Fast Forward in STEM

The Women in STEM webinar series Fast Forward in STEM introduces women in post-secondary to career opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Featuring inspiring speakers, the free webinars are open to students, educators and parents. 

  • One-hour webinars take place on January 9th, 14th, and 28th (in French) 2021. 
  • Speakers from industry and academia will share success stories, information and resources about careers in STEM.

The Women in STEM webinar series is presented by The Prosperity Project and Ontario Power Generation. Conceived by 63 female visionaries earlier this year, The Prosperity Project is a not-for-profit organization that is working to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on women and girls in Canada.  

Questions? Contact us at info@canadianprosperityproject.ca 

Webinar 1: January 9th, 2021

Recording:

Keynote Speaker:

Dr. Lois Nahirney

Dr. Lois Nahirney is the President and CEO of dnaPowerInc. She is revolutionizing preventative healthcare by helping people make better health decisions based on their unique genetic makeup. Lois has a doctorate in business and has held a number of senior executive roles. These roles include EVP, Corporate Resources at Teekay Shipping, CHRO at BC Hydro and VP Global Professional Services with Crystal Decisions. She has been awarded Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100, BIV’s Influential Women in Business and YWCA Women of Distinction. She has been a long-time advocate for gender equity. Lois advised the BC government on gender equity as Chair of the Premier’s Women’s Economic Council. She is also the Co-founder of WE for SHE and is a Founding Visionary of The Prosperity Project.

Panelists:

Lisa McBride

Lisa McBride is President of Women in Nuclear (WiN) Canada, providing vision, strategic direction and oversight of the day-to-day operations. WiN Canada seeks to engage and educate the public regarding the safe use and application of nuclear and radiation technologies, provide professional development opportunities for WiN Canada members and promote career interest in nuclear among women and young people. Lisa is also the Chair of the Women for STEM Council at Ontario Tech University and the Manager of Stakeholder Relations in Ontario Power Generation’s Nuclear Regulatory Affairs group. She holds a Master of Arts Degree in Leadership from the University of Guelph.

Scarlett Liaifer

Scarlett Liaifer is a registered nurse currently working in the Emergency Department at Richmond Hospital. She completed a Bachelor of Science with a combined major in Chemical Biology at UBC. Next, she completed a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at UBC shortly after. As a research assistant at Richmond Hospital, she established a study investigating the relationship between acute exacerbations of COPD and cognitive impairment, anxiety and depression. This went on to be investigated at three sites in the lower mainland. Her interests and acquired skills will work towards improving the outcomes of hospitalized patients, utilizing a bedside and research-based approach.

Carlee Olsen

Carlee Olsen is a third-year student studying at the Ivey Business School. She intends to pursue a career in business and technology. During the last two summers, Carlee has been a consultant in Deloitte’s Omnia AI practice. As a consultant, she has been exploring green technology, facial recognition and data analytics. Carlee’s passion for women in STEM has inspired her to start Western University’s first all-female AI strategy group, AI Lightbox, on campus.

Kiersten Anas Byrick

Kiersten Anas Byrick has over 15 years of experience as an operations leader, combining an engineer’s discipline with a genuine passion for creative, people-centered environments, building high-profile, rapidly-growing organizations and teams empowered to succeed in Canada and abroad. She is the VP of Planning at Pliteq Inc., an engineering and manufacturing company. Kiersten is responsible for the organization’s planning activities including customer service, fulfillment, logistics, forecasting, procurement, production scheduling and inventory management. Previously, Kiersten was the COO of the Women’s Executive Network (WXN) and the Canadian Board Diversity Council (CBDC). She has a Masters in Biomedical Engineering, and two undergraduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Kinesiology. Her Masters research was on the biomechanics of the foot and ankle which was incorporated into Nike running shoes.

Webinar 2: January 14th, 2021

Recording:

Keynote Speaker:

Jill Earthy

Jill Earthy is CEO of Women’s Enterprise Centre, a non-profit organization supporting women entrepreneurs with loans, education, mentorship, and advisory services across BC. She has served in senior leadership roles at Female Funders, FrontFundr, Futurpreneur and the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE), all with a focus on supporting entrepreneurs and empowering more diverse investors. She currently serves on the national Boards of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), Women’s Enterprise Organizations of Canada (WEOC) and FWE. Jill is Co-Chair of the annual We for She Conference and is an active mentor and community contributor. She has been well recognized for her accomplishments including by Business in Vancouver as an Influential Woman in Business and by WXN as one the Top 100 most powerful women in Canada in 2019.

Panelists:

Shaunna Leyte

Shaunna Leyte is a Senior Manager in Deloitte’s Technology, Strategy, and Transformation practice. She has over 12 years of client-serving experience. She specializes in finance transformation, managing business impacts of change and advising on governance best practices. Shaunna has helped Finance groups to redesign operating models, improve process efficiency and increase value by enabling technologies such as Robotics Process Automation and Advanced Data Analytics. She is a Chartered Professional Accountant, holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Saskatchewan and began her career at Ernst & Young (“EY”) Calgary in the external audit practice. Shaunna’s passion for process improvement led her to move from the compliance space to advisory, eventually becoming the Leader of EY Saskatchewan’s Financial Accounting Advisory Services (“FAAS”) practice prior to moving into Deloitte’s Technology Strategy practice. 

