Conversations with Canadians.
In prose essays that are both conversational and direct, Maracle seeks not to provide any answers to these questions she has lived with for so long. Rather, she thinks through each one using a multitude of experiences she’s had as a First Nations leader, a woman, a mother, and grandmother over the course of her life.
Lee Maracle’s My Conversations with Canadians presents a tour de force exploration into the writer’s own history and a reimagining of the future of our nation.
(Source: Bookhug Press)
The prescient, page-turning account of a journey in Silicon Valley: a defining memoir of our digital age
In her mid-twenties, at the height of tech industry idealism, Anna Wiener—stuck, broke, and looking for meaning in her work, like any good millennial–left a job in book publishing for the promise of the new digital economy. She moved from New York to San Francisco, where she landed at a big-data startup in the heart of the Silicon Valley bubble: a world of surreal extravagance, dubious success, and fresh-faced entrepreneurs hell-bent on domination, glory, and, of course, progress.
Part coming-age-story, part portrait of an already-bygone era, Anna Wiener’s memoir is a rare first-person glimpse into high-flying, reckless startup culture at a time of unchecked ambition, unregulated surveillance, wild fortune, and accelerating political power.
“A definitive document of a world in transition: I won’t be alone in returning to Uncanny Valley for clarity and consolation for many years to come.” —Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion
(Source: MCDbooks)
AND FINALLY . . . IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!
- Black Light is a weekly column by Governor General Award-winning writer Amanda Parris that spotlights, champions and challenges art and popular culture that is created by Black people and/or centres Black people. Parris writes: “The work created by Black artists often goes undocumented. It’s a consistent and systemic problem in Canada — one that’s created a cultural amnesia that renders Black art and Black artists invisible. Black Light is a small attempt to rectify this issue.” She has curated a list of some of the most exciting projects created by Black artists that will be arriving in 2020 and the first roundup includes visual art exhibitions, plays, a new novel, an installation, a couple of films and new sci-fi series.
- A new year brings with it new funds for women-led businesses. Before you apply, do your due diligence and check out Barb Orser’s study. “The Scotiabank Women Initiative can help women-led businesses access the tools they need – from financing to having the right financial knowledge and support to be successful.” – Gillian Riley, President and CEO, Tangerine Bank and executive sponsor of The Scotiabank Women Initiative. In December 2019, Scotiabank announced the expansion of The Scotiabank Women Initiative to its capital markets business – Global Banking and Markets. Check out the full press release about the initiative.
- Applications for Venture Out’s Founders Program closes February 11, 2020. Venture Out is seeking 8-10 LGBTQA+ founders that want to engage, with a community of advisors, investors, incubator partners, and experts over a 6-week program. This program will run between March 3 to April 7, 2020. Most importantly, passionate founders that understand this is a pilot and to provide feedback to strengthen the LGBTQA+ tech ecosystem in Canada.
- The Big Push is a TD Bank initiative founded by an all-women team who is investing in women-led companies that have the potential to become the next global tech leaders. The Lift-Off Program is an innovative funding and expert resource program designed to provide early stage women-led technology companies with access to free consultation and assessment of their business plans along with a clear roadmap that connects them to a network of highly vetted business and technology professionals.
- BDC’s 2020 economic outlook reports that Canadian entrepreneurs should benefit from a rebound in the real estate market, residential investment and household consumption.
- Noteworthy from November: Toronto-based Knix Wear has reached over $5M in VC funding with little institutional funding to date. In 2013, the e-commerce startup raised more than $1M through a crowdfunding campaign that saw investment from angel investors and small funds to fund her first line of Knix seamless underwear, which uses patented, leak-resistant, and odour-eradicating technology. Full story on Betakit.com
- Flashback fact: How old are successful tech entrepreneurs? A 2018 study from Kellogg’s School of Management at Northwestern University reveals the answer…and it’s likely not what you think.
That’s a wrap for Dispatch #59!
So we wrote about the fragility of intesectional feminist media in December. And soon after, we heard about the closing of GUTS, a promising, smart, fiction-based, feminist online Canadian publication fueled by grants and donations, locked its doors after five years. We supported them each month for over two years. We also subscribe to Herizon, This, Ms Magazine, The Discourse, Bitch, plus several other small, online blogs in various ways.
Feminist media matters. Building a sustainable media enterprise of any kind these days is a challenge. Events of late have us thinking harder about how to structure LiisBeth so that we have the best possible chance of achieving our goal to create a sustainable, impactful, feminist media voice in Canada. We will keep you posted!
Remember also that we would love to hear from you so consider taking 4 minutes to complete our survey.
The next newsletter is scheduled for release the third week of February (yes AFTER VDay). Or, see you sooner in the Feminist Enterprise Commons!
With gratitude and heartfelt thanks for your continued readership, engagement and support.
Peace out. Stay warm. xoxo
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Wishing you peace, safety, a warm meal, hugs and joy this holiday season.
Photo by Enrique Macias on Unsplash
WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT
It’s that time of year to reflect and set intentions for the year ahead. What served you in the past? Where can you let go? What strengthens you, reliably? Check out PK’s Viewpoint below for more provocative questioning.
The U.S. election and all things impeachment will likely dominate mainstream media in 2020 and it’s important that feminist narratives and media continue to see the light of day, now more than ever. We have nowhere to go but forward. Because nourishing experimentation and strengthening the grassroots, courageous innovators while still operating inside the old is our only hope for a breakthrough in our lifetime.
STORY POLL & READER SURVEY: And as we enter the last month of 2019 and reflect on a year’s worth of newsletters and magazine refreshes, let us know how we can improve. What story themes are you most interested in seeing in 2020? We’re listening. Survey takes just 4 minutes, tops!
NEW FEATURES ON LIISBETH
Photo by Jeff Fielitz on Unsplash
THE MAGIC CIRCLE
In gaming, we get to live in an alternate reality—a magic circle—with its own rules that are accepted without question. We get to turn off, escape, play. No wonder it’s so popular with so many.
In the real world, we get to live in business’s magic circle…a place with its own rules that are accepted without question. But this circle is broken, and in need of feminist intervention.
Enter CV Harquail, the first Feminist in Residence (FIR) of the Feminist Enterprise Commons (FEC), who challenges the stewards of the status quo. We invite you to join us, and her, in reimagining what business could be. You can also download a complimentary excerpt, “Challenging Business’s Magic Circle” from our FIR’s new book, Feminism: A Key Idea for Business and Society.
She will be posting and responding to queries and offering a ZOOM session on the Feminist Enterprise Commons from January 5 to 31, 2020.
SIGN UP FOR YOUR 3-MONTH FREE TRIAL
After the trial period, memberships are $17.99 CDN or $15.00 USD per month, and an accessible $4.00 USD rate per month for international readers.
WE CAN’T DO THIS WITHOUT YOU! THIS SEASON, PLEASE CONSIDER A ONE TIME DONATION OF $25, $50 or $100! To get started, click here
Truth is, we would love to do more for you. Publish more profiles. Follow up all the story leads you send our way. Advocate on your behalf to government. March for you on cold days. Send feminist thought leadership and inspiration straight to your inbox. Curate articles and publish briefs on research that might just make your day. Plus provide more fair income opportunities to young and second career feminist writers and editors–you can’t have feminist media without feminist creators.
If cash is tight this year (we get that!), you can also help us out by a) Telling five friends about us and encouraging them to sign up to our newsletter; b) Following us on social media and sharing or liking our posts; or c) Commenting on our feature articles from time to time! Every bit helps!
Thank you in advance for your generosity! xoxo
THE END OF FEMINIST MEDIA?
Surviving and flourishing as an indie media enterprise takes more than cool content, clicks and coin–it requires a different approach to building an enterprise–more Ani DiFranco, less Warner Bros. Check out our thoughts on some recent closures, acquisitions, and “disappearing” feminist media.
PK’S VIEWPOINT
Amazon Prime Video is partnering with JuVee Productions to develop a series based on feminist futurist Octavia E. Bulter’s sci-fi book ‘Wild Seed’, from her ‘Patternist’ series.
HOW TO BUILD A FLOURISHING ENTERPRISE AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Last year, I went through Susannah Conway’s process of choosing a word to serve as a personal compass for the year ahead. My word for 2019 was “alignment” and having that word taped to my bookshelf above my computer really helped me to stay on track. So I thought if a single, carefully chosen word can make such a difference in how I show up in the world, what might a single, equally carefully considered question of the year do in terms of advancing my why in the world?
With a new year on the horizon, predictions about what the world will be like in 2020 hit us in the face like crusty snowflakes in a blizzard. The The worsening impact of climate change. U.S. election. Growing inequality and economic security. Right wing politics. Millions of refugees. Advancements in mind reading tech for enhanced security purposes. The list is endless.
My review of predictions by pundits on the web and in mainstream media says this: In the next three to seven years, most of us will likely find ourselves living longer, on less income and with less (not a bad thing in my view), in crowded work/life quarters (could be fun), with surveilled freedom (big concern), in a radically changing biosphere (read: insects and hot mealworms for breakfast) governed by a hyper-adaptive, resilient and pissed-off patriarchy (oy!).
Which then leads to the single question as a way of charting the course of my work in the coming year: What is the purpose of entrepreneurship given the world unfolding before us?
I have not yet figured out my word for the year. But my question is clearly in sight.
Helena Verdier is seen here selling handmade items from her booth at the recent Feminist Fair. [Photo © Jennifer Prescott]
If you’re still looking to express gratitude via a thoughtful small gift for the womxn in your world, we thought it was worth reposting Champagne Thomson’s story from last month, Stuff Your Stockings with Feminist Joy.
The piece features feminist makers and changemakers have to offer from the Feminist Market at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel, Ottawa’s Feminist Fair, and Indigenous and Ingenious in Toronto.
And from Refinery29 and Berlin Cameron here is the LLShe Women2women holiday gift guide.
LIISBETH FIELD NOTES
LIISBETH HAS A PARTY!
LiisBeth advisory board member, Geraldine Cahill, holding the holiday pickle like the champ she is! Photo by Greg English
LiisBeth’s Hopes, Dreams and Resistance Reception Highlight Video! 2.30 Minutes!
What happens when you put 60+ entrepreneurial feminist creators, writers, policy makers, and business owners in a room together? This year, LiisBeth held its inaugural Hopes, Dreams and Resistance reception in Toronto, Ontario. We brought together our contributors, editors, the people they wrote about, policy makers, academics and supporters for this pre-holiday season event. The agenda? Just to spend time together. But we did arrange for a pickle tasting and a mystery guest speaker. We know a lot of you live outside Toronto and can’t make event’s like these. So we created this little highlight video just for you in hopes that you will feel at least in some way, part of it.
IDENTITY ECONOMICS IS A MASTERFUL ACT OF ALCHEMY
What does it mean when art gallery programming is determined by callout culture? Elisha Lim based an article on this question, for C Magazine. Lim is a queer and transgender story-teller and graphic novelist, whose book 100 Crushes was published by Koyama Press and nominated for a Lambda. They are currently writing a PhD at U of T on race and social media so we’ll follow up later in 2020 with more on the complex topic of identity economics.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINISTS
We teach girls that they can have ambition, but not too much … to be successful, but not too successful, or they’ll threaten men, says author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. In this classic talk that started a worldwide conversation about feminism, Adichie asks that we begin to dream about and plan for a different, fairer world — of happier men and women who are truer to themselves.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: FOLLOW THE LUNAR CYCLE WITH SOME SELF-CARE
Celebrate the winter solstice with a restorative yoga sequence to slow down and unwind. Video by Yoga with Kassandra.
FIND YOUR WORD 2020–ONLINE OR IN PERSON!
We love this idea and more importantly, the process behind it, and are promoting it here!
To find your word online, check out https://www.susannahconway.com/word/. It’s a free and wonderfully illuminating process. But be prepared. It takes some thought and time to work through it.
Dimple Mukerjee, one of LiisBeth’s first entrepreneurs profiled, says her word for this year is COMMAND. Mukerjee says it comes from her sense of a need to develop more of a commanding presence and showing up in her business in a bigger and bolder way.
If doing this sort of thing in community with others is your thing, and if you live in Toronto, you might want to check out Dimple Mukerjee’s
Call in Your Word 2020 seminar being held on Tuesday, January 14th, 2020 at We Work, 240 Richmond Street West ($75 but includes beer, wine and food!). Note: It’s also a co-ed session. So male friends and partners are welcome!
FEMINIST FREEBIE ALERT! Dimple has kindly offered a free ticket to the seminar to the first LiisBeth reader to comment on the profile we wrote about Dimple way back in 2016! To get started and receive your free ticket, click here.
Photo of Amanda Palmer from Brain Pickings
FEMINIST POETRY
Click on the starry image of Amanda Palmer above to hear her read The Mushroom Hunters: Neil Gaiman’s Feminist Poem About Science.
The poem is an ode to humanity’s unheralded originators of the scientific method, and was featured in The Universe in Verse event earlier this year, hosted by Maria Popova. The gathering is an annual celebration of science through poetry held at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY.
WHAT WE’RE READING
An anthology of African-Canadian writing, Black Writers Matter offers a cross-section of established writers and newcomers to the literary world who tackle contemporary and pressing issues with beautiful, sometimes raw, prose. As editor Whitney French says in her introduction, Black Writers Matter “injects new meaning into the word diversity [and] harbours a sacredness and an everydayness that offers Black people dignity. ” An “invitation to read, share, and tell stories of Black narratives that are close to the bone,” this collection feels particular to the Black Canadian experience.
“Black Writers Matter is an extraordinary achievement, a bold and loving gathering of Black writing in its sublimity; its stylistic and thematic complexity; its regional, cultural, generational, and experiential differences; its fiercely constellated energy. Whitney French and the talented contributors to this book offer us vital new writings within a two-hundred-year legacy of yearning and truth-telling. Please read this book. ” —David Chariandy, author of Soucouyant and Brother
“Reading these stories gave me both joy and grief. ” —Afua Cooper
“Black Writers? African, Bluesy, Classical, Disrespectful, Erudite, Fiery, Groovy, Haunting, Inspiring, Jazzy, Knowing, Liberating, Militant, Nervy, Optimistic, Pugnacious, Quixotic, Rambunctious, Seductive, Truculent, Urgent, Vivacious, Wicked, X-ray sharp, Yearning, Zesty. And so, they matter!” —George Elliott Clarke (Source: University of Regina Press)
New feminist essays for the #MeToo era from the international best-selling author of Men Explain Things to Me and the forthcoming memoir Recollections of My Nonexistence.
Who gets to shape the narrative of our times? The current moment is a battle royale over that foundational power, one in which women, people of color, non-straight people are telling other versions, and white people and men and particularly white men are trying to hang onto the old versions and their own centrality. In Whose Story Is This? Rebecca Solnit appraises what’s emerging and why it matters and what the obstacles are.
“Rebecca Solnit is essential feminist reading.”
—The New Republic
“Rebecca Solnit is the voice of the resistance.”
—New York Times Magazine
“In these times of political turbulence and an increasingly rabid and scrofulous commentariat, the sanity, wisdom and clarity of Rebecca Solnit’s writing is a forceful corrective. Whose Story Is This? is a scorchingly intelligent collection about the struggle to control narratives in the internet age.”
—Alex Preston, The Guardian
“Solnit’s passionate, shrewd, and hopeful critiques are a road map for positive change.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Solnit’s exquisite essays move between the political and the personal, the intellectual and the earthy.”
—ELLE
(Source: Haymarket Books)
AND FINALLY . . . IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!
- CFC Media Lab is pleased to introduce the Fifth Wave Initiative, a new suite of programs and services designed to accelerate and sustain the growth of women-owned/led enterprises in southern Ontario’s digital media sector. Innovative Fifth Wave Initiative programming will bring intersectional feminist business practices to the forefront of Canada’s startup ecosystem in an effort to support a broader range of enterprise philosophies. It will weave feminist ideals of equity and fairness into business sustainability and scalable growth. Click here to learn more and register!
- The Baltimore museum is taking a bold step to rectify centuries of imbalance in the fine arts space by commiting to acquiring art produced only by women starting 2020. BAM’s director Christopher Bedford, said “something radical must be done….”
- Do you have a climate change policy articulated for your company? What are your suppliers doing about climate change? Don’t know? On Dec 11, 500+ B Corps Commit to Net Zero by 2030, 20 Years Ahead of Paris Agreement! Check out the announcement here. FYI, LiisBeth Media is a B Corp!
- Ecofeminist revival? Ecofeminism was born a few decades ago from the observation that there is an analogy between the exploitation of women and the exploitation of nature. Given the centrality of climate change as a key global issues, this part of the feminist movement’s ideas and theories are more relevant than ever. Its thought leaders include people like Vandana Shiva. To learn more about it, click here. Here is also a list of terrific ecofeminist primers!
That’s a wrap for Dispatch #58!
This is our last newsletter of 2019! The LiisBeth team will be taking time off to recharge until January 6th. Our next newsletter will be out January 21st, just after the Women’s March event! MARK THE DATE! We have amazing features already in the pipeline including a great piece by Carmelle Wolfson on decolonizing yourself–and your business, plus a reflection piece by Golnaz Golnaraghi, founder of Accelerate Her Future. Plus much more!
In the meantime, have a wonderful, safe, regenerating time over the holiday season no matter what you do to celebrate the coming of a new year. And stay in touch with us daily on Twitter @LiisBethHQ.
With gratitude and heartfelt thanks for your continued readership, engagement and support.
XOXO
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Photo By Leandro Crespi
WHAT WE’RE THINKING ABOUT
Having lunch with an iconic Canadian feminist served as a reminder of why LiisBeth exists: a media channel that advances feminist literacy and tells stories of alternative enterprise models that enables flourishing for all. Like VentureKids Canada, where underserved youth can learn how to code. Or how Ample Labs uses design and tech to help the homeless. Activist art as a sustainable venture idea, or a gig career, takes ingenuity and persistence but gives needed voice to the hard issues of systemic racism, violence again women, patriarchy. LiisBeth is also here to call out hate and call in those looking to be more deeply informed with articles that include facts and opinions from a human rights point of view. Like when a so-called feminist thinks that trans rights threaten women’s safety…could she be the real threat to feminism? At the end of the day, the world is warming and the holidays are coming. Check out our feminist gift guide that includes seed bombs and wearable art you can feel good about.
And as we enter the last month of 2019 and reflect on a year’s worth of newsletters, let us know how we can improve. We’re listening.
NEW FEATURES ON LIISBETH
#chatbot4change
Ample Labs: Ending Homelessness With Technology
HOMELESSNESS: THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT
Resources can be a click away, thanks to a Toronto startup’s tech empowerment.
Read the Ample Labs story on our site.
Photo by Kamil Karamali, Global News
MEGHAN MURPHY: DID THE TORONTO LIBRARY DO ITS HOMEWORK?
In October, a small branch of Toronto’s Public Library (TPL) system made the news by hosting a talk by Meghan Murphy, a Vancouver based anti-trans rights feminist and founder of The Feminist Current, a blog and podcast with an estimated 14,000 followers.
Despite the fact that Murphy’s talks have been heavily criticized as hate speech, Toronto City Librarian, Vickery Bowles, backed the event because the library “has an obligation to protect free speech.” Bowles also told the Globe and Mail that Ms. Murphy has never been charged or convicted of hate speech.
That, however, just may be a matter of timing.
This week on LiisBeth, feminist and human rights lawyer, Pamela Cross, offers a critique and legal insight on Meghan Murphy’s ideology.
Speaking from a place of compassion, we can only imagine that Murphy has had personal experiences which fuel the raison d’etre for her views and her efforts to promote them. Really, what does anyone get out of making the lives of a tiny, heavily persecuted group in society who are already traumatized enough? Perhaps a book deal? Fair enough. Tapping fear worked for Jordan Peterson.
At LiisBeth, and as social justice and systems centred feminists, we stand firmly as a trans-inclusionary organization. Call to Action? What is the path to restorative justice? We hope that the trans community rallies and continues the debate and takes the issue to court as a violation of Canada’s Human Rights Code.
Photo by Champagne Thompson
STUFF YOUR STOCKINGS WITH FEMINIST JOY
Giving and celebrating doesn’t need to be powered by a capitalistic consumer agenda. Get the scoop on what feminist makers and changemakers have to offer from the Feminist Market at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel, Ottawa’s Feminist Fair, and Indigenous and Ingenious in Toronto.
Photo supplied by Takara Small
What’s more fun than smashing through barriers to be a Black woman in tech? For Takara Small, it’s helping kids smash through them too. Read more about VentureKids Canada on our site.
‘Ashaba’; No human can look at her directly by Karen White explores unseen oppression.
Ilene Sova’s need to talk real sparks a feminist art collective. Read her story this week on LiisBeth.
Jack Jackson and Jet, Photo by Jack Jackson
WELCOME TO LIISBETH’S NEWEST ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER–JACK JACKSON
Fun facts about Jack:
1) He was our very FIRST article written by Margaret Webb back in 2016.
2) He has been an ardent supporter of LiisBeth, attended BOTH EFFS, and served as our EFF photographer.
3) He is a trans rights activist (we did the story on his DYWM initiative)
5) He has an I AM A FEMINIST jacket!
6) He is smart and well-versed on gender issues.
7) He has never been on a board–this would be a great learning experience for him (his words)
Jack also runs a Toronto-based dog walking enterprise and photography business. Check out his latest inspiring project to advance trans inclusion, Don’t You Want Me.
PK’S VIEWPOINT
Photo by Lana Pesch
LUNCH WITH A FEMINIST ICON
What was it like having lunch with with Canada’s Gloria Steinem? So engrossing we forgot to take a photo of her. Our conversation about the importance of alternative media channels is a reminder of why we need to keep going. Read PK’s Viewpoint here.
LIISBETH FIELD NOTES
BUILDING ALTERNATIVE DIGITAL FUTURES
The Digital Justice Lab’s mission is to focus on building a more just and equitable future.
Imaging Feminist Interfaces was a workshop held earlier in November in partnership with Digital Justice Lab, Trinity Square Video and tendernet.us, presented as part of a series at MOCA Toronto’s Age of You exhibit.
The workshop explored what voice technologies might look like if they were designed in line with the central commitments of feminism: participation, agency, embodiment, equity, empowerment, plurality and justice.
There’s one more workshop in the series, Mapping Digital Bodies that navigates the impact of how our data is used, stored and shared.
WHAT WOULD THE INTERNET LOOK LIKE IF MORE WOMEN WERE BUILDING IT?
Australia’s Girl Geek Academy initiatives include coding and hackathons, 3D printing and wearables, game development, design, entrepreneurship and startups.
WHERE DO FEMINISTS GO FOR ADVICE ON HOW TO GROW THEIR ENTERPRISE OR SUCCEED ON THEIR OWN TERMS?
Well if Kelly Diels has anything to say about it, it’s not a Tony Robbins event, or a business networking event that features talks by patriarchal Silicon Valley bros and VCs, extractive neo-libreneurs, unicorn hunters, or exploitative Uber-esque enterprises founded by any gender.
Nope. Feminists in business–or those who run any organization or project looking to model alternative ways of doing business–need advice from other walking the same path–but who might just be a few steps ahead of you.
We at LiisBeth have benefited from SOOOOO much awesome advice from generous, caring people we have met along the way. It’s why we are still here three years later.
So we created a NON-FACEBOOK (read: unsurveilled, no disappearing timelines, no money for Zuckerberg) online community on the Mighty Networks platform (founded by a woman)–the Feminist Enterprise Commons (FEC). If you want to build a sustainable feminist enterprise, connecting, supporting and partnering with others is key.
WE INVITE YOU TO GIVE FEC A TRY.
JOIN US TODAY! SUBSCRIBER SPECIAL OFFER: 3 MONTHS FREE! CLICK HERE.
Photo of CV Harquail by PK Mutch
WHY JOIN FEC?
In addition to having the opportunity to meet up with other feminists in business, each month we will be featuring a monthly FEMINIST IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM. This is someone who will be on the site answering your questions, and offering online ZOOM webinars or hosting discussion sessions to help you take the next step for your project or idea.
OUR FIRST FEMINIST IN RESIDENCE: CV HARQUAIL
CV Harquail is a feminist scholar and author of Feminism: A Key Idea for Business (2019), and co-creator of the feminist business model canvas. She believes that including feminist values and practices into your workplace and the ways you do business will help to create great products and connect with customers.
Harquail says: “It’s possible, using feminism in business, to feel creative, purposeful, authentically you, “all in”, and as though everything/anything you do at work is making more of a difference than you could ever have imagined.”
She will posting and responding to queries and offering a ZOOM session on the Feminist Enterprise Commons from January 5 to 31, 2020.
SIGN UP FOR YOUR 3-MONTH FREE TRIAL
After the trial period, memberships are $17.99 CDN or $15.00 USD per month, and an accessible $4.00 USD rate per month for international readers.
TRAVEL LIKE A FEMINIST
Amandine Fouillard’s coming of age European trip took a unique twist. The young French feminist‘s commitment to learning more about feminism combined with her desire to travel plus her dreams of writing formed “Travel like a feminist”. On her seven-month tour, she visited several European capitals and met with associations, researchers, politicians and personalities who were working on equality issues.
Why? To gain a deeper understanding of the advancements of the European feminist movements have made.
What did she learn? There is still a long way to go to achieve equality.
On her French Ulule site, you can check out her interviews, videos, and articles (en français) on European feminist news and country-by-country comparisons of existing legislation and rights.
WE HAVE TO ASK
LiisBeth has published over 190 original articles and profiles of enterprising feminists. We hold leaders accountable. We advance important discourse about feminism, entrepreneurship and social change. Our dedicated team works tirelessly to advance gender and social justice. We are ad and surveillance free and believe that reader-supported media is the antidote to a corporate media dominated conversation on important issues that matter to us all.
This holiday season please consider supporting LiisBeth with a donation either via our Patreon page or on our Support Our Mission page which provides both credit card and Paypal options.
Christina Cai of @myKnowtions speaking at #movethedialsummit
WOMEN IN FINTECH MOVING THE DIAL
The importance of mentors, funding models, and inclusivity at all levels of business were just a fraction of topics covered in the many presentations at the #movethedialsummit earlier in November, in Toronto.
Entrepreneur Christina Cai was on the panel WOMEN IN FINTECH: BUILDING AND GROWING
(pictured above). Cai is co-founder and COO of Knowtions Research Inc., a company that is building the first enterprise AI platform for health insurers. The past decade has seen a marked change in the number of women who are founding new businesses, leading teams, and investing in the next generation of unicorns, but there is still a long way to go. However Cai encourages startup founders to think more like cockroaches than unicorns and “refuse to die!”
In the video below she shares her “poor startups survival guide” that include some lessons learned in her business journey so far.
WOO HOO! CANADA’S FIRST FEMINIST ACCELERATOR PROGRAM!
Now THIS is exciting. And gutsy.
The Canadian Film Centre’s IDEABoost team, Ana Serrano and Nataly Dupont, together with partners Eve-Volution Inc (LiisBeth’s parent company), Marigold Capital, OCADU’s Superordinary Lab, the University of Toronto’s Digital Justice Lab and the Pivotal Point have launched Canada’s FIRST feminist values-led enterprise growth accelerator for women-owned/led digital media companies based in Southwestern Ontario.
Fifth Wave is all about helping women grow and build resilient enterprises that value equity, wellness, community and fairness. The program recognizes that definitions of success vary and supports organic growth strategies as well as founders seeking venture capital.
Fifth Wave Labs, the accelerator program starts in spring 2020. Applications to the pre-requisite program, Fifth Wave Connect, are open now!
FEMINIST FREEBIE!
The first two people to comment on our feminist icon story will receive a COMPLEMENTARY COPY of her latest book. But we can’t tell you who it is–you have to read the article here first to find out!
WHAT WE’RE READING
Technology and empathy for curious young readers.
The Computer and the Canceled Music Lessons is a children’s book that introduces young readers (and older ones) to ‘data science,’ the process of ethically acquiring, analyzing, visualizing and monetizing data.
With advancements in technology, new jobs are emerging and old roles are being transformed as a result of the explosion in data from mobile technology, cloud computing, social media, the internet of things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Start this important conversation with kids in a fun way by reading and discussing with them, how one student in this story uses data to solve a problem at school.
Author Shingai Manjengwa (Twitter: @tjido) is the chief executive officer at Fireside Analytics Inc., a Canadian ed-tech startup that offers customized cloud-hosted data science training and consulting services to corporations, governments, and educational institutions. Shingai’s data science courses have over 300,000 registered learners on platforms like IBM’s CognitiveClass.ai and Coursera.
She is also the founder of Fireside Analytics Academy, a registered private high school (BSID: 886528) that teaches high school students to ethically acquire, analyze, visualize and monetize data! The IDC4U, High School Data Science program is inspected by the Ministry of Education in Canada and it uses real-life youth-focused case studies to combine statistics, mathematics, business, and computer programming: the pillars of data science. The program is completely online; international students are welcome.
A revealing look at how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms
Run a Google search for “black girls”—what will you find? “Big Booty” and other sexually explicit terms are likely to come up as top search terms. But, if you type in “white girls,” the results are radically different. The suggested porn sites and un-moderated discussions about “why black women are so sassy” or “why black women are so angry” presents a disturbing portrait of black womanhood in modern society.
In Algorithms of Oppression, Safiya Umoja Noble challenges the idea that search engines like Google offer an equal playing field for all forms of ideas, identities, and activities. Data discrimination is a real social problem; Noble argues that the combination of private interests in promoting certain sites, along with the monopoly status of a relatively small number of Internet search engines, leads to a biased set of search algorithms that privilege whiteness and discriminate against people of color, specifically women of color. — NYUPress
An original, surprising and, at times, disturbing account of bias on the internet, Algorithms of Oppression contributes to our understanding of how racism is created, maintained, and disseminated in the 21st century.
“Noble makes a strong case that present technologies and search engines are not just imperfect, but they enact actual harm to people and communities.” ~Popmatters.com
AND FINALLY . . . IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!
- In her third collection of poetry, Holy Wild, Gwen Benaway explores the complexities of being an Indigenous trans woman in expansive lyric poems. She holds up the Indigenous trans body as a site of struggle, liberation, and beauty. Published by Book*hug Press, the book won one of Canada’s most prestigious literary awards; the 2019 Governor General’s Literary Award for poetry. This Toronto Star story outlines Benaway’s conflicted feelings around the recognition since the win coincided at a time when Benaway and many others denounced the Toronto Public Library for refusing to cancel an event featuring a speaker who has been critical of transgender rights. See our feature story for more insight.
