The one thing I love about female energy is how it feeds me. It lifts my day. It allows me to see beauty in things I might normally miss. It gives me compassion but also drive and purpose. And that’s how I felt after attending the Monday Girl event in Toronto. So, I did something I hadn’t done in a while: I picked up a women’s magazine, which extended that same feeling for me.
Then, as I was reading Harper’s Bazaar’s Now Issue, I was pulled into a revived column from famed editor Diana Vreeland: “Why don’t you…?” The gist, which has inspired multiple books, is to do something for the sake of doing it. Nothing more and nothing less.
With that in mind, I decided to reevaluate my visit to the Monday Girl Summit in Toronto and pull out some actionable takeaways. Like a list of to-dos arising from meetings, except instead of being “more work,” it’ll bring you joy, and hopefully help boost your career.
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Why don’t you simplify things
“The capacity to make sense of complex issues is something that we will all need to lean into more.”
— Sevaun Palvetzian, president and CEO at Unicef
At work, we’re all problem solvers, but not all problems are things that are broken or gaps in the business. Maybe it’s just too complex. How do you do that? Be curious, says Palvetzian. Learning more and asking questions will help you see the bigger picture.
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Why don’t you say yes
“When someone said, ‘Do you want to do this?’ I said yes. And, it opened up opportunities for me and allowed me to try new things.”
—Tara Kennedy, VP and head of capital markets at Wealthsimple
Imagine life as we would prescribe it on our own. We wouldn’t have gone out on that date. We wouldn’t have taken that trip. We wouldn’t have taken that meeting. For Kennedy, saying yes led her to her current job, something that she never dreamt of doing. But she’s happy she did.
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Why don’t you say no
“It’s OK to leave something you thought you wanted to do… it was a risk, but it’s led me to the happiest path.”
—Sara Fromstein, director of belonging and social impact at Deciem
You can’t do everything. Who has the time for it all? But sometimes saying no means changing direction on everything you thought you were working toward. Fromstein wants to make an impact, and she trained to be and worked as sexual assault crisis counsellor, but it burned her out. She still had that pull to do good and stay true to who she is – but in a completely different job.
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What is female energy?
It has nothing to do with your body parts, nor your sexuality. According to Psychology Today, to be “feminine” is to have nurturing, empathetic, collaborative, caring, kind, intuitive, visionary traits. It’s not about sex or gender but energy. And anyone can have female energy.
Why don’t you get loud
“Bring value more than anything. When you’re working, do good work. Be people of noise.”
—Teresa Resch, president at WNBA Canada
The saying goes, actions speak louder than words. So, be intentional with how you fit within your team. Find a way to add function to your role that no one else can. Resch says, “Just know that you have some value to add – bring people value, because everyone listens to that every single time.” Maybe it’s about perspective. Maybe it’s a new skill (AI, anyone?!). Maybe it’s about amplifying what you already know. Either way, act loud.
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Why don’t you get people on your web page
“Don’t be afraid to test tools like Facebook Marketplace, Instagram. So, test things in these lower states environments. [People and business owners] see some success from that, bringing that over to a place like their website.”
—Ashley Graf, international marketing director at Squarespace
Your website is your (or your company’s) business card. So hand it out. With a social media ad, you can target your customers, whether that’s for your Etsy shop, hiring managers, freelance clients or whomever.
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Why don’t you ask, “How can I help?”
“Everything comes from the question, ‘How can I help?’ ”
—Catriona Smart, founder of That Good Co
Finding opportunities isn’t just about a door opening up for you, but about finding your spot on a team. “Even though I’m a leader, the model is coming in to help and assist in everything we do… being willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done,” says Smart. Besides, who would say no to help?
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Why don’t you indulge (your mind)
“Immerse yourself in what you’re interested in, read that information, and put yourself in places where you’re going to meet the people that share that interest. It’s just about following your passion, allowing yourself to pivot, doing your homework, and meeting people that will find your passion interesting.”
—Laurie May, co-founder and co-president of Elevation Pictures
For May, this meant negotiating her way into symposiums for free when she was a student (standing at the back, skipping the fancy lunch). But for someone a bit more established in their career, this could mean joining an association, asking for an informal interview (say, a coffee meeting with someone you’d love to work for), saving up for a destination workshop, taking a class, whatever will give you more knowledge. “Know the space,” says May.
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Why don’t you work with people you like
“You need to be in a room with people, you will have your back, and that’s about the psychological safety piece.”
—Stefania Mancini, VP at Intuit
We often talk about finding a work wife or work husband, but wouldn’t it be great to have an office of work cousins? I had that when I worked at Glow Magazine, and now with my editorial team at MoneySense and with Danielle here at FLEETSTREET. Just thinking of each of them makes me smile. Foster those kinds of relationships with open communication, mutual respect and a real curiosity about your teammates. It makes working a joy, especially when you share common goals.
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Why don’t you hire up
“Hire people who are 10 times better than you to cover your blind spots.”
—Noura Sakkijha, CEO and founder of Mejuri
Not much to add to this. Sakkijha summed that up perfectly. If you can hire awesome people, do it!
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Why don’t you send that email
“Do what you can to meet as many people as you can.”
—Teresa Resch, president of the WNBA Canada
It would be silly to write about a networking event without suggest networking. So, my challenge for you is to reach out to that someone who’s career you admire. You know that person who’s drive makes you envious? Networking gets a bad rap of having work in the middle of it (get it, networking), and not building authentic connections but relationships of service. But it’s very easy to connect. And trust, they will appreciate the compliment.