Yet another successful year has passed and Queen’s Women In Leadership is so excited to announce our vision for 2020. This past year, QWIL made monumental changes. From rebranding, to holding our first conference in Toronto, 2019 was a year of new transformation. The community involved truly made 2019 a year to remember. As we reflect on our past, we are clear in our future direction, and how we want to welcome this new era of QWIL.
Letter from the Co-Chairs:
Twenty-four years ago, QWIL began as a women in financial markets conference that aimed to empower and inspire young women to pursue their career goals in this field. As QWIL has evolved, our mission has expanded to include a wide diversity of industries, engaging voices across faculties, Universities, and genders. QWIL has most recently transitioned from our hometown of Kingston to Downtown Toronto. With these changes, we have remained committed to empowering women in leadership environments to achieve their full potential by expanding to include a wide range of people in the movement. We remain focused on actionable solutions to achieving gender-based equity, and are actively working to create opportunities for those traditionally excluded from such conversations. We remain open to constructive feedback, and open dialogue about how QWIL can continue to push this conversation forward. We welcome each and every one of you to help us break down barriers and continue this important dialogue!
In our twenty-fourth year of operations, QWIL is looking to expand on the achievements of 2019 and actively pursue further opportunities for the organization. As we look forward to our second annual conference in Toronto, we aim to increase its value offering to our audience, further diversifying our partnerships, and creating greater financial accessibility for potential applicants and delegates. We intend to expand our presence on campus to further encourage male engagement, tackle issues prominent in our community, and create space for those who may not have access to our November conference. Ultimately, our objective for QWIL 2020 is to make our organization and our mission more accessible and inclusive for all.
This mission is only made possible through the commitment, ambition, and leadership of our Executive Team. We are excited to see what our team will accomplish over the next year!
Letter from the Diversity and Inclusion Director:
The inaugural QWIL D&I Team is incredibly excited to share the initiatives we have planned for the upcoming year. As a guide for our initiatives, we have established three main pillars that we will be following: Education, Outreach and Information Symmetry. These pillars were created to address some important challenges women of various identities face in the workforce. In order to fulfill these identified pillars, we are excited to share the five initiatives we are planning on implementing.
1. The Educational Workshop Series.The vision for this initiative is to collaborate with both ComSoc and AMS clubs to provide educational workshops. The purpose is to promote the accessibility of information to all students. See you at our personal investing and finance panel next week!
2. The Mentorship Program. This project’s purpose is to develop and facilitate the mentorship program. The program is to ensure women are connected to guide one another through the Commerce program and the Business Environment.
3. The Men’s Round Table. The purpose of the Men’s Round Table initiative for 2020 is to grow on 2019’s success and continue to engage allies in the community and beyond. These will be bi-weekly sessions where a group of men and the D&I Coordinator will be discussing pre-established topics. We are aiming to increase engagement in the Round Table while also incorporating thought-provoking and action-driven discussion.
4. Collaboration on the QWIL March Equity Summit.The D&I Coordinator will collaborate with the March Summit logistics and workshops team to provide a valuable experience to the delegates. This workshop will be geared towards educating and empowering men to become effective advocates and leaders in the Queen’s community and beyond.
5. QWIL Brand Consultancy.The purpose of the consultancy project is to aid other ComSoc clubs to improve parity within their executive teams. This will be approached from a branding perspective to remove perceived barriers to entry for women. This project may include collaboration with ComSoc clubs such as CREO and EDGE in developing an inclusivity model to be applied to other organizations.
We look forward to seeing you at future QWIL events!
Upcoming events:
Limestone Capital x QWIL:
Personal Finance and Investing Night
Tuesday, February 25th 2019, 6-8 p.m.
Goodes Commons
QWIL Equity Summit:
Equity Summit: Extending the Conversation
Friday, March 27th,
Goodes Commons
Stay tuned for more details and registering in the coming weeks!