Malu Freites

Malu Freites is the director of Strategic Insights in the Risk Management department of Scotiabank. She holds a Master of Management in Artificial Intelligence and a Bachelor of Computer Science. Malu discovered an interest in analytics while working at Citibank. Though her background was in software engineering, Malu decided that obtaining insights from data would be the focus of her career. While she worked her way into more senior positions, she found herself in the retail credit risk area. She has held positions from portfolio analytics team manager to director of portfolio insights in the retail credit risk department. 

Pala Kochkrian

Pala Kochkrian is an Analyst in Deloitte’s Mergers and Acquisitions practice with the Infrastructure, Project Finance and Real Estate teams. Pala is currently rotating between several desks in Deloitte’s Financial Advisory practice. As a consultant, she performs financial analysis, due diligence, financial modeling, deal advisory and project management on a diverse range of transactions. Pala holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a specialization in Accounting and a minor in Law and Society from the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business. Pala is an advocate for human rights, genocide education and reparations policies as a chairperson in the Armenian National Committee of Canada.

Lisa McBride

Lisa McBride is President of Women in Nuclear (WiN) Canada, providing vision, strategic direction and oversight of the day-to-day operations. WiN Canada seeks to engage and educate the public regarding the safe use and application of nuclear and radiation technologies, provide professional development opportunities for WiN Canada members and promote career interest in nuclear among women and young people. Lisa is also the Chair of the Women for STEM Council at Ontario Tech University and the Manager of Stakeholder Relations in Ontario Power Generation’s Nuclear Regulatory Affairs group. She holds a Master of Arts Degree in Leadership from the University of Guelph.

Webinar 3: January 28th, 2021

Recording:

Keynote Speaker:

Isabelle Bettez

Isabelle Bettez contribue vigoureusement à la promotion et au rayonnement des technologies de l’information du Québec. Elle a bâti 8D Technologies, reconnue pour sa technologie de points de vente les plus avancées au monde en matière de paiement électronique sans fil dans les secteurs du stationnement et du vélo en libre-service (BIXI). Ceci lui a valu un grand nombre de mentions internationales. Entrepreneure de renom, elle est très impliquée dans les communautés et siège aussi sur de nombreux conseils d’administration. Diplômée en marketing et en gestion internationale de HEC Montréal, elle a été honorée à maintes reprises et a récemment reçu le prix de la Mairesse de Montréal pour ses contributions exceptionnelles, son sens de l’innovation technologique et son leadership.

Moderator:

Barbara Augustin

Barbara Augustin détient une maîtrise en Microbiologie appliquée de l’INRS/Institut Armand-Frappier (Laval) et œuvre comme enseignante de microbiologie et de biologie humaine au sein du cégep de Saint-Laurent, à Montréal, depuis 2006. Plus récemment, avec la crise pandémique, elle a été amenée à développer une expertise particuliére dans le domaine de la technopédagogie afin d’accompagner des collègues enseignants dans le virage vers la formation à distance (FAD).

 

Panelists

Ravy Por

Ravy Por est diplômée en mathématiques et directrice exécutive de l’intelligence artificielle et des technologies émergentes chez KPMG. Elle cumule plus de 10 ans d’expérience dans les domaines de l’innovation et de l’intelligence artificielle. Fondatrice de l’organisme Héros de chez nous, elle aide les jeunes à démystifier les STIM. Elle siège au sein de quelques conseils d’administration en art et culture et dans le secteur bancaire. Son parcours a aussi été salué par de nombreuses distinctions, notamment le prix Jeune femme en technologie de le Foundation Y des femmes.

 

Suza Youance

Suze Youance est ingénieure civile, diplômée de la Faculté des science de l’Université d’État d’Haïti et détentrice d’une maîtrise et d’un doctorat de l’École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) à Montréal. Elle compte une solide expérience professionnelle en ingénierie, en enseignement et en recherche totalisant plus de vingt ans. En plus d’être chercheuse, elle est chargée de cours au département de génie de la construction à l’École de technologie supérieure. Elle anime aussi les émissions “Génie d’ici” et “Du génie pour la planète” qui sont diffusées sur Savoir Média.

Émilie Clarke

Émilie Clarke est diplômée en mathématiques et directrice associée pour la governance de gestion des risques au siège social de la Banque Scotia à Toronto. Elle est responsable de tous les modèles de gestions de risques nationaux et internationaux. Son rôle consiste à veiller à ce que les modèles soient conformes aux règlements en vigueur et aux politiques et procédures internes. Elle est également bénévole au sein d’une équipe interne afin de promouvoir l’expérience et le développement de carrière des employés de la banque.

 

We can’t wait to see everyone ready to learn on January 9th, 14th, and 28th!

Watch recordings of our past webinars for women in high school interested in STEM, “Swimming in STEM”.