Tonight on The Brian Crombie Hour, Brian interviews Deena Theodora about the Divine Feminine and Klaudia Zinaty about Women Empowerment. Deena, an Ottawa-born singer of Greek descent, is a multilingual powerhouse, fluent in English and Greek while showcasing her vocal versatility in seven languages. She describes what she sees a the divine feminine and ten ways women can focus on that and achieve more success and happiness. Klaudia Zinaty is a visionary trailblazer, a powerhouse of innovation, and an advocate for women’s empowerment. With over 15 years of experience spanning sports marketing, media, and fashion, her journey in sports marketing at NBA Canada, broadcasting at CHUM Television, publishing at FLARE Magazine, and currently in academics as a professor in marketing, media and PR, her roles have been defined by one core mission: uplifting and championing women across all industries. She is not just a leader – she is a catalyst for change, dedicated to breaking barriers and inspiring the next generation to lead with confidence.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The views expressed in the following program are those of
the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of
Saga nine sixty am or its management.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Touting everyone and welcome to the Brian Crombie Rio are.
I am endlessly fascinated and curious about the world around us,
about business, about politics, about the arts, about culture, about developments,
about social issues, and the people that are shaping all
those issues and shaping our future. Every night at six
o'clock on nine to sixty am, I get to dive
into these conversations with thought leaders, with change makers, with entrepreneurs,
(00:41):
with politicians, and with everyday heroes that I get to
unpack their ideas and the stories that the matter. What's
the future of economy, How do we build stronger communities?
What can we learn from music, the arts, from sport?
How does policy actually shape our real lives? What does
leadership look like today? It's interesting and relevant and we're
(01:01):
talking about you'll hear about it here on the Brian
Crobie Radio R. I want to have real conversations, in
depth conversations ideas we're sharing Brian Crombie and the Brian
Cromee Radio R. Now, I want to introduce you to
Dina Theodore. She is a singer, she's a songwriter. She's
a performer that I know from mississaugaan from Toronto. She's
now a worldwide phenomena. She just came back from Britain
(01:23):
where she launched her single, and so I want you
to meet her because I think she is a performer
of note in Canada that you're going to want to
listen to and hear about. But also she posted a
really interesting comment slash you know, theory about femininity that
I thought was really interesting and she had ten suggestions
(01:45):
to females to ensure that they felt strong in their femininity.
So Dina, welcome to the show. To start with and
tell us you know you were off launching a single.
What's the single all about?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Well, first of all, Brian, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
It's been so long, you know, since not being in Toronto,
being in Autowa a lot of the time now.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
But yeah, I mean the single was going great. That
was your question. You were wanting to know more about
the latest single.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, what's the name? Where can people get it on
Spotify or where?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Just you go to all platforms, all streaming platforms, Dina
Theodora and the single is out it's called sin City
and all the latest updates and releases and all the
fun and exciting behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Everything happening pretty much for the journey. You could check
it out on all my socials Dina Theodora and.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
If people wanted to check out some of your performances
are there? Are there live performances? Are there? Are there videos?
You know, what's the best way to see if they
love Dina as much as I do?
Speaker 4 (02:50):
That's absolutely so you could definitely you could check out
the streaming services. But then I'm also on YouTube. You
just type in my name and a whole bunch of
videos and performances.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Will come up.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And Britain, Why did you go to Britain And what
was that like? What was the experience like launching your single?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
So after this single, my next upcoming one in late summer,
which I'm excited so excited about. It's one of my
most exciting projects to come and it's going to.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Be with a collaboration.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
With Obo, an artist with Drake and so that's to
date one of my most exciting projects that we were
promoting in Britain.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
It was all surrounding the Wireless Fest.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Drake was you know, performing and basically centered there in Britain,
and it was a beautiful festival, a beautiful chance to
just get to meet fans and just really just go
about the whole creative journey.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Excellent, Well, good luck and all that. And I look
forward to hearing some of the music, if not a
lot of the music. And you know, if you're ever
performing in the Toronto Warrior, please let me know. So
I reached out to you about a month ago. I
think it was when you posted this really interesting post
about feminine energy. Divine feminine energy and why I guess
why is it that you felt like you needed to
(04:08):
post this post about feminine energy and you came up with,
you know, ten meaningful tips to help ladies get align
with her feminine energy. Why did you feel like you
wanted to speak out on this?
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You know, it's interesting, it was, I have to say,
and this is going to bring up, you know, a
whole like a mix of feelings because it was around
the time of the Kanye Bianca. You know, she had
shown up to an event and she was obviously in
a very artistic extravagant where if.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
You remember what that was all about, and you know.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I just it was like nothing was there actually, as
I remember.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Well, yeah, it was quite quite mesh. But yeah, basically
it was more of a statement. And I think that,
you know, I just I really just I kind of
played the opposite. I took the stance of everyone's going
to start to attack on one end, but then I
took the opposite, and I was like, you know, if
why don't we just take a second and just look
at things from face value.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
There's a time and a place, I agree.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
But at the same time, I think, you know, throughout centuries,
you know, in the Roman times, for example, you know,
people would fathom at the beauty of a man's body,
But what about going back to the roots of the
divine feminine and appreciating and valuing and you know, having
women harness their beauty on every level and not being
(05:28):
ashamed of it, and not being shunned or shamed by it,
but really seeing it for what I believe to be
as a healing form of divine feminine energy that has
the potential to really make a lot of positive impact.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
When we chatted, you mentioned owning your sovereignty or or
or being comfortable with your sovereignty over your own body.
What do you mean by.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
That sovereign sovereignty and more in terms of I would
say just owning your own atome, I mean as a woman.
I mean there's a power and a sovereignty in that
and in feeling empowered and being able to harness uh,
you know, taking yourself within the context of the divine
(06:12):
feminine and rewiring the narrative and the stigma that so
many women unfortunately have you know, gone through for centuries
for being ashamed or being shunned for their beauty or
for you know, for showing their beauty. And so to me,
it's just it's you know, I want to get to
a point where we re rewire the narrative around that
(06:37):
and and start to really make it about harnessing a
woman's beauty, harnessing the healing powers. You know of what
that means, because you know, in the divine feminine, you know,
when a woman is in her true divine essence and
divine feminine, it is a healing force. You know, there's nurturing,
there's it's sensual, it's intuitive, it's magnetic, it's you know,
(07:00):
there's a presence of sensual connection. And I believe that
just like the ying and the yang, you know, if
she's able to really harness her own divine feminine that
will also be healing towards the masculine.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
How is it healing?
Speaker 4 (07:16):
It's healing in a sense where everything creates a perfect
harmony and balance. There's no shame, there's no stigma, there's
no shaming. A woman to be her ultimate, true, divine
feminine self. And what that means is allowing her to
harness it around her partner, around just meant in general,
(07:39):
to be able to have that sacred healing empowerment that
I believe that the divine feminine has.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
It is. I interviewed a professor from the London Business
School who wrote a book called Erotic Capital, and she
said that it's one of the negatives from a feminine standpoint,
that charisma is seen as a positive in a man,
but sensuality or sexuality or erotic is seen as a
(08:07):
negative by too many people in a female. What do
you say to that?
Speaker 4 (08:13):
And so that's exactly what I'm getting at is again
with you know, how many years have we been wired
to shame and to talk down on a woman's being
empowered by her, you know, sensuality, by her divine feminine
and when I say divine, it is ultimately divine because
of the fact that I personally believe that people just
fear the unknown and women are so powerful that if
(08:36):
they embrace and truly harness that within themselves, I think
I think the world would just be completely just.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
So much more magical.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
We're going to take a break and come back and
I'm going to ask Dina to take us through her
ten tips on how people can stay aligned with their
divine femininity. This is going to be interesting and fun.
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Everyone back into stream us Live at SAGA nine six
am dot C.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Come back, everyone to the Brian Krabrey rideo. I've got
Dina Theodore with us set tonight. She is a singer,
she's a songwriter, she's a performer. She's just recently released
a single and she wrote a really interesting post that
I wanted to chat about in regards to what she
describes as divine feminine energy. And she says, embrace your
authentic self and divine feminine energy. It's a powerful journey
(09:44):
of self acceptance, intuition, creativity, and inner strength. And she
goes through ten meaningful tips to help you stay aligned
with your truth if you're a female. Number one is
honor your intuition. What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (09:57):
You know, Before I answer that, I just want to
say before the break, there was two famous throughout history
women that truly harnessed and were empowered and were able
to use their divine feminine And I'll give you these
maybe you already know. One of them was Cleopatra and
(10:18):
the other was Marilyn Monroe. And so just naturally, you know,
the fact that they were able to tap into that
exact example of what I'm saying. They were able to
literally move mountains at a time where you know where
people again maybe thought it was fine to shame a
(10:40):
woman for her eccentric you know, beauty and just being
able to you know, express herself in that way.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
But those are, in my opinion, those.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Are really good examples of how women can look look
up to women that are truly able to harness their
divine feminine.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Well, I appreciate that. You know, some people say Catherine
the Great would be another example, and uh and Queen
Elizabeth the First that led the Elizabeth the beef In
era would be another one. And if you if you
ever watched that movie the Other Bullin that was Elizabeth's mother,
that that certainly existed as well. So let's talk through
(11:24):
these ten on your intuition.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Absolutely, you know, for me, it's it's it's just simple.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
You know, you you you have this inner inner voice
and you really just have to remind yourself to practice
like a stillness within your day to day and really
just be true to that. And so it's just about
quieting everything around you and having that. You know, that
intuition is it's almost like a gut within yourself and again,
(11:50):
harnessing that as a woman is sticking to that exact thing.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
And brace your emotions without shame.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
So again it's it's just it's it's being able to
speak your truth and always going back to being able
to embrace and harness that. The ability to be able
to express yourself and not feel that you have to
be shamed. Knowing that you as a woman can actually
have the ability to heal through your dives.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Is that boundaries that protect your energy.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
So with that, I would say, yeah, I mean I
spoke about you know, the gates of self respect, just
knowing when to be able to say what you need
to say and if that means no, when it's time
to say it, you know, and to really just be
able to nurture those boundaries.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Number four is prioritize your pleasure and joy.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
So for me, I I think I wrote about you know,
there's nothing wrong to be able to just affirm that,
and you know, and again me being in the arts,
me being a creative. It's beautiful to express yourself. And
that's where the sensuality comes in where you you know,
through dance, through art, it's a natural form that just
(13:10):
lifts you up.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
And you talk about, you know, something that lights you
up and makes space for lighting you up. You know.
I think that someone told me, don't diminish your light,
don't darken your light, make it shine. And I like that.
Number five connect with your body.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
And I'll add to that on the last.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Sorry again not being ashamed of your sensuality as a
woman and harnessing into it and just being proud of
it and using it for healing.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Number five, connect with your did you say which one?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Number five? Connect with your body.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
So again I like to take time, you know, to
do things like dance, meditation, nature, all that embodying and
grounding yourself. And you know that's why for me in
the arts, it just works perfectly because I'm able to
just naturally express through all.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Of my art.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Number six reject comparison culture. What the heck is comparison culture?
Speaker 4 (14:11):
You know, we deal with it, you know, day to day,
you know, you're scrolling through pictures, you scroll, We're just
bombarded with everybody is looking at somebody else, whether it's
you know, you turn on the TV, you turn on
your social media, you turn on wherever, whenever, and it's
just all around you. And so you know, really harnessing
your own beauty, your own worth, within your own unique
self and aligning with that and knowing that you ultimately
(14:36):
have your own unique path and to not compare because.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
You're unique, You're who you are. Number nine. Nourish your creativity.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
It would be detrimental. Nourish your creativity. For me, it's
you know, there's different activities you could do. I mean,
for me obviously it's through music, right. You know, women
that you know express through dance. You know, again that's
an area where they're able to they're able to naturally,
you know, just allow their divine feminine to just naturally
(15:07):
flow in the form of expressing centrally through DNSE or
you can even take it as far as you know,
writing or painting and ultimately nourishing that Number eight.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Cultivate sisterhood and save female spaces.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Well, it's very important, you know, as women too many
of us are caddy. I mean, you guys don't deal
with that. So I think it's great to you know, create,
you know, a power of strong, empowered, empowering women coming
together and celebrating and harnessing what it is to be
to celebrate basically, you know, beauty, sensuality, divine, feminine.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
You said, vulnerability is shared, is power multiplied. Why do
you need to be vulnerable? To me?
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Vulnerability is about the fact that you are just able
to just be raw and real. I spoke about this
about being around you know, like a sisterhood usually you know,
amongst other women, usually women, it's easier for them to
you know, be more vulnerable because they share similar experiences
sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
And so there's power in that. By being able to
just opening.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Up about exactly number nine, heal the inner wombs.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Again, this goes back to centuries or years of whatever
the narrative has been about shaming. Uh, you know, through
growing up, you know, the self worth, body image, abandment,
talking down on you know what it is to really
take in your own be proud of your beauty, be
proud of your sensuality, really believe that it has the
(16:50):
ability to heal when you are authentically within your true
divine essence as a woman and so not being ashamed
of that.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And number ten is interesting, redefine strength in your own terms.
I think a lot of people, I think think that
to be uh successful, you got to be like a man,
you got to be alpha, you got to be uh,
you know, very strong. And what are you suggesting here
if you want to redefine strength in your own.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Terms, I'm going to I'm going to point back to this.
Cleopatra was a perfect example. You know, there was there
was softness and strength that coexisted. You know, she had
the ability to just she was amazing with charisma, she
was amazing with having this power and sovereignty, but she
also harnessed and knew how to tap into her divine
(17:38):
feminine and sensuality.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
And you know, she was.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Basically able to just literally use that within herself to
you know, do everything that she did within her and
you know, through Caesar to Mark and it was just
like amazing with how she was able to truly tap
into that and that became a strength. And that's why
I will always use her as an example when I'm
(18:03):
talking about the topic of femininity and harnessing your own
feminine sensuality, divine feminine.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
You know, thank you so much for sharing your list
with us and your thoughts and and your examples of
Cleopatra and Marilyn Monroe. I think that that was really
interesting and it is a I think a potentially contrary
point of view with sort of the you know, what
a lot of people think today, and so I really
appreciate it because Frankie, I agree with you completely and
I think it's it's wonderful that you that you're uh
(18:36):
making use of your divine feminine energy to be a
success in in the performance arts and uh, and I
think that you're a great example for young ladies, and
so I will thank you so much. Brian.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
I just want to add on that note.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
You know, I I personally, being being an artist, being performer,
I am completely tapped into my own divine feminine and
my own my ability to tap in to my own
sensuality and be able to express that through you know,
my music, my dance, my.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Art, and.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
I just I want to be able to allow other
women to realize that there is so much power and
there is so much, so much sovereignty within them to
be able to instead of shunning a woman for that,
you know, to really embrace it. And and there's so
many healing aspects to that, so, you know, I just
(19:30):
really want to add to that that.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
You know, there's people.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
That are always going to say something, oh, she's an
artist and she's expressing too much sensuality. You know, for me,
it's the contrary. You know, I'm completely empowered and there's
a sovereignty within that.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
You know, thanks so much. If people want to check
out your music, what's the best way for them to
do that.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Yes, so you guys can go to all streaming platforms
Dina Theodora, all my socials Dina Theodora, and make sure
to check out the next single coming out and lots
of fun stuff on the way.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
And yeah, I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Come back when you single comes out and talk to
us about it. We're going to take a break and
when we come back, we're going to talk to another
guest talking about a woman's empowerment organization and a big
event coming up. Stay with us, everyone back in two minutes.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
No Radio, No Problem stream is live on SADAY nine
six am dot CAA.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
Good evening, everyone, Welcome to the Brian Cromby Radio while
I have Klaudia Zanati with us tonight. She is just
an amazing bundle of energy, someone who I've had the
pleasure of meeting and interviewing before. She's a visionaire, she's
a leader, she's an entrepreneur, and she's an advocate for
women's empowerment. She's had this fascinating career. She worked with
the NBA, She's worked in sports marketing. She's been a
(21:02):
empowerment women's empowerment to advocate. She's launched a fascinating organization
about champion Women that we're going to talk about. She's
had this dynamic career in media, fashion, education, philanthropy. I
interviewed her at one point in time and toward her
shoe closet. She's got more shoes than anyone I've ever met.
(21:22):
She's been very involved in the fashion industry. Other people
that I've interviewed and talked to in the fashion business.
I think extremely highly of her, have a great deal
of respect. And what you've done now is you've launched
this Women's Empowerment Awards.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
In twenty twenty two. It's been running for three years now,
You've got another one coming up on this September and
we're going to talk about it tonight. It's a platform
dedicated to celebrating and amplifying the achievements of women in
Canadian business, leadership, mentorship, diversity and community service. So Claudia,
welcome to the show.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
Well, thank you, Brian if I was wonderful to see you,
so thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
My pleasure. So tell me, you know, you had this
incredibly diverse, incredible corporate to experience in sports, marketing, broadcasting,
and publishing, et cetera. Why after all that launch an
event for women empowerment.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
Why Well, during the pandemic, I was actually leading a
non for profit and actually, if you remember, Brian, I
was the head of Fashion Group International, that was one
of our interviews that we had done in the past.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yes, so the head of.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
That organization for two years. It was a two year
term and during that term that's when COVID hit and
I experienced firsthand the devastating effect it had on so
many women entrepreneurs. I mean so many of these women
that were involved in fashion and beauty industry was shut
down because it was non essentials. So you had women
that had to close their brick and mortar, people that
(22:44):
didn't know how to start an online platform, Others that
were home with their children because all the daycares and
schools were closed. And I really saw the devastating effect
it had on all these amazing women entrepreneurs. And when
I started to do the research, I realized that during
COVID statistics showed that women compared to men, seventy two
percent of women in comparison to men were laid off
(23:06):
or let go. And that's a devastating number when you
think about we make about half of the population here
in Canada. So from that, I decided, after my term
was over with Fashion Group International, that I wanted to
start my own initiative that would be able to uplift
and empower these amazing women, bring them back into the
spotlight and really help them level up in their businesses
and careers. So I came up with the idea of
(23:28):
the Women Empowerment Awards. Now I didn't know whether it.
Speaker 7 (23:31):
Was going to do well or not, Bryan, because you know,
after COVID, either people wanted to see each other or
people were still scared.
Speaker 6 (23:36):
So I didn't know what to expect. But I launched
it in twenty twenty two and we had an overwhelming response.
I mean our event was in September at the Shangla.
We sold out in June, three months in advance.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
You promised me a ticket and you never gave me.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
We'll definitely get you going by we'll get you going,
but it's you know.
Speaker 7 (23:56):
What, they sold out so quickly, right, Honestly, every year
we've been now this is our fourth year and we
just sold out June twenty six.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
I mean, every year we sell out. But it just
shows you, like how important this initiative is. It's really
it's an opportunity for women to network. It's an opportunity
for women to share their stories, to be able to
recognize one another, to celebrate each other. But you know
it's not.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Just why is that important? Why is that important?
Speaker 6 (24:22):
Because we don't do it often enough. I means we
are so humble. I think, you know, we just we
put our head down, we get things done, Like even
you know, during the pandemic, with all the things that
were thrown our way, we just kept going. We just
kept you know, supporting, doing whatever we needed to do
as mothers, as educators because a lot of the times
we were teaching our kids at home while they were
(24:44):
home from schools and daycares. You know, we were partners
and wives, we were doing everything. We were wearing multiple hats,
and I think a lot of the times we just
we just do and we don't take time to actually
stop and celebrate or acknowledge all the things that we do.
So this this is a platform to allow you to
empower yourself, because before you can empower others, you need
(25:05):
to empower yourself first and foremost.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
So I've been told by others that one of the
challenges is that and this is a terrible generalization, but
let me ask and see if you think it's at
all accurate. That you know, numerous females have this thing
they call the imposter syndrome, that they don't think they're
worthy and uh. And then in addition, men sometimes are
overconfident and uh and and and tout their their abilities
(25:29):
and exaggerate their abilities and brag about their abilities. Far
more than females, and females on average are more humble
and so therefore one of the reasons why you know,
individuals organized events like this is to give females an
opportunity to to to, if not brag about themselves, at
least give themselves us some stature in the community. What
do you think Is there any truth to that?
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (25:51):
Absolutely, And I see it all the time. There's so
many women that I meet at so many different events
and organizations, and I'll say, you know, did you nominate yourself?
And they're like me, no, me. I'm like, well, yes,
of course you Like I think we always are so
quick to do it to everyone else, Like if we
see people that have gotten a promotion or you know,
closed a really big deal, we're the first ones to
(26:11):
jump on board and say congratulations, I'm so happy for you.
I mean, we do it all the time. But for
us to ever actually do it to ourselves, I think
we lack that ability to do it. And I don't
know whether that's just something that's innate that we are
grown up to believing that you know, that we need
to always be humble and not be able to accept
all of our accomplishments but I think that needs to change.
(26:31):
I think when when you're there in the room and
you are celebrating yourself, because we all do in that room,
we encourage everyone, whether you're a finalist, whether you're nominee,
whether you're an award recipient, we ask everyone to really
take a moment and celebrate themselves because I think it's
so important to be able to do that. And I
think once you start doing that, it feels really good
and it allows you to continue on that path to
(26:54):
be able to have those bragging rights because you know
no one's going to always no one's going to do
it for you all the time. So I think it's
important for us to be able to have the confidence
and to be able to empower ourselves to share all
of our accomplishments, to share our wins, to be able
to share, you know, if we completed a certification of something.
I think it's important to be able to acknowledge that
(27:15):
for our own self, for it, but also just to
be able to have a confidence to be able to
share with others.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
This event you say you sold out, is there if
people are intrigued a website that people can go to
check it out. Maybe nominate themselves next year, but where
do they go?
Speaker 6 (27:29):
Absolutely, so it is a www. Dot WOEA, dot CAA,
so our nominations. The way that it works every year
is our nominations open on International Women's Day, which is
March eighth, the every year. It is open to all
Canadian residents across Canada, and if you are Canadian but
(27:49):
you are you know, working in the US, that's also
acceptable and you have an opportunity to nominate as many
women as you'd like. We encourage people to self nominate
as well, and they have about two months to nominate
and then come June is when they accept the nominations
and be able to complete the submission form. It goes
to our judges in July and then we start to
(28:11):
roll out the award finalists in August and September, and
then the award recipients get announced on stage in September,
so they don't know in advance.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Fantastic Guy sounds like a fun event. We're going to
take a break for some messagers and come back in
just two minutes with Claudia z Inati talking about women's
empowerment and an organization that she's founded in a big
event that she has in September. Stay with us, everyone
back in.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Two minutes.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Stream us live at SAGA nine six am dot CA.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Welcome back everyone to the Brian Crimebe Radio War. We're
chatting tonight with Claudia is Inati. She is aionary leader,
entrepreneur and advocate for women's empowerment. She's got this fascinating
career in fashion and sports marketing with the NBA, on publishing,
et cetera, and now she has dedicated herself to women's empowerment.
She's launched a foundation, she's launched an event. She's a speaker,
(29:17):
you speaker, She's a motivational speaker, she's a mentor. She's
really trying to do something for women's empowerment. Claude, I
gotta ask you why what is women's empowerment in your mind?
Speaker 6 (29:30):
It really is being able to find the power within
yourself to be able to do the things that you
want to do. I mean, we all come go through
a lot of obstacles and challenges in our life. And
you know, it's interesting when you watch these awards or
you hear these women's stories, because we get submissions every
single year. When you hear the journey of these people's stories,
you realize how resilient we are, how much we persevere,
(29:51):
how determined we are to overcome all of these obstacles
and barriers. And you know, if you are a woman
who is BIPOC as well, like the marginalized and racialized
communities suffer even greater in terms of getting things like loans.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
What was that word bipock?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Yes, what does that stand for?
Speaker 6 (30:08):
So black Indigenous people of color?
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Okay?
Speaker 6 (30:12):
Yes, So we actually have so we have these awards
that we do every year with monetary grants. So Rogers
Communications is our presenting sponsor. We have Mentella Corporation who's
our lead sponsor, and the two of them, when we
first started out, gave out monetary grants to two specific awards,
which is the Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the
(30:34):
Entrepreneur BIPOC Grant Award, And so it's to help them
with ten thousand dollars was the initial grants that were
given in twenty twenty two. This year we've got five grants.
So Rogers has increased the grant to fifteen thousand dollars.
Intel Corporations has provided another ten thousand dollars this year
and We also have a twenty five hundred dollars grant
(30:56):
by Sitar Jewelers, which is with Innovation Awards, and Mary
Kay Cosmetics is providing a twenty five hundred dollars grant
to Rising Star Ward and TD has also offered a
twenty five hundred dollars grand to Businesswomen of the Year awards.
So it's amazing because these women not only you know,
we are able to receive these wonderful awards, but in
addition to that, they'll have monetary grants to help them
(31:18):
level up in their businesses and careers.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Fantastic. Tell me if you could. Maybe you don't remember
who was last year's Entrepreneur the Year.
Speaker 6 (31:25):
Oh gosh, well there were two so we had.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Oh my goodness, don't worry about we'll come back. We'll
come back. It's been file.
Speaker 6 (31:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
And how many people would be nominated for Entrepreneur the Year, Like,
are you talking about two or ten or twenty or what?
Speaker 6 (31:44):
No, we get over last year? We had over eight
hundred nominations. We had over eight hundred nominations last year. Yes,
and actually so the bipop one was Camisha. So Camisha
does this amazing marketing and public relations company from Jamais.
It was interesting because the BYPOC category last year was
(32:05):
three women who happened to all be from Jamaica, and
so it was such a moment because you saw these
three women banding together, all from the same country. Just
happened to be the case, and they all had their
Jamaican flags and they were just so proud to be
representing their country and it was wonderful. It was just
wonderful to be able to celebrate all three of them.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
You know, diversity, equity, inclusion DEI stuff is at a
favor in the United States right now, given what President
Donald Trump has been sort of doing. Is there still
a need for bipock and wards in Canada?
Speaker 6 (32:41):
And I mean, listen, there's still a huge areas that
needs to be recognized, and I think it's so important
when we take a look at the accessibility that you know,
the group of women within that area, the lack of resources,
the lack of fund the lack of government grants like
(33:02):
it definitely needs still to be a key area of focus.
And you know, whatever happens in the States I think
is unfortunate, but I do believe that we need to
continue with that initiative absolutely this year.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
And you don't. You don't only have this award event,
You've got a foundation. Tell me what the foundation's all
about if you could.
Speaker 6 (33:22):
Yes, I'm really excited. So last year we were certified
as a registered charity and I was so excited because
we were wanting to do this for the last two years,
and so when we were announced I think it was
in August of last year, we immediately wanted to put
it into action. So one of the two initiatives that
(33:42):
we did was we extended an invite to twelve young
girls from different organizations in the community. So we reached
out to the Toronto District School Board, we reached out
to the Toronto Police Services, Indigenous groups and other young
girls groups, and we were able to bring these amazing
twelve young girls from four different organizations, from Western Collegiate,
(34:06):
from Peel Region, from the Human Sex Trafficking Division of
the Toronto Police who were rescued, and from the Indigenous
youth groups, and we got them all glammed up, hair, makeup,
beautiful gowns and they were able to attend our awards
and be in a room surrounded by four hundred and
fifty empowering women because we wanted them to show that,
(34:27):
to show them that their current circumstances situations are just temporary,
that they can be anything that they want, and that
their dreams matter. And we wanted them to be inspired
by all these incredible women to know that they could
be any one of those women in the room.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
It seems, you know, Timmy, reading what you've sent to me,
that not only do you want to celebrate to people
that are currently successful, but you do want to inspire
sort of the next generation of women.
Speaker 6 (34:53):
Why because they are our future and that's so important.
I mean, these young girls are the future of Canada,
and I think it's so important to be able to
help them in terms of confidence, in terms of leadership, communication,
and so one of the other things that we did
through the foundation is last year we gave out four
scholarships to young girls across Canada that we're in racialized
(35:14):
and marginalized communities in order to be able to help
them further their education. So we are doing the same
thing again this year. Some of the girls have been
accepted into University of British Columbia, one has been in
the Wharton School of Business, one in Stanford. So it's
wonderful to be able to see and I think that
when we start at a younger age and be able
to encourage them to be empowered and be able to
(35:37):
provide the mentorship and the role models of our community,
I think then they are unstoppable and they can achieve anything.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Do you think it's important for young females to see
people like yourself that are successful and empowered? Is that helpful?
Speaker 7 (35:52):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (35:52):
One hundred percent. I mean, listen, you know, when I
was younger, if I was surrounded by these amazing, empowering
women in all areas of businesses, and to be able
to see that I could go into aerospace engineering, that
I would be able to go into research, medicine, design,
whatever I wanted to be. I mean, to be able
to actually see examples of women in front of me
(36:13):
that are doing those career paths and be able to
have those as mentors and be able to be inspired
by them, I think is so important. So absolutely, I
think it's so keen we do encourage that we do
have a whole mentorship program as well through our foundation,
that any of these young girls as well as women
who are just needing that bit of a direction in
(36:35):
terms of their career path. We do have opportunities for
mentorship so that they are able to be connected with
others in our community. It really is a family. Like
that's the beautiful thing about it, Brian. It's like if
you were actually to see the way that our community
is in our event, it's a family, it's a sisterhood.
And when you see all these people get together and
they're all supporting each other, and it's such a beautiful
(36:56):
thing because a lot of the times, you know, when
you in real life, when you need help with anything
in your personal life, you turn to your family, right,
Your family helps each other, and it's the same thing
with this. This has really become a family. So if
you need something, there's someone there to help you.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
If you need.
Speaker 6 (37:13):
Advice, if you need mentorship, if you need an extra
assistance with a project, if you need a photographer, video,
for whatever you need. It really has become quite a
beautiful community and I'm so proud of it.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Have you had mentors that have inspired you, that have
helped you in your life?
Speaker 6 (37:29):
I have, And you know what, a lot of the
mentors are people that I work with now that are
part of my awards which is a beautiful thing. It's
a real full circle because you know, when I started it,
the people that I admired a lot were Suzanne Rogers
and Sylvia Mantela because they were out there and they
were on so many boards for philanthropy and they were
(37:51):
giving back to the community, and they were doing so much.
And I always admired the fact that not only are
these amazing women in very strong positions, confidence, strong, and
just incredible, incredibly intelligent. And to be able to see
them take their position and be able to give back
in so many ways and so generous with their time
(38:13):
and all their energy and efforts that to me, I
always looked up to them. So to have them now
part of our Women Empowerment Awards, I'm so incredibly grateful.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
It sounds like you had really quite an interesting career
and you've gone from you know, marketing with the NBA
to running a fashion organization. Tell me, like, did you
have this all planned out? Has it all been sort
of serendipity? Tell me about your own career path.
Speaker 6 (38:38):
Yeah, you know what, it's interesting to be able to
see the path that I've gone, and you know, I
encourage everybody. I always say you know if there's an
opportunity that comes your way, take it because you never
know where it's going to lead you. So when I
started with the NBA, I would have never thought that
that would take me into broadcasting, and then from broadcasting
into publishing, and from publishing, working for a fashion magazine,
(38:59):
I realized, Wow, I really love fashion and this is
what I wanted to do, which then led me to
Fashion Group International, and from there, to be honest with you,
I learned a lot about how to be able to
run a non for profit and what's required and you know,
how to be able to do these types of events.
So I learned quite a bit from the non for
profit sector that now I'm able to have one on
(39:19):
my own. So I think everything happens for a reason,
and it's a stepping stone because it's not just the jobs, right,
it's the skill set, it's the people, it's the networking.
And networking is so incredibly important because a lot of
these people that I have met or that I worked
with in my past, I'm still involved with today. So
it just goes to show you that no matter how
much time passes, it's not necessarily the jobs. It's you
(39:41):
as a person, it's your personal brand. It's the projects
that you work on, that's what that's what draws people
to you, and I think that's so important. So I've
been very fortunate. It's been a wonderful journey and I'm
you know, and it's just going to continue to grow.
I'm so excited to be able to do more and
be able to expand this into globe, into a global
perspective and and opportunity.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
So, oh, so you're going to go beyond Canada.
Speaker 6 (40:03):
I would love to. I mean, the thing is, Brian,
every year when we do our nominations, although they're open
to Canada, we get so many that come in from
international countries and when you hear their stories, I mean
they're phenomenal. And so I would love the opportunity to
be able to recognize these women all over the world
because I think it's so important to be able to
do that as well. So right now, you know, we're
(40:23):
just going into our fourth year. We're still quite small
in the early stages, but we do hope to expand
into something that's international down the line.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
You mentioned something a couple of minutes ago that I
find quite intriguing. Personal brand, What do you mean by
personal brand? And how does one create one? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (40:40):
I think your personal brand is you. It's your authenticity,
it's your own personal story. It's who you are and
what you believe in and the connections that you make.
I think is so important. And I, as you know,
I teach, and so when I'm teaching my students, I
tell them all the time. You know, really think about
who you are as a personal brand. What do you
want people to know you by? Is it you know?
(41:02):
Your authenticity? Isn't the fact of your determination? Is it
the fact that you're reliable and that you know your
values and beliefs are are really important terms of your
core foundation. So really having people understand who you are
as a person, because your career path can change ten
times over in the course of your lifetime, and people
(41:23):
won't remember the jobs that you had, they'll remember who
you are. So when you go to the next job,
it's not the job that they remember, it's you as
a person. And then on to the next When you
go onto the next job, again, it's going to be
you that they're following. It's not the job that they're following.
So as much as the job provides you that background,
that's skill set, the knowledge of the experience, that's what
you gain from it. But it's you as a person
(41:45):
that's transitioning from stage to stage. So I think that's
what's important. So I tell people, whenever you put yourself
out there, be your authentic self, like share your story,
be able to talk about the things that you've done
and the things that you've accomplished. But also you know,
be able to give back to the community and leave
something behind. And I tell you know, everyone, even my students,
(42:05):
I say, we talk about legacy, Well, legacy isn't after
you've gone and pasted. Legacy is now, what do you
want to leave behind at every stage of your career
that people can remember you by. Was it the fact
of you giving back to the community and volunteering, Was
it the fact of mentorship? Was it the fact that
you contributed to a really huge project in a particular way.
(42:26):
What did you leave behind in every single one that
people will remember you by? And that's really part of
your legacy of who you are as as you are
still living.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
So lots of people talk about, you know, find your
passion or find your legacy or find out, you know,
what you really want to do. It's an interesting and
you know, it's an admirable objective, but how the heck
do you actually do it? How do you figure out
what you want your legacy to be, what your passion is,
what you want to spend all your time and effort on.
How do you find that out? How'd you find it?
Speaker 6 (42:55):
That's a lot of it's self reflection. It's really taking
a look and saying, what do you love doing? What
gets you excited to wake up in the morning. What
is it that you just you know that when you
do it, you feel gratification, you feel accomplished. You you know,
you walk away feeling that you made a difference. And
sometimes it's you know, it's whatever that you do. If
(43:16):
you're volunteering for someone, if you're helping someone out. You know,
we talk about a lot of the times of it
being you know, people talk about materialism and such. It's
such a small gesture that takes absolutely nothing and can
literally change someone's life. So it could be something as
doing a simple introduction to someone that could be a
(43:37):
game changer for that person's career. It could be taking
thirty minutes of a coffee chat on the phone or
through zoom and be able to provide someone direction or
insights into their next career path. It's things like that
that actually cost absolutely nothing and can make a huge
difference in someone's life. So really just being able to
(43:57):
do something that makes you happy, that makes you feel good,
and I think that's really what it is. It's finding
that passion. So for me, throughout my career, I've always
loved mentoring. That's why I became a teacher. You know,
I've always loved mentoring. I've always loved getting back. I've
always loved sharing my experience so that people can see
(44:19):
different perspectives. And so that's what I continue to do.
No matter what job or position I had, I was
always mentoring. And so this is why with this in
particular with women empowerment, I love to be able to
do this because it's twofold. It's mentoring women who are
entrepreneurs and professionals in so many different ways to be
(44:39):
able to whether I don't have the area of expertise,
I can connect them with someone who does, or I
can mentor them. And then you've got the younger generation,
which you know right now are at the stage where
they're transitioning into adulthood and what a beautiful way to
be able to mentor them in terms of what their
interests and passions are and be able to connect them
to the righta people to help them grow in that direction.
(45:02):
So absolutely, I think it's important to be able to
just really think about the things that you love things
about think about the things that make you really happy
and fulfilled, and be able to move forward with that.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
Fashion Group International, which you ran for two years here
in Toronto. You had told me was a lot about networking,
about interacting with other people in the fashion business. A
lot of what you've talked about tonight so far is
also about networking and interacting with other people. Why why
is networking interacting with other people important to you in
(45:37):
your life and your career?
Speaker 6 (45:39):
You know what, it's essential And because people don't get
to know you until you network with them. If you
send over an email or a resume, they just see
you on paper. But to actually be face to face
with someone and be able to share your character, your personality,
your experience in person is a huge difference. And I
(45:59):
really believe that when you start to network with other people,
not only do you make wonderful connections in the business,
you make wonderful connections and friendship. It's a great opportunity
to be able to put faces to names, but really
get to know people on a more personal level. Because
some of the things that you may talk about, whether
it be but you know, your interests and things that
you do other summer over the summer, or your family
(46:21):
or whatever it is, it could be your career path.
Things like that aren't discussed over an email or discussed
over a resume being sent. So I think it's extremely important.
And the other thing too is people remember you. So
whenever you network with people, it's amazing how quickly people
will remember you. And I think again that is so
(46:41):
essential because when you tell them what you're interested in.
If I'm saying, you know, I'm really interested in finding
a marketing contract and this is what I'm looking out for, well,
you know what if that person, whether it's themselves or
they know somebody who's saying, hey, do you know someone
who's interested in a marketing position, guess what, They're going
to remember you because they had that interaction with you,
(47:01):
They had that lovely conversation with you, you exchanged information,
and they're going to refer you to that person, and
I think that's why it's so important to network. People
get very intimidated by and say that there's no power
to it. I completely disagree. I think networking is so
important and so key.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
I always are scared of it. How do you go
and meet new people? Body start at tons of confidence
and guts, Like what does it take?
Speaker 4 (47:25):
You?
Speaker 6 (47:25):
Start small, start with one person, set yourself a goal.
So I'll tell you my personal story when I got
out of fashion and I'm sorry. When I got out
of Flair and I wanted to start getting into the
fashion world just independently. So I was working behind the
scenes at Flair. I was an account manager and so
I didn't go to a lot of events and such
because we were in charge of doing all the back
(47:45):
end of the magazine, so all of the advertisements and
promotions and sponsorships. So we did more behind the scenes.
So after I had left Flair and I was going
into the fashion world, and I said to myself, I'm
going to go out there independently. I'm going to start
my own And the first year that I went, I
went to Toronto Men's and Women's Fashion event of the
fashion shows, and it was so intimidating, like hundreds and
(48:07):
hundreds of people. Nobody knew who who I was. And
I said to myself, Okay, I'm going to make in
my head, I'm going to reach out to four people.
I put a number in my head. My favorite numbers four.
So I said, I'm going to reach out to four people.
I'm just going to introduce myself. And that's what I did.
So I would come up to people and I would
introduce myself and they would say, you know, I would
ask them what they did, and they would ask me,
(48:28):
and I would tell them my background and then did
that to the next person, the next person. So I
set my goal so you can start a goal with
one person and say, Okay, tonight, I'm just going to
walk away meeting one person and exchanging information. And then
the next time, you know, encourage yourself to do too,
so you can grow gradually. But set yourself a goal
of people that you're going to meet. Now fast forward
a year later. My goal was that when I went
(48:49):
back the next year, that I didn't have to introduce
myself because everybody knew who I was. So here we
are the next year. After guess what, I go back
to Toronto Men's and Women's Fashion Week. People are approaching me, now,
how are you, Claudia, Can we take a picture together?
You know, And now the tables had turned. So it
just goes to show you that just such a small
little thing such as introducing yourself can really turn things
(49:11):
around in your career path. And you know, from that,
from that, just that alone, which led to leading the
Fashion Group International, which led to me being published in
multiple magazines and being featured on multiple you know, podcasts
and such, and now being able to be the head
(49:31):
of this one wonderful event and this wonderful foundation. So
I think, you know, I would say start small, set
yourself up with a small goal that's realistic, and challenge
yourself every single one. You know, it's as saying, right,
don't let fear hold you back. And we are sometimes afraid,
we're afraid to take the next step to go out
(49:53):
there and put ourselves in an unknown kind of atmosphere.
But if you don't, you're always going to hold yourself back.
Speaker 2 (50:01):
Wonderful remind us all of the website they should go
to check you out, check out your foundation, your event,
maybe nominate themselves next year, et cetera.
Speaker 6 (50:09):
Absolutely. It's woea dot ca, so please check it out.
We've got our awards page we are also you'll see
our foundation. You can also do donations. We sell wonderful
merchandise and all the proceeds of the merchandise go straight
to the foundation. So everything that we do goes right
back to our foundation, which is helping to elevate, educate,
(50:30):
and empower both women and the next generation of young girls.
Speaker 2 (50:35):
Buddy is Anattie. Thank you so much for joining us today.
I think this was really interesting and very inspirational. Some
of the things that I've taken is number one, try
to figure out what your legacy is. Number two, create
and build a personal brand. Number three, be authentic. Number
four empower. Number five network just start with four people.
(50:55):
Five mentorship, help others. Number six inspire the next generation.
Number seven set goals, start small. Number eight don't let
fear hold you back. Some great lessons today, Kanati, Thank you, Zanati,
thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (51:09):
I really appreciate.
