Ten Years of Impact — and We're Just Getting Started

By Cathy Simpson

I started UP+GO over a decade ago with one clear mission: to create the kind of change I wasn’t seeing in the tech world, more women at the table, more girls stepping into leadership, and more spaces where everyone feels like they belong.

After 25 years in IT, I was tired of being one of the only women in the room. Diversity and inclusion were rarely talked about, let alone prioritized. So, I decided to stop waiting and start building something that could make a difference, something for the next generation of women leaders.

I dove headfirst into research, combing through programs and ideas, and came across one that got me excited: the Girls Leadership Institute. Their training helped me clarify what I wanted to do — and where I wanted to do it. I came home inspired and immediately launched what would become the Step Up Program, here in New Brunswick.

That first group of girls from St. Malachy’s and Saint John High School confirmed to me the opportunity and need for this type of program.  Every session, every conversation, every lightbulb moment showed me the power of this work. Since then, I’ve had the privilege of working with hundreds of teens — running workshops, film screenings, mentorship sessions, and leadership events — and every moment reminds me that this is where I’m meant to be.

From watching Dream Girl and Hidden Figures together, to connecting girls with STEM role models, to building custom leadership programs for women in tech companies like T4G, I’ve seen firsthand how confidence grows when girls and women are given the tools — and the space — to lead.

And here’s the best part: it’s now a family mission.

Today, I work alongside my daughters, Sophie and Maggie — both Step Up alumni — as we evolve our programs for university students, recent grads, and women stepping into the STEM and entrepreneurship world. Together, we bring three generations of perspective: a fearless high school grad about to start university (Maggie), a dynamic community-focused early-career woman (Sophie), and a seasoned tech executive with passion and bold ideas (me). That’s what makes our programs powerful: we don’t always agree, but we always bring heart, honesty, and real-life experience.

Looking ahead, we know the need is still huge. Girls and women are still underrepresented in leadership and STEM — but we’re here to change that, one connection, one workshop, one voice at a time.

So whether you’re just discovering us or have been part of our journey from the start — thank you. We’re so glad you’re here. And trust us: the next 10 years are going to be even better.

Moving Forward with Purpose IWD 2020

By Sophie Leonard

This weekend, I was in Halifax, NS attending an International Women’s Day conference held by the Network for the Empowerment of Women (empowerment-women.com). This conference was an amazing opportunity to recognize, promote, and enhance women’s achievements. We covered topics from purpose and fear, to saving and investing your money, writing skills for business, and women shared their personal journeys and life stories.

One of my biggest takeaways was understanding that you can’t grow in your comfort zone.  By stepping outside of that safe place, you can see beyond what you think you are capable of doing and achieving. If you never try, then you will never know what you are capable of or reach your full potential.  Personal doubt kills more dreams than failures ever will, and this is something we talk a lot about with our high school girls in the Step Up! Program. 

We need to shift our mindsets from being fixed to open for growth. Having a growth mindset is when you believe that through dedication and hard work you can develop your skills. It’s important to continue to remind ourselves to move forward with purpose and not fear, to set goals, to look for learning opportunities and to grow while we tackle new projects, skills, and challenges in our life.

We learn at a young age that words are powerful, but we cannot allow them to dictate our life and thinking. A woman from the conference spoke to this subject, she said, “Words are like seeds and over time they grow inside you and create greater impact.  They take up more space, but we can’t water the bad seeds.”  We can’t allow labels and other opinions bring us down but instead, turn them into motivators.

Over the two days, I learned something that’s going to stick with me for a long time.  It’s that whenever someone says, “You can’t do something” instead of believing them or convincing them otherwise, simply respond “Watch me!”.  They will remember you and will be watching you while they have long disappeared from your memory. Trust and believe in yourself, persevere through the setbacks but be kind to yourself during the journey. 

Often, women fear vulnerability, failure, and setbacks.  We don’t want to ask for help. But, being strong does not mean being silent. I think this is something we can all relate to.  Once you start asking for help, coaching, and guidance you start building a strong support system and then you will become fearless.

