Celebrating RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards Nomination presented by Women of Influence

For more than three decades, the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards have recognized and celebrated the strides of Canada’s most accomplished, influential, and impactful women. It is the leading women’s awards program in the nation, elevating this group’s important contributions – from economic growth to social change across sectors and industries.

I am overwhelmed with gratitude at this time.

As a solo female entrepreneur, the work I have been doing for over two decades has been isolating and challenging.

I have been dedicated to advancing opportunities for women as a strong, creative head of department for film and television; as a film producer taking on challenging, agitprop script material; and as a role model to my children (apparently, I take no shit from people, according to them). I love to advocate for others.

With this nomination, I feel seen in a poignant and important way. And it’s true, it is just an honour to be nominated. I would very much like other women to know that the road to autonomy and self authorship is paved by a lot of hard work and compromise and effort and surrender. And risk.

Invariably things in my social order tend to boil down to performance. Performance and paradox. Performance as a mother, otherwise known as the performance of martyrdom. Performance as a woman, otherwise known as the performance of acquiescence. My agency seems to reside in acts of rebellion only. For which I have no script.

I have done and will definitely continue to fail upwards. I am comfortable taking big swings and missing. I am comfortable with failure.

I have spent a very large portion of my life trying to manifest equal opportunities for women and probably will continue to do so with my last dying breath.