Speaker 6 (51:10):
It, my pleasure. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (51:12):
We're going to take a break and come back with
some concluding comments on some of these topics in regards
to setting some goals and mentorship and personal brand in
just two minutes. Stay with us everyone, Flaudia really appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (51:27):
Thanks Anja, Thank you Roy.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
No Radio, No Problem. Stream is live on Saga ninety
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The views expressed in the following program are those of
the participants and do not necessarily reflect the views of
Saga nine sixty am or its management.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Touting everyone and welcome to the Brian Crombie Rio are.
I am endlessly fascinated and curious about the world around us,
about business, about politics, about the arts, about culture, about developments,
about social issues, and the people that are shaping all
those issues and shaping our future. Every night at six
o'clock on nine to sixty am, I get to dive
into these conversations with thought leaders, with change makers, with entrepreneurs,
(00:41):
with politicians, and with everyday heroes that I get to
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What can we learn from music, the arts, from sport?
How does policy actually shape our real lives? What does
leadership look like today? It's interesting and relevant and we're
(01:01):
talking about you'll hear about it here on the Brian
Crobie Radio R. I want to have real conversations, in
depth conversations ideas we're sharing Brian Crombie and the Brian
Cromee Radio R. Now, I want to introduce you to
Dina Theodore. She is a singer, she's a songwriter. She's
a performer that I know from mississaugaan from Toronto. She's
now a worldwide phenomena. She just came back from Britain
(01:23):
where she launched her single, and so I want you
to meet her because I think she is a performer
of note in Canada that you're going to want to
listen to and hear about. But also she posted a
really interesting comment slash you know, theory about femininity that
I thought was really interesting and she had ten suggestions
(01:45):
to females to ensure that they felt strong in their femininity.
So Dina, welcome to the show. To start with and
tell us you know you were off launching a single.
What's the single all about?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Well, first of all, Brian, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
It's been so long, you know, since not being in Toronto,
being in Autowa a lot of the time now.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
But yeah, I mean the single was going great. That
was your question. You were wanting to know more about
the latest single.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, what's the name? Where can people get it on
Spotify or where?
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Absolutely?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Just you go to all platforms, all streaming platforms, Dina
Theodora and the single is out it's called sin City
and all the latest updates and releases and all the
fun and exciting behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Everything happening pretty much for the journey. You could check
it out on all my socials Dina Theodora and.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
If people wanted to check out some of your performances
are there? Are there live performances? Are there? Are there videos?
You know, what's the best way to see if they
love Dina as much as I do?
Speaker 4 (02:50):
That's absolutely so you could definitely you could check out
the streaming services. But then I'm also on YouTube. You
just type in my name and a whole bunch of
videos and performances.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Will come up.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
And Britain, Why did you go to Britain And what
was that like? What was the experience like launching your single?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
So after this single, my next upcoming one in late summer,
which I'm excited so excited about. It's one of my
most exciting projects to come and it's going to.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Be with a collaboration.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
With Obo, an artist with Drake and so that's to
date one of my most exciting projects that we were
promoting in Britain.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
It was all surrounding the Wireless Fest.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Drake was you know, performing and basically centered there in Britain,
and it was a beautiful festival, a beautiful chance to
just get to meet fans and just really just go
about the whole creative journey.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Excellent, Well, good luck and all that. And I look
forward to hearing some of the music, if not a
lot of the music. And you know, if you're ever
performing in the Toronto Warrior, please let me know. So
I reached out to you about a month ago. I
think it was when you posted this really interesting post
about feminine energy. Divine feminine energy and why I guess
why is it that you felt like you needed to
(04:08):
post this post about feminine energy and you came up with,
you know, ten meaningful tips to help ladies get align
with her feminine energy. Why did you feel like you
wanted to speak out on this?
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You know, it's interesting, it was, I have to say,
and this is going to bring up, you know, a
whole like a mix of feelings because it was around
the time of the Kanye Bianca. You know, she had
shown up to an event and she was obviously in
a very artistic extravagant where if.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
You remember what that was all about, and you know.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
I just it was like nothing was there actually, as
I remember.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Well, yeah, it was quite quite mesh. But yeah, basically
it was more of a statement. And I think that,
you know, I just I really just I kind of
played the opposite. I took the stance of everyone's going
to start to attack on one end, but then I
took the opposite, and I was like, you know, if
why don't we just take a second and just look
at things from face value.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
There's a time and a place, I agree.
Speaker 4 (05:06):
But at the same time, I think, you know, throughout centuries,
you know, in the Roman times, for example, you know,
people would fathom at the beauty of a man's body,
But what about going back to the roots of the
divine feminine and appreciating and valuing and you know, having
women harness their beauty on every level and not being
(05:28):
ashamed of it, and not being shunned or shamed by it,
but really seeing it for what I believe to be
as a healing form of divine feminine energy that has
the potential to really make a lot of positive impact.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
When we chatted, you mentioned owning your sovereignty or or
or being comfortable with your sovereignty over your own body.
What do you mean by.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
That sovereign sovereignty and more in terms of I would
say just owning your own atome, I mean as a woman.
I mean there's a power and a sovereignty in that
and in feeling empowered and being able to harness uh,
you know, taking yourself within the context of the divine
(06:12):
feminine and rewiring the narrative and the stigma that so
many women unfortunately have you know, gone through for centuries
for being ashamed or being shunned for their beauty or
for you know, for showing their beauty. And so to me,
it's just it's you know, I want to get to
a point where we re rewire the narrative around that
(06:37):
and and start to really make it about harnessing a
woman's beauty, harnessing the healing powers. You know of what
that means, because you know, in the divine feminine, you know,
when a woman is in her true divine essence and
divine feminine, it is a healing force. You know, there's nurturing,
there's it's sensual, it's intuitive, it's magnetic, it's you know,
(07:00):
there's a presence of sensual connection. And I believe that
just like the ying and the yang, you know, if
she's able to really harness her own divine feminine that
will also be healing towards the masculine.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
How is it healing?
Speaker 4 (07:16):
It's healing in a sense where everything creates a perfect
harmony and balance. There's no shame, there's no stigma, there's
no shaming. A woman to be her ultimate, true, divine
feminine self. And what that means is allowing her to
harness it around her partner, around just meant in general,
(07:39):
to be able to have that sacred healing empowerment that
I believe that the divine feminine has.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
It is. I interviewed a professor from the London Business
School who wrote a book called Erotic Capital, and she
said that it's one of the negatives from a feminine standpoint,
that charisma is seen as a positive in a man,
but sensuality or sexuality or erotic is seen as a
(08:07):
negative by too many people in a female. What do
you say to that?
Speaker 4 (08:13):
And so that's exactly what I'm getting at is again
with you know, how many years have we been wired
to shame and to talk down on a woman's being
empowered by her, you know, sensuality, by her divine feminine
and when I say divine, it is ultimately divine because
of the fact that I personally believe that people just
fear the unknown and women are so powerful that if
(08:36):
they embrace and truly harness that within themselves, I think
I think the world would just be completely just.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
So much more magical.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
We're going to take a break and come back and
I'm going to ask Dina to take us through her
ten tips on how people can stay aligned with their
divine femininity. This is going to be interesting and fun.
Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Everyone back into stream us Live at SAGA nine six
am dot C.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Come back, everyone to the Brian Krabrey rideo. I've got
Dina Theodore with us set tonight. She is a singer,
she's a songwriter, she's a performer. She's just recently released
a single and she wrote a really interesting post that
I wanted to chat about in regards to what she
describes as divine feminine energy. And she says, embrace your
authentic self and divine feminine energy. It's a powerful journey
(09:44):
of self acceptance, intuition, creativity, and inner strength. And she
goes through ten meaningful tips to help you stay aligned
with your truth if you're a female. Number one is
honor your intuition. What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (09:57):
You know, Before I answer that, I just want to
say before the break, there was two famous throughout history
women that truly harnessed and were empowered and were able
to use their divine feminine And I'll give you these
maybe you already know. One of them was Cleopatra and
(10:18):
the other was Marilyn Monroe. And so just naturally, you know,
the fact that they were able to tap into that
exact example of what I'm saying. They were able to
literally move mountains at a time where you know where
people again maybe thought it was fine to shame a
(10:40):
woman for her eccentric you know, beauty and just being
able to you know, express herself in that way.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
But those are, in my opinion, those.
Speaker 4 (10:52):
Are really good examples of how women can look look
up to women that are truly able to harness their
divine feminine.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Well, I appreciate that. You know, some people say Catherine
the Great would be another example, and uh and Queen
Elizabeth the First that led the Elizabeth the beef In
era would be another one. And if you if you
ever watched that movie the Other Bullin that was Elizabeth's mother,
that that certainly existed as well. So let's talk through
(11:24):
these ten on your intuition.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Absolutely, you know, for me, it's it's it's just simple.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
You know, you you you have this inner inner voice
and you really just have to remind yourself to practice
like a stillness within your day to day and really
just be true to that. And so it's just about
quieting everything around you and having that. You know, that
intuition is it's almost like a gut within yourself and again,
(11:50):
harnessing that as a woman is sticking to that exact thing.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
And brace your emotions without shame.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
So again it's it's just it's it's being able to
speak your truth and always going back to being able
to embrace and harness that. The ability to be able
to express yourself and not feel that you have to
be shamed. Knowing that you as a woman can actually
have the ability to heal through your dives.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Is that boundaries that protect your energy.
Speaker 4 (12:26):
So with that, I would say, yeah, I mean I
spoke about you know, the gates of self respect, just
knowing when to be able to say what you need
to say and if that means no, when it's time
to say it, you know, and to really just be
able to nurture those boundaries.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Number four is prioritize your pleasure and joy.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
So for me, I I think I wrote about you know,
there's nothing wrong to be able to just affirm that,
and you know, and again me being in the arts,
me being a creative. It's beautiful to express yourself. And
that's where the sensuality comes in where you you know,
through dance, through art, it's a natural form that just
(13:10):
lifts you up.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
And you talk about, you know, something that lights you
up and makes space for lighting you up. You know.
I think that someone told me, don't diminish your light,
don't darken your light, make it shine. And I like that.
Number five connect with your body.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
And I'll add to that on the last.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Sorry again not being ashamed of your sensuality as a
woman and harnessing into it and just being proud of
it and using it for healing.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Number five, connect with your did you say which one?
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Number five? Connect with your body.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
So again I like to take time, you know, to
do things like dance, meditation, nature, all that embodying and
grounding yourself. And you know that's why for me in
the arts, it just works perfectly because I'm able to
just naturally express through all.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Of my art.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Number six reject comparison culture. What the heck is comparison culture?