- The good old hockey game is only great when it’s for everyone. This CBC story follows the collapse of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) to the rise of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association (PWHPA), where 200 top female players vowed to sit out this season in order to push for one financially viable and sustainable professional league. Julie Stevens, a professor in Brock University’s sport management program, says members of the PWPHA can overcome these historical challenges by shifting the conversation from a social case to a business case. “It’s basically a startup. It’s an emerging venture that you need to look at what the market research is telling you,” Stevens says.
- Download the 2019 CBC Massey Lectures, Power Shift: The Longest Revolution and hear journalist and human rights activist Sally Armstrong argue that the future of humanity depends on strengthening the status of women and girls. The facts, Armstrong says, are beyond dispute: when women get an education, all of society benefits; when they get better healthcare, everyone lives longer.
- TIME magazine’s coverage of Colombia’s historic moment; the first time a woman and openly gay candidate was elected as mayor of the capital city. Claudia López ran for mayor on an anti-corruption platform and challenged the positions of right-wing politicians, promising to advance equal rights for minority communities and women. Her victory marks the country’s shift away from the political elite, and indicates a desire in the residents of Bogotá for a transition to more liberal policies.
That’s a wrap for Dispatch #57!
As we near the end of 2019, the LiisBeth team paused for reflection at our annual advisory board meeting and community reception that followed.
Wow. What a year.
We are proud that the readership of our online magazine is now over 19,000 (up 40%), and surprised to find we have over 8,000 following us on social media (we are trying to get better at that).
More importantly, we are chuffed we have been able to publish over 190 impactful, quality original articles (not blog posts or curated pieces we bought from elsewhere) and provided fair income opportunities for over 30 womxn journalists, writers, and editors. And we were thrilled at the turnout of our Feminist City Walk in partnership with Jane’s Walk.
We are also SUPER excited about our new online community space you read about up top, the Feminist Enterprise Commons hosted on Mighty Networks. It’s going to take a while to work out the kinks, but we are ready to go! We gave ourselves an activist check mark for taking our community off Facebook (we still have our FB page but will only use to advertise events). Frankly, we got tired of Facebook disallowing LiisBeth article post boosts because apparently, feminism is considered extreme political activity. We also deeply question Google and Facebook’s role in elections, and are tired of Zuckerberg making money off our free labour and exposed identifies. But we thank them for pioneering this space initially and now motivating us to change platforms.
All these accomplishments were realized with one volunteer publisher, three core freelance staff, volunteer advisory board members and a tiny budget.
We plan to publish a short and jolly holiday newsletter on Tuesday, December 17, and will be back in full force in January. We hope you will consider donating to help us continue this work.
In the meantime, stay in touch with us daily on Twitter @LiisBethHQ
With gratitude and thanks,
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LiisBeth meets Jane’s Walk Toronto, September 29, 2019
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Photo by: ANDREW LISHAKOV on Stocksy
“woman screaming loud behind transparent foil”
PK’S VIEWPOINT
The Canadian (one of over 200 general elections in the world this year) federal election is on and therefore the mudslinging has begun. Hauling out frightening homophobic and misogynist speeches from one leader’s past, deeply hurtful racist blackface photos from another’s, with more to come, for sure. I hadn’t planned on digging into the election in this newsletter, but with the trajectory of Canada’s future at stake, how can I not?
To me, elections are like spring cleaning. They are a time when we pull things out into the light and re-examine our priorities: What do we want to keep and what we can live without. We conjure Marie Kondo and think about which candidate or party (left-brain analysis aside) sparks joy. We move aside the heavy furniture and take the parliamentary rug out for a good shake— even a beating—in the open air. Not surprisingly, a lot of crud can accumulate in four years.
If we think about elections in this way, my over-riding question in Canada’s upcoming federal election is this: Do we need a new rug or are we better off cleaning up and repairing the one we already have? Can that rug still be useful, can it even give us joy?
In my own efforts to stay informed, I found lots of election analysis and tools which name their idea of key issues and where each party stands: CBC’s Canada Votes, the Globe and Mail, Vice Magazine’s “Everything You Need to Know About…..” series, and the Maclean’s magazine election issue.
But not one of these mainstream sites name women’s equality or gender equity as a key election issue. Incredible, considering women and women-identified people represent 53% of the population. You will see Indigenous issues, crime, students, immigration, manufacturing, and climate change. But gender? Nada. Childcare crops up on one or two, but surely that is an issue for all genders and not the sole concern of women.
As the YWCA “Up For Debate” initiative points out, there has not been a leaders debate on women’s issues in more than 35 years. What were we concerned about then? Reproductive rights, domestic and sexual violence, economic equality, equal political representation? Those issues remain deeply relevant even though, yes, it’s 2019.
So how do we find out where the major federal parties stand on reproductive rights, pay transparency, gender-based violence, closing tax loopholes that benefit only men, the chronic state of funding instability undermining women’s organizations and social movements, or how innovation and economic development dollars continue to favour male-led industries? What about their commitment to new pay-equity legislation, using gender-based assessment tools in policy making, or support for the new Equality Fund and the Women’s Entrepreneurship Fund?
We tried. We found almost nothing. We at LiisBeth, together with our readers, obviously need to work on changing that. In the meantime, we gathered what few articles and sites that might help you rate the federal parties on issues of particular concern to women and, really, should concern everyone:
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What Has Four Years Under a “Feminist” Government Done for Canadian Women? by Sarah Boesveld
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Oxfam’s Feminist Scorecard 2019 (for a global perspective)
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Feminisms, Elections and our Ontario and Canadian Feminist Souls
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Gender equality and the election: what role will feminism play in the campaign? by Joanna Smith
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5 Ways Gender Equality Benefits Everyone by Jessica Howard
If you are ready to take action, we recommend you send a letter to election candidates to tell them you care about gender equality. The Canadian Women’s Foundation has made this action simple. Click here to send a letter now.
So, in sum, does the current rug still spark joy, despite all the crud?
As for me, I watched Ontario, the province I live in, vote out a deeply unpopular female Liberal premier (who made mistakes, but by many accounts delivered on good policy) and replace her with a male Conservative, carny-style premier and team who campaigned on a buck-a-beer promise. Frankly, it’s been dark time here ever since.
All I can say is there are a lot of people who wanted a new rug, got one, and are now wishing they could get roll it up and toss it out, or at least get rid of the beer stains.
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Clockwise from the top: Cynthia Erivo at TIFF 2019, Melody Kuku, Annabel Kalmar, Sarah Kaplan, Cherry-Rose Tan
NEW FEATURES ON LIISBETH
Margaret DeRosia curates a list of five must-see films for feminist entrepreneurs that screened at The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) earlier this month. 4 min read
Feminist entrepreneur Melody Kuku’s personal story of resilience redefines the meaning of strength, and is an example of how writing poetry can be an outlet to overcome crisis. 3 min read
Is direct trade the new fair trade? Daphne Gordon discovers why tea producers around the world are partnering with the Canadian-based tea distributor Tea Rebellion. 3 min read
And find out how corporate social responsibility is being reshaped by changing demographics in a Q&A with Sarah Kaplan about her new book, The 360° Corporation: From Stakeholder Trade-offs to Transformation. Feminist Freebie alert! Be the first to comment on this article on LiisBeth and recieve a free copy of Kaplan’s new book! 4 min read
Where can tech entrepreneurs get mental health support? Cherry-Rose Tan shares her story with Mai Nguyen that has inspired others to do the same. 3 min read
Leslie Kern / Photo by Mitchel Raphael
FEMINIST CITY: A FIELD GUIDE
City planning isn’t a new idea. Neither is thinking about how cities, neighbourhoods, communities could be set up in ways that support other sorts of social ideals, including feminist ones. Yet urban planners continue to exclude women’s needs and point of view which leads to isolation, employment barriers, and unsafe streets. When will this change? What impact does this planning have on not only women…but everyone?
Leslie Kern’s second book, The Feminist City: A Field Guide is a collection of essays that invites readers to question the design of urban spaces and ways cities can be more inclusive and safe for everyone.
Here is a 2.5 minute audio clip of Kern reading from the book. For the 6 minute version, click here.
LiisBeth spoke with Kern on the phone last week from her home in New Brunswick.
Check out the full Q&A here. 4 min read.
REMINDER!
Join LiisBeth and Jane’s Walk TO on September 29 in Toronto, for the city’s FIRST-EVER feminist city Walk & Talk. Walk tickets are free. Panel $15/pp. RSVP here. Feminist Freebie! We are raffling off three complimentary copies of Kern’s new book at the panel talk! But you have to be there to win!
Photo by Daniel Lepôt
CONGRATS TO OUR HIGH FLYING WINNERS!
Vanessa Trenton of Toronto WON the 2 x Venus Fest tix.
AND Paulina Cameron, CEO for Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE) is receiving a A FREE copy of CV Harquail’s book, Feminism: A Key Idea to Business and Society
HUZZAH to you both!
LIISBETH FIELD NOTES
Dr. Ellie. Cosgrave | The Feminist City | TEDxUCLWomen
[Trigger Warning: mentions of sexual assault]
IMPACT BY DESIGN: TRANSFORMING URBAN PLANNING
In ‘The Feminist City’, Dr Ellie Cosgrave uses urban planning to disrupt our thinking about how designing decisions impact different groups based on categories of identity. By weaving in personal experiences and supplementing them with the industrial realities of civil engineering, Ellie shows us how we can recreate the city to enable diverse peoples and bodies to get the very most of the places we live. Through centralising feminist and social justice ideas, Ellie explores how we can fundamentally transform our cities to ensure that no one is excluded from public spaces, or from the resources and opportunities cities have to offer. (Source: https://www.ted.com/tedx)
Better Way Alliance on Twitter @BetterWayCAN
THERE’S GOTTA BE A BETTER WAY
It sounds like common sense that employees who are treated fairly would be good for business. But not all employers are created equal. And sometimes common sense…ain’t so common.
But the Better Way Alliance brings together Canadian business owners who value decent work, for everyone’s bottom line and the health of Canada’s economy.
Gilleen Pearce at Better Way Alliance told us the site is starting off as a small murmur but she hopes to build it up with businesses across Canada signing on. “The goal is to prove that support for decent work is building within the business community,” said Pearce, founder of Walk My Dog Toronto, a dog walking service with committed, trained staff who use compassionate positive reinforcement walk methods for your fur babies.
If you believe in a $15 minimum wage, add your name to the growing list of like-minded Canadian businesses at www.businessesfor15.ca
You can also join the Better Way Alliance conversation and share your story, your mindset, and your ideas about paid sick days, safe workplaces, fair scheduling laws and others ways to build and support Canada’s economy in a fair and just way.
Sign up to be profiled for free here. LiisBeth did!
WMRCC Executive Director Esther Enyolu (Far left to right), Iffat Zehra, and worker cooperative founders including Sandra Davis and Janet Bennet Cox.
WANT TO BE INNOVATIVE? CREATE A WORKER-OWNED CO-OP
The theme at this year’s Econous 2019 conference (a conference organized by Canadian CED Network in partnership with Community Futures Ontario) was Communities Leading Innovation. Keynote speaker Ted Howard, co-author of a new book, The Making of a Democratic Economy: How to Build Prosperity for the Many, Not the Few, set the tone by asking the 500 attendees why it was easier for most people to imagine the end of earth than the end of 20th century capitalism.
Damn good question.
Luckily, the conference featured two days of workshops and panels that made envisioning a different kind of economy easier.
Of the many ideas and experiments that were shared, one that stood out was an idea by the Women’s Multicultural Resource & Councelling Centre, based in Durham, Ontario; Help entrepreneurs create worker cooperatives.
This two-year project, launched in March 2019 is led by Iffat Zehra, an expert in the field. So far, over six women-led, worker owned cooperatives have been established under her guidance and grown as a result of her ongoing mentorship. Startup co-operative range in size from 5 to 20 women who are all trained in seven principles and as co-owners, the ten-steps of developing a co-operative. The co-ops range in types of industry but include personal support services for seniors, interpretation, cleaning, art, and sewing.
Given increasing inequality and precarious work places, it is not surprising to hear that worker co-ops are growing in number across North America.
Sadly, innovation and startup incubator ecosystems do not offer specialized training for entrepreneurs in how to create co-ops of any kind let alone worker, platform or consumer co-ops. Standard startup curriculum and innovation ecosystems at this point, still remain focused on neoliberal informed wealth creation for owners, versus wealth creation for the local community, co-creators and workers.
If more of us ask for training in co-operative startup formation, perhaps this will change.
Free downloadable! To see if your enterprise idea is right for a worker co-operative model, download a free self-assessment here.
Selene Vakharia, SMRT Women
SMRT WOMEN
On a recent trip to Whitehorse, Yukon, LiisBeth had a chance to catch up with Selene Vakharia, co-founder of SMRT Women, a growing women’s entrepreneur network who recently received $28,000 from the federal government’s Women’s Entreneurship Fund to help them build an online academy that aims to support women entrepreneurs in the far North by offering online bootcamps and courses. Vakharia is also a partner and co-producer of “She/Ze Leads the World” the first women’s leadership conference in the North being held November 19 to 21 in Whitehorse, Yukon. Keynote speakers include Vicki Saunders, founder of SheEO, and Paulette Senior, CEO and President of the Canadian Women’s Foundation.
Vakharia says one significant barrier to growth for many women entrepreneurs is limited business experience and a mindset that limits their imagination about what’s possible for both them personally and their enterprises. “We also noticed that when women try something and fail, they tend to translate that into: I suck at everything. Women are really hard on themselves. So they really benefit from participating in networks and groups. They also tend to be reluctant to spend money or invest in their business or invest in themselves in terms of coaching or learning because of the fear they will never make the money back. Confidence and experience is a huge issue.”
Given all the new federal support for women entrepreneurs this year, are things getting better?
Vakharia says: “Making more resources available to women is great, but it’s only a part of the answer.” For example, what good is access to startup money or empowerment programs when you are dealing with domestic violence (The Yukon one of the highest rate of domestic violence incidents per capita in Canada), mental health issues, or unaffordable child care options. When a new minin operation opens, research indicates a connection to an increase in alcoholism, sex trafficking, and sex worker abuse. Sometimes even being outspoken or having an opinion in a small community can be unsafe. We need a multi-pronged approach if we want to see women entrepreneurs thrive and generate new economic growth.
You can’t just throw money at women. You have to change the culture, and the system too.”
Vakaharia moved to the Yukon from Toronto without having ever set foot in the North.
No lack of confidence there.
DOWNLOADABLE! ADVISORY BOARD OR RED WINE CLUB?
Last month we announced our two new board members. This week we’re sharing GrowthWheel’s tips for entrepreneurs on how and why to form a board and the value of diverse opinions when starting or scaling up your business. Good advice in the PDF here.
What is the Feminist Enterprise Commons?
A new NON-ZUCKERBERG, safe, secure, online community where feminist entrepreneurs and changemakers who are building enterprises or working on side hustle projects can find others doing the same, learn about leadership and enterprise design, operations and growth in a like-minded feminist context, share stories, tools, learnings, stress test new ideas, source goods and services from each other, and above all, feel supported as enterpreneurial activists.
What is the definition of an enterprise?
