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Balancing a successful career with family life is a challenge that many women face, but with the right strategies, it’s possible to thrive in both areas. Canadian women leaders have set remarkable examples of how to achieve

this balance. From embracing flexible work arrangements to prioritizing self-care, these women demonstrate that it is possible to excel in both career and family life.

1. Embrace Flexible Work Arrangements

One of the key strategies for balancing career and family is embracing flexible work arrangements. For instance, Arlene Dickinson, a renowned Canadian businesswoman and star of Dragon’s Den, has spoken openly about the importance of flexibility in her career. She emphasizes how being able to set her own schedule allowed her to attend important family events while managing her business. Flexible work options, whether through remote work or adjustable hours, can provide the freedom to manage both professional and personal responsibilities effectively.

2. Prioritize and Delegate

Another critical aspect of balancing career and family is knowing when to prioritize and delegate. Indira Samarasekera, former President of the University of Alberta, has often shared how she learned the art of delegation. Understanding that she couldn’t do everything herself, she entrusted tasks to her team, freeing up time to focus on both her career and her family. Delegating responsibilities at work and home can help reduce stress and create more time for what truly matters.

3. Set Boundaries and Prioritize Self-Care

Setting boundaries and taking care of oneself is essential for maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Michaëlle Jean, former Governor General of Canada, has been a strong advocate for self-care and setting boundaries. In her demanding role, she ensured that she took time for herself and her family, understanding that personal well-being is crucial for long-term success. Women in leadership positions can learn from her example by carving out time for relaxation and setting clear boundaries between work and personal life.

4. Foster a Supportive Network

Building and maintaining a strong support network is invaluable. Julie Payette, former astronaut and Governor General of Canada, often speaks about the importance of having a reliable support system. Whether it’s family, friends, or professional networks, having people to rely on can make a significant difference in balancing career demands with family life. These networks can offer emotional support, practical help, and advice, making it easier to navigate the complexities of both worlds.

5. Be Unapologetically Ambitious

Finally, Canadian women leaders teach us that it’s okay to be ambitious while managing family responsibilities. Heather Reisman, CEO of Indigo Books and Music, has been an inspiring figure in showing that ambition and family life can coexist. She has built a successful business empire while also being a dedicated mother. Her story encourages women to pursue their career goals unapologetically while also cherishing their family roles.

Balancing a thriving career with a fulfilling family life is undoubtedly challenging, but these Canadian women leaders show us that it is possible. By embracing flexibility, prioritizing and delegating, setting boundaries, fostering a support network, and being unapologetically ambitious, women can achieve harmony between their professional and personal lives.

Women in the professional world often face unique challenges that demand resilience, creativity, and strategic thinking. From breaking into male-dominated industries and balancing work-life commitments to advocating for equal pay, women can overcome these obstacles by implementing effective strategies. Here are the top 10 strategies for women to overcome career challenges and achieve professional growth.

1. Embrace Continuous Learning

The professional landscape is constantly evolving. To stay ahead, it’s crucial to invest in continuous learning. This could mean enrolling in online courses, attending workshops, or obtaining certifications in your field. Keeping your skills updated not only enhances your expertise but also boosts your confidence in navigating career challenges.

2. Build a Strong Support Network

Surround yourself with mentors, peers, and allies who can provide guidance, support, and constructive feedback. A strong support network can offer invaluable advice, open doors to new opportunities, and provide the encouragement needed to persevere through difficult times.

3. Set Clear Career Goals

Having a clear vision of your career aspirations helps in creating a focused path. Set short-term and long-term goals and develop a strategic plan to achieve them. Regularly review and adjust your goals to ensure you remain on track and motivated.

4. Develop Negotiation Skills

Negotiation is a critical skill, especially when it comes to salary discussions, promotions, and project opportunities. Practice and refine your negotiation skills to confidently advocate for your worth and secure the resources and recognition you deserve.