Speaker 4 (14:11):
You know, we deal with it, you know, day to day,
you know, you're scrolling through pictures, you scroll, We're just
bombarded with everybody is looking at somebody else, whether it's
you know, you turn on the TV, you turn on
your social media, you turn on wherever, whenever, and it's
just all around you. And so you know, really harnessing
your own beauty, your own worth, within your own unique
self and aligning with that and knowing that you ultimately
(14:36):
have your own unique path and to not compare because.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
You're unique, You're who you are. Number nine. Nourish your creativity.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
It would be detrimental. Nourish your creativity. For me, it's
you know, there's different activities you could do. I mean,
for me obviously it's through music, right. You know, women
that you know express through dance. You know, again that's
an area where they're able to they're able to naturally,
you know, just allow their divine feminine to just naturally
(15:07):
flow in the form of expressing centrally through DNSE or
you can even take it as far as you know,
writing or painting and ultimately nourishing that Number eight.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Cultivate sisterhood and save female spaces.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Well, it's very important, you know, as women too many
of us are caddy. I mean, you guys don't deal
with that. So I think it's great to you know, create,
you know, a power of strong, empowered, empowering women coming
together and celebrating and harnessing what it is to be
to celebrate basically, you know, beauty, sensuality, divine, feminine.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
You said, vulnerability is shared, is power multiplied. Why do
you need to be vulnerable? To me?
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Vulnerability is about the fact that you are just able
to just be raw and real. I spoke about this
about being around you know, like a sisterhood usually you know,
amongst other women, usually women, it's easier for them to
you know, be more vulnerable because they share similar experiences
sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
And so there's power in that. By being able to
just opening.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
Up about exactly number nine, heal the inner wombs.
Speaker 4 (16:26):
Again, this goes back to centuries or years of whatever
the narrative has been about shaming. Uh, you know, through
growing up, you know, the self worth, body image, abandment,
talking down on you know what it is to really
take in your own be proud of your beauty, be
proud of your sensuality, really believe that it has the
(16:50):
ability to heal when you are authentically within your true
divine essence as a woman and so not being ashamed
of that.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
And number ten is interesting, redefine strength in your own terms.
I think a lot of people, I think think that
to be uh successful, you got to be like a man,
you got to be alpha, you got to be uh,
you know, very strong. And what are you suggesting here
if you want to redefine strength in your own.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Terms, I'm going to I'm going to point back to this.
Cleopatra was a perfect example. You know, there was there
was softness and strength that coexisted. You know, she had
the ability to just she was amazing with charisma, she
was amazing with having this power and sovereignty, but she
also harnessed and knew how to tap into her divine
(17:38):
feminine and sensuality.
Speaker 3 (17:40):
And you know, she was.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
Basically able to just literally use that within herself to
you know, do everything that she did within her and
you know, through Caesar to Mark and it was just
like amazing with how she was able to truly tap
into that and that became a strength. And that's why
I will always use her as an example when I'm
(18:03):
talking about the topic of femininity and harnessing your own
feminine sensuality, divine feminine.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
You know, thank you so much for sharing your list
with us and your thoughts and and your examples of
Cleopatra and Marilyn Monroe. I think that that was really
interesting and it is a I think a potentially contrary
point of view with sort of the you know, what
a lot of people think today, and so I really
appreciate it because Frankie, I agree with you completely and
I think it's it's wonderful that you that you're uh
(18:36):
making use of your divine feminine energy to be a
success in in the performance arts and uh, and I
think that you're a great example for young ladies, and
so I will thank you so much. Brian.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
I just want to add on that note.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
You know, I I personally, being being an artist, being performer,
I am completely tapped into my own divine feminine and
my own my ability to tap in to my own
sensuality and be able to express that through you know,
my music, my dance, my.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
Art, and.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
I just I want to be able to allow other
women to realize that there is so much power and
there is so much, so much sovereignty within them to
be able to instead of shunning a woman for that,
you know, to really embrace it. And and there's so
many healing aspects to that, so, you know, I just
(19:30):
really want to add to that that.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
You know, there's people.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
That are always going to say something, oh, she's an
artist and she's expressing too much sensuality. You know, for me,
it's the contrary. You know, I'm completely empowered and there's
a sovereignty within that.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
You know, thanks so much. If people want to check
out your music, what's the best way for them to
do that.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
Yes, so you guys can go to all streaming platforms
Dina Theodora, all my socials Dina Theodora, and make sure
to check out the next single coming out and lots
of fun stuff on the way.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
And yeah, I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Come back when you single comes out and talk to
us about it. We're going to take a break and
when we come back, we're going to talk to another
guest talking about a woman's empowerment organization and a big
event coming up. Stay with us, everyone back in two minutes.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
No Radio, No Problem stream is live on SADAY nine
six am dot CAA.
Speaker 5 (20:38):
Good evening, everyone, Welcome to the Brian Cromby Radio while
I have Klaudia Zanati with us tonight. She is just
an amazing bundle of energy, someone who I've had the
pleasure of meeting and interviewing before. She's a visionaire, she's
a leader, she's an entrepreneur, and she's an advocate for
women's empowerment. She's had this fascinating career. She worked with
the NBA, She's worked in sports marketing. She's been a
(21:02):
empowerment women's empowerment to advocate. She's launched a fascinating organization
about champion Women that we're going to talk about. She's
had this dynamic career in media, fashion, education, philanthropy. I
interviewed her at one point in time and toward her
shoe closet. She's got more shoes than anyone I've ever met.
(21:22):
She's been very involved in the fashion industry. Other people
that I've interviewed and talked to in the fashion business.
I think extremely highly of her, have a great deal
of respect. And what you've done now is you've launched
this Women's Empowerment Awards.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
In twenty twenty two. It's been running for three years now,
You've got another one coming up on this September and
we're going to talk about it tonight. It's a platform
dedicated to celebrating and amplifying the achievements of women in
Canadian business, leadership, mentorship, diversity and community service. So Claudia,
welcome to the show.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
Well, thank you, Brian if I was wonderful to see you,
so thank you.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
My pleasure. So tell me, you know, you had this
incredibly diverse, incredible corporate to experience in sports, marketing, broadcasting,
and publishing, et cetera. Why after all that launch an
event for women empowerment.
Speaker 6 (22:12):
Why Well, during the pandemic, I was actually leading a
non for profit and actually, if you remember, Brian, I
was the head of Fashion Group International, that was one
of our interviews that we had done in the past.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yes, so the head of.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
That organization for two years. It was a two year
term and during that term that's when COVID hit and
I experienced firsthand the devastating effect it had on so
many women entrepreneurs. I mean so many of these women
that were involved in fashion and beauty industry was shut
down because it was non essentials. So you had women
that had to close their brick and mortar, people that
(22:44):
didn't know how to start an online platform, Others that
were home with their children because all the daycares and
schools were closed. And I really saw the devastating effect
it had on all these amazing women entrepreneurs. And when
I started to do the research, I realized that during
COVID statistics showed that women compared to men, seventy two
percent of women in comparison to men were laid off
(23:06):
or let go. And that's a devastating number when you
think about we make about half of the population here
in Canada. So from that, I decided, after my term
was over with Fashion Group International, that I wanted to
start my own initiative that would be able to uplift
and empower these amazing women, bring them back into the
spotlight and really help them level up in their businesses
and careers. So I came up with the idea of
(23:28):
the Women Empowerment Awards. Now I didn't know whether it.
Speaker 7 (23:31):
Was going to do well or not, Bryan, because you know,
after COVID, either people wanted to see each other or
people were still scared.
Speaker 6 (23:36):
So I didn't know what to expect. But I launched
it in twenty twenty two and we had an overwhelming response.
I mean our event was in September at the Shangla.
We sold out in June, three months in advance.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
You promised me a ticket and you never gave me.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
We'll definitely get you going by we'll get you going,
but it's you know.
Speaker 7 (23:56):
What, they sold out so quickly, right, Honestly, every year
we've been now this is our fourth year and we
just sold out June twenty six.
Speaker 6 (24:04):
I mean, every year we sell out. But it just
shows you, like how important this initiative is. It's really
it's an opportunity for women to network. It's an opportunity
for women to share their stories, to be able to
recognize one another, to celebrate each other. But you know
it's not.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Just why is that important? Why is that important?
Speaker 6 (24:22):
Because we don't do it often enough. I means we
are so humble. I think, you know, we just we
put our head down, we get things done, Like even
you know, during the pandemic, with all the things that
were thrown our way, we just kept going. We just
kept you know, supporting, doing whatever we needed to do
as mothers, as educators because a lot of the times
we were teaching our kids at home while they were
(24:44):
home from schools and daycares. You know, we were partners
and wives, we were doing everything. We were wearing multiple hats,
and I think a lot of the times we just
we just do and we don't take time to actually
stop and celebrate or acknowledge all the things that we do.
So this this is a platform to allow you to
empower yourself, because before you can empower others, you need
(25:05):
to empower yourself first and foremost.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
So I've been told by others that one of the
challenges is that and this is a terrible generalization, but
let me ask and see if you think it's at
all accurate. That you know, numerous females have this thing
they call the imposter syndrome, that they don't think they're
worthy and uh. And then in addition, men sometimes are
overconfident and uh and and and tout their their abilities
(25:29):
and exaggerate their abilities and brag about their abilities. Far
more than females, and females on average are more humble
and so therefore one of the reasons why you know,
individuals organized events like this is to give females an
opportunity to to to, if not brag about themselves, at
least give themselves us some stature in the community. What
do you think Is there any truth to that?
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (25:51):
Absolutely, And I see it all the time. There's so
many women that I meet at so many different events
and organizations, and I'll say, you know, did you nominate yourself?
And they're like me, no, me. I'm like, well, yes,
of course you Like I think we always are so
quick to do it to everyone else, Like if we
see people that have gotten a promotion or you know,
closed a really big deal, we're the first ones to
(26:11):
jump on board and say congratulations, I'm so happy for you.
I mean, we do it all the time. But for
us to ever actually do it to ourselves, I think
we lack that ability to do it. And I don't
know whether that's just something that's innate that we are
grown up to believing that you know, that we need
to always be humble and not be able to accept
all of our accomplishments but I think that needs to change.
(26:31):
I think when when you're there in the room and
you are celebrating yourself, because we all do in that room,
we encourage everyone, whether you're a finalist, whether you're nominee,
whether you're an award recipient, we ask everyone to really
take a moment and celebrate themselves because I think it's
so important to be able to do that. And I
think once you start doing that, it feels really good
and it allows you to continue on that path to
(26:54):
be able to have those bragging rights because you know
no one's going to always no one's going to do
it for you all the time. So I think it's
important for us to be able to have the confidence
and to be able to empower ourselves to share all
of our accomplishments, to share our wins, to be able
to share, you know, if we completed a certification of something.
I think it's important to be able to acknowledge that
(27:15):
for our own self, for it, but also just to
be able to have a confidence to be able to
share with others.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
This event you say you sold out, is there if
people are intrigued a website that people can go to
check it out. Maybe nominate themselves next year, but where
do they go?
Speaker 6 (27:29):
Absolutely, so it is a www. Dot WOEA, dot CAA,
so our nominations. The way that it works every year
is our nominations open on International Women's Day, which is
March eighth, the every year. It is open to all
Canadian residents across Canada, and if you are Canadian but
(27:49):
you are you know, working in the US, that's also
acceptable and you have an opportunity to nominate as many
women as you'd like. We encourage people to self nominate
as well, and they have about two months to nominate
and then come June is when they accept the nominations
and be able to complete the submission form. It goes
to our judges in July and then we start to
(28:11):
roll out the award finalists in August and September, and
then the award recipients get announced on stage in September,
so they don't know in advance.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Fantastic Guy sounds like a fun event. We're going to
take a break for some messagers and come back in
just two minutes with Claudia z Inati talking about women's
empowerment and an organization that she's founded in a big
event that she has in September. Stay with us, everyone
back in.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Two minutes.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Stream us live at SAGA nine six am dot CA.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Welcome back everyone to the Brian Crimebe Radio War. We're
chatting tonight with Claudia is Inati. She is aionary leader,
entrepreneur and advocate for women's empowerment. She's got this fascinating
career in fashion and sports marketing with the NBA, on publishing,
et cetera, and now she has dedicated herself to women's empowerment.
She's launched a foundation, she's launched an event. She's a speaker,
(29:17):
you speaker, She's a motivational speaker, she's a mentor. She's
really trying to do something for women's empowerment. Claude, I
gotta ask you why what is women's empowerment in your mind?
Speaker 6 (29:30):
It really is being able to find the power within
yourself to be able to do the things that you
want to do. I mean, we all come go through
a lot of obstacles and challenges in our life. And
you know, it's interesting when you watch these awards or
you hear these women's stories, because we get submissions every
single year. When you hear the journey of these people's stories,
you realize how resilient we are, how much we persevere,
(29:51):
how determined we are to overcome all of these obstacles
and barriers. And you know, if you are a woman
who is BIPOC as well, like the marginalized and racialized
communities suffer even greater in terms of getting things like loans.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
What was that word bipock?
Speaker 3 (30:06):
Yes, what does that stand for?
Speaker 6 (30:08):
So black Indigenous people of color?
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Okay?
Speaker 6 (30:12):
Yes, So we actually have so we have these awards
that we do every year with monetary grants. So Rogers
Communications is our presenting sponsor. We have Mentella Corporation who's
our lead sponsor, and the two of them, when we
first started out, gave out monetary grants to two specific awards,
which is the Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the
(30:34):
Entrepreneur BIPOC Grant Award, And so it's to help them
with ten thousand dollars was the initial grants that were
given in twenty twenty two. This year we've got five grants.
So Rogers has increased the grant to fifteen thousand dollars.
Intel Corporations has provided another ten thousand dollars this year
and We also have a twenty five hundred dollars grant
(30:56):
by Sitar Jewelers, which is with Innovation Awards, and Mary
Kay Cosmetics is providing a twenty five hundred dollars grant
to Rising Star Ward and TD has also offered a
twenty five hundred dollars grand to Businesswomen of the Year awards.
So it's amazing because these women not only you know,
we are able to receive these wonderful awards, but in
addition to that, they'll have monetary grants to help them
(31:18):
level up in their businesses and careers.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Fantastic. Tell me if you could. Maybe you don't remember
who was last year's Entrepreneur the Year.
Speaker 6 (31:25):
Oh gosh, well there were two so we had.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
Oh my goodness, don't worry about we'll come back. We'll
come back. It's been file.
Speaker 6 (31:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
And how many people would be nominated for Entrepreneur the Year, Like,
are you talking about two or ten or twenty or what?
Speaker 6 (31:44):
No, we get over last year? We had over eight
hundred nominations. We had over eight hundred nominations last year. Yes,
and actually so the bipop one was Camisha. So Camisha
does this amazing marketing and public relations company from Jamais.
It was interesting because the BYPOC category last year was
(32:05):
three women who happened to all be from Jamaica, and
so it was such a moment because you saw these
three women banding together, all from the same country. Just
happened to be the case, and they all had their
Jamaican flags and they were just so proud to be
representing their country and it was wonderful. It was just
wonderful to be able to celebrate all three of them.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
You know, diversity, equity, inclusion DEI stuff is at a
favor in the United States right now, given what President
Donald Trump has been sort of doing. Is there still
a need for bipock and wards in Canada?
Speaker 6 (32:41):
And I mean, listen, there's still a huge areas that
needs to be recognized, and I think it's so important
when we take a look at the accessibility that you know,
the group of women within that area, the lack of resources,
the lack of fund the lack of government grants like
(33:02):
it definitely needs still to be a key area of focus.
And you know, whatever happens in the States I think
is unfortunate, but I do believe that we need to
continue with that initiative absolutely this year.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
And you don't. You don't only have this award event,
You've got a foundation. Tell me what the foundation's all
about if you could.
Speaker 6 (33:22):
Yes, I'm really excited. So last year we were certified
as a registered charity and I was so excited because
we were wanting to do this for the last two years,
and so when we were announced I think it was
in August of last year, we immediately wanted to put
it into action. So one of the two initiatives that
(33:42):
we did was we extended an invite to twelve young
girls from different organizations in the community. So we reached
out to the Toronto District School Board, we reached out
to the Toronto Police Services, Indigenous groups and other young
girls groups, and we were able to bring these amazing
twelve young girls from four different organizations, from Western Collegiate,
(34:06):
from Peel Region, from the Human Sex Trafficking Division of
the Toronto Police who were rescued, and from the Indigenous
youth groups, and we got them all glammed up, hair, makeup,
beautiful gowns and they were able to attend our awards
and be in a room surrounded by four hundred and
fifty empowering women because we wanted them to show that,
(34:27):
to show them that their current circumstances situations are just temporary,
that they can be anything that they want, and that
their dreams matter. And we wanted them to be inspired
by all these incredible women to know that they could
be any one of those women in the room.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
It seems, you know, Timmy, reading what you've sent to me,
that not only do you want to celebrate to people
that are currently successful, but you do want to inspire
sort of the next generation of women.
Speaker 6 (34:53):
Why because they are our future and that's so important.
I mean, these young girls are the future of Canada,
and I think it's so important to be able to
help them in terms of confidence, in terms of leadership, communication,
and so one of the other things that we did
through the foundation is last year we gave out four
scholarships to young girls across Canada that we're in racialized
(35:14):
and marginalized communities in order to be able to help
them further their education. So we are doing the same
thing again this year. Some of the girls have been
accepted into University of British Columbia, one has been in
the Wharton School of Business, one in Stanford. So it's
wonderful to be able to see and I think that
when we start at a younger age and be able
to encourage them to be empowered and be able to
(35:37):
provide the mentorship and the role models of our community,
I think then they are unstoppable and they can achieve anything.
Speaker 2 (35:44):
Do you think it's important for young females to see
people like yourself that are successful and empowered? Is that helpful?
Speaker 7 (35:52):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (35:52):
One hundred percent. I mean, listen, you know, when I
was younger, if I was surrounded by these amazing, empowering
women in all areas of businesses, and to be able
to see that I could go into aerospace engineering, that
I would be able to go into research, medicine, design,
whatever I wanted to be. I mean, to be able
to actually see examples of women in front of me
(36:13):
that are doing those career paths and be able to
have those as mentors and be able to be inspired
by them, I think is so important. So absolutely, I
think it's so keen we do encourage that we do
have a whole mentorship program as well through our foundation,
that any of these young girls as well as women
who are just needing that bit of a direction in
(36:35):
terms of their career path. We do have opportunities for
mentorship so that they are able to be connected with
others in our community. It really is a family. Like
that's the beautiful thing about it, Brian. It's like if
you were actually to see the way that our community
is in our event, it's a family, it's a sisterhood.
And when you see all these people get together and
they're all supporting each other, and it's such a beautiful
(36:56):
thing because a lot of the times, you know, when
you in real life, when you need help with anything
in your personal life, you turn to your family, right,
Your family helps each other, and it's the same thing
with this. This has really become a family. So if
you need something, there's someone there to help you.
Speaker 2 (37:13):
If you need.
Speaker 6 (37:13):
Advice, if you need mentorship, if you need an extra
assistance with a project, if you need a photographer, video,
for whatever you need. It really has become quite a
beautiful community and I'm so proud of it.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Have you had mentors that have inspired you, that have
helped you in your life?
Speaker 6 (37:29):
I have, And you know what, a lot of the
mentors are people that I work with now that are
part of my awards which is a beautiful thing. It's
a real full circle because you know, when I started it,
the people that I admired a lot were Suzanne Rogers
and Sylvia Mantela because they were out there and they
were on so many boards for philanthropy and they were
(37:51):
giving back to the community, and they were doing so much.
And I always admired the fact that not only are
these amazing women in very strong positions, confidence, strong, and
just incredible, incredibly intelligent. And to be able to see
them take their position and be able to give back
in so many ways and so generous with their time
(38:13):
and all their energy and efforts that to me, I
always looked up to them. So to have them now
part of our Women Empowerment Awards, I'm so incredibly grateful.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
It sounds like you had really quite an interesting career
and you've gone from you know, marketing with the NBA
to running a fashion organization. Tell me, like, did you
have this all planned out? Has it all been sort
of serendipity? Tell me about your own career path.
Speaker 6 (38:38):
Yeah, you know what, it's interesting to be able to
see the path that I've gone, and you know, I
encourage everybody. I always say you know if there's an
opportunity that comes your way, take it because you never
know where it's going to lead you. So when I
started with the NBA, I would have never thought that
that would take me into broadcasting, and then from broadcasting
into publishing, and from publishing, working for a fashion magazine,
(38:59):
I realized, Wow, I really love fashion and this is
what I wanted to do, which then led me to
Fashion Group International, and from there, to be honest with you,
I learned a lot about how to be able to
run a non for profit and what's required and you know,
how to be able to do these types of events.
So I learned quite a bit from the non for
profit sector that now I'm able to have one on
(39:19):
my own. So I think everything happens for a reason,
and it's a stepping stone because it's not just the jobs, right,
it's the skill set, it's the people, it's the networking.
