Women, Wit & Wisdom

Women, Wit & Wisdom is designed to hear from Ottawa’s women leaders of all backgrounds, sectors, and stages of life, as we have a real and raw conversation on the challenges women face in leadership roles.

Join us for one of our most popular events bringing together real women with real stories. The Ottawa Board of Trade and Ottawa Business Journal are excited to host Women Wit, & Wisdom of 2024 at the historic Fairmont Château Laurier. Enjoy a gourmet dinner, share real stories and be inspired by powerful women.

The last few years have seen a disproportionate impact on women and has highlighted to different challenges that women face as it relates to their work, family situation, and background. As the world gets smaller and we became more aware of how global trends impact our everyday lives, it is important to check in with women who understand what it means to dig deep and cultivate the desire to make a difference – to manifest the kind of life that women deserve.

Highlights:

– A delicious gourmet dinner
– Opportunity to connect with and learn from women of all ages, background, and experiences
– A conversation with a panel of women leaders sharing their insights on leadership, life balance, and legacy building​

Confirmed Speakers:

Sonya Shorey, Interim President and CEO, Invest Ottawa, Bayview Yards and Area X.O

Sonya Shorey, Interim President and CEO, for Invest Ottawa, Bayview Yards, and Area X.O, is a strategy executive and management consultant with more than 22 years of leadership experience with private and public organizations. With expertise in regional, national, and global technology, entrepreneurial, economic development, and innovation-based organizations, she specializes in corporate and communications strategy development and execution. This includes investment strategies that secure new cash and in-kind contributions from public and private sources. Since 2005, Sonya has led, strategized, authored and/or made a significant contribution to successful multi-year funding proposals and initiatives valued at more than $203 million from municipal, provincial, federal, and international governments.

Within her executive leadership role with Invest Ottawa, Bayview Yards and Area X.O, Sonya plays a pivotal role in developing, leading, and executing strategy for all three organizations. This includes:

– Area X.O, the futureplex of innovation and collaboration for next-generation smart mobility, connectivity and autonomy technologies;
– The Women Founders and Owners Strategy and Action Plan. This includes co-founding SheBoot, the investment-ready bootcamp for women tech founders designed and delivered by women entrepreneurs and investors, and founding International Women’s Week in Canada’s Capital; and International Women’s Week.
– The first Pan-Ontario Scale-Up Platform of its kind aimed at enabling and accelerating the growth, scaleup and commercial success of more $100 million revenue-generating tech companies in Canada.

Sonya launched her career as the Manager of Communications and Member of the Vice-Presidential Cabinet with the 10G Organization of Optical Networks for Nortel from 1999 to 2002, and then served as the Director of Marketing Communications for CMC Microsystems until 2007. Building on a decade of experience, Sonya launched her own strategy company in 2008, addressing the needs of S&T organizations, innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development agencies across Canada, and their partners around the world. She currently serves Vice President of Strategy, Marketing and Communications for Invest Ottawa, lead economic development agency for knowledge-based industries in Canada’s Capital.

Sonya is a Director of the Institute of Mental Health Research of the Royal Ottawa Hospital, Elevate International, and Mindtrust Leadership. She also serves as mentor and pitch coach with Women in Cloud, AI North America, and Technovation. She holds a Combined Honours in English and Political Science from Carleton University and has won 10+ international awards for communications, leadership, and women’s economic empowerment

More speakers to be announced soon!

Thank you to our sponsors: RBC, Algonquin College, Oakwood Designers & Builders, and the Casino Lac-Leamy