5. Seek Out Mentorship

Mentorship can play a pivotal role in career advancement. Seek out mentors who have experience and insights in your industry. They can offer guidance, share valuable knowledge, and help you navigate complex career decisions.

6. Cultivate Resilience

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from setbacks and persist in the face of adversity. Cultivate resilience by maintaining a positive mindset, learning from failures, and viewing challenges as opportunities for growth. This mindset will empower you to tackle obstacles head-on.

7. Enhance Your Personal Brand

Your personal brand is how you present yourself to the world. It encompasses your skills, values, and professional presence. Enhance your personal brand by showcasing your achievements, building a strong online presence, and consistently demonstrating your expertise and professionalism.

8. Advocate for Yourself

Don’t wait for others to recognize your accomplishments. Be proactive in advocating for yourself. Highlight your achievements, share your ideas, and express your career aspirations to your supervisors and peers. Self-advocacy is essential for career growth and recognition.

9. Balance Work and Personal Life

Achieving a healthy work-life balance is crucial for long-term success and well-being. Set boundaries, prioritize tasks, and make time for activities that recharge you. A balanced life helps you maintain focus, productivity, and overall happiness.

10. Stay Informed and Connected

Stay informed about industry trends, company developments, and potential career opportunities. Join professional associations, attend industry conferences, and engage with thought leaders in your field. Staying connected ensures you remain relevant and aware of the latest advancements.

Conclusion

Overcoming career challenges requires a proactive and strategic approach. By embracing continuous learning, building a support network, setting clear goals, developing negotiation skills, seeking mentorship, cultivating resilience, enhancing your personal brand, advocating for yourself, balancing work and personal life, and staying informed and connected, women can navigate their careers with confidence and achieve their professional aspirations. Remember, every challenge is an opportunity for growth and success.

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We’re excited to announce a highlight of our Women of Rubies Media Visibility BootCamp: a captivating Fireside Chat with distinguished speakers renowned for their influential work across various sectors. These industry leaders are true icons, ready to share their profound insights and inspiring journeys with us.

This exclusive dialogue is set to take place on December 18, culminating in the BootCamp experience. Register here to be a part of this enlightening session and the entire BootCamp. Don’t miss the chance to connect with and learn from these industry titans!

Azeezat Adejare: Lawyer and Culinary Entrepreneur

Fireside Chat

Azeezat Adejare is a figure of legal understanding and culinary innovation. A licensed attorney, she has woven her expertise through the fabric of legal practice, earning recognition for her commitment to justice and client advocacy. Beyond the courtroom, Azeezat has embraced her passion for African cuisine, establishing herself as a culinary entrepreneur. She is a pioneer in redefining and promoting African food, intertwining cultural heritage with contemporary taste, garnering her admiration within the culinary community.

Her achievements span diverse realms, reflecting her multifaceted interests and capabilities. Azeezat’s journey is a testament to her versatility and dedication, breaking stereotypes and fostering community through her dual pursuits. Her work has garnered attention, positioning her as a community pillar elevating African cuisine and advocating for legal empowerment.

Chinanza Favour Youth Ambassador and Author

Fireside Chat

Chinanza Favour is a distinguished Youth Ambassador and Author whose work has made a substantial impact in the realms of personal transformation and global empowerment. Hailing from Nigeria, she has become a beacon of inspiration for her dedication to fostering positive change and uplifting communities.

Chinaza is a Youth Ambassador who advocates for education, leadership, and personal development. She also works towards gender equality and youth empowerment at local and international levels. as an author and in youth empowerment, she highlights her commitment to positively impacting the world, especially among young people seeking personal growth and global empowerment.

