dream girl

Looking Back on 2016

December 30, 2016

We can’t believe another year has come and gone.

2016 has been an amazing year for Little Voice and we couldn’t have done it without you!

Each year, Little Voice sets a number of goals that will enable us to plan for the future and make a difference in our community! This past year, Little Voice aimed to increase our outreach, launch our movement, and increase our donations to the Alzheimer Society of Canada. Here’s a look back at 2016 and how we managed to reach our goals:

Outreach

Thanks to our community, Little Voice was able to increase our outreach efforts through a number of media outlets:

We were also able to meet many more of our readers at a number of our local Indigo, Chapters and Coles events:

Meeting our readers in person has always been a great opportunity for us to answer your questions and see the impact our book has had in your homes and schools. We hope to put on many more events this upcoming year and to meet many more of you at our local events.

The Little Voice Movement

This past Summer, Little Voice launched our official movement. The movement was our way to give back, not only to the Alzheimer Society of Canada, but to all those searching for a way to fundraise in their communities.

Thanks to CTV and Upfront Ottawa, we were able to share our movement with all of you:

By registering to become an Little Voice Ambassador, you can create your own inspirational movement in your community. Whether you choose to support your school, an important cause, or your future, Little Voice will donate $5 dollars from every book sale you’ve made to support your movement.

You can learn more about our movement on our website and sign-up today … for free!

The Forget Me Not Project

Every year, since publishing Little Voice, we have challenged ourselves to grow our donations to the Alzheimer Society of Canada through the Forget Me Not Project. By participating in the Walk for Alzheimers, Little Voice has been able to work with our local Alzheimer Society chapter and with YOU to fundraise in support of Alzheimer’s research, programs and services! This past year, through your generosity, Little Voice was able to raise $1, 875 dollars.

Little Voice was also very proud to put on the Dream Big Dream, Girl Luncheon that successfully raised $2,000 dollars in support of the Alzheimer Society. Together, we were able to not only get together and feel inspired, but we were also able to empower the next generation of dreamers to make a difference in their own communities.

A BIG thank you to all those who attended and to our guest speakers, sponsors and the Dream, Girl film, which made the event possible!

The New Year is an amazing opportunity to look back on all the little moments that made up the sum of our entire year. It’s a chance to be grateful for all the positivity that came in to your life, to examine where you can grow, and to challenge yourself to reach new heights in the year ahead.

For Little Voice, a new year is an opportunity for us to set new goals that will allow us to reach more readers and support many more causes. It’s an opportunity to say thank you for believing in our message and vision and sharing our book with your students, children, family and friends.

But more importantly, it is a perfect reminder for each and every one of us to listen to our little voice and to not let another year go by where we ignore it.

We wish you all a very Happy New Year and cannot wait to share what we have planned for 2017 with all of you!

Dream Big this June with Startup Canada’s Victoria Lennox

May 18, 2016

As we prepare for our upcoming luncheon this June, we are extremely excited to announce our closing guest speaker Victoria Lennox!

The Dream, Girl Luncheon is an amazing opportunity to unite women entrepreneurs in our community, while inspiring the next generation to chase their own entrepreneurial dream.

Women are starting companies every single day. They are breaking through barriers, taking on challenges, making a difference in our communities, and fighting for equal rights and equal pay! It’s hard to ignore how far women have come and so, rather than ignore it, we here at Little Voice in partnership with the Dream, Girl film want to PROMOTE it!

If you have it in your heart that you want to build your own company, don’t let anyone or anything stop you.

The Dream, Girl Luncheon will include a special screening of the Dream, Girl film, a film that focuses on the stories of women entrepreneurs. In addition to the women we will meet on screen, we also wanted to introduce you to some pretty amazing women right here in our own backyard.

When we think of entrepreneurship in Canada, it’s pretty hard not to think of Startup Canada. Victoria Lennox is the co-founder and CEO of Startup Canada, a grassroots network of entrepreneurs working together to build an environment for entrepreneurship in Canada. She is recognized by the United Nations Development Programme and the European Union as one of the foremost experts in entrepreneurship education; ecosystem and program architecture, governance, development and implementation; and, in fuelling entrepreneurship movements and awareness campaigns.

