International Women’s Day

DIVERSEcity X Minerva Women’s Leadership Forum

DIVERSEcity x Minerva Women’s Leadership Forum is held annually in celebration of International Women’s Day!

What does it mean to be a women leader today? What are the challenges and opportunities we face in our families, communities and workplaces? And how can we uplift and learn from each other to advance our careers and lives?

For International Women’s Day, DIVERSEcity and Minerva BC have teamed up to present our Women’s Leadership Forum, to uplift, connect and celebrate women leaders — both emerging and established — while also tackling big questions around women’s equality today.

Highlights of the Women’s Leadership Forum

The DIVERSEcity X Minerva Women’s Leadership Forum is a day of learning, connection and celebration. With an inspiring panel of speakers, group activities, entertainment, exhibitor tables, a lunch buffet, giveaways, floral photo studio and plenty of opportunity for dialogue and networking, the event will focus on ways to build ourselves as women leaders while uplifting others. Together, we bloom!

2026 Program

10 am: Exhibition, selfie booth and mingling

10:30 am:  Welcomes

  • Emcee Ria Renouf, Neelam Sahota, CEO, DIVERSEcity and Tina Strehlke, CEO, Minerva

10:50 am:  “Spring Awakening” grounding exercise with trauma-informed consultant Emily Gibson

11 am: “Raise your Voice”  vocal activity with Lenya Wilks

11:15 am: Comedy with Vancouver comedian Julie Kim!

Julie Kim is one of Canada’s top stand-up comedians. She recently toured across North America doing 40 theatre shows with Ronny Chieng, and has performed with the Just for Laughs Festivals and all major Canadian comedy festivals with multiple televised performances including CBC’s recent StandUp for Canada and The Debaters.

11:30 am:  DIVERSEtalks panel  “Growing Ourselves, Blooming Together”

Let’s spark conversation on women’s leadership and empowerment with an inspiring panel of women leaders and interactive audience engagement, leading to breakout discussion groups.

Moderated by Robin Gill, journalist, communications leader and former Global National weekend anchor, will lead the panel discussion.
Stephanie Cadieux is Canada’s first Chief Accessibility Officer, leading national efforts to advance accessibility and inclusion. A long‑time champion for women, she led the push for equal pay legislation in British Columbia during her tenure as an MLA.
Donnie Rosa, Chief Administrator Officer of City of New Westminster,  is known for transformational leadership, collaborative governance and community-centred service, and has been named to the Vanmag Power 50 list three times.
Kal Grewal is the Founder and CEO of RealTime CPA and an award-winning financial leader dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs through clarity, education and community. She is also the founder of the newly launched Equal Path Foundation, dedicated to expanding equitable access to education, skills development and opportunity.
Annita McPhee is an Indigenous facilitator from the Tahltan/Tlingit Nations, motivational speaker and an international human rights advocate.
Rochelle Prasad is an educator, author and policy adviser. Founder of the SPARK Foundation, she has been recognized as the UN Young Leader of the Year (2024) and most recently by Forbes 30 under 30 2026.
Bestselling author of Canada 150 Women, Paulina Cameron believes in the power of bold leadership and meaningful conversations. She has dedicated her career to empowering entrepreneurs and leaders — from founding Young Women in Business to supporting women entrepreneurs as CEO of The Forum.
Sara Goldvine is Chief Operating Officer at Coast Mental Health. She draws on experience from senior leadership positions in organizations like BC Housing, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and Toronto Community Housing.

1–2 pm: Lunch and networking

2026 sponsors

Platinum Sponsors

 

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

 

Marketing Sponsor

Sponsorship and Exhibition Opportunities

Want to be involved as a sponsor or exhibitor for our 2026 event? Download our sponsorship package here to learn more about partnership benefits.

To discuss tailoring your sponsorship opportunity, please contact Margaret Jetelina, Senior Manager, Marketing & Communications, DIVERSEcity, at mjetelina@dcrs.ca or 604-612-9148.

Ready to join the event as a sponsor or exhibitor? Please fill out the application form below. We will get back to you with a confirmation of your spot.

Women's Leadership Forum Sponsorship and Exhibitor Form

Max. file size: 20 MB.

Check out this 2025 post-event publication for a snapshot of the connections and takeaways past attendees leave with to apply in their lives, workplaces and communities.

Download the Advancing Women’s Leadership publication

International Women’s Day Donation

Uplifting women and women’s-focused organizations

From 2016 to 2023, DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society honoured International Women’s Day by recognizing women’s-focused organizations with a donation to support their work.

We have donated to: