LIFTing Your Leadership - A PowHERhouse Impact Initiative

PowHERhouse is thrilled to share LIFTing Your Leadership, an economic reconciliation project in partnership with the Indigenous LIFT Collective, Co-operators, Sunshine Coast Credit Union, Sunshine Coast Insurance Services Inc., reGEN media, and PowHERhouse. The seed for this project was planted in May 2022 at an intentional solutions-focused gathering called, The Table of Twenty, hosted by PowHERhouse.

The project developed through co-creative conversations with a focus to uplift twelve Indigenous women founders and non-binary entrepreneurs in their early stages of entrepreneurship. The cohort program was rooted in decolonized leadership development and is steeped in Indigenous ways of knowing and being.

Meet the Changemakers Now!

LIFTing Your Leadership cohort with Guest Auntie Vicky auf der Mauer

PowHERhouse champions relational changemaking, and it's an honour to walk beside these incredibly heart-centred entrepreneurs, to listen to their stories and be the hands at their back as they bring their vision to the marketplace. Economic reconciliation is about opportunity, allyship and breaking the cycle of greed that can be found in our current system by lifting up Indigenous business owners. Ensuring First Nation, Inuit and Metis entrepreneurs and their businesses are amplified is a priority for all of us at PowHERhouse and we're thrilled to have this opportunity. Let's take this initiative across Turtle Island!

- Tina Overbury, PowHERhouse Managing Director

This collaboration priority signals an acknowledgement that economic reconciliation is a vital part of addressing and rectifying the impacts of colonization and genocide across Turtle Island. Indigenous peoples have been excluded from the economic table and the time is long overdue to collectively come together to lift, amplify and support Indigenous entrepreneurs.

As a co-operative with a vision to enrich lives, we are very excited to have been included in this collaboration. On our own learning journey, we are driven by the knowledge that a different way forward will be required to build the future we wish to see.

This is an opportunity to work alongside and learn from passionate changemakers. Acknowledging those that have been negatively impacted due to race and gender inequity, we look forward to better understanding how we may play an even more impactful role in the future.

- Jodi Fichtner, Chief Impact & Marketing Officer
Sunshine Coast Credit Union

“We’re thrilled to support this collaborative project with Indigenous LIFT Collective, reGEN media and PowHERhouse that will support economic reconciliation and help address important needs in the communities where we live, work, and play. As a co-operative, our commitment to communities is an operating principle that inspires us to take action, provide support and raise awareness when there’s a need. Guided by our co-operative principles, we invest our profits into action, and we work hard to make our world more resilient.”

- Valerie Georgescu, Associate Financial Advisor, Co-operators

This initiative uplifts Indigenous women who are the caregivers of their families and communities and have been disproportionately impacted by colonial systems as well as Indigenous non-binary people who are caught in the intersectionality of race and gender discrimination.

Economic reconciliation is critical because Indigenous peoples have been excluded from economic table. Although economic reconciliation needs to be led by Indigenous folks, ALL people have a responsibility to champion, support, invest and amplify for a more just, equitable, relational and thriving world. We are truly stronger together and when Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations collaborate in service of economic reconciliation, that is how we can extend the impact of our ripple into the next seven generations.

- Vanessa Lesperance, Indigenous LIFT Collective Circle Lead

The LIFTing Your Leadership program brings together a cohort of 12 entrepreneurs for a combination of business development activities and relational resources co-created by The Indigenous LIFT Collective and co-facilitated by guest Indigenous Aunties bi-weekly.

PowHERhouse will be Uplifting cohort members via the Amplify program which provides a combination of listening sessions and story coaching as digital profiles are created that feature each cohort member. These profiles will be shared on the PowHERhouse website and the materials created act as a media kit which can be used as each entrepreneur launches their website, pitches for partnerships, and on their Linkedin page and other social media platforms. The Amplify portion of the project ensures Indigenous peoples and their perspectives are celebrated, and also seen and heard.

reGEN media will be creating a six-minute documentary to showcase hope, possibility, and the potential of collaborative partnerships to contribute towards Economic Reconciliation.