Wendy Wintech: Content Creator and Youtuber

Fireside Chat

Wendy, or Chyluv, is an award-winning tech professional with a decade of experience. She serves as a Senior Agile Business Analyst at a major North American logistics company and is a Program Manager at BlackTECH. Wendy is passionate about bridging gender inequality in the tech industry and has earned recognition, including the Community Champion Award and Women in Tech Excellence Award. She holds a degree in Computer Science and a master’s in Human Capital Management, with expertise in Business Development, Agile Business Analysis, Strategy, and Content Creation. Wendy is also certified in several areas. She values quality time with her family, including her spouse and four children.

Rinret Gofwan: Mental Health Expert

Fireside Chat

Rinret Gofwan, an expert in behavioral change and emotional well-being, specializes in trauma therapy, emotional intelligence coaching, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP). With a strong educational background, she holds degrees from the University of Abuja, the University of Jos, and the University of Maiduguri, including a Master’s in International Relations and Strategic Studies. Rinret is also the visionary founding director of the Miriam Gofwan Women and Children Foundation.

Emily Wale-koya: Women’s Empowerment Coach

Fireside Chat

Emily Wale-Koya is a renowned figure in personal branding and online entrepreneurship. With a background in law, Emily transitioned into the digital space and has since made a significant impact. She created the School of Personal Branding to assist people in uncovering and optimizing their brands.

Emily’s accomplishments are notable. She has successfully coached and mentored numerous individuals, empowering them to transform their online presence into profitable ventures. She empowers women through Women of Rubies by sharing insights and experiences.

Emily Wale-Koya’s LinkedIn profile showcases her extensive personal branding and entrepreneurship expertise. Her impressive achievements include turning dreams into 7-figure realities, a testament to her dedication and proficiency in the field. Her journey from law to digital entrepreneurship exemplifies the power of reinvention and the pursuit of one’s passion to succeed in the ever-evolving online landscape.

Register for the media visibility BootCamp here: womenofrubies.com/mediavisibility

Wendy Nwajiufor is an award-winning professional with over 10 years of valuable experience in the ever-evolving tech industry. At present, she holds the distinguished position of Senior Agile Business Analyst with one of North America’s largest logistics companies and serves as a Program Manager at BlackTECH. However, her impressive journey doesn’t stop there.

Wendy is the brilliant mind behind WinTECH, a visionary initiative born from her unwavering passion and commitment to reducing the gender gap in the tech world. She believes in fostering a more inclusive industry for everyone, regardless of gender, and she’s taking concrete steps to make this vision a reality.

Collaboration is a key element of Wendy’s approach. She has worked closely with corporate organizations and other stakeholders to deliver impactful programs and initiatives aimed at advancing women in the tech sector. Her dedication and tireless efforts have garnered well-deserved recognition, with awards such as the Community Champion Award by YMCA and the Women in Tech Excellence Award by Remarkable Women Inc.

A Versatile Education and Skill Set

Wendy’s educational background is as impressive as her professional achievements. She holds a degree in Computer Science and has earned a master’s in Human Capital Management, a perfect combination of technical knowledge and human resources expertise.

Her encompasses various facets of the tech and business world. Wendy excels in Business Development, Planning and Coordination, Agile Business Analysis, Strategy and Transformation, and Content Creation. With over 48,000 YouTube followers, she has successfully built a substantial online presence and community.

Wendy Nwajiuofor

Certifications That Speak Volumes

Wendy Nwajiufor’s commitment to excellence is evident in her numerous certifications. She is an SAP ERP Certified Human Resources (HR) professional, a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP), a Certified Scrum Master (CSM), a Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), and holds the Certified Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) certification. These certifications reflect her expertise in diverse areas and her dedication to continuous professional development.

Balancing Work and Family

Beyond her career, Wendy treasures quality time with her family. She is happily married to the love of her life and is the proud mother of four adorable children. This harmony between her professional and personal life is a testament to her ability to excel in multiple domains.

Wendy’s journey in the tech industry is not just about individual success; it’s about creating a more equitable, inclusive, and diverse future for all. Her work and achievements exemplify the positive impact one person can make on a global scale.

