Small Business Centre celebrates International Women’s Day

Believe in yourself and persevere.

Those were just two of the messages shared by the speakers Thursday afternoon at the Small Business Centre’s annual Quinte International Women’s Day event.

International Women’s Day isn’t until next week but the SBC traditionally holds their event a little earlier.

It was virtual for the second year in a row.

Alicia Sewell opened Astounding Heights Dance Academy in Quinte West in 2015 when she was in her early 20s.

As a young woman, she found people she dealt with often didn’t want to speak to her.

“Which was very disheartening when you’ve opened up this business, it’s running well. You’re doing all the right things but there’s just, people don’t believe you and don’t respect you.”

Fidel Matthews owns I-float in the County, a float therapy company in Rossmore.

She says it was mostly men opening these types of businesses when she started but she persevered, as have others.

“I do get other business owners, especially males, asking me for my help to help them expand their business out into a more therapeutic field. So now, women are starting to outnumber males in the floating industry.”

Mary Doyle, a program developer and certified futurist says as recently as 2019, when she spoke to women’s groups and asked them to Google CEO, no women showed up in the image search.

“At that time, no kidding, I could do it every single time, when you did that on your phone in 2019, you would get all men on the first page for images. The first female you got to see was CEO Barbie. How amazing and insulting is that?”

However, she says in the last few years that has been changing and while there are still more men than women in that image search, Barbie is no longer the first female that appears.

Jen Cook who, with her husband, operates houseboat rental company H20 Getaways in Quinte West, reminded those in attendance that continuing to learn and challenging oneself is vital.

“My wish for you my fellow, imperfectly messy, brilliant women, is that we may each remember our worthiness, and be sure to give ourselves the credit we deeply, deeply deserve. And then after that … look out!”

International Women’s Day is March 8.