Alicia taking steps towards building up Covergalls on Dragon's Den - did you check out our episode on CBC today at 11:00AM ET (11:30 NT)?
Let's begin with a disclosure:
There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for how to succeed. Just like there is no one-size-fits all coverall.
It's a myth that sounds appealing: a magic bullet, a step-by-step guide that, if you just follow it, you will undoubtedly succeed.
How unromantic, I know.
But the cold, hard, truth is that success looks different to everyone. And it isn't something that comes overnight.
Covergalls' story started almost a decade ago. It began with an idea, that started conversations, which began collaborations, spurred the courage to try new things, that led to failures, making changes, new achievements and goals, and so on.
Overnight success may happen to some people, but it's not the standard. It's the outlier.
When you go to the gym for the first time and see an Olympic-looking athlete and think, "Wow, she's amazing. I'm not as strong as that," remember that her starting point was earlier than you. Don't pull the rug out from underneath yourself before you even begin.
"Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts" - Winston Churchill
For women, especially, the pressure to achieve "success" can be hard. We tend to wear a lot of hats. We're mothers, daughters, coworkers, caregivers, executives and more. In male-dominated work environments, there is the pressure to succeed in spite of ideas and prejudices held against us. It's exhausting. Even more so for BIPOC women, who often have to learn to navigate spaces that systematically weren't designed for their advancement.
Success, then, can sometimes feel like an unimaginable burden. You feel you can't mess up or you will close doors and lose opportunities that won't come again.
We won't promise there's an easy fix or solution to this pressure. What we can promise is what said at the beginning: success looks different on every person. How do you, personally, define it? The term is pretty vague. This means that success can be whatever you want it to be. It doesn't have to be what your hats demand you to be or what society expects - don't limit your sense of success with your own or anyone else.
Instead, take smalls steps and try to indulge in failure.
At the end of the day, we are all human. We make mistakes and there is no one "true path."
Once you realize that, it becomes amazing to see all the different exciting paths people are taking on their own journeys: criss-crossing to different disciplines, failing a test in the first semester of school, starting a new business, taking a chance and making a wave.
It's exciting and we love celebrate all these paths, and the successes found along them.
One example that we want to share:
The Ontario Mining Association has named Natasha Vaz as the incoming chair of their board of directors. Vaz is the first woman to hold this position in the organization's history!
“Natasha and I have served together on the OMA Board and I have no doubt that the skills and leadership capabilities she will bring to this new role will further our collective strategic ambitions and our purpose-driven vision for Ontario mining. Her appointment as the first woman to lead the Board marks an important milestone in OMA’s history – one whose time has certainly come, as we celebrate the association’s centenary and grasp emerging opportunities to reshape the industry. I am excited to see Natasha apply her undeniable drive and ingenuity to accomplish great things at the OMA,” said Mike McCann.
Congratulations Natasha! We can't wait to see her work with the OMA and the contributions she will make.