It’s one thing to do the critical changework we are being called to do at this time in history. It’s another thing to consciously and intentionally shift the narrative (mindset, behaviour, perspectives) around the changework being done to amplify its impact and work towards ensuring the challenges of today aren’t following us into tomorrow. Hope must be present in order for healing to happen on all levels, including placing the care of Indigenous female entrepreneurs at the core of economic reconciliation priority. Their innate gifts and talents are one of Turtle Island’s most underutilized natural assets, and we’re out to change that - going upstream - with the power of story fuelled by a regenerative media process and mini-documentary to shift our future’s narrative.

- Charlene SanJenko, reGEN impact media

The co-creation of this impact initiative in its entirety is supported and made possible with our funding partners, Sunshine Coast Insurance Services Inc. and the Sunshine Coast Credit Union with the support of the Co-operators Advisor Community Fund. The Co-operators Advisor Community Fund supplements Financial Advisors’ donations to their community to help address unmet social, economic, and environmental needs, and build resilient communities for Canadians. We are honoured to prioritize this work and collaborate to bring this initiative to life.

Please Meet Each Partner:

The Indigenous Lift Collective is a not-for-profit that is collectively LIFTing, amplifying, celebrating, and connecting Indigenous peoples for a sustainable, thriving, and better world nation wide. Indigenous LIFT Collective is a collective that acts as a home to wide-ranging initiatives who ALL LIFT the voices, stories, businesses, communities and nations of Indigenous peoples. One of which is the LIFT Circle that co-creates the conditions for Indigenous women entrepreneurs to THRIVE.

reGEN media is North America's only Indigenous-owned and female-led media impact agency, bringing creativity, intention, and innovation to the finance of Indigenous film and trajectory-shifting stories. As a curator of progressive brand partnerships and innovative impact investment, Charlene SanJenko and the reGEN team believe that together we can restore our faith in humanity and shift our future's narrative with transformative media that deliver target returns - the most powerful lever for change in our generation.

The Sunshine Coast Insurance Services Inc. believes the world is a better place when we take care of the things that matter most and together, we can help build stronger, safer communities by actively getting involved with local organizations, causes and events. Co-operators is a leading Canadian financial services co-operative, offering multi-line insurance and investment products, services, and personalized advice to help Canadians build their financial strength and security. Co-operators has been providing trusted guidance to Canadians for the past 76 years. The organization is well known for its community involvement and its commitment to sustainability. Achieving carbon neutral equivalency in 2020, the organization is committed to net-zero emissions in its operations and investments by 2040, and 2050, respectively.

For more than 80 years, Sunshine Coast Credit Union (SCCU) and its members have worked together to grow a healthy, strong, vibrant community, with a long-term vision in mind. Today, SCCU is answering the call for all businesses to re-evaluate their own practices and is doing so in the context of reconciliation, reduced inequalities, climate action, education, sustainable communities, health, and economic growth. As a full service locally-owned financial co-operative, SCCU believes that by building financial wellness for all, people will be empowered to make the positive impact they wish to see in the world.

Here’s How You Can Support This Initiative:

At PowHERhouse we champion the changework of relational leaders and social impactors. We amplify and accelerate the changework of relational leaders for a more integrated, interconnected and intentional world. If you would like to join us in supporting this impact initiative here are some invitations to do so…

Meet the changemakers, read their stories, and connect with them here
Follow each of the partners on our social channels and watch the story unfold as we Amplify the Indigenous Entrepreneurs emerging from this cohort.
Connect with us to become a media partner or financial supporter for future cohorts with varying opportunities to co-create.
Amplify this impact initiative and share it with friends, family, and colleagues that would be interested in supporting.
Express your interest in joining future cohorts by adding your name below to the waitlist for 2023. (this information will also be shared with the Indigenous LIFT Collective.)
Add your name below if you'd like to receive updates as this story continues to unfold and we get to know the cohort individuals. (this information will also be shared with the Indigenous LIFT Collective.)