Connect with Wendy (Chyluv) on her social media platforms:

  • Facebook: Wendy Nwajiufor
  • Instagram: Wendt Nwajiufor
  • YouTube: Wendy Nwajiufor
  • Email: wendynwaji@gmail.com

You are offered a nice job position, in a nice communication agency, well located. You feel great.This was supposed to be the biggest announcement of 2019 so far.

First day : everyone is smiling at you, welcoming, but you don’t know how to act, feeling everyone’s look upon you. 15 days later, you’re done. Nobody speaks to you.

My first (and peculiar) reaction : asking Google about that. Because that state of loneliness hit me so hard that something in my head told be to check on the internet if I could share this with other people. I found several psychological/kind of depressing articles, but didn’t find anything appropriate. These were just a bunch of people complaining without giving advices about it.

Being connected to a social circle has never been so important as far as Facebook, Twitter Instagram or Snapchat have (or at least one of them) taken over our lives. (Really ?). But Internet is another problem.

At work, indifference is the greatest contempt

People at work can be even more cruel and can really destroy you for no particular reason. When you’re highly implicated, work hard, do the best you can and all of a sudden you feel so bad because you see people gathering themselves to talk, make private jokes, working (or acting like working) closely together, trust me, it is normal to feel left behind.

Welcome to ostracism. A land where your imagination is tortured everyday. It is not about being sensitive, because sensitivity is different from one person to another. It is strictly about being ignored.

So how can you handle at work ?

Right now, your boss is not talking to you anymore, and you’re one of these scared “millenial” that thinks that work should be a place where you can express yourself, in a blossoming workspace, with some intricate and thrilling frameworks, imagining stories that matters. And you’re not doing any of these things. You’re not fitting to the work spirit of the company, and now, panic-stricken.

All social interactions with your coworkers are slowly going down, to the point of not even saying “hello/goodbye”. It’s going wrong for real. And this ostracism can lead to depression, because feeling useless and hopeless

1 — Stop complaining

Did I mention that I’m French ? 
I think it is truly specific to my country. People are complaining every minute in advertising/digital agencies. About clients, about emails, about the amount of work, about the boss… This is clearly annoying. Their time spent complaining could be used doing real-work no ?

So if you’re being ostracized, be strong, and simply face this fact as it is. Being down-to-earth is very useful when facing that kind of situation. It is important to visualise the situation to better go forward and being less stressful.

2 — Dig up your mind

Ok so, now that you have understood the situation, let the anger and worries go and stop trying to make clumsy conclusions or getting ahead of yourself, asking “but why is this happening, what did I do, did I made something wrong, maybe I’m not good enough…” In every overrated advertising agencies, people are mostly the same, so you will face this situation in every one of them. Just sayin’. I’ve been working in agencies for 4 years, and it’s been exactly the same, most of the people are faking work.

“Think outside the box, make things that change things” (and other posh mottos), they said. Agencies are mainly copy and paste. They are baking and re-baking ideas since 1980’s, but with higher prices, using the same Istock / Getty / Shutterstock/ Thinkstock image banks. Using the same reportings with so low Facebook interactions, not even asking themselves what people would like to see when interacting with brands. It is really funny since I’m writing this from my desk, in a nice advertising agency, observing people writing emails, sending Gif or tagging themselves on the last Tasty recipe on Facebook.

If you are feeling alone and like you’re in the spam box, it’s seriously no big deal. You have now time to think about yourself and step back at how different you are, simply by speaking your mind and asserting yourself .

3 — Just do something else with your free time

Now that you are barely transparent, you can do things far more interesting than nothing. 
Meaning : “Great ! I’m out of this sham and mockery system.”
Read, take time for yourself, leave your phone, learn something you didn’t know. In a nutshell, be curious.

If you read this, you can now take a deep breath and play down the situation. And if you want more cool, follow me 🙂

By: Jennifer Capestan