According to the dictionary:
1. A project or undertaking that is especially difficult, complicated, or risky
2. Unit of economic organization or activity especially: a business organization
3. A systematic purposeful activity, i.e. digital media production is the main economic enterprise for visual artists
4. Or readiness to engage in daring or difficult action; showing initiative; being enterprising
What is a feminist enterprise?
All of the above along with express operational focus or mission related to social and gender justice.
WATCH FOR NEWS IN THE COMING WEEKS!
Photo by Daniel Lepôt of Team Canada in a 60-person formation skydive outside of Farnham, Quebec in August, 2019.
Lana Pesch is in the white helmet and teal rig on the bottom left of the formation. Read about the all-women skydiving record she was part of in 2018.
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Feats like these takes TRUST, FOCUS and TEAMWORK.
All attributes we revere at LiisBeth.
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WHAT WE’RE READING
Lean Out offers a new and refreshingly candid perspective on what it’s really like for today’s corporate underdogs. Based on both in-depth research and personal experiences, Orr punctures a gaping hole in today’s feminist rhetoric and sews it back up with compelling new arguments for the reasons more women don’t make it to the top and how companies can better incentivize women by actually listening to what they have to say and by rewarding the traits that make them successful.
In Lean Out, Orr uncovers:
Why our pursuit to close the gender gap has come at the expense of female well-being.
The way most career advice books targeting professional women seek to change their behavioir rather than the system.
Why modern feminism has failed to make any progress on its goals for equality.
More than fifty years since the passage of the Equal Pay Act, the wage gap still hovers at 80 percent, and only 5 percent of CEOs in the Fortune 500 are women.
“This book is a must-read for insights on the impact that reversing systemic gender biases can have on creating more diverse, healthier workplaces for both women and men.” –Joanne Harrell, Senior Director, USA Citizenship, Microsoft
An everyday working woman with a sardonic sense of humour, Orr is an endearing antihero who captures the voice for a new generation of women at work. Lean Out presents a revolutionary path forward, to change the life trajectories of women in the corporate world and beyond. — GoodReads.com
The book helped LiisBeth contributor Daphne Gordon make sense of her own ambition. Read Gordon’s take on Lean Out, here.
To go along with our theme of city building and the design put into public spaces…this book is Number One in addressing the politics of where we’re allowed to “go” in public. Adults don’t talk about the business of doing our business. We work on one assumption: the world of public bathrooms is problem- and politics-free. No Place To Go: How Public Toilets Fail our Private Needs reveals the opposite is true.
No Place To Go is a toilet tour from London to San Francisco to Toronto and beyond. From pay potties to deserted alleyways, No Place To Go is a marriage of urbanism, social narrative, and pop culture that shows the ways – momentous and mockable – public bathrooms just don’t work. Like, for the homeless, who, faced with no place to go sometimes literally take to the streets. (Ever heard of a municipal poop map?) For people with invisible disabilities, such as Crohn’s disease, who stay home rather than risk soiling themselves on public transit routes. For girls who quit sports teams because they don’t want to run to the edge of the pitch to pee. Celebrities like Lady Gaga and Bruce Springsteen have protested bathroom bills that will stomp on the rights of transpeople. And where was Hillary Clinton after she arrived back to the stage late after the first commercial break of the live-televised Democratic leadership debate in December 2015? Stuck in a queue for the women’s bathroom.
Peel back the layers on public bathrooms and it’s clear many more people want for good access than have it. Public bathroom access is about cities, society, design, movement, and equity. The real question is: Why are public toilets so crappy? — Coach House Books
AND FINALLY . . . IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!
- Appropriation Alert! Did Al Ries and Steve Blank, two engineers who made millions by articulating and branding the Lean Startup methodology which is now taught as startup gospel everywhere steal their ideas from feminist thought leaders? Find out more here.
- Celebrated journalist Sally Armstrong is the CBC’s 2019 Massey Lecturer and argues that improving the status of women is critical to our collective survival. The Canadian tour: ‘Power Shift: The Longest Revolution’, starts September 25 and The book version of the 2019 CBC Massey Lectures, Power Shift: The Longest Revolution, is published by House of Anansi Press. Available as of Sept. 17, 2019.
- Greta Thunberg isn’t the only one making waves about our climate crisis. Here’s ELLE’s list of 26 other women leading the charge to protect our environment.
- The Government of Canada has launched the Canada Business App to help business owners navigate services, get recommendations tailored to your business, find answers on how to scale up, access new markets, and more. LiisBeth met a government rep on site at this press conference last month in Toronto and said they welcome any feedback on the app. Give it a try and give them your feedback.
- Whaat? Can it get any weirder? Today, it seems more men than women proudly call themselves feminists. Why? Likely because women still fear repercussions from both men and women, while men have realized it makes super promotable–or perhaps a the very least more dateable). Regardless, studies show that over 58% (men and women) of the world’s population identify as feminist. Still, Apple programmed Siri to avoid the word “feminism“; In a cowardly move, Apple brass have ceded cultural terrain on basic gender equality to far-right sophists. #shameonyou
That’s a wrap for Dispatch #55!
This is our BIGGEST newsletter and online magazine features release yet! When you combine this with the fact we have added three new amazing board members this year, a new editorial assistant to ensure queries are answered more quickly, will be launching a new online network (Feminst Enterprise Commons) and have created a feminist city walk in Toronto in partnership with Jane’s Walk that at present has 160 people signed up (Yikes!), all we can say is that we are clearly entering into a new phase of our community’s growth and development.
Thank you for being there, being with us, encouraging us, and calling us out when we do something stupid!
If you do not currently support LiisBeth with a paid subscription or one-time donation, we hope you will consider doing so. There are less than four 500 reader+ feminist publications in Canada. We are the ONLY intersectional feminist publication in the world dedicated entirely to examining entrepreneurship and innovation via a feminist lens. And one of a few media outlets that are women-led/owned.
We are a source of fair income for feminist writers, academics, and grassroots thought leaders. And we are feminist economy boosters open to partnering, collaborating and learning new things.
Also, remember, if you have a story tip, email us a [email protected]. We are currently accepting queries for January and February.
See you after the Canadian election (Oct 21st). International readers–wish us well. The next release is scheduled for October 25th-ish!
Peace Out,
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Athelstan Spilhaus Comic Strip, Illustrator: Gene Fawcett
PK’S VIEWPOINT
On a hot summer July evening, a few members of the LiisBeth team (Lana, Geraldine, Champagne) and I went to see a screening of The Experimental City, a 2017 documentary about the Minnesota Experimental City (MXC) project.
The MXC was a 1960s technology-led city-building project that sought to solve urban problems of the day (excessive waste, pollution, automobile congestion, lack of parks) by building a full-size Jetsons city on appropriated land from scratch, using the latest technology sourced from around the world.
Its lead visionary—engineer, futurist, comic strip author, and dean of the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Technology Athelstan Spilhaus—imagined a city with underground garbage recycling, lots of open parks, wilderness and farms, automatic highways, moving sidewalks, and waterless toilets. Fuelled by enthusiasm for the possibilities, a cadre of like-minded engineers, designers including geodesic dome inventor Buckminster Fuller, a newspaper publisher, futurists, politicians, and corporate leaders all decided take the techtopian idea from comic to concrete.
Despite years and significant spending on designs, plans, and site scouting, in the end the project never put a single shovel—or tree—in the ground.
We were interested in learning about the MXC because we are in the midst of planning our September 29 Feminist City Walk and Talk, an event dedicated to examining feminist approaches to city building.
Turns out watching the film was time well spent on several levels. The MXC story is not only a cautionary tale about techtopian projects in general. It is also a story about the limitations of patriarchal leadership styles.
When Product Trumps Process
The MXC plan was envisioned as an innovation experiment. Its unproven ideas girded by emerging technologies required a 60,000-square-foot sandbox and 250,000 real people living its experience in order to try things out, iterate, and try again until market-ready scale-up versions could be implemented elsewhere—for a handsome sum.
MXC was, essentially, a minimum viable product. Its citizens (in this case) were early-stage adopters. The play? To create new jobs and wealth for Minnesota by selling the experiment’s spinoff products and intellectual property (IP) that would arise out of the project. Partners and advocates included federal and state governments, the University of Minnesota, and the 3M corporation. The project’s all-male leaders were able to raise $250,000 from the US federal government and $670,000 (equivalent to $8.4 million today) from businesses to invest in the project plan.
It all sounded exciting and promising. There was just one problem: where to put it.
Eventually the group found a site—an unincorporated township in rural Minnesota with fewer than 2,500 residents (back-to-landers and rural folk). The assumption was that these residents would be pushovers and would be thrilled to see 60,000 acres of their pristine natural environment turned into a city of the future for a quarter of a million dollars. The pitch? Think of the jobs! Think of the economic development! Think of what we could learn! Think of the economic potential! Think of the profits!
By now, this top-down sell story should start to sound familiar, especially if you have been following Toronto’s Sidewalk Labs‘ (this time the study cost $50 million) city-building project spearheaded by Alphabet (Google’s parent company).
As you know, Minnesota’s Experimental City was never built. They didn’t even get close. Why? As the documentary so clearly points out, its leaders and advocates prioritized product over process. They assumed a “trust us, we got this” and “father knows best” stance that was off-putting. Most importantly, they overlooked Mary Parker Follet’s 1920s feminist management wisdom by adopting a “power over” (exert authority) approach versus “power to” (develop agency and capacity to act in others) combined with “power with” (acting as expert heroes instead of initiators and sustainers of a collective process).
They also forgot Margaret Mead’s timeless lesson: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” This applies not just to those with power and influence, but also to those with little else but just cause, a point of view, and determination.
And what if, as feminist management scholar CV Harquail suggests, we shifted the eye of these stormy projects from a focus on economic development to a focus on citizen care?
Today, 80 percent of North Americans and 55 percent of humanity worldwide live in cities. We need to embrace both product and process innovations to make cities livable, sustainable, and safe. However, a patriarchal, top-down, corporate sales–oriented process that puts technology and corporate interests first is unlikely to succeed.
Projects like these, which involve a complex and large set of inter-independent stakeholders, require a deep understanding of the role of power, agency, co-creation processes, and fair and equitable distribution of benefits. These are all things feminist leaders know a thing or two about.
Lana, Geraldine, Champagne and I stayed for the panel session that followed which featured accomplished tech entrepreneur and out spoken Sidewalk Labs critic Saadia Muzaffar, and Sidewalk Labs supporter, Ken Greenberg, the former Director of Urban Design and Architecture for the City Toronto, author of Toronto Reborn, and adviser to Sidewalk Labs Toronto.
Trying to keep an open mind, and putting aside the fireworks examples of mansplaining that occurred, the panel discussion only served to confirm our views.
Patriarchal leadership styles which, by the way, know no gender, is like kryptonite when it comes to complex, multi-stakeholder projects. Next time, we say we go lighter on the techno-determinists and engineers, and a little heavier on the feminist management scholars and leaders who are superstars at process.
WHAATT? TORONTO’S FIRST-EVER FEMINIST CITY WALK & TALK?! HOLD THE DATE!
Feminism has shifted mindsets about gender roles and made us more aware of the role that power and force of systems play in shaping our lives. But what role has feminism and feminists played in shaping our cities? Would would a feminist city look like? How would decisions and policies be made if feminist values and practices were incorporated? What would the Scotiabank Arena look like if it were designed by a feminist architect?
These are just some of the themes that will be explored during the Feminist City Walk & Talk coming up in Toronto on September 29 from 2:00PM to 5:30PM. Join Denise Pinto, expert guests, LiisBeth, and Jane’s Walk TO for this unique walk and talk on current feminist issues, city building, and alternative futures while exploring and learning about key sites where feminist history was made in Toronto.
THIS WEEK ON LIISBETH
Meet Victoria Claflin Woodhull, ca. 1866-1873, who was a feminist, serial entrepreneur, and US presidential candidate.
FIRST WOMAN TO RUN FOR PREZ
Was Hillary Clinton the first woman in the US to run for president? Nope.
That title belongs to badass suffragette leader Victoria Claflin Woodhull Martin (1838-1927). Woodhull was a serial entrepreneur, newspaper editor, Wall Street stock trader, public speaker, women’s rights reformer, and fortune teller. She had three husbands, two children (one of whom was disabled), and her feminism advocated for free love and socialism.
What can feminist entrepreneurs and aspiring women-identified politicians learn from Woodhull? Turns out, a lot.
This month on LiisBeth, check out new contributor Stephanie Newman’s truly fascinating piece on Woodhull from an entrepreneur’s perspective.
RISKY BUSINESS
Pramilla Ramdahani, Founder and CEO of Community Innovation Lab
Most startups don’t start off as high-growth enterprises. Growth is one goal, sure, but all businesses start from the bottom up. But bottom is a relative term. For abuse survivors and marginalized women, starting a business could mean working from a place of residual mental and physical effects of trauma, fear of publicity, possible ongoing threats, and little financial backing. But survivors also possess the much-needed entrepreneurial attributes of resilience, strength, and perseverance.
By 2020, 1,335 women, youth, senior entrepreneurs, and social entrepreneurs will have benefitted from initiatives at the Community Innovation Lab (Co-iLab).
What’s the Co-iLab difference? Participants are involved in the programming and design of the space. #cocreation
Michelle Davies spoke to Co-iLab’s founder Pramilla Ramdahani and reveals how Co-iLab is much more than an all-female accelerator. To get involved, or see if you’re a fit for The Refinery entrepreneurial program, check out the full story here.
EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT FEMINISM AND BUSINESS BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK
CV Harquail’s new book, Feminism: A Key Idea for Business and Society, will get you to think differently about feminism’s relevance in business. But don’t just take our word for it—check out this review by Deloitte Professor in the Management of Growth Enterprises Dr. Barbara Orser. Orser has published over 100 academic and trade journals and knows the feminist entrepreneur space like a lioness knows the realities of the Savannah. She agrees it’s about time we have a book that succinctly explains why enterprises should be turning to feminist values and wisdom to transform business.
Read Orser’s review of the book here.
FEMINIST FREEBIE!
Be the first to comment (substantively) on Orser’s review of Feminism: A Key Idea for Business and Society and receive a gratitude copy.
NEW SUPPORTS FOR WOMEN-LED SOCIAL ENTERPRISES IN ONTARIO
Good news for women social entrepreneurs in Ontario! A new, unique program that will help diverse women-led social enterprises grow is set to launch in 2020. Read about the $3.6 million Canadian federal government announcement here.
The program endeavours to integrate Indigenous wisdom in its curriculum and approach. This is a first.
LIISBETH FIELD NOTES
MEET LIISBETH’S TWO INCREDIBLE NEW ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS:
GERALDINE CAHILL & ANITA LI
Geraldine Cahill, LiisBeth Advisory Board Member 2019
We are delighted that Geraldine Cahill has joined the Liisbeth Advisory Board! Cahill is the Director of UpSocial Canada, a social innovation agency first launched in Barcelona in 2010. She is also the co-author of Social Innovation Generation: Fostering a Canadian Ecosystem for Systems Change and chair of the Jane’s Walk Steering Committee, an annual global festival celebrating local knowledge and community connection.
Born in Australia, Cahill completed a BA in Media Studies at RMIT University and a BA in Film and Television from the Victorian College of the Arts. Her first media love was radio; she produced current affairs and women’s sports programs over several years at 3CR before moving to Canada and supporting the launch of a non-profit online news site, The Real News Network.
We are also thrilled to announce that Anita Li, consultant and former director of communities at The Discourse, has also joined our Advisory Board!
Anita Li, LiisBeth Advisory Board Member 2019
Li is also editor-in-chief of The Other Wave, a website dedicated to covering media from a multicultural perspective. Prior to that, Li served as senior editor at Fusion and as news director at Complex. She’s also held reporting and editing positions at media outlets across North America, including Mashable, Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, CBC, and CTV.
OUR AUGUST PLAYLIST: BOLD, BRAVE, UNAPOLOGETIC
Looking to discover feminist-leaning, female, trans, or queer-led bands? Not easy right? Turns out we see very little diversity represented on stages at live music venues. With initiatives like Gender Parity on Stage by Canadian Women Working in Music calling for music bookers to book 50 percent women-fronted bands, things may start to change for all women-identified genders that are under-represented on stage.
To help spotlight feminist bands, LiisBeth publishes playlists featuring tightly curated women-identified-led bands and singer/songwriters and songs that are blatantly about love, justice, and power.
Our latest August 2019 playlist serves up 10 songs by artists featured at this year’s Venus Fest, a feminist music festival created by Aerin Fogel that’s designed to showcase women-led, queer, and trans bands in Toronto.
FEMINIST FREEBIE!
Get your groove on and tell us what you think by commenting on the playlist here. First two people to leave a reply win two passes ($110 value) to Venus Fest in Toronto this September. #hellavalue
Photo Credit: Katherine Fung/The World
What is the definition of an enterprise?
According to the dictionary:
1. A project or undertaking that is especially difficult, complicated, or risky
2. Unit of economic organization or activity especially: a business organization
3. A systematic purposeful activity, i.e. digital media production is the main economic enterprise for visual artists
4. Or readiness to engage in daring or difficult action; showing initiative; being enterprising
What is a feminist enterprise?
All of the above along with express operational focus or mission related to social and gender justice.
So what is the feminist enterprise commons (FEC)?
A new online community where feminist entrepreneurs and changemakers who are building organizations, enterprises, or working on projects from around the globe can meet, share stories, tools, learnings, stress test new ideas, practices, source goods and services from each other, and above all, feel supported.
Why are we building it?
Elize Shirdel, feminist tech entrepreneur and long-time LiisBeth supporter, explains: “Feminism’s deep body of academic and grassroots work related to change-making and practice is an under-explored source of innovative ideas for founders and business leaders looking to truly advance social and gender justice. It’s great to finally have a place dedicated to exploring feminism in business plus learning about and sharing our experiences.”
The FEC will be a service provided to the LiisBeth community on a paid subscription basis. Stay tuned for more information in the next few weeks.
FEMINIST FREEBIE!
If you are on our list as a $10 monthly paying subscriber to LiisBeth by September 2019, you will be invited to receive a complimentary first three months!
Champagne Thomson (bottom left) and crew outside the public library in Peterborough, Ont., are bringing attention to the need for a new homeless shelter in their city.
IS HOMELESSNESS A FEMINIST ISSUE?
We think so. And it is not just a big-city issue either.
In a community of 78,777 where the housing vacancy rate is less than one percent, the rural city of Peterborough, Ont., struggles with establishing and funding shelters for those in need. Due to funding and location issues, the city recently closed its only barrier-free shelter on July 1, 2019. A temporary tent city was created to deal with the immediate need: a stop gap measure that is not ideal.
Few realize that women make up 50.1 percent of the under 16 homeless population in Canada, and 27.3 percent of the homeless population in Canada overall). These figures do not include women and women-identified people who experience temporary homelessness as a result of domestic violence.
Any entrepreneurial solutions to funding safe, barrier-free physical shelters out there? Let us know (email [email protected]). We would love to hear and write about them.
LIISBETH MAKES FEEDSPOT’S TOP 10 FEMINIST MAGAZINE LIST
Play the video below to hear the sound of LiisBeth tooting our horn because we were voted as one of the Top 10 Feminist Magazines, Publications & Ezines To Follow In 2019 by Feedspot, an online RSS feed reader.
The Best Feminist Magazines are chosen from thousands of feminist magazines on the web using search and social metrics. Readers subscribe to these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower themselves with frequent updates and high-quality information. Data will be refreshed once a week.
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If social and economic justice are important to you.
Help us SUPPORT, BUILD & GROW the feminist economy
We do this for YOU
Our readers, our community, our future.Every paid subscription helps us with grant applications, paying new contributors, and bringing these newsletters to your inbox.
We can’t do it without you.
Each online magazine refresh and newsletter takes a collective effort.
We have reached over 2,800 subscribers.
Less than 30 percent contribute financially.
“Rising high up on the heather-covered moorlands, seeping through our bogs, flowing down our streams and into our rivers and out onto the sandy strands of the rock-strewn Atlantic seaboard, are the old Celtic myths and stories…waiting to be reclaimed and re-visioned for the modern world.”
Aged 30, Sharon Blackie found herself weeping in the car park of the multinational corporation where she worked, wondering if this was what a nervous breakdown felt like. Somewhere along the line, she realized, she had lost herself—and so began her long journey back to authenticity, rootedness in place and belonging.
In this extraordinary book of myth, memoir, and modern-day mentors (from fashion designers to lawyers), Blackie faces the wasteland of Western culture, the repression of women, and the devastation of our planet. She boldly names the challenge: to reimagine women’s place in the world, and to rise up, firmly rooted in our own native landscapes and the powerful Celtic stories and wisdom which sprang from them.
“A haunting heroine’s journey for every woman who finds inspiration and solace in the natural world.” —Goodreads.com
“I love this book. Truly, it’s mind-blowing in the most profound and exhilarating sense. This is an anthem for all we could be, an essential book for this, the most critical of recent times. I sincerely hope every woman who can read is given one, and has the time and the space to read it.” –Manda Scott, author of Boudica and Into the Fire
Forbidden Fruit: Engaging an Indigenous Feminist Lens as an Neninaw Iskwew is a feminist-based memoir acknowledging that people are measured, categorized, and placed in a hierarchal order that is deeply influenced by discourses predicated upon social processes.
“Dr. McKay’s Indigenous feminism is about being aware that due to the colonial patriarchy that has seeped through Indigenous social and cultural systems, Indigenous women are positioned differently in economic, social, and political structures. Marlene masterfully uses her own life experiences to assert that colonialism and Indigenous cultures obscure the role of women in a way that continues both their marginalization and the binary of the princess/squaw.” —J Charlton Publishing
Marlene E. Mckay entered the teaching profession after working as a social worker/counsellor for about 15 years. She has four earned university degrees. Marlene’s education focuses on Indigenous feminism, social justice, anti-racist education, and as a Cree speaker herself, she has a deep commitment to Indigenous literacy. Her research is motivated by observing and experiencing marginalization. Dr. McKay asserts that subjugation is influenced by identity categories of race, class status, and gender. She further argues that one’s speech is used to categorize people. Dr. McKay has taught at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Alberta.
AND FINALLY . . . IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!
- Not all equal voice call-outs are created equal. This National Observer piece highlights the stories of three women who were fired after raising concerns about racism in the women advocacy organization.
- Social procurement strategies can build inclusive local economies. Thinking about creating one? Check out this useful article here (written by PK Mutch and published in Local Love).
- Entrepreneurs can’t do it all. And we don’t do it alone. Incubators and accelerators are places where business startups meet, network, find funding opportunities and mentors, and more. Here are Startup Funding’s list of Top 31 Accelerators for women located in the US and abroad.
- Here is an opportunity for #womenintech in Toronto that we wanted to share. Toronto Tech Study aims to get a clear-headed read on the state of sexual harassment in the sector. Yes, it still happens. But how pervasive is it? You have to see the gap before you can figure out how to move past it. The Aperta Project is intended to help Toronto build a more inclusive tech sector in the #MeToo era. Do you have a story about sexual harassment in Toronto tech? Share your experience anonymously to this project and learn more here.
- Alberta hair salons are levelling the playing field by charging the same price for haircuts no matter the client’s gender. Check out this article that includes a seven-minute interview with Jennifer Storey, the owner of Adara Hair in Edmonton, who explains why her salon decided to become the first place in Edmonton to advertise gender-neutral pricing.
- Listen to an episode of LiisBeth’s favourite podcast, On Being, here. In this episode, host Krista Tippett chats with philosopher Jonathan Rowson, co-founder of the research platform Perspectiva, who believes the world’s major challenges stem from a crisis of perception and imagination. The episode focuses on the connection between our inner and outer worlds and how social change happens across “systems, souls, and society.”
That’s it for our August newsletter! Hate to drop the F-bomb, but fall will soon be here.
We will be back September 23 with more profiles and stories that may bring you joy or make you want to kick the ground!
If you do not currently support LiisBeth, we hope you will consider doing so. There are less than four feminist publications in Canada. We are the ONLY intersectional feminist publication in the world dedicated entirely to examining entrepreneurship and innovation via a feminist lens. We are one of only a few sources of income for feminist writers, academics, and grassroots thought leaders.
Also, remember, if you have a story tip, email us a [email protected]. We are currently accepting queries for December.
Enjoy the last few weeks of summer (or winter depending on where you live).
Blue skies either way,
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Photo of Ani DiFranco, Righteous Babes Tour Poster
PK’S VIEWPOINT
To detox from a full day of narratives about entrepreneurship from a technology sector point of view at Toronto’s recent mega technology sector conference, #Collision, I turned to Ani DiFranco and her newly released memoir, No Walls and the Recurring Dream.
It was such a joy to read.
DiFranco is an award winning, singer-songwriter who embraces the activist label as well as being a political and feminist entrepreneur. She has sold over 5.5 million albums—on her own terms. In fact, DiFranco was one of the first artists to create her own label back in the early 1990s. She built her fan base by playing gig after gig in tiny bars and at off-beat music festivals…for two decades. She has been celebrated and vilified for her views. Not to mention her “bad feminist” moments. But many have looked to her for inspiration on how to stay authentic while building growing a successful, values-led enterprise.
As a flawed human and fiercely independent entrepreneur with ambitions to build a sustainable enterprise, I sometimes ask myself after attending tech sector events like #Collision, where it’s easy to get caught up in the intoxicating and chromatic entrepreneurship narratives, “am I doing it “right”? After all, if everyone else is out there practicing lean startup methodology and signing with a “label,”—the tech equivalent to inking a deal with a VC—or learning the right way to pitch so they can get into a hot accelerator, shouldn’t I be doing the same? If I want to see my enterprise and everyone involved with it thrive, shouldn’t I be playing along?
Fortunately, a line from page 115 of DiFranco’s book 115 helped me answer that question.
Difranco writes, “I think my one shining gift in life has been to know who my teachers are and to follow them around looking for ways to be at their service. It was easy for me to turn down record deals because I didn’t find any of my teachers in the music industry spheres.“
Brilliant.
It’s so important for those of us going against the grain to find the right teachers. Finding the right teachers means knowing who you are, understanding what you want, and finding ways to connect with the people you want to learn from.
It’s also important to find—or build from scratch—the right community. Not an echo chamber, but a community that has the capacity to challenge you, and hold you accountable. In DiFranco’s case, that community was her fan base.
I sometimes imagine what DiFranco’s music would have been like if, as a young entrepreneur, she had attended the music industry’s equivalent of events like #Collision. What if she believed going after only mass markets was the only way to succeed, and signed that record deal? I shudder at the thought of her dressed up and behaving like a Pussycat Doll, smiling and singing: “I’m telling you to loosen up my buttons baby (uh huh)”, instead of showing up in jeans, shaved head and a t-shirt singing: “Science chases money and money chases its tail / And the best minds of my generation can’t make bail.” A few lyrics from Garden of Simple, Ani DiFranco
DiFranco’s record label Righteous Babes includes a touring company, a retail operation, a music publisher, and a foundation, all in addition to the label. Annual revenues are reported to be approximately $5M. The company employs over 20 people. Righteous Babes purchased a 19th century church in Buffalo, NY, and converted it into a 1200 seat concert hall called appropriately—Babeville.
Now let’s think about that. Take it in. And then ask yourself how the next Ani DiFranco or outspoken political, activist entrepreneur with no desire to compromise or “exit”, might go about finding relevant support, or the right teacher, within today’s impressive maze start up ecosystems?
Exactly.
THIS WEEK ON LIISBETH
Pleasure Activism book launch by
Another Story Book Shop at Lula Lounge in Toronto
ONE NIGHT STAND WITH A REVOLUTIONARY
adrienne maree brown is an author, doula, women’s rights activist and black feminist based in Detroit, Michigan. And a revolutionary.
Known for her best seller, Emergent Strategy and now, Pleasure Activism, she addresses ways we can shape our often heavy social change work into meaningful, collaborative, pleasurable experiences. LiisBeth caught up with AMB in Toronto at her Pleasure Activism book launch.
In our interview with AMB after the show, we asked Brown what it would take to create a socially just world and about her experience as the Executive Director of The Ruckus Society, a multi-racial network of trainers dedicated to ecological justice and social change movements. Listen to the audio recording here. Or read about it all here!
FEMINIST FREEBIE!
The Coupon code LIISBETH will be good for 15% off Pleasure Activism books at akpress.org from May 31 through June 30.
Paul and Ruby McConnell
TAKING THE HIGH ROAD TO SUCCESS
It’s summer (sort of). The outdoor cannabis growing season is here. We felt it was time to check in once again with women cannabis entrepreneurs. Which led us to these two incredible stories.
Full Circle C02 Comes Full Circle?
When Ruby McConnell’s co-owned cannabis company, Full Circle CO2, was about to be shut down due to local protests, she used her small town Oregon community connections to stop the closure. And instead of filing a grievance over the shut down effort, she asked to join the rules-making committee to prevent such a thing from happening to others. She was the only female processor in the room.
McConnell’s “canary in the goldmine” story is what a female cannabis entrepreneur’s journey looks like in a new industry and environment where everyone is still sorting out how to interpret new legislation. It’s also a place where not everyone is pleased to see cannabis become legalized. Her harrowing experience gives the phrase “reefer madness” a whole new meaning. Her advice and insight is pure gold. You can read the full story here.
PHOTO of Reena Rampersad / PHOTO CREDIT: Mai Nguyen
WEED BE BETTER OFF
Women in grassroots agriculture, food, and health and wellness enterprises shaped, nourished and tilled the market for today’s legal cannabis industry. But it didn’t take long for the patriarchy to take over once legalization was on the table.
Today, only eight out of 99 licensed cannabis companies in Canada who have public information available, are headed by women.
While women’s role in society has changed and afforded new possibilities to many, the way power works and who has power, clearly has not.
Still, women entrepreneurs like Reena Rampersad, are forging ahead. Rampersad is also uniquely mindful of the importance of creating opportunities within this new sector for marginalized, socially oppressed communities who have been disproportionately affected by cannabis prohibition for a very long time.
Learn more about Reena’s story here.
Jonathan Hera, founder of Marigold Capital
FEMINIST FREEBIE / DOWNLOADABLE COMBO
HOW TO APPROACH AN INVESTOR?
Jonathan Hera, Managing Partner of Marigold Capital, is happy to help by offering a one hour complimentary investment readiness coaching session to the first LiisBeth reader to *meaningfully* comment on this month’s adrienne maree brown interview article!
Jonathan Hera is one of Canada’s leading impact and gender lens investors. Marigold Capital is specifically looking to invest in enterprises that advance social justice while providing just returns for investors. You can learn more about him and Marigold’s $20M Canadian fund here.
Marigold Capital is the first venture fund in Canada to sign up to The Billion Dollar Fund for women’s initiatives which invites venture capital fund companies to increase the number of women-led companies within their investment portfolios. At present, still less than 12% of all venture funding goes to venture capital eligible women-led companies. For an idea of what Marigold looks for in company, download their handy guide here.
To be the first to comment on the AMB article and claim your reward here!
LIISBETH FIELD NOTES
Filmmaker Barbara Hager used this photo as a vision statement to illustrate how she would be collaborating with communities in the production of 1491: The Untold Story of the Americas Before Columbus. It was included in information packages sent to community members and used by her team as the basis for presentations to Chiefs and Band Councils.
“NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US”
On May 10th, Ontario Creates held an informative session for non-Indigenous content creators regarding protocols for working with Indigenous communities. The report, “A Media Production Guide to Working with First nations, Métis and Inuit Communities, Cultures, Concepts, and Stories” was released in March, 2019, and covers etiquette, proper consent and permission, and best practices related to working on Indigenous lands, working with Indigenous content, working in Indigenous communities, working with Indigenous crew or cast, working with archival materials, releases, and marketing and distribution strategies.
The practices recommended can, and perhaps should be extended to anyone working with content that might involve community or individual sensitivities.
You can download the report here.
WOMEN’S RIGHTS UNDER SEIGE IN THE U.S.
Everyone reading this newsletter is aware of the mind blowing anti-reproductive rights legislation wave in the United States.
If you are outside the U.S., and/or believe it can’t happen where you live, think again.
Here in Canada, Bloc Quebecois MP Monique Pauzé recently asked for unanimous consent on a motion asking the Canadian House of Commons to “reiterate that a woman’s body belongs to her and her alone, and to recognize her right to choose an abortion regardless of the reason.” Everyone stood, except the Conservative Party members. Canada’s federal election is in October, 2019.
Kellee Maize
About 14 hours after the motion in the House of Commons, we received an email from Kellee Maize, an internationally-renowned independent rapper/singer, motivational speaker, activist, feminist, and entrepreneur based in Pittsburgh, PA. Maize found us on social media and asked us to share this abortion-ban protest video she created as a way to voice her rage and mobilize resistance.
It took us about one second or less after watching it to say yes. We encourage you all to watch it as well, and share widely.
TURNING HATE INTO ART
Artist Ness Lee and writer Vivek Shraya discuss Death Threat, a compelling act of resistance in the form of a comic book published by Arsenal Pulp Press
Hecklers in real life. Internet trolls that tell you to piss off. All part of the scene for women who work online or dare to use their voice in public. But descriptive death threats? That’s a whole other level.
When Vivek Shraya, a transfeminine person of colour started receiving vivid death threats, she decided to turn her hate mail into a graphic novel. Talk about resilience.
Vive la resistance Vivek. You can get a copy of her book here.
LIISBETH IS GROWING!
Champagne Thomson, LiisBeth Assistant Editor
Soooo incredibly happy to have Champagne Thomson on board as Assistant Editor for LiisBeth Magazine. Thomson will be be reviewing queries, helping with event planning and supporting the growing Liisbeth community in general!
Thomson is a Human Rights and Equity Studies student at York University with extensive work and volunteer experience in grassroots NGOs across Ontario. Her passion for social justice and equity (rather than equality) has led her to work in harm reduction VAW and anti-Human Trafficking shelters but also to conduct anti-oppressive, feminist research aspiring towards bettering the world in which we all are meant to share peacefully. Thomson has also worked with newcomers, youth, and can speak with varying levels of proficiency in Ojibwe, ASL, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and French.
Oh, and she also has an obsession for houseplants and waterfalls. Welcome Champ!
CONNECTING WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD
Marika Arovuo’s interview with Gina Romero, Co-Founder of Connected Women. In the last year, the organization hosted 167 meetups that had over 7000 attendees in 47 cities across 6 countries includingPakistan, Singapore, UK, Philippines and more. [14 minutes]
The interconnectedness of all things…and people.
Here are two organizations that are connecting women on a global scale.
Above, Marika Arovuo hosted the first Canadian Connnected Women meetup in Toronto in April 2019. Aruovo grew up in a Finnish farm village, started her tech journey after high school by studying computer science in a class of 30 boys, and this week was newly elected as the President of the Canada-Finland Chamber of Commerce. After living and working on three continents, she now runs her digital marketing agency, GRIT Online and has been employing women from the global community of tech-powered women entrepreneurs, freelancers and professionals for the past 13 years. Aruovo fully supports the idea of connecting talented female virtual assistants with female entrepreneurs around the world.
Speaking of international women’s networking organizations, LiisBeth was recently introduced to WOW (World Wide Network of Women). WOW Canada held their launch dinner Toronto 2019 earlier this month at the Gladstone Hotel. WOW got its start in Lisbon, Portugal. What stood out for us? The European tone and sensibility. And the fact that speakers spoke knowledgeably about feminism, fearlessly took on the patriarchy, equity the workplace, colonization and were great examples of reformists and radical new world-builders. Local organizer Maike Althouse says the launch dinner was just the beginning. Watch for more on WOW in the coming year!
WOW Dinner, May 21, 2019 at the Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, Canada. From Left to Right: Val Fox, The Pivotal Point, Canadian Federal Government’s Minister of Small Business and Export Development, Mary Ng, WOW Founder Isabel van der Kolk, and LiisBeth Publisher, PK Mutch
A PEOPLE’S GUIDE TO AI
Politicians, investors and entrepreneurs everywhere are betting on AI’s ability to refresh and drive new economic potential (unless you live in Ontario, where our “Open for Business” Premier actually cut funding). But what does the average entrepreneur or person really know about AI and how to use it?
Via our collaboration with Allied Media, we are pleased to be able to share a downloadable guide that will help you unravel what the fuss is all bout.
Written in 2018 by Mimi Onuoha and Mother Cyborg (Diana Nucera), A People’s Guide to AI is a comprehensive beginner’s guide to understanding AI and other data-driven tech. The guide uses a popular education approach to explore and explain AI-based technologies so that everyone—from youth to seniors, and from non-techies to experts—has the chance to think critically about the kinds of futures automated technologies can bring.
The mission of A People’s Guide to AI is to open up conversation around AI by demystifying, situating, and shifting the narrative about what types of use cases AI can have for everyday people.
You can download it here.
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If social and economic justice are important to you…
Help US help YOU
Our readers, our community, our future.Every paid subscription helps us with grant applications.
Help us SUPPORT the feminist economy
Our impact is measurable.
If you find our content of value, consider contributing to us on Patreon
Each online magazine refresh and newsletter takes a collective effort.
We have reached over 2,500 subscribers.
Less than 30% contribute financially.
LIISBETH STORY VOTE
OK LiisBethians, we are changing it up a bit! This poll is going to be different.
First, LiisBeth is SUPER excited to announce its Feminist City Series which includes a collection of articles, profiles and an event focused on how cities can advance gender equity by design.
The series will launch during Gender Equality Week coming up September 23-29th, 2019. Commissioning is under way!
So, this time instead of a story vote, we have a feminist city vote!
Here is a link to the 3 minute survey! We can’t wait to hear your ideas. Your thoughts will help us source the kinds of stories for this timely initiative.
A reminder the winning pitch from May is: A story of the legacy left behind following the Wakefield, UK miners’ strike which was famously supported by gay and lesbian organizations—and serves as an example of an intersectional movement long before the word was coined. Readers are wondering what Wakefield is like now? Did activism have a lasting impact? Watch out for the story in the fall.
WHAT WE’RE READING
Libby Davies has worked steadfastly for social justice both inside parliament and out on the streets for more than four decades. At nineteen, Davies became a community organizer in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. She went on to serve in municipal and then federal politics, advancing to the role of Deputy Leader of the New Democratic Party.
Davies looks back on her remarkable life and career with candid humour and heart-rending honesty. She addresses the challenges of her work on homelessness, sex workers’ rights, and ending drug prohibition. She illuminates the human strengths and foibles at the core of each issue, her own as well as those of her colleagues and activist allies. Davies’ astute political analysis offers an insider’s perspective that never loses touch with the people she fights alongside. Outside In is both a political and personal memoir of Davies’ forty years of work at the intersection of politics and social movements. – BTL Books
“Libby’s memoir isn’t only a personal journey of strength and resilience, but also an incredible story of a passionate social organizer who became one of the finest politicians in Canada. In today’s state of pathetic populism, Libby’s personal political account is an inspiration for citizens looking for real change.” – Monia Mazigh, author of Hope Has Two Daughters
This is a manifesto for the 99 percent.
Unaffordable housing, poverty wages, inadequate healthcare, border policing, climate change—these are not what you ordinarily hear feminists talking about. But aren’t they the biggest issues for the vast majority of women around the globe?
Taking as its inspiration the new wave of feminist militancy that has erupted globally, this manifesto makes a simple but powerful case: feminism shouldn’t start—or stop—with the drive to have women represented at the top of their professions. It must focus on those at the bottom, and fight for the world they deserve. And that means targeting capitalism. Feminism must be anticapitalist, eco-socialist and antiracist.
“[The authors] cut through the corporate feminist ‘Lean In’ noise to offer a feminism rooted not just in intersectionality of identity but also in economic justice. After years of books on feminism that have started to say the same thing, everyone (not just women!) should buy this one.”
–Vogue
[Arruzza, Bhattacharya, and Fraser] have collaborated and written what is effectively a prospective programme for the global women’s movement, a feminist manifesto for the 99%.”—Socialism Today
AND FINALLY . . . IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!
- Dames Making Games programs provide accessible space, instruction and mentorship for diverse game makers. DMG offers a wide range of free events, workshops, resources and services to genderqueer, nonbinary, femme people, Two Spirit people, and trans and cis women. DMG prioritizes people who are traditionally marginalized in tech and game spaces, especially those whom DMG specifically serves, as well as people who are racialized, neurodiverse, and/or have disabilities. DMG is an explicitly feminist space but open to any and all genders. DMG expects their members to do the same. Become a member or submit a workshop proposal here.
- In May, 40 members of New York’s Power Bitches gathered to talk about feminist entrepreneurship. Find out what they had to say in founder Rachel Hill’s summary article “Six Thoughts on Feminist Business” here.
- Kerry Clare, author and blogger writes a post on her blog, Pickle Me This, titled: Women who say no. A wise and healthy reminder about the value of time. “The most feminist thing I’ve done lately was send an email including the line, “It sounds like a great event, but to do the job effectively it would take up a bunch of my time and I can’t afford to do that for free.”
- From the 2018 archives: “Right up there with more sales is more diversity,” says ZJ Zadley, HR strategist and community builder who is passionate about diversity and inclusion, employee engagement, and building brands that candidates love. Listen to Hadley is in conversation with Rotman MBA Student Fellow (2017-18) Vanessa Ko in this BEYOND THE BUSINESS CASE podcast. “Track what you’re doing. If you’re not looking at analytics and measuring those things [hiring practices] you’re not going to be able to act appropriately.” Ko talks to Hadley about the state of gender diversity in the startup world. Listen to THE STARTUP ‘GENDER PROBLEM’ episode here. [12 minutes]
That was newsletter #53! It brings you up to date!
Our next full newsletter will be a combined July/August edition scheduled for release on July 29th! Just in time for the long weekend! On the roster includes a profile on social entrepreneur and women’s advocate, Pramilla Ramdahani, a review of CV Harquails’ long awaited first book “Feminism: A Key Idea for Society & Business”, plus much more!
Also watch for short announcements about LiisBeth’s initiatives and plans for the coming months!
You might also want to check out our new “About Page” and “Sponsor Page” and note that we changed our tagline from “Dispatches for Feminist Entrepreneurs” to “Dispatches for Feminist Changemakers”.
We felt that was more representative of what our community of readers and supporters has grown into over the past three, yes THREE years!
Also remember, if you have a story tip, email us a [email protected].
We also appreciate all donations and paid subscriptions that continue to fuel this effort.
If you enjoy LiisBeth and believe that smart feminist stories and and feminists writing on current events, entrepreneurship and innovation can accelerate change in our culture and society, please consider becoming a donor subscriber. Just click here.
A happy, shiny, summer solstice to you all!
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Photo by Stevens Marallana on Unsplash
PK’S VIEWPOINT
WHAT WOULD ROXANE GAY SAY?
We all know media bias exists. Just take a look at how each of these four Canadian mainstream newspapers positioned the dismissal of Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott from the Liberal government’s caucus in early April.
Notice the editor’s choice of photos. Check out the headlines. Was it really necessary to shout “Tuesday Night Massacre” on the front page knowing that for some women, those words might have invoked the memory of a tragic event in Canadian history? The Montreal Massacre happened twenty-eight years ago where 14 women were killed by a male shooter at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, Quebec.
Consider the picture of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the cover of the Toronto Sun, and the accompanying headline: “Fake Feminist.”
For our readers outside of Canada, all these stories reported on Trudeau’s handling of a local corporate bully (SNC Lavalin, an engineering firm) and its efforts to delay prosecution over its use of public money to pay bribes to governments overseas (illegal in Canada). The situation led to a sizeable “he said/she said” drama between the Prime Minister, his office, and the Office of the Attorney General. The result was the removal of two smart, competent women from the Liberal government’s famous 50/50 caucus.
With great concern for how power influenced process, the nation debated whether or not Trudeau is authentic about his commitment to see women advance in society. Trudeau famously said: “Because it’s 2015” a comment on Canada’s first gender-balanced cabinet, the same man who just expelled two women from caucus.
As the fake feminist/real feminist conversation misted the political newscape of “We the North” land, and even made The New York Times, many of us who identify strongly as feminists, heaved a weary sigh.
In her New York Times Bestseller, Bad Feminist, Roxane Gay writes: “The more I write, the more I put myself out there as a bad feminist…but [at least] I am being open about what I am and who I was and where I have faltered and who I would like to become.” Gay’s book talks about the fact that despite her feminist identity, pink is her favorite colour and she sings along to catchy misogynist hip-hop songs.
Gay compassionately and beautifully makes the point that there is no perfect feminist—and counts herself among one of the most imperfect feminists around. Feminism is a huge, global, social movement. Complex, pluralistic, and hard on those who pick up the gauntlet. Everyone in it is learning. All the time. But rather than give up on the movement’s objectives and demands, Gay concludes her book by saying, “I am a bad feminist. [But] I would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all.”
I’m not letting Trudeau and his team off the hook. But as someone who lives in a province (Ontario) with a non-feminist provincial government working to lower the cost of beer, save money by reducing support for mid-wives, women’s shelters, library services, and implementing roll-backs on progressive sex-education, I can safely say that I would prefer a bad feminist government, than no feminist government at all.
THIS WEEK ON LIISBETH
Feminist Initiative leader Gudrun Schyman meets activists in Norway. Photo: Mimika Kirgios
(Gudrun Schyman centre stage wearing glasses)
HOUSE PARTIES RULE
If the Nordic diet ensures a healthier lifestyle, what can Nordic politics do for a more inclusive society? The Feministiskt Initiativ (FI) is a feminist political party founded in Sweden almost 20 years ago. Since then, many other European countries have followed suit.
