Social Venture Institute Virtual

February 6-7 + Workshops February 10-14, 2025

A Space for Strength, Resilience, and Innovation

A purpose-led gathering centering the leadership of women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs—those who balance business, caregiving, advocacy, and other underrecognized roles.

Transforming Business, Together

If you believe business can and should drive social and economic transformation, you belong at Social Venture Institute. With somatic and arts-based facilitation, we tap into intuition, emotional intelligence, and creativity—qualities often overlooked but essential for transformative leadership.

Who is SVI Virtual For?

People of all genders are welcome in this powerful shared space, which will spotlight and centre the experiences of women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs.

While SVI Virtual is designed to focus on women and gender-diverse entrepreneurs, for our systems to shift, men must play a part in building a more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Be part of SVI Virtual on February 6-7, 2025, followed by a week of engaging workshops from February 10-14, 2025.

Speakers

Vanessa Richards

SVI & SVI Virtual Lead Facilitator
Director, vanessarichards.com

Kareen Wong

Principal Consultant & Coach
Kareen Wong Consulting
Jasmine Rashid

Jasmine Rashid

Director of Impact and Author of The Financial Activist Playbook
Candide Group
Katrina Donald

Katrina Donald

Principal Consultant and Leadership Coach
Ever-so-Curious Consulting

Meet Your Team

SVI Virtual is proudly shaped by an advisory circle of entrepreneurs and business leaders who are committed to convening, building access and opportunities for women-identifying business leaders, and dismantling oppression everywhere.

 

Vanessa Richards

SVI & SVI Virtual Lead Facilitator
Director, vanessarichards.com
Practical Feet Advisors CEO, Pamela Chaloult

Pamela Chaloult

SVI & SVI Virtual Advisory Circle & SVI Virtual Co-Founder
Founder & CEO, Practical Feet Advisors
cynthia_billops

Cynthia Billops

SVI Virtual Advisory Circle
Direct Service, Director, ICA Fund

Maggie Chan

SVI Virtual Advisory Circle
Director, Tech Adoption Programs, InnovateBC

Melissa Allen

SVI Virtual Advisory Circle
Executive Director, League of Innovators

Carla Heim

SVI Virtual Advisory Circle
Director, Sustainability, BDC

Jackee Kasandy

SVI Virtual Advisory Circle
Founder | CEO, Black Entrepreneurs & Businesses of Canada Society
Alexia McKinnon smiling

Alexia McKinnon

SVI Virtual Advisory Circle
Director of Indigenous Programs, Beedie School of Business (SFU)
Brianne Miller headshot

Brianne Miller

SVI Virtual Advisory Circle
Director of Community & Regenerative Capital, Coralus
Kel Moody

Kel Moody

SVI Virtual Advisory Circle
Founder, Alluvium Gatherings

Why Join SVI Virtual?

  • Access a Thriving Community: Your ticket is more than entry to the 2-day gathering (February 6-7, 2025) and week-long skill-building workshops (February 10-14, 2025). It’s your connection to the SVI Network—1,200+ mission-driven entrepreneurs offering resources, opportunities, and ongoing support.
  • Breaking Barriers Through Accessibility: SVI Virtual’s online format removes obstacles like caregiving responsibilities, geographic limitations, and time constraints, making it possible for leaders everywhere to participate. Accessible, tiered pricing ensures that financial circumstances aren’t a barrier.
  • Championing Equity and Transformation: You’re supporting a system that prioritizes equity, generosity, and connection. Together, we’re dismantling barriers for women and marginalized leaders while fostering collaboration, resilience, and transformation.
  • Build Lasting Relationships: Connect deeply with like-minded entrepreneurs. Past participants have reported forming relationships that offer ongoing support, inspiration, and meaningful opportunities long after the event.

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SVI Virtual Weaves Together:

A happy student from the SVIW Virtual Hollyhock program sitting on the garden floor
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Storytelling

True Confessions: We start each SVI with a True Confessions presentation because it helps create a safe environment for truth telling, and people usually learn the most from hearing other people’s stories (not from listening to a lot of theories that aren’t linked to real experiences).

Case Studies: Dive into real-world challenges like navigating funding inequities, overcoming gender bias, and scaling mission-driven ventures in male-dominated industries. In this structured, results-driven format, a panel of experts and all attendees collaborate to provide invaluable insights, feedback, and support. Case Studies offer a unique opportunity to strengthen your business acumen while learning from and contributing to the growth of a fellow business leader.

Woman journaling at the Hollyhock Campus | Hollyhock
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Skill Building & Mentorship

Peer Coaching: We gather in small groups for these interactive problem solving sessions. Each person can share a challenge and receive loving peer reflection in a safe, intimate space with support from SVI leaders and experts.

Workshops: 90-minute interactive skill-building workshops. Receive practical skills through the generous sharing of knowledge and expertise throughout our time together on topics like marketing, HR, finance, leadership, operations.

  • In Search of Mino-Biimaadziwin through Generational Wealth with Hillory Tenute
    Explore the Anishinaabekwe pursuit to mino-biimaadziwin—”living the good life”—through generational wealth, balancing traditional Indigenous values with modern economic systems to heal trauma and create sustainable growth for future generations.
  • Financial Activism 101 with Jasmine Rashid
    This workshop covers practical strategies to reshape our financial relationship—finding joy in budgeting, reclaiming wealth, and redirecting money and power toward a just economy and collective liberation.
  • The Art of Strategic Decision-Making When Everything Feels Important with Kareen Wong
    This interactive workshop helps social impact leaders cut through prioritization overwhelm, uncover the roots of decision fatigue, and gain practical tools to align choices with values and well-being in a supportive community.
  • Welcome to the New Era of the Purpose-Driven Business: Why It Matters and What You Can Do with Charla Vall
    Explore the rise of purpose-driven business, where positive societal impact matters as much as profits. Learn the key benefits of leading with purpose and practical steps to define and integrate a purpose statement into your company’s culture.
  • Measure and Amplify Your Impact with Annelies Tjebbes
    Learn how to measure, communicate, and amplify your organization’s impact with tools for in-house impact measurement, including decolonial and story-based approaches alongside traditional frameworks. This session will equip you to define your goals, track outcomes, and deepen your contribution to meaningful change.
  • AI in Action: Practical Applications for Business Leaders with Rochelle Grayson
    This hands-on workshop empowers business leaders to harness AI tools for streamlining operations, boosting customer engagement, and driving growth—no technical background required. Learn actionable strategies to enhance decision-making, save time, and achieve your business goals with accessible AI solutions.
  • Developmental Evaluation for Continuous Improvement and Adaptation with Katrina Donald
    Explore how developmental evaluation (DE) supports innovators to be curious during the development of new initiatives, so they can learn from and respond to complexity with creativity, improvisation, and experimentation. In this interactive session we’ll explore a process to help you scope a DE plan that helps you learn into your goals and continuously improve your strategies.
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Community Building

Marketplace of Ideas: Fast paced one-minute presentations allow SVI attendees to pitch an idea or make that ask for what you really need.

Entrepreneurship can feel isolating, especially in this unsettled world. The magic of SVI is in the people you meet. This is an inclusive cross-generational, cross-cultural, cross-sectorial gathering, designed to generate insights and real connection.

Agenda

Agenda subject to changes and updates

8:00 am
8:30 am
9:00 am
9:30 am
10:00 am
10:30 am
11:00 am
11:30 am
12:00 pm
12:30 pm
1:00 pm
1:30 pm
2:00 pm
2:30 pm
3:00 pm

Thursday, February 6, 2025
Thursday, February 6, 2025

MOVEMENT OR MEDITATION
8:00 am - 8:45 am
Morning movement or meditation to start your day with SVI Virtual

Opening
9:30 am - 10:30 am

Opening
9:30 am - 10:30 am

True Confessions
10:30 am - 11:30 am

About the Case Study format:
 
At SVI Virtual we will feature two entrepreneurs chosen from our attendees that have identified a specific strategic challenge to a panel of experts, who along with all attendees, will help provide invaluable insight, considerations and support. The Case Study model provides an opportunity for all attendees to strengthen their business acumen and learning while providing feedback and advice to a fellow business leader attendee. It's a structured format with proven results.

Break
11:30 am - 12:30 pm

Take a quick movement and body break then rejoin us ready for a fast paced Marketplace of Ideas session!

Marketplace of Ideas
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Opportunity to take the mic for 60-90 seconds and make an ask, offer, or share about your work.

This is your opportunity to share in front of the entire group. These fast paced presentations allow you to share inspiring news about your business. This is your chance to pitch an idea or make that ask for what you really need. What have you come to SVIW to raise awareness about?

Day One Wrap Up & Closing
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm

Friday, February 7, 2025
Friday, February 7, 2025

MOVEMENT OR MEDITATION
8:00 am - 8:45 am
Morning movement or meditation to start your day with SVI Virtual

Opening
9:30 am - 10:00 am

Case Study: Jenn Harper, Cheekbone Beauty
10:00 am - 11:30 am
Meet our SVI Virtual Case Study: Jenn Harper of Cheekbone Beauty

Meet our SVI Virtual Case Study: Jenn Harper of Cheekbone Beauty

At SVI Women we feature entrepreneurs that have identified a specific strategic challenge to a panel of experts, who along with all attendees, will help provide invaluable insight, considerations and support. The Case Study model provides an opportunity for all attendees to strengthen their business acumen and learning while providing feedback and advice to a fellow business leader attendee. It's a structured format with proven results.

Jenn Harper: A Beacon of Innovation in Beauty and Philanthropy

Jenn Harper is not just a name in the beauty industry; she’s a revolution. An award-winning social entrepreneur and international speaker, Jenn is the trailblazing founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics—a brand that has gracefully painted the ideals of sustainability and inclusion onto a global canvas. From its inception in 2015, Jenn has nurtured Cheekbone Beauty into a B. Corp Certified force, now gracing the shelves of Sephora Canada and 550 JC Penney locations across the USA.

Jenn’s journey with Cheekbone began as a digitally native, direct-to-consumer brand that took pride in its commitment to reducing environmental impact and supporting Indigenous communities