Thank you, Network for the Empowerment of Women for hosting this event and introducing me to amazing, strong women.  I am feeling refreshed, motivated and inspired to discover myself and to transgress those societal roles that are expected of me as a woman. I am at the beginning of my career, in the process of figuring out my passions and dreams and this has reminded me to be 100% myself unapologetically.

What’s Impacting you today on this International Women’s Day

By Cathy Simpson

Day 5 of the SeeMore.BeMore UP+GO blog campaign and WOW! WOW! WOW!  You could spend hours and hours this weekend (and I have) reading about incredible stories of women of all ages on International Women’s Day.  It’s mesmerizing.  I see nothing but possibility.

With all of this incredible content sharing, what’s really stirring me up is the collective action that is being taken by so many different people and organizations and the economic and community lens that’s being shone on the conversation. 

When you reflect on the 2020 campaign theme of #EachForEqual, it is focused on the premise that gender inequality isn’t a women’s issue, but an economic one – as gender equality is essential for economies and communities to thrive.

I am thinking about the leadership that’s required in our boardrooms, around our government offices, in the classrooms, with lawmakers, and our community centers.  Do we have leaders who are doing exactly that – LEADING their people and organizations through this #EachforEqual time for change?

There is this simple approach I take to change that I see playing out in so many of these stories.  A dear friend and former T4G colleague, Kathryn Tector (now Senior Vice President, Strategy and Chief Client Officer, Atlantic for NATIONAL, https://www.national.ca/en/our-firm/ ) reminded me often when we were burning the midnight oil on client projects.  It was, and I am paraphrasing, that change happens in 4 phases with a series of activities under each one of those important phases to create movement towards the desired outcomes and goals.  These phases are Awareness, Education, Inspiration, and Action. 

To this day, when I am thinking about a problem I need to solve or a new initiative I want to launch and need to gather collective action, I think in these 4 phases; whether it be in a boardroom or a classroom. 

Let’s give it a try. 

With this year’s theme, we are talking about equality in many different ways that creates AWARENESS of the problems with inequality.  We then move to EDUCATION where we dig into the global issues and challenges and why equality matters.  If our audience is with us, we tell more stories and show even more compelling reasons why this is so important to all of us.  Through education, we get more information out there so every person can start to form an opinion to make their own decisions.  We should be seeing our audience now getting fired up and INSPIRED and ready to go!  Then, we share that each of our voices matters and that each of us can do our bit (yes, that’s the ACTION piece, you doing your bit!).  We leave you ready to make and action your plan of what YOU WILL DO!  You’re acting, sharing, listening, speaking, and leading through the change.  You’re deciding what’s right for you to ACT ON!  Thus, the beautifully articulated #EACHforEQUAL call to action at an individual level that can grow and grow.

Because we have been celebrating women’s achievement, raising awareness, calling out inequality, and showing how so many have taken action, we are moving EVERYONE along this continuum of realizing that they can bring about CHANGE. 

Let’s keep being bold in our leadership to create the economic and social impact. 

International Women’s Day Events 2020

By Sophie Leonard

A quick search on the internet and you will find an explosion of global content and events happening in celebration of International Women’s Day 2020, and today, we are sharing a few of them! These events are a great way to celebrate incredible women and organizations making change.  By attending these, you will have an opportunity to grow your network with other like-minded women and men. By doing so, we raise each other up and support other women in their personal and professional lives.

We highly recommend attending at least one event.  Let’s utilize International Women’s Day to the fullest and talk about important topics like the pay gap, equality, violence against women and more.  And, let’s celebrate the progress and steps we are all making.  These messages are vital and as women we deserve the platform to have these conversations and lead the change. 