What about the rest of the world? Few know that Canada once had a feminist party. The Feminist Party of Canada (FCP) was founded by Angela Miles. Women and men joined the party in 1979. The purpose was to “participate in electoral politics while transforming them along feminist lines. The media often included the Feminist Party when seeking statements or public appearances from political parties, which gave the FPC a strong public presence.” The party lasted three years. To learn more about it, click here.
Turns out that 40 years later, we are still struggling with the same issues. Perhaps the lack of a feminist party is part of the reason why.
We need to politicize the question of why feminist parties are needed now more than ever until it becomes OBVIOUS.
When film critic and writer Annika Andersson contacted LiisBeth about her idea to interview Sweden’s FI party founder, Gudrun Schyman, we put the story on our list. You voted yes (LiisBeth December Story Poll) and we commissioned the work.
Andersson flew all the way to Sweden to conduct in person interviews with both Schyman, and incoming leader, Gita Nabavi, to learn how human rights are at the forefront of their mandate and why they’re called the Home Party-party. Read the full story HERE.
Speaking of politics, thank you for voting. This story happened because of YOU. The article won the vote in our first reader poll. You voted, we got to work. #collectiveaction
April 15th: Minister Mary Ng announcing $2.5M investment into SheEO, a Canadian-based, global initiative designed to radically transform the way we finance, support, and celebrate female entrepreneurs. Photo: SheEO Twitter Feed
HOW TO GET INTO POLITICS
News media organization Al Jazeera‘s election tracking website says “Nearly two billion voters in 50 countries around the world will head to the polls [in 2019] to elect their leaders.” Realizing that political power is an effective way to drive change—many women are shaking off fears and running as candidates for the first time. But it’s not an easy job to be a politician. Even harder to become a candidate.
Many of us in the women’s entrepreneurship space in Canada see a lot of the Minister for Small Business and Export Promotiom, Mary Ng.
We thought we would ask Minister Ng about her start in politics. We hope it inspires others to consider the path. See our interview here.
A Nightwood Society panel discussion on the future of food with Michelle Battista, Salt & Straw’s Kim Malek, Alison Wu of Wu Haus, Nong’s Khao Man Gai founder Nong Poonsukwattana, and chef/food activist Arlyn Frank of Platano Rising.
Panel held by Cherry Bombe, a magazine devoted to women in food.
BUTCHERS, BAKERS AND CHANGEMAKERS
Portland, Oregon, USA. Known for coffee, eco-friendly bike paths, Ursula K. Le Guin and the Nightwood Society. From art to food, and crafts to music, this company has reinvented the idea of horizontal growth: doing a bunch of interesting things that complement each other. They’re complex and super cool.
Nightwood Society is a unique collective that is taking collaboration to the next level. Full story here.
Powerbitches founder, Rachel Hills
POWER BITCHES STIRRING THE POT
What’s so different about this feminist community network? For starters, it was founded by Rachel Hills, a feminist writer, producer, and movement-maker whose work has been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Vogue, Buzzfeed, The Cut, and many more. Hills is also the author of “The Sex Myth” which was written to help make sense of the feelings of shame and difference she felt about her own sexual history.
Powerbitches is hosting an event focused on feminist entrepreneurship on May 13th. Fearless Entrepreneurial Feminist Forum (EFF) co-founder Lex Schroeder is on the speakers list. But you have to be a member to participate. To learn more about this organization, read our interview with Rachel Hills here.
WHERE ARE THE WOMEN IN TECH?
Innerspace is a tech company that wants to help Google figure out where you are going while inside a building. Apparently Google can tell what building you are in, but can’t see if you are in the bathroom or lunch room or at your desk once inside. A few weeks ago, Innerspace received venture investment from the Business Development Bank of Canada’s (BDC) Women in Technology Fund.
Those close to the company questioned its qualifications as a women-led tech company given there was only one woman on the team in the role of Chief Marketing Officer.
LiisBeth decided to dig in and check out the investments made since the fund started in 2016. You can find the results here. The punchline? The fund has a very low benchmark for what qualifies as a women-led tech company. The good news is that with the will to lead, BDC could change that going forward. An even better idea? Get out of the way and hand the fund’s management over to a collective of women in tech.
Have you had an experience with BDC’s WIT fund? Use the comment box at the bottom of the article to share your story or thoughts.
FEMINIST NEWS FREEBIE!
Grammy award-winner Lucinda Williams and a host of top Canadian and U.S. journalists will mark the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s (CJF) second World News Day on May 2nd in Toronto. Brian Stelter, chief media correspondent for CNN Worldwide and host of Reliable Sources, will emcee.
LiisBeth subscribers are eligible for complimentary tickets here with promo code: NEWSMATTERS
Speakers include: Manisha Krishnan, senior writer and host with VICE on covering weed, opioids and #MeToo, Connie Walker, host of CBC News podcast Missing & Murdered: Finding Cleo, and Julian Brave NoiseCat, journalist, on telling Indigenous stories, Hannah Alper, teenage activist, blogger and author, in conversation with Brian Stelter, and more. See the full list of speakers here.
World News Day takes place on the eve of World Press Freedom Day to celebrate the stories, the people, the reporting and the professional news organizations that are dedicated to changing lives, challenging the status quo, holding those in power to account and supporting freedom and democracy.
LIISBETH FIELD NOTES
Pramila Jayapal / Photo: Fathom Film Group
HUNTING IN PACKS
In the era of Trump and the #Me Too movement, Hunting in Packs is a provocative documentary film about three female politicians in Britain, the United States, and Canada negotiating their way through the old-school institution of politics.
“Things have gotten to the point where the absurdity of it all is beyond reason,” says Toronto based filmmaker Chloe Sosa-Sims. “Political farce has long lived as a genre in narrative film, but it no longer needs to exist in a parallel world of fiction, it’s our reality.”
The documentary follows three different women in three different countries who exist in parallel. They speak on world stages and perform with glowing confidence; they are policy makers, advocates and experts in their fields. Behind-the-scenes, their humanity is exposed as we get face-to-face with the reality of their livelihood; battling it out with less than worthy opponents, facing on-going ridicule when not towing the party-line, and encountering harsh contempt from the public. They are entirely different from one another, but are connected by an invisible thread.
Jess Phillips in the UK receives thousands of rape and death threats a year, largely because of her feminist rhetoric. Worse though, is much of the threats come from within her own party – the Labour party.
In the US, Pramila Jayapal has many radical proposals; sitting on the committee that will consider Trump’s impeachment, calling for Medi-care for all, and demanding reparations be paid to families separated at the border. As always, Republicans will shut her down, but there are some moderate democrats who are afraid that Pramila is too progressive and is creating a counterproductive narrative about Democrats seeking open borders.
Canadian Conservative Michelle Rempel believes the liberals are not properly handling the refugee crisis. On the other hand, she is fighting for more supports for the Yazidi community, especially the women who have been violated by sexual slavery.
“These women stand up for what they believe in and don’t let others, and the patriarchal nature of politics, hold them back,” says Sosa-Sims. “They are all forwarding policies that directly benefit these communities. And they are all driven by their personal commitment to feminism.”
Hunting in Packs is in early stages of production. The film is produced by Fathom Film Group, a women-led production company who doesn’t let the patriarchal nature of filmmaking hold them back.
CanWACH Director, Julie Savard-Shaw at a Mobilization event in Edmonton.
HEALTHY WOMEN, HEALTHY ECONOMY
Investing in girls and women affects the economy and keeping girls and women healthy is paramount.
The Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health (CanWaCH) catalyzes collaboration among 100 partners who are improving women’s and children’s health globally. CanWaCH will be on site June 3rd to 6th in Vancouver at the Canadian Pavillion at the Women Deliver 2019 conference. The three-day event is the world’s largest gathering on gender equality and the health, rights and wellbeing of women and girls. Over 7,000 experts, journalists, activists, world leaders and youth will come to Canada for the conference, including LiisBeth! CanWaCH is using this huge momentum of the event to push for improved leadership on gender equality.
“We want to ensure that Women Deliver 2019 is not just a moment but springboard for action and real change,” says Caitlin Reid, Senior Communications Officer at CanWaCH.
Exactly one year ago they launched a campaign inviting organizations to host an event at the Canadian Pavillion and over 300 organizations signed on to join as “Mobilizers”. “They are all taking concrete actions to improve gender equality,” says Reid.
CanWaCH’s Month of Action starts on May 7th and will run until the conference begins in June. They will call on Mobilizers, and the public, to take final actions right up to the beginning of the conference. Reid says: “It will be the most important time for us to increase our shared impact and attention at the national stage.”
CanWaCH has secured Steamworks brew pub as HQ during the three-day event. Less than a ten-minute walk away from the conference at the Vancouver Convention Centre, the Canada Pavilion will be the go-to location for approximately 49 different events hosted by Canadian organizations between June 2nd to 7th, alongside the Women Deliver Conference.
Themes for the programming will be focused on women and children’s health. Mobilization events will be about achieving gender equality here in Canada and around the world.
Each event will have its own RSVP process and many will be open to the public and some will be live-streamed. Stay tuned for schedule updates coming soon.
Curbside view of Toronto’s oldest feminist bookstop
ANOTHER STORY BOOKSHOP
Toronto-based feminist bookstore, Another Story Bookshop has been operating in the west end of the city for over 30 years. The store sells a broad range of literature for children, young adults, and adults with a focus on themes of social justice, equity, and diversity. It also holds and hosts over 50 events per year. Its May 6th event at Lula Lounge is sold out. The evening will feature feminist crush adrienne maree brown, author of Emergent Strategy and her new book, Pleasure Activism plus other guests like Chanelle Gallant, a long time activist, writer and trainer with a focus on sex and justice.
A few weeks ago, we visited the shop to learn more about how this independent feminist bookstore has managed to thrive in the Amazon.com age.
To listen to our interview with the store’s event planner, Anjula Gogia, CLICK THE LINK at the bottom of the photo below. And if you didn’t get a ticket to the event (tickets were free but you had to sign up), don’t worry, we got you covered. LiisBeth will be conducting a video interview with Brown at the event. We are excited to share the chat with you all in our next refresh!
Want to order Brown’s latest book, or any book? Another Story ships anywhere! To order, and support indie bookstores, click here.
To hear the interview click here.
Photo: Emmy Legge, Customer Service (Left) and Anjula Gogia, Event Planner (Right)
FEMINIST FREEBIE!
JUST FOR SUMMER!
OUR DOWNLOADABLE READING LIST
We have updated our LiisBeth recommended reading list for feminist innovators and entrepreneurs! To download a collectively and carefully curated list of books, articles, and links that are central to the concept of feminist entrepreneurship, click here.
Flowers rely on sun and rain.WE rely on YOU.
Our readers.
Every paid subscription helps us with grant applications.
If social and economic justice are important to you, here’s your chance to
help us grow the feminist economy…like 400 crocuses.
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Each online magazine refresh and newsletter takes a collective effort.
We have reached over 2,500 subscribers.
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LIISBETH STORY VOTE
Seeking: PROFILES of kick ass entrepreneurial feminists.
The City of Toronto contracted LiisBeth for the “Unapologetic: Feminist Founders in the City” (working title)
Hooray! We’ll be doing TEN profiles of feminist entrepreneurs who are changing the way businesses are designed and operated between now and December 2019.
We would LOVE to replicate this series in other cities and towns. But will need an editorial partner. Let us know if you are interested.
If you’re not sure if a business/person/company qualifies, this will help: Does Your Enterprise Meet the Feminist Business Standard?
We’ve got some ideas but we want to hear from YOU. What if we could make this initiative happen in communities around the world?
Send us your pitch HERE. A paragraph about a feminist entrepreneur in your community and why they should be featured.
Last month we asked readers which story we should publish next. We received only a handful of responses. But hey, our view is that it takes time for readers to get to know how this works—and that voting does work. (See Gudrun Schyman story above.)
The winning pitch from last month is: A story of the legacy left behind following the Wakefield, UK miners’ strike which was famously supported by gay and lesbian organizations—and serves as an example of an intersectional movement long before the word was coined. Readers are wondering what Wakefield is like now? Did activism have a lasting impact? We will be contacting the journalist shortly!
WHAT WE’RE READING
Twenty-Three Leading Feminist Writers on Protest and Solidarity
When 53 percent of white women voted for Donald Trump and 94 percent of black women voted for Hillary Clinton, how can women unite in Trump’s America? Nasty Women includes inspiring essays from a diverse group of talented women writers who seek to provide a broad look at how we got here and what we need to do to move forward.
Featuring essays by REBECCA SOLNIT on Trump and his “misogyny army,” CHERYL STRAYED on grappling with the aftermath of Hillary Clinton’s loss, SARAH HEPOLA on resisting the urge to drink after the election, NICOLE CHUNG on family and friends who support Trump, KATHA POLLITT on the state of reproductive rights and what we do next, JILL FILIPOVIC on Trump’s policies and the life of a young woman in West Africa, SAMANTHA IRBY on racism and living as a queer black woman in rural America, RANDA JARRAR on traveling across the country as a queer Muslim American, SARAH HOLLENBECK on Trump’s cruelty toward the disabled, MEREDITH TALUSAN on feminism and the transgender community, and SARAH JAFFE on the labor movement and active and effective resistance, among others.
Jenni Murray gives the lie to Thomas Carlyle’s infamous declaration that ‘the history of the world is but the biography of great men.’ Women have played just as great a role in the story of humankind, only for their own tales to be marginalised, censored and forgotten. Their names should be shouted from the rooftops.
Marie Curie discovered radium and revolutionised medical science. Empress Cixi transformed China. Frida Kahlo turned an unflinching eye on life and death. In A History of the World in 21 Women, Jenni Murray celebrates the lives, struggles and achievements of some of the most extraordinary people to have ever walked the Earth. They ruled empires, they led nations. They were pioneers in the arts and geniuses of science. They led while others followed, spoke truth to power and fought for change. All left behind an indelible mark.
‘Charming…[Murray’s] selection is pleasingly varied… but the strength of the collection lies in Murray’s relaxed and intimate style… a testament to the achievements and the complicated legacies, of extraordinary women.’ (BBC History Magazine)
Recommended by Another Story Bookshop, Toronto, Canada.
AND FINALLY . . . IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!
- Mental health conditions or addictions can get in the way of employment for many. Fortunately, Rise Asset Development, a unique entrepreneur support organization provides training and access to startup loans of up to $10K for aspiring entrepreneurs with mental health challenges. Their seven week youth program for aspiring entrepreneurs starts in July, 2019. If you or someone you know is a Canadian citizen, aged 16-24 and lives in Toronto, sign up today. Sign up here!
- Slovakia voted in its first female president last month. Zuzana Čaputová, a 45-year-old lawyer and anti-corruption campaigner, won 58.4% of the votes in Saturday’s poll and will take office in June. She campaigned on platform of humanism, solidarity and truth. “Let us look for what connects us. Let us promote cooperation above personal interests,” she told a crowd of supporters in Bratislava. The full article is in The Guardian here.
- Naomi Klein’s article in The Intercept includes the seven-minute short film “A Message From the Future” narrated by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and offers this thought experiment: What if we chose to radically change course and save both our habitat and ourselves? See for yourself here.
Huzzah! That was newsletter #52! It brings you up to date for another month.
To donate one time or become a donor subscriber, click here.
Next newsletter will come out in late May! Don’t miss it!
