ANNUAL GALA 2015

PEARSON CONVENTION CENTER 

2638 STEELES AVE E, BRAMPTON, ON L6T 3L7

I extend heartfelt greetings to all guests who have gathered to celebrate our 2nd annual Brilliant Minded Women Organization Gala Event. It’s an exciting time for our organization as we continue to grow, meet and bring inspired people together. We are honored to be able to celebrate the achievements of our amazing Award recipients.

The Brilliant Minded Women Organization is extremely grateful to all sponsors and supporters for their generosity, our event could not have happened without their participation. We are happy to have all ends of the spectrum represented and realize the impact of everyone’s participation and the necessity of the roles. We are pleased to provide you with a forum that allows the chance for us to thrive and grow. With your help, we intend to accomplish even more in the years ahead. Finally, a heartfelt thank you, to the 2015 Gala Committee. Your dedication, creativity, and resourcefulness made this evening possible allowing us to create an engaging environment.

Sincerely,

Agata Klimczak

HONORABLE GUESTS 

Rhiannon Traill

Rhiannon is the President & CEO of The Economic Club of Canada. Each year, more than 100 key policymakers and business leaders seek out The Economic Club of Canada to make major keynote addresses. In past years, guests have included such high-profile figures as Senator John McCain; Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Victor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine; Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California. In 2012, Mrs. Traill launched the Annual Voice of Hope awards in Ottawa.

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Theresa Corazon Laurico

Theresa Corazon Laurico is an award-winning mediapreneur, social entrepreneur, speaker, and founder of SociaLIGHT. Her work has impacted thousands globally, empowering and inspiring leaders, startups, and entrepreneurs. Her annual SociaLIGHT Conference is called “A Mecca for Emerging Entrepreneurs” and brings together over 1,500 innovators. Past contributors include Sir Richard Branson, Tony Hsieh, Tonya Surman, Bob Proctor, and more. SociaLIGHT focuses on business as a force of good and the embodiment of the triple bottom line “People. Planet. Profit.”

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GUEST SPEAKER

Pierre Lalande

Based in Toronto Canada, and following an early career modeling, Pierre has made numerous appearances in television commercials, fashion magazines, and print media for major labels.

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At a very early age, Pierre evolved into the beauty industry by designing, owning, and operating his own salon, for more than a quarter-century. This is where he honed his craft and developed a finely tuned sense for color. While making regular television broadcast appearances in Canada on the Global Television Network, CTV, and City TV as an Image Designer, he focused his talent and energy on developing a sophisticated line of color cosmetics and hair care products. Pierre and the Lalande Cosmetics product line are well known in the United States as a result of his personal appearances and promotions on the Home Shopping Network over the years.

MASTER OF CEREMONY

Margaret Maye

Today she is an eclectic vocalist, a classical singer with both great respect for the past and an enthusiastic embrace of contemporary music. Her musical tastes and boundaries have continued to change and to expand. Passionately dedicated to her work, she is always striving for artistic excellence. This versatile singer and actress is constantly challenging her abilities. In her search for communication and artistic expression, she had explored and established herself as an outstanding performer in various musical styles and genres.

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PERFORMERS

Jay Harmony (aka Jay Davis)

A college professor with a passion for music, Jay Harmony’s thirst for anything musical was started in the church. As she honed her singing skills, Jay Harmony received numerous invitations to perform at various events in popular venues including the Rogers Centre, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the CNE, and Massey Hall. While performing and further developing her talent, Jay began to infuse reggae beats to her R&B songs that proved to be an instant hit with her growing Fan base.

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Trishya Perera

Trishya Perera is an aspiring dancer, choreographer, and teacher who found her passion at a very young age. She has been training since the age of four in a range of different forms from classical to urban styles. Specifically in Jazz, Tap, Contemporary, Lyrical, Modern, Pointe, and Hip Hop. She danced competitively, under the direction of Tammy Roberts, in each of those forms for over four years and has won many awards for her performances on stages across Canada and the United States. Trishya graduated from York University from the BFA honours dance program, which allowed her to continue her exploration of the arts. She continued to compete in Hip Hop with a crew called “StyleWize” choreographed and directed by Lineen Doung, who led them to win First Place at a competition in Rhode Island. She most recently had the chance to tour internationally to Doha, Qatar with Creativiva, performing a children’s musical “The Little Prince”.

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A winner of the Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, and a PROFIT W100 Recipient, Jody Steinhauer uses her network of resources and leveraged buying power to aid every company and not-for-profit agency that she touches to maximize their buying dollar. Since 1988, Jody has grown Bargains Group from her apartment to a multi-million dollar-a-year business. She is also often sought out for speaking engagements due to her successful entrepreneurial business experience, and has been featured in various media outlets, and is an official Huffington Post blogger.

Pioneering her belief of “giving back makes good business sense”, Jody is a tireless not-for-profit advocate, and the founder of the national charity, Engage and Change, and its two annual initiatives, Project Winter Survival and Project Water. Through these projects, Engage and Change helps thousands of homeless throughout Toronto and Vancouver survive the extreme weather conditions while engaging and enabling citizens of all ages to donate their time to their local community through sponsored group engagement events. Jody and the Bargains Group also supply hundreds of similar projects across Canada.

Jody’s achievements include Toronto Region Board of Trade’s Business Leader of the Year Award, Rotman Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, Toronto Board of Trade-Business Excellence Award, Kaufman Community Award, FLARE Magazine Volunteer of the Year-two time finalist, PPPC Award for Humanitarian of the Year, Women of Influence Local Hero Award, POWER Mentor Excellence Award, Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Culture Award-two time finalist, Canada’s Profit W100 Recipient, and recipient of the TD Paul Croutch Award.

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Before entering public service, Bonnie enjoyed a twenty-year career in business. Bonnie worked for two Fortune 500 companies, including the Walt Disney Corporation and the McDonald’s Corporation. She successfully practiced public affairs at the Insurance Bureau of Canada and was later self-employed as an independent public affairs consultant. Bonnie was also a founding partner of Cargo Cosmetics. Outside of her work in the public and private sector, Bonnie has an extensive record of community leadership and volunteer service. Former mayor Hazel McCallion asked Bonnie to serve on the Mississauga Mayor’s Taskforce on the Arts; Bonnie was subsequently elected as Vice-Chair of this working group committed to finding sustainable funding for arts and artists. She has also dedicated her time to various charitable and not-for-profit boards, including the Credit Valley Hospital Foundation; Peel Region 11th Division Police Community Liaison Committee; the Canadian and Ontario Brain Injury Association; and Arts Umbrella.

Bonnie has an MBA from York University’s Schulich School of Business and earned a Corporate Director’s Certificate from the Institute of Corporate Directors at the Rotman School of Management. Bonnie attended St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto, earning an Honours Bachelor of Arts in political science and international relations. Bonnie also studied French immersion at the Paris Sorbonne University.

In January 2012, she was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for her work in the community. She and her husband Brian have raised three children, Alex, Jonathan, and Natasha, here in Mississauga. Bonnie speaks conversational French and Polish.

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As a young teacher, Marilyn saw the impact of cutbacks in the arts in public schools, especially for children in priority communities. Her response was to establish DAREarts as a charity for children in 1996. From her teaching experience, Marilyn saw that the arts gave kids the tools to realize their potential as leaders. Then they can navigate any life challenges of poverty, abuse or neglect. For 17 years, DAREarts has been her labour of love despite limited remuneration. Her reward is hearing the children say, “I am DAREarts and I am a Leader”: the best paycheque in the world!

DAREarts has become a Canadian cultural education outreach that provides children with an intensive out-of-school immersion in all the arts. Participants, aged 9 through 19, build their confidence, courage and leadership through music, drama, dance, visual arts, architecture, fashion and literature. DAREarts empowers 10,000 children yearly to unlock their potential as leaders and ignite change in their lives and in their communities. International recognition

includes the Nobel Peace Prize’s 100th anniversary where Marilyn conducted a choir of children representing 23 countries. She has also served on the boards of Opera Atelier, Toronto Senior Strings, The Ontario Speech Foundation, Theatre Orangeville and the Esprit Orchestra (Chair) plus Chair of the CD project of the Canadian Opera Company. She has also volunteered with the Stratford Festival, Headwaters Arts Festival and Headwaters Health Centre.