Barbara Stegemann thinks it's time to step back and reflect.
She's the keynote speaker at an International Women’s Day event on Tuesday March 8th at the Clarion Resort called “Enterprising Women 2016”.
Stegemann is an internationally known speaker who started her own business called The 7 Virtues Beauty Company, one which began by sourcing essential oils distilled from legal crops in Afghanistan to provide an alternative to the illegal poppy crop for farmers.
Her best-selling book, The 7 Virtues of a Philosopher Queen, showed that women can flex their buying power to affect change and reverse issues of war and poverty.
"It's really a time to step back and say we're not there yet," Stegemann told BayToday. "But I think we've achieved a lot and it's really important to give thanks to women that trail blazed ahead of us and were really courageous facing real obstacles.
"The obstacles we face are not near as troubling as those faced 100 years ago to get the vote for us, but it's a good reminder that we've come a long way. Some very brave women have done some stuff for us."
Stegemann says Prime Minister Trudeau making half his cabinet women was a big step forward.
"So many talented women have been overlooked and it's nice to see someone say 'I recognize that when you put minimum 30 percent female at the decision making table you make more money, get better results, you build peace. We represent 52 percent of the country, so of course we should have at least half representing our views."
But she also cautions that women need to learn to say no.
"The one thing I see with women is this feeling that they have to say yes to everyone and everything, and you simply don't. I think that's a really important reminder. You can say no and you can refuse opportunities and spend more time with your children too. These are choices we need to make. I started my company so I could be with my infant daughter. I didn't want to go to work and drive for an hour and a half everyday and be away from her."
I was able to create a company as a result of wanting to be with my children."
Stegemann first became known to millions of Canadians when she became the first woman from Atlantic Canada to land a venture-capital deal on the CBC TV show Dragons’ Den for 7 Virtues Beauty. She went on to become the “Top Game Changer” in the history of the show.
She has been named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada; she won the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the emerging Entrepreneur category for Atlantic Canada” in 2012; she was ranked as one of Profit Guide magazine’s “Top 30 Cool and Fabulous Canadian Entrepreneurs”; her fragrance collection won Chatelaine magazine’s “Beauty 100 Award”; she received the “Women Innovators Award” from the US State Department at the APEC Women and the Economy Summit; and she was also made the first female Honorary Colonel for 14 Wing Greenwood base, Royal Canadian Air Force.
Stegemann has opened as keynote speaker for Erin Brockovich, emceed Rudy Giuliani and Danny Williams, and is often invited to moderate panels and attend events as a delegate with world leaders such as Bill Clinton.
e Business Centre, in partnership with PARO Centre for Women’s Enterprise, is presenting Stegemann at an International Women’s Day event on March 8th at the Clarion Resort.