Peace out,
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Photo by Drop the Label Movement on Unsplash
PK’S VIEWPOINT
It’s April 2019. How difficult is it to launch and grow an innovative an independent journalistic media enterprise? Especially since the industry appears to be collapsing around us. What unique barriers do women-led media entrepreneurs face?
Three years ago, with the support of a few advisors and friends, I launched LiisBeth. We became increasingly concerned about the significant and persistent gender, diversity, and inclusion issues in the growing entrepreneurship and innovation economy. We saw that no one was dedicated to interrogating these issues from a feminist point of view. We ignored the fact that media enterprises were folding all around us. In the Canadian news media space alone, over 260 outlets have closed in the last 10 years.
The fact that there are fewer journalists today than ever before didn’t give us pause. Since 2011, for every job lost in journalism there have been 17 jobs added in public relations and advertising (-1,230 vs. +21,320). We tenaciously believe the fourth estate—versus spin doctoring—remains important to any functioning democracy, and that storytelling can transform lives, society, and the course of history. We persist despite the odds. We pivot and iterate. That’s what entrepreneurs do.
So, what’s it like to grow a media enterprise? Two quick answers come to mind.
It’s beyond hard. Investors love media tech platforms. But are wary about investing in journalistic content. Even fewer want to spend money investing in feminist-informed editorial programs that might upset the status quo. Or unnerve friends in positions of power who helped them get to where they are. Fear of reprisals for truths told are a real concern for many. Society also doesn’t like to hear from women who think. Feminist writer Rebecca Solnit says: “Who is heard and who is not defines the status quo. Those who embody it [the status quo], often at the cost of extraordinary silences with themselves, move to the centre; those who embody what is not heard, or what violates those who rise on silence, are cast out.” What she is telling women media entrepreneurs is this: Starting a fashion blog or parenting media property would be far less risky. And likely more successful in attracting readers and growth bucks.
Barriers? Plenty. Starting with having an opinion, and a vagina—especially a mature one. Women publishers in search of truth, with iron stomachs and interrogative skills, scare people. Women over 50, like myself, are ineligible for the vast majority of publicly funded entrepreneur support programs which generally favour youth. As if that demographic, lovely and challenged as it is (I have an 18-year-old), is the only one capable of innovating and in need of income. We end up bootstrapping and growing our ventures one subscription at a time, feeling very much alone.
We need more women-led news media entrepreneurs than ever before. If what we want is a more inclusive society—and democracy—we need women of colour, Indigenous women, feminists, and LGBTQ media enterprise founders in this space.
How will we get there?
THIS WEEK ON LIISBETH
Photo: msichana.com
DO YOU KNOW WHO MAKES YOUR CLOTHES?
Would you pay more for a special piece of clothing if you knew where it came from? If you knew the women who made it? If you knew where the fabric was sourced?
Msichana gives you those answers. We spoke to Lorna Mutegyeki, the fashion designer and entrepreneur who runs Msichana out of Edmonton, Alberta.
Read what she has to say about funding a business, wanting to quit, and why she keeps going here.
WHAT WE DID ON INTERNATIONAL TRANS DAY OF VISIBILITY (MARCH 31)
Human Rights Commission (HRC) advocates tracked at least 26 deaths in 2018 of transgender people in the United States due to fatal violence. The report goes on to say: “While the details of these cases differ, it is clear that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color, and that the intersections of racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia conspire to deprive them of employment, housing, healthcare and other necessities, barriers that make them vulnerable.”
HRC founded International Trans Day of Visibility in March 2009, and it’s been gaining momentum ever since.
This year, LiisBeth participanted in a related with two amazing entrepreneurs, Jack Jackson and Deb Klein who launched their new global photography project, “Don’t You Want Me” which showcases the beauty and resilience of LGBTQ people with their rescue dogs.
Find out more about the project, power of love, and the experience here.
LIISBETH FIELD NOTES
Photo: msichana.com
FEMINIST FREEBIE
Be one of the first fifteen people to leave a comment on the Msichana story at LiisBeth.com (scroll to the bottom of the piece) and receive a discount code for free shipping, or if you already qualify for free shipping, a special gift with purchase. Check out #accentsbymsichana which includes belts, scarves, jewelry, and know you are supporting ethical fashion.
The Alinker – a vehicle for social change
IS WHAT THEY TOLD YOU ABOUT ENTREPRENEURSHIP STILL RELEVANT?
What kind of person—and entrepreneur—will flourish in a future that has not yet been invented? And what if the language for who you are and what you do doesn’t exist yet?
This is the question inventor and gender-queer entrepreneur BE (barbara) Alinker asked the audience during a talk delivered during Interntional Women’s Day weekend 2019 at SheEO’s RadGen event.
The answer? Don’t let the fact that there is no language for what you are and do undermine your confidence. Learn how to be what BE calls a multi-specialist.
In a world that prizes entrepreneurial norms, the multi-specialist entrepreneur, a hyper-adaptable person who learns new skills extremely fast often feels like a “queerdo”. They are misunderstood. And worse, marginalized by investors who have a template in their minds regarding what a “safe bet” entrepreneur or entrepreneurial process looks like. Today, that typically means male and following 1990’s Silicon Valley dogma.
Alinker, who has been a coffin builder in Kenya, a bassoon player for a rebel dyke band, a production manager for a $17M glass art project for an airport in Doha, Quatar, a wordwork restoration architechted in Saudi Arabia, and now the inventor of a mobility device tells the audience that multi-specialists are seriously upsetting to most people, especially status-quo bound institutions and investors.
Her message? Don’t worry.
In an era marked by tectonic plate level social transformations driven by crumbling capitalism, climate change and weaponized AI, Alinker is convinced that the multi-specialist dreamer who quickly masters a range of skills, often self-taught, acts authentically according to their visions and values, and trusts in the power of on the ground communities, will ultimately be best equipt to truly innovate, thrive–and succeed.
Alinker, says “I can’t tell you the number of times that people told me: “You are all over the place”, “You have no focus”, “You are scared of committment”, “Why do you run away?”, “You never finish anything”, “You are a scatterbrain”, “Messed up”, “Chaotic”, “Crazy.”
But in Alinker’s view, that is exactly what a person capable of flourishing in these times looks like.
LAST MONTH’S FEMINIST FREEBIE WINNERS!
Thank you for your comments on our recent story When Aunt Flo Becomes CEO, a profile of the author of Heavy Flow.
Abigail Slater and Kasey Dunn will be receiving signed copies of Amanda Laird’s new book. Congratulations!
We rely 100% on YOU.
Our readers.
Every paid subscription helps us with grant applications.
Our impact is measurable. If social and economic justice are important to you, here’s your chance to help us grow the feminist economy.
If you find our content of value, consider contributing to us on Patreon
Each online magazine refresh and newsletter takes a collective effort.
We have reached over 2,500 subscribers.
Less than 30% contribute financially.
[VIDEO] A glimpse of the premiere of the interactive installation HANDSHACK at the Remai Modern, Saskatoon, SK, January 2019.
REACH OUT, TOUCH ME
In a world of instant communication, our first contact with people is often through the Internet, phone, text, e-mail. All day we touch screens and punch plastic and metal buttons. Our over-usage of electronics minimizes human contact in our day-to-day lives.
Enter, HANDSHACK. An interactive installation part of The Hands On Project created by feminist artist-preneur Marites Carino.
The installation invites strangers to get to know each other through a tactile conversation. Unable to hear one another, participants wear headphones and are guided in this silent interaction. Their interaction, projected through a live feed, takes an accepted form of first contact, the handshake, and twists it into an unexpected choreography.
“By entering this realm where visual perceptions are no longer at the forefront, perspectives shift,” says Carino, based out of Montreal, Quebec. “We see beyond the ways we differentiate ourselves and end up connecting through our commonalities.”
In the era of #MeToo, and Build the Wall, HANDSHACK offers a safe playground for consensual touch and human connection. After the curtain call, participants think they have encountered another, but in fact, they have confronted themselves.
This sensorial experience has been awarded an artistic residency and production grant and will be remounted in Montreal on May 11th, 2019 at the Oboro gallery during the Accès Asie Festival.
Dr. Wendy Cukier / Photo credit: theEYEOPENER
WENDY CUKIER TALKS WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP
In December 2018, Ryerson University’s Diveresity Institute received $8.62M+ to create a Women’s Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH). Spearheaded by Ryerson Univiersity’s Diversity Institute and its founder, Dr. Wendy Cukier, the WEKH will include eight hubs across the country, with Ryerson and OCAD sharing the Toronto region. The WEKH will serve as a network of researchers, universities, business organizations, incubators, and community groups who will address the needs of women entrepreneurs. Over 37 organizations are officially part of the Hub’s partnership network.
LiisBeth talked to Cukier when the announcement was made in December 2018 during the Entrepreneurial Feminist Forum.
We caught up with Cukier again last month at a #IWD2019 Business, Government, Services and You event in Toronto where she shared her views on how best to unleash the potential of women entrepreneurs across the country.
Cukier noted women’s chronic under representation in publicaly supported incubators, accelerator and government entrepreneurship programs as an important barrier. She also questioned the veracity of creating a “separate lane” for women entrepreneurs, suggesting this may create more harm than good.
Alternatively Cukier sees a world where entrepreneurs of all genders and backgrounds can “on ramp” onto a different, more inclusive kind of twelve-lane versus two-lane innovation highway. A highway to economic heaven that will be more drivable for a much wider variety of entrepreneurs and approaches to venture building—versus just those in noisy muscle cars or Teslas. Cukier argued in her talk that part of the reason for the current bottleneck is the fact that we define entrepreneurship too narrowly. “If you broaden the definition of entrepreneurship to include social change and activism, suddenly the women appear.” She adds: “Women are doing what the guys are doing—just in different sectors.”
To hear the full one hour talk, plus see the accompanying slides, click here. [NOTE: The link is valid for one year. You will see a note pop up saying there is no content to view. Click play and it will start. Unfortunately, all presentations are included in the one recording. Wendy’s presentation begins at time stamp 1 hr 40 mins 30 secs]
WHY HAVE WE NOT MADE MORE PROGRESS?
Sarah Kaplan, Director of the Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) on using research to CHANGE THE CONVERSATION on gender equality
Photo : Paulina O’Kieffe-Antony, Arts educator, artist and consultant, TORONTO
BREATH OF FRESH AIR
Paulina O’Kieffe-Anthony is an award winning Toronto writer, performer, producer, arts educator, community advocate and member of the League of Canadian Poets.
O’Kieffe-Antony delivered a wicked, inspired spoken word poem performance during How She Hustle’s International Women’s Day Event in March 2019. How She Hustles is a Toronto-based network diverse women’s entrepreneurship network.
We are delighted to share it with you here. O’Kieffe-Antony is also a contributor to a Canadian chapbook called “Feminism: Revolutionize—Revisit, Revise, Revolutionize: A Two_Part History which can be found here.
HOTEL OPERATIONS FROM A FEMINIST POV + EXCLUSIVE DOWNLOADABLES!
Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel operates within a feminist, anti-oppressive framework where everyone feels welcome and at home. And its owner and staff can tell you creating a framework like this is not easy. It takes effort and commitment to implement policies on a consistent basis.
If we are going to change the world, we need all start ups and growing small enterprises—not just large progressive corporations—to think about incorporating anti-oppression policies into their own employee and partner conduct guides and handbooks.
Not sure what an anti-oppression company framework might look like?
Good news. The Gladstone has generously agreed to make available their vision statement here and anti-oppressive policy framework here. Check it out. And tell us what you think by reading our original article and adding your comments below the piece.
LIISBETH STORY VOTE
NEW! ANSWER FROM OUR LATEST POLL:
Last month we asked readers which story we should publish next. We received only a handful of responses. But hey, our view is it takes time for readers to get to know how this works—and that voting does work.
The winning pitch from last month is: A story on the legacy left behind following the Wakefield, UK miners’ strike which was famously supported by gay and lesbian organizations—and serves as an example of an intersectional movement long before the word was coined. Readers are wondering what is Wakefield is like now? Did activism have a lasting impact? We will be contacting the journalist shortly!
UPDATE FROM OUR LAST POLL:
Portrait of former Swedish Feminist Initiative Party Leader, Gudrun Schyman, will be published in May. Stay tuned. You vote. We listen.
WHAT WE’RE READING
In their new, long-awaited collection of essays, Lambda Literary Award-winning writer and longtime disability justice activist and performance artist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha explores the politics and realities of disability justice, a movement that centres the lives and leadership of sick and disabled queer, trans, Black, and brown people, with knowledge and gifts for all.
Bringing their survival skills and knowledge from years of cultural and activist work, Piepzna-Samarasinha explores everything from the economics of queer femme emotional labour, to suicide in queer and trans communities, to the nitty-gritty of touring as a sick and disabled queer artist of colour.
Care Work is a mapping of access as radical love, a celebration of the work that sick and disabled queer/people of colour are doing to find each other and to build power and community, and a toolkit for everyone who wants to build radically resilient, sustainable communities of liberation where no one is left behind. Powerful and passionate, Care Work is a crucial and necessary call to arms. – Arsenal Pulp Press
Jasmine and Chelsea are best friends on a mission–they’re sick of the way women are treated even at their progressive NYC high school, so they decide to start a Women’s Rights Club. They post their work online–poems, essays, videos of Chelsea performing her poetry, and Jasmine’s response to the racial microaggressions she experiences–and soon they go viral. But with such positive support, the club is also targeted by trolls. When things escalate in real life, the principal shuts the club down. Not willing to be silenced, Jasmine and Chelsea will risk everything for their voices–and those of other young women–to be heard.
In Watch Us Rise, these two dynamic, creative young women stand up and speak out in a novel that features their compelling art and poetry along with powerful personal journeys that will inspire readers and budding poets, feminists, and activists.
“This intersectional, layered novel…it covers a wide breadth of topics-institutionalized racism, how we undermine young women, feminism in the modern age-with a clear message: Girls are going to come out on top.” – Marie Claire
AND FINALLY . . . IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!
- From the Vaults episode “Turning Points” (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) features Sarah Mclachlan, host of the 2019 Juno Awards and creator of Lilith Fair, an all female music festival that began in 1997, and shifted the perception of what it meant for women in the music industry. Fun fact: Lilith, in Hebrew mythology, represents Adam’s first wife who refused to lie beneath him so he threw her out. [Geoblocked in Canada]
- An expert discussion on “What could a feminist city look like?” took place at the Rotman School of Management on March 27th. The talk was moderated by moderated by Sarah Kaplan, Director and Professor – Institute for Gender and the Economy at Rotman. Check out global feminist city guides from Lagos to San Diego, here.
- An estimated 40.3 million people are currently living as slaves–more than at any other time in history.Why Slavery? is a series of ground-breaking documentary films investigating why slavery remains so endemic in the 21st Century. The Passionate Eye will broadcast two films in the series, Maid in Hell and North Korea’s Secret Slaves. [Geoblocked in Canada]
That’s newsletter #51!
If you found value in what you read here or in the original articles on our website, we hope you will consider donating one time or becoming a monthly subscriber for as little as $3/month.
Feminist media matters. We believe storytelling and journalism can change the world.
Demonstrating growth in paid readerships is not just about the money—it also helps us secure sponsorships and grants—it serves as proof positive that readers value what we do.
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Next newsletter will come out early May! We will publish the exact date closer to May on Twitter so you don’t miss it!
Peace out,
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