Here are some close to home in New Brunswick:

March 6th Moncton: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/international-womens-day-2020-tickets-93514340911

March 7th Fredericton: https://allevents.in/mobile/amp-event.php?event_id=200019039614659

March 8th Moncton: https://nbmediacoop.org/events/international-day-for-womens-rights-march-in-moncton/

March 9th Fredericton: https://www.meetup.com/GDG-Fredericton-NB/events/268539693/

March 10th Fredericton: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/international-womens-day-womens-leadership-luncheon-tickets-92925527755

March 11th Moncton: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/together-we-shine-international-womens-day-workshops-and-legends-luncheon-tickets-92115482889

March 8th Dieppe: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-annual-be-bold-in-business-networking-event-tickets-79969166931?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

March 8th Moncton: https://www.rfnb.ca/

March 8th Rothesay: https://www.facebook.com/events/236220777381737/

March 8th Saint John: https://www.facebook.com/events/208941033469219/

March 8th Saint John: https://www.facebook.com/events/202584914477411/?active_tab=discussion

East Coast Girls

By Sophie Leonard

Today we celebrate Laura Oland, Founder of her new blog “The East Coast Girl” designed to cater to girls living on the East Coast of Canada. There are 11 East Coast Girl contributors from Saint John, Halifax, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and even Germany.  On the blog, these girls share stories about their life, including fashion, travel, fitness, beauty, and so much more. I absolutely love reading about young women pursuing their dreams to the fullest here in Atlantic Canada.  Thank you, Laura, for creating this platform and we are eager to see where you take it! Link to blog https://theeastcoastgirl.ca/

Laura’s idea for The East Coast Girl Blog started when she realized there was a void that needed to be filled here in Atlantic Canada. “There are so many amazing local shops, winning restaurants, small businesses, and the list goes on,” Laura says, and she wanted to write about them! But she knew she couldn’t do it alone, so she recruited some amazing, ambitious, and creative women here in Atlantic Canada with lots of valuable insight and stories to share to help her kick start her new blog.

“My goal is to inspire people to try something new and to never say no to something new, whether it’s a trip, a themed party or a new trend.” – Laura Oland

I especially loved one of the recent blogs, titled “Why I am Not Limited as a Women from the East Coast” written by Hannah Wallace who was born and raised in Saint John, NB. Hannah is a proud scientist, living in St John’s Newfoundland working towards her PhD at Memorial University. She explains in her blog how being a woman from the East Coast has not at all limited her and that it has actually been an advantage in her eyes. One example she shares is that people from the East Coast will always support you, and you always have a team of cheerleaders rooting you on! Link to her blog post: https://theeastcoastgirl.ca/blog/why-i-am-not-limited-as-a-woman-from-the-east-coast.

“Please don’t ever think you’re limited by being from the East Coast of Canada. You might just have to create your own path to get where you want to go. And don’t forget to enjoy the scenery if you happen to get lost for a bit along the way.” – Hannah Wallace

I want to shine some light on Laura because she is an NB superstar! She is a 24-year-old Art Historian living in Saint John, New Brunswick. She got her Bachelor of Arts degree at Acadia University and did her Honours in History Minor Classics. She then went on to receive her Master’s in Literature Art History at the University of Glasgow. And it doesn’t stop there.  She was recently accepted to start her PhD at Concordia University in Art History in the fall.

She has decided to write her thesis on the courageous woman - Alice Webster. In her personal blog, Laura writes; “Alice Lusk Webster is an extremely important woman in NB, however, the majority of New Brunswickers have never heard of her before.” Laura is on a mission to change that reality through the publication of her thesis, and she also filmed a video for the New Brunswick Museum, check it out! https://lauraalyre.com/2019/04/16/nbm-curator/.

This is just the beginning of The East Coast Girl blog and we are excited to watch it grow and you can always count on UP+GO to be an avid reader! Thank you, Laura, for being an inspiration to women to follow their dreams, and we are thrilled to celebrate your new blog as part of our SeeMore.BeMore campaign for International Women’s Day 2020!

