High up in the Rideau Club, overlooking a city finally waking up from winter, a group of women came together Monday to talk, listen and, above all, learn from each other.
Ottawa entrepreneurs and communication experts Catherine Clark and Jennifer Stewart, who host a podcast, The Honest Talk, led their audience through an authentic conversation packed with interesting dialogue, audience engagement and inspiring advice. It was all part of a special event, An Honest Conversation, presented by Women United, a philanthropic program run by United Way East Ontario to bring women together to improve lives and build stronger communities.
The gathering was sponsored by Accenture, BMO’s Alliance for Women, Hydro Ottawa and Enterprise. It drew such leaders as 2021 CEO of the Year Kathryn Tremblay from excelHR and Altis Recruitment and its affiliated recruitment and staffing agencies, Jennifer Francis, board chair of Capital Angel Network, Rideau Hall Foundation president and CEO Teresa Marques, and construction industry trailblazer Shirley Westeinde, who had a big reason to celebrate: the recent great-grandmother turned 82 that day.
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There was some minor disruption caused by a false fire alarm, but everyone took it in stride. Clark later joked it was part of a ploy by her and Stewart to see if they could get firefighters to drop by the event, which was mostly attended by women.
The crowd heard from guest speaker Euphrasie Emedi, community developer with the South-East Ottawa Community Health Centre, about the community gardens planted through the Women United Community Action Grants. “It’s really, really, really beautiful,” said Emedi of the building of relationships and community, of having fresh and healthy food to eat, and of learning new skills.
Community gardens are just one example of the type of Community Action Grant projects funded by Women United. The grants are meant to help empower women “to put an idea out there, get the funding, and make something happen within their neighbourhood that they can be proud of, and also engage their neighbours,” said Melissa Somers, director of donor relations and manager of the Women United program at United Way East Ontario.
The event was an uplifting way to wrap up the month-long International Women’s Day (IWD) initiatives.
Coincidentally, Clark and Stewart first announced their Honest Talk project on IWD in March 2020, just days before the world shut down because of COVID. Their original idea had been to hold a series of in-person, nation-wide events, but they quickly pivoted to a podcast during the pandemic. It’s sponsored by RBC.
The community leaders, who are also moms and close friends, live in the west-end community of Carp.
Having interviewed more than 60 women from across Canada, the pair shared some tidbits from their conversations with such women as former governor general Adrienne Clarkson, high-profile criminal defence lawyer Marie Henein, CBC’s Anna Maria Tremonti and CTV’s Anne-Marie Mediwake and Vassy Kapelos, among others.
One of the goals of The Honest Talk is to help working women feel less alone about the choices they face. It’s about having “authentic conversations, sharing our experiences, talking about what needs to change in order to support more women in the workforce,” explained Stewart, founder and CEO of communications and public relations firm Syntax Strategic.
Clark and Stewart, both of whom are former Forty Under 40 Award recipients, shared with the room some of their own vulnerabilities.
Stewart, for example, said she has a hard time saying no to people. “This is my Achilles’ heel,” said Stewart. “I say ‘Yes’ far too much. I don’t wear that as a badge of honour. I’m just being honest with you. My plate becomes too full, I become too stressed … It’s something that I am working on.”
They’ve also learned that it’s best not to dwell, the room heard. “My kids tell me this all the time, I am worrying way more about this way than I really need to; no one else cares,” said Clark of her tendency to overthink things. “No one else is worrying about it as much as you are. Just move along.”
Clark, who’s the president of Catherine Clark Communications, delivered some valuable advice on staying positive — an approach she’s learned from her dad, former prime minister Joe Clark. “When you’re in a tough situation, you can choose to be negative and bummed out and unhappy and you can complain, or you can take the Victorious Attitude and say, ‘I’m not enjoying this very much but what am I learning?’ or (when it’s really bad) ‘Soon it will be over’.
“I do really believe in the idea of embracing life with as much optimism as you possibly can,” said Clark while readily acknowledging it’s not always easy to do. “It will improve who you are as a person. It will improve the lives of those around you and, also, it’s reflected in how you treat others. People will remember that. People will remember that you are someone who makes them feel better about themselves, and that is a gift in and of itself.”