And networking is so incredibly important because a lot of
these people that I have met or that I worked
with in my past, I'm still involved with today. So
it just goes to show you that no matter how
much time passes, it's not necessarily the jobs. It's you
(39:41):
as a person, it's your personal brand. It's the projects
that you work on, that's what that's what draws people
to you, and I think that's so important. So I've
been very fortunate. It's been a wonderful journey and I'm
you know, and it's just going to continue to grow.
I'm so excited to be able to do more and
be able to expand this into globe, into a global
perspective and and opportunity.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
So, oh, so you're going to go beyond Canada.
Speaker 6 (40:03):
I would love to. I mean, the thing is, Brian,
every year when we do our nominations, although they're open
to Canada, we get so many that come in from
international countries and when you hear their stories, I mean
they're phenomenal. And so I would love the opportunity to
be able to recognize these women all over the world
because I think it's so important to be able to
do that as well. So right now, you know, we're
(40:23):
just going into our fourth year. We're still quite small
in the early stages, but we do hope to expand
into something that's international down the line.
Speaker 2 (40:32):
You mentioned something a couple of minutes ago that I
find quite intriguing. Personal brand, What do you mean by
personal brand? And how does one create one? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (40:40):
I think your personal brand is you. It's your authenticity,
it's your own personal story. It's who you are and
what you believe in and the connections that you make.
I think is so important. And I, as you know,
I teach, and so when I'm teaching my students, I
tell them all the time. You know, really think about
who you are as a personal brand. What do you
want people to know you by? Is it you know?
(41:02):
Your authenticity? Isn't the fact of your determination? Is it
the fact that you're reliable and that you know your
values and beliefs are are really important terms of your
core foundation. So really having people understand who you are
as a person, because your career path can change ten
times over in the course of your lifetime, and people
(41:23):
won't remember the jobs that you had, they'll remember who
you are. So when you go to the next job,
it's not the job that they remember, it's you as
a person. And then on to the next When you
go onto the next job, again, it's going to be
you that they're following. It's not the job that they're following.
So as much as the job provides you that background,
that's skill set, the knowledge of the experience, that's what
you gain from it. But it's you as a person
(41:45):
that's transitioning from stage to stage. So I think that's
what's important. So I tell people, whenever you put yourself
out there, be your authentic self, like share your story,
be able to talk about the things that you've done
and the things that you've accomplished. But also you know,
be able to give back to the community and leave
something behind. And I tell you know, everyone, even my students,
(42:05):
I say, we talk about legacy, Well, legacy isn't after
you've gone and pasted. Legacy is now, what do you
want to leave behind at every stage of your career
that people can remember you by. Was it the fact
of you giving back to the community and volunteering, Was
it the fact of mentorship? Was it the fact that
you contributed to a really huge project in a particular way.
(42:26):
What did you leave behind in every single one that
people will remember you by? And that's really part of
your legacy of who you are as as you are
still living.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
So lots of people talk about, you know, find your
passion or find your legacy or find out, you know,
what you really want to do. It's an interesting and
you know, it's an admirable objective, but how the heck
do you actually do it? How do you figure out
what you want your legacy to be, what your passion is,
what you want to spend all your time and effort on.
How do you find that out? How'd you find it?
Speaker 6 (42:55):
That's a lot of it's self reflection. It's really taking
a look and saying, what do you love doing? What
gets you excited to wake up in the morning. What
is it that you just you know that when you
do it, you feel gratification, you feel accomplished. You you know,
you walk away feeling that you made a difference. And
sometimes it's you know, it's whatever that you do. If
(43:16):
you're volunteering for someone, if you're helping someone out. You know,
we talk about a lot of the times of it
being you know, people talk about materialism and such. It's
such a small gesture that takes absolutely nothing and can
literally change someone's life. So it could be something as
doing a simple introduction to someone that could be a
(43:37):
game changer for that person's career. It could be taking
thirty minutes of a coffee chat on the phone or
through zoom and be able to provide someone direction or
insights into their next career path. It's things like that
that actually cost absolutely nothing and can make a huge
difference in someone's life. So really just being able to
(43:57):
do something that makes you happy, that makes you feel good,
and I think that's really what it is. It's finding
that passion. So for me, throughout my career, I've always
loved mentoring. That's why I became a teacher. You know,
I've always loved mentoring. I've always loved getting back. I've
always loved sharing my experience so that people can see
(44:19):
different perspectives. And so that's what I continue to do.
No matter what job or position I had, I was
always mentoring. And so this is why with this in
particular with women empowerment, I love to be able to
do this because it's twofold. It's mentoring women who are
entrepreneurs and professionals in so many different ways to be
(44:39):
able to whether I don't have the area of expertise,
I can connect them with someone who does, or I
can mentor them. And then you've got the younger generation,
which you know right now are at the stage where
they're transitioning into adulthood and what a beautiful way to
be able to mentor them in terms of what their
interests and passions are and be able to connect them
to the righta people to help them grow in that direction.
(45:02):
So absolutely, I think it's important to be able to
just really think about the things that you love things
about think about the things that make you really happy
and fulfilled, and be able to move forward with that.
Speaker 2 (45:14):
Fashion Group International, which you ran for two years here
in Toronto. You had told me was a lot about networking,
about interacting with other people in the fashion business. A
lot of what you've talked about tonight so far is
also about networking and interacting with other people. Why why
is networking interacting with other people important to you in
(45:37):
your life and your career?
Speaker 6 (45:39):
You know what, it's essential And because people don't get
to know you until you network with them. If you
send over an email or a resume, they just see
you on paper. But to actually be face to face
with someone and be able to share your character, your personality,
your experience in person is a huge difference. And I
(45:59):
really believe that when you start to network with other people,
not only do you make wonderful connections in the business,
you make wonderful connections and friendship. It's a great opportunity
to be able to put faces to names, but really
get to know people on a more personal level. Because
some of the things that you may talk about, whether
it be but you know, your interests and things that
you do other summer over the summer, or your family
(46:21):
or whatever it is, it could be your career path.
Things like that aren't discussed over an email or discussed
over a resume being sent. So I think it's extremely important.
And the other thing too is people remember you. So
whenever you network with people, it's amazing how quickly people
will remember you. And I think again that is so
(46:41):
essential because when you tell them what you're interested in.
If I'm saying, you know, I'm really interested in finding
a marketing contract and this is what I'm looking out for, well,
you know what if that person, whether it's themselves or
they know somebody who's saying, hey, do you know someone
who's interested in a marketing position, guess what, They're going
to remember you because they had that interaction with you,
(47:01):
They had that lovely conversation with you, you exchanged information,
and they're going to refer you to that person, and
I think that's why it's so important to network. People
get very intimidated by and say that there's no power
to it. I completely disagree. I think networking is so
important and so key.
Speaker 2 (47:17):
I always are scared of it. How do you go
and meet new people? Body start at tons of confidence
and guts, Like what does it take?
Speaker 4 (47:25):
You?
Speaker 6 (47:25):
Start small, start with one person, set yourself a goal.
So I'll tell you my personal story when I got
out of fashion and I'm sorry. When I got out
of Flair and I wanted to start getting into the
fashion world just independently. So I was working behind the
scenes at Flair. I was an account manager and so
I didn't go to a lot of events and such
because we were in charge of doing all the back
(47:45):
end of the magazine, so all of the advertisements and
promotions and sponsorships. So we did more behind the scenes.
So after I had left Flair and I was going
into the fashion world, and I said to myself, I'm
going to go out there independently. I'm going to start
my own And the first year that I went, I
went to Toronto Men's and Women's Fashion event of the
fashion shows, and it was so intimidating, like hundreds and
(48:07):
hundreds of people. Nobody knew who who I was. And
I said to myself, Okay, I'm going to make in
my head, I'm going to reach out to four people.
I put a number in my head. My favorite numbers four.
So I said, I'm going to reach out to four people.
I'm just going to introduce myself. And that's what I did.
So I would come up to people and I would
introduce myself and they would say, you know, I would
ask them what they did, and they would ask me,
(48:28):
and I would tell them my background and then did
that to the next person, the next person. So I
set my goal so you can start a goal with
one person and say, Okay, tonight, I'm just going to
walk away meeting one person and exchanging information. And then
the next time, you know, encourage yourself to do too,
so you can grow gradually. But set yourself a goal
of people that you're going to meet. Now fast forward
a year later. My goal was that when I went
(48:49):
back the next year, that I didn't have to introduce
myself because everybody knew who I was. So here we
are the next year. After guess what, I go back
to Toronto Men's and Women's Fashion Week. People are approaching me, now,
how are you, Claudia, Can we take a picture together?
You know, And now the tables had turned. So it
just goes to show you that just such a small
little thing such as introducing yourself can really turn things
(49:11):
around in your career path. And you know, from that,
from that, just that alone, which led to leading the
Fashion Group International, which led to me being published in
multiple magazines and being featured on multiple you know, podcasts
and such, and now being able to be the head
(49:31):
of this one wonderful event and this wonderful foundation. So
I think, you know, I would say start small, set
yourself up with a small goal that's realistic, and challenge
yourself every single one. You know, it's as saying, right,
don't let fear hold you back. And we are sometimes afraid,
we're afraid to take the next step to go out
(49:53):
there and put ourselves in an unknown kind of atmosphere.
But if you don't, you're always going to hold yourself back.
Speaker 2 (50:01):
Wonderful remind us all of the website they should go
to check you out, check out your foundation, your event,
maybe nominate themselves next year, et cetera.
Speaker 6 (50:09):
Absolutely. It's woea dot ca, so please check it out.
We've got our awards page we are also you'll see
our foundation. You can also do donations. We sell wonderful
merchandise and all the proceeds of the merchandise go straight
to the foundation. So everything that we do goes right
back to our foundation, which is helping to elevate, educate,
(50:30):
and empower both women and the next generation of young girls.
Speaker 2 (50:35):
Buddy is Anattie. Thank you so much for joining us today.
I think this was really interesting and very inspirational. Some
of the things that I've taken is number one, try
to figure out what your legacy is. Number two, create
and build a personal brand. Number three, be authentic. Number
four empower. Number five network just start with four people.
(50:55):
Five mentorship, help others. Number six inspire the next generation.
Number seven set goals, start small. Number eight don't let
fear hold you back. Some great lessons today, Kanati, Thank you, Zanati,
thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (51:09):
I really appreciate.
Speaker 6 (51:10):
It, my pleasure. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (51:12):
We're going to take a break and come back with
some concluding comments on some of these topics in regards
to setting some goals and mentorship and personal brand in
just two minutes. Stay with us everyone, Flaudia really appreciate it.
Speaker 6 (51:27):
Thanks Anja, Thank you Roy.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
No Radio, No Problem. Stream is live on Saga ninety
six am dot co
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