Soul Sister Conversations - The Podcast

By Cathy Simpson & Sophie Leonard

We believe that every voice matters and is needed to create new opportunities, solutions, and positive change. We all come from different backgrounds and we need to utilize our different experiences as an opportunity to learn from others to fill our minds with new perspectives. This mindset needs to be incorporated into our workforce because the results are innovative ideas, diverse conversations, and creative solutions.

That’s why we are saying Cheers to Soul Sister Conversations.

Elaine Shannon and Dana Lloyd are the minds behind the Soul Sister Conversations - The Podcast.  Their podcast has enabled new conversations and new thinking for all of us who have become avid listeners.  They have produced 56 episodes with topics from “It's Cool To Be A Girl with Alaina Lockhart, former Member of Parliament” to “The Impact of Personal Development of on Your Life & Business with Elizabeth Rowe”. Their guests have been diverse coming from different backgrounds, gender, age, and cultural ethnicity’s. They have interviewed people near and far and it’s been a journey for everyone involved.  As Elaine likes to say “they followed the breadcrumbs” to see where it would lead them, and we have ALL benefited from this. 

What we love about Elaine and Dana is they love to have fun!  Their joy of learning and interviewing shines through their podcast and it makes listening equally as enjoyable. Podcasts are an amazing tool to enable social change through storytelling and diverse conversations. Each voice matters and we’ve been learning that this is an important element to equity. 

About Dana Lloyd – Leadership, Coach, Author, and Speaker https://www.danalloydleadership.com/

Elaine and Dana, we THANK YOU for your courage for starting Soul Sister Conversations - The Podcast, for putting yourselves out there and celebrating each of your guest’s unique and individual voices.  We are GRATEFUL for the opportunity to laugh and learn with you!  While Elaine is retiring from the Soul Sister Conversations - The Podcast, we’re excited that Dana will continue on.

And might we add, we were thrilled that you invited our founder to tell the UP+GO story and our passion for getting girls and women into STEM, entrepreneurship, and leadership positions when you had Cathy as a guest.  Check out Episode 15!  https://www.danalloydleadership.com/blank/episode/e1b143b9/ep-15-be-brave-be-you-with-cathy-simpson-ceo-of-tech-impact

You can check out all the Podcasts on the links on both Dana and Elaine’s website below.

About Elaine Shannon – Coach, Teacher, a follower of breadcrumbs (we love this) and a believer of possibilities https://www.elaineshannon.com/

Thank you Soul Sisters!

International Women's Day 2020

Cathy Simpson & Sophie Leonard

While we don’t need a date in the calendar to celebrate International Women’s Day, it is a great opportunity to become more engaged with global content and resources as people across the world share their stories. This year is no different. The campaign theme is #EachforEqual and we’ve been diving in and learning more.

Gender equality is essential for communities to thrive, and collective action is the only way forward. Equality is not a women’s issue, it is a problem we all share. At UP+GO we strive to create a gender-equal workplace for younger generations to come, we need to share this responsibility with everyone. Let’s make this happen! Let’s be #EachforEqual. Here is a place to start https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

At UP+GO we celebrate women and men who believe that an equal world is an enabled world. Each one of us has different ideas and perspectives that matter and need to be heard in order to solve the world’s complex problems. There are many people and organizations that are doing amazing things in our communities and region that are having a positive impact on our little corner of paradise, Atlantic Canada.

There is incredible work happening across the world and at UP+GO, we are inspired to keep doing more to close the gender gap. Through our events and programming, we are creating opportunities for others to learn, share their stories, and fostering environments that enables our youth to grow. They are inspired by women doing extraordinary things in STEM, entrepreneurship, leadership and more.

Do we have plenty of work ahead of us?  We sure do; however, we’re taking this time to celebrate the great work underway!  We plan to celebrate for the next ten days by sharing stories about people and organizations who do work to make Atlantic Canada a great place to live, work, and grow. 

Before we shed the spotlight close to home, here’s something to check out.  You can learn more about what Melinda Gates and the Gates Foundation is doing globally here.  https://www.gatesfoundation.org/.  And this announcement was huge just a short while ago.  https://time.com/5690596/melinda-gates-empowering-women/.

