Cohort 1

Orientation

The #cueWIT program orientation got off to a great start with deep conversation about the experiences of immigrant professional women in IT navigating their way through the Canadian job market. We had 10 participants from 9 countries (Iran, Burundi, Moldova, Iraq, Bolivia, Libya, Iran, Brazil, Russia and Venezuela).

Legacy Maps

The legacy maps session of the #cueWIT program was facilitated by the amazing Magdalene Cooman. The participants had an interactive and creative session on creating possibilities, adapting to new cultures and employment. The participants had the opportunity to carry out tasks like starting conversations with total strangers and also finding inspiration on the streets as a great exercise to build confidence for professional and social networking.

Civic Participation

The Civic Participation session was facilitated by former Citizenship Judge Renata Brum. The participants had an interactive session on Civic rights, duties, Immigration, Citizenship and Employment. It was also a great opportunity for the women to reflect on the barriers Professional immigrant women face in regards to civic engagement, the benefits of civic engagement and ways of overcoming theses barriers.

Mentorship Orientation

The program participants were formally matched with their mentors at a networking and engagement session where the mentors shared their career journeys as immigrants with their new mentees.

Career Coaching

The excellent session on career coaching and helping the women and find their unique professional voices was facilitated by Doris Haddad. Here the participants had the opportunity to review their resume and fine tune their elevator speech.

LinkedIn Session

It is important for newcomer women to understand how to maximise networking and job searching via LinkedIn. Cathie Adeney was there to enlighten the women on the ways to connect, build networks and search for jobs on LinkedIn.

Speed Mentoring Session

Useful! Interesting! Helpful! Engaging!Encouraging! Amazing! was some of the feedback from the participants highly engaging Speed Mentoring session which took place at Shopify premises. Shopify. The dedicated mentors made out time to engage the participants.

Community Conversation Circle

The women got together at the Community Conversation Circle to discuss the future of newcomer women and work in the age of Tech, digital inclusion, resilience, family support and bridging the divide. Already established newcomer women were invited to share their journey and experience as newcomer women navigating the Tech industry.

Talent Den/Graduation

“Just like hopes springing high, Still I rise.” – Maya Angelou
The Talent Den was a great opportunity for the women to present themselves to potential employers, in a dragon’s den style scenario. The beautiful journey came to a greater beginning with the graduation of Cohort 1 of the #cueWIT program program.