She is also the first Canadian and one of the youngest recipients of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion. As a student at the University of Oxford, Victoria won the award for having pioneered a grassroots youth entrepreneurship movement in the UK called NACUE. Today NACUE is central to the UK’s youth entrepreneurship ecosystem, supporting more than 55,000 higher education students and graduates across more than 100 institutions.

On the global stage, Victoria is a strong leader. As the catalyst for Startup Generation and host of Startup Nations, Victoria supports and mentors the development of youth enterprise organisations in more than 20 countries; provides advisory support to international organisations in the areas of entrepreneurship networks, education and policy development; and supports colleges and universities in enhancing their entrepreneurial activities. Countries around the world are also working to emulate Startup Canada’s methodologies and activities, viewing the organization, under Victoria’s leadership, as the best practice in fuelling entrepreneurship culture.

Entrepreneurship has proved to be a catalyst for economic growth in many countries. Equally as important is the critical role that women play in the growth of an economy.

We are very excited to have Victoria Lennox join the Dream Big Dream, Girl team and are confident that her experiences and knowledge will serve to benefit all those in attendance!

Dream Big on June 5th with the Honourable Catherine McKenna

May 17, 2016

It is with great pleasure that Little Voice introduces the Honourable Catherine McKenna as one of our Dream Big Dream, Girl guest speakers!

Canada is blessed with many great female leaders. They remind the next generation of women and young girls that any person, male or female, can lead. They serve as an example of opportunity, change, and equality. More importantly, they teach us that anything is possible and that anyone, anywhere, is capable of dreaming big!

As a woman, our careers and our families are often times put at odds with one another. We have fought for decades for equal opportunity, equal pay and rights that allow us to be committed to our careers and families.

As a female leader, Catherine McKenna made it clear that she’s very committed to her career and her family. They’re not competing, they’re working in harmony. She’s making work-life balance part of the conversation.

We are very excited to have Catherine join us to share, with a room filled of women entrepreneurs, philanthropists and dreamers, how important work-life balance is when considering your dreams.

Get ready to dream big on June 5th with Little Voice and Dream, Girl!

Who is Catherine McKenna?

Catherine McKenna has practiced law at leading firms in both Canada and Indonesia, focusing on international trade, competition, investment and constitutional issues. She was senior counsel on the Right Honourable Antonio Lamer’s review of Canada’s military justice system. She was also senior negotiator with the UN mission in East Timor which culminated in the Timor Sea Treaty providing for the joint exploitation of petroleum resources in a part of the Timor Sea claimed by East Timor and Australia.

Catherine co-founded and was Executive Director of Canadian Lawyers Abroad, a charitable organization that engages in the developing world and Canada in the areas of good governance, rule of law, environmental issues and human rights. In Canada, Canadian Lawyers Abroad has partnered with environmental NGOs and organizations representing Aboriginal peoples. Catherine also served as the Executive Director of the Banff Forum that engages emerging Canadian leaders in critical public policy discussions. Prior to that, she taught at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and was a board member at the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies.

Proud to be Me, Proud to Dream BIG

March 21, 2016

Sometimes, it can be difficult to remind not only others, but also ourselves, to be proud of who we are. We often times become so busy with life, or so consumed by other things grabbing for our attention, that we forget to remind ourselves to be proud of our accomplishments, proud of our differences and proud of the people we’ve become.

I certainly know this to be true; it took me awhile to recognize how far I’ve come in life and how proud I should be of all that I’ve accomplished. In many ways, Little Voice taught me, as much as I hoped it would teach others, to be proud of who I am. It also led me to work with an amazing organization that I am now extremely excited to have on board for the Dream Big Dream, Girl Inspirational Luncheon:

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An Evening with the Alzheimer Society of Ottawa & Renfrew County

October 18, 2015

Since Little Voice first set out to share its story, it has also set out to fundraise behind a cause extremely close to their heart…

Little Voice was very excited to meet with the Alzheimer Society of Ottawa and Renfrew County this past week to learn more about the organization’s team and how they use donations to support a variety of programs and initiatives.

“I am so honoured to work with the Alzheimer’s Society and to be able to use the Little Voice platform as a means of creating a positive impact in my community, specifically with those living with Alzheimer’s disease or a form of related dementia. I know my grandmother would be extremely proud of me if she were able to comprehend all that I am doing in her name.” – Amanda Bernardo, author of Little Voice