What does International Women's Day mean to you?

Today is International Women’s Day and Staples Canada is celebrating by highlighting some trailblazing entrepreneurs and business leaders within our very own community. We reached out to Staples Studio members across the country and asked them to tell us about their business and what International Women’s Day means to them personally.

“International Women's Day for me is an essential movement. It really isn’t about gender, it is about removing barriers and stereotypes. As someone who had a career in technology companies, I was continually paid substantially less than my male peers. International Women's Day helps redefine opportunity for every person.”

Michelene Maguire, Maguire Marketing Group

Staples Studio Member, Toronto

Michelene Maguire is the owner of the Maguire Marketing Group, a B2B and Professional Services marketing agency that is focused specifically on growth through strategy and execution. When she's not leading her team or serving her customers, she's working on her passion project- Women Growing Empires, which is a group of over 1250 Women CEO’s.

“International Women's Day means celebration and awareness. Celebration that is focused around achievements by women for women and the progress of the recognition for those achievements.”

Stacy Maynard, Stacy Maynard International

Staples Studio Member, Oakville

Stacy Maynard is multi-passionate. For over 20 years, she has been helping businesses gain the competitive edge in the digital world with online personal branding, video & LinkedIn training and podcasting to name a few. As a best selling author, trainer, speaker, podcast host and award-winning entrepreneur, Stacy has been quoted along side social media marketing & sales platforms and her Podcast "Link for Success" is ranked Top 35 on iTunes.

“International Women's Day is a collective effort to inspire action and celebrate women, who defy the norm to create a better world for us all. To me, it is about advocating to bridge the gender parity by being the change we need.”

Aanchal Vashistha, Reach Out Together

Staples Studio Member, Toronto

Aanchal Vashistha is a 2x award-winning thought leader, best-selling author, international speaker, and a social entrepreneur. She moves audiences around the world as she shares her journey to recovery from suicide loss and advocates for wellness and success after trauma. Aanchal founded Reach Out Together, a registered Canadian not-for-profit organization. Reach Out Together raises mental health awareness to break the stigma and encourages people to move towards recovery.

“International Women's Day is a day to reflect on all that women have survived, changed and flourished in.  It’s a statement of how each woman's story despite their differences has the ability to inform, educate, inspire, motivate and make a difference to women around the world.”

Fay Chapple, The Chapple Group

Staples Studio Member, Oakville

Fay Chapple is an award winning global business strategist, author, podcast host and a leading expert in marketing & speaker training. Fay founded The Chapple Group and helps organizations and people by providing the strategies they need to turn their dreams and visions into reality- regardless of their circumstance.  The Chapple Group works with senior executive teams and entrepreneurs alike to help their ideas come to life in branding, communications, leadership, marketing, strategy, product development and speaking.

“International Women's Day is a time to cherish and focus on the strengths as a woman entrepreneur – we are intuitive and empathetic, naturally. It’s a time to celebrate female entrepreneurship.”

Kathy Cheng, Nexxt Intelligence

Staples Studio Member, Toronto

Kathy Cheng is a qualitative moderator and ethnographer. She founded Nexxt Intelligence to build a “respondent-centric” research platform 4 years ago. With their team of researchers and technologists, they build technologies to make market research more human. Nexxt Intelligence’s chatbot, IncaBot, is designed and trained specifically for market research to help elicit genuine conversations and in-depth feedback. Through engaging research experiences, they turn “respondents” into partners, and ultimately co-creators.

Staples Studio provides entrepreneurs, start-ups, small businesses and students access to an innovative and collaborative workspace, featuring beautiful lounge spaces, community kitchens, a podcast studio, private and shared offices and meeting rooms fully equipped with modern office furniture and state-of-the-art technology. Members can enjoy a fully equipped office space designed to meet the needs of start-up communities in Toronto, Kelowna, Oakville and Ottawa. Visit studio.staples.ca to learn more.