We’re here for all of it over the next 10 days! We’ve captured our own theme and we are going to #SeeMore.BeMore and collectively, we can make change happen if we all choose to be #EachforEqual.

The Apple doesn't fall far from the Tree

By Cathy Simpson

Photo by: Al Gagnon Photography

Last year in June, I was honored to receive the Equality Endorser Award at the Women of Distinction Event presented by the YWCA and Fresh Start Services, two organizations that provide essential services in Saint John, NB.  On this evening, three other amazing women received awards, Daring Daughter, Lasting Legacy, and Catalyst Creator.  The theme that evening was Building Brilliance.  There were women everywhere in that audience who build brilliance in all that they do to support, motivate, inspire, assist, care for, mentor and and lift up other women and girls.  It is so important to support other women and girls and we were so fortunate that on this night the room was filled with many that do this each and every day.

Growing up in the rural town of Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia, my mother, Alverna, who had been an elementary school teacher in Newfoundland, started taking courses at Mount St. Vincent University via distance educational learning.  This was in the early to mid-’80s and there was no internet then so she would have VHS tapes mailed to her so she could watch the class on the VCR after it happened.  Another method of learning was to drive to the Mount for night classes once a week which was about 90 minutes one way.  She was passionate about women’s equality, women’s literature and learning more about remarkable women having an impact on the world.  At the time, I really didn’t understand much about these subjects or her motivation, but I admired her and her quest for knowledge. 

I didn’t give much thought to all of this when I was off at Acadia University getting my Business Administration degree, but mom kept studying and then started working in Adult Education.  She eventually was working full time at what I thought was interesting, creative, and meaningful work supported by various government agencies.  For example, she taught literacy to adults, she started a cooking school and that led to her looking for ways to expand these programs to other communities employing more teachers and enrolling adults who wanted to learn.  Many of her students just needed a chance to work on skills to find a job and provide for their families.  She was so creative in how she found supplies, materials, and funding for these programs.  Nothing ever stopped her.  I wouldn’t have realized it then; however, she was leading programs that were lifting others out of poverty and many of her students were women.  You see my mom understood that if a woman was able to support herself and her family, everything changed for them and their families.  And for many years that was what she did in our rural community and in other areas in Nova Scotia.

As I fast forward to my career in the technology industry, I’ve seen a tremendous amount of change and I have remained in the digital world because of the career options and diversity of work that has been available to me.  I have also experienced the lack of women, particularly women in leadership positions in the tech industry.

I am incredibly focused on how to encourage girls and women to study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) in post-secondary educational institutes.  I see the gaps in young women enrolling in STEM programs and I know we can do better and we must do better if we’re going to fill the roles that exist and achieve a more diverse and inclusive work environment.  As part of my CEO role at TechImpact (www.techimpact.it), a not-for-profit focused on growing the tech industry in Atlantic Canada, I get to work on this and other strategies that will drive growth and a diverse workforce.

Back in 2016, I started my own company, UP+GO (www.upandgo.ca), and I get to work on programming and experiential learning opportunities specifically for high school girls.  Just this month, my daughter, Sophie has joined the team.  As another Acadia graduate, she is equally passionate about creating diverse and inclusive cultures that enable girls and women to succeed.  I only need to look back at the work that my mother was doing 35 years ago to see the impact that educating girls and women can have on our communities and the economy.   

I do speak on this topic of “You can’t be what you can’t see” and I have realized while I may have been presented with that beautiful honor in June, I had an Equality Endorser in my home for my entire life that influenced my passion for girls education, girls raising and using their voices, and taking on leadership positions to create an impact.  This award goes out my mom, for building that light inside of me.

How fortunate for me that I had a mother who demonstrated a vision, work ethic, and passion for educating and lifting up women and a father who supported her along the way.  As they say, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. 

Welcome Sophie to UP+GO.  Your Grandma led the way for both of us and we have lots of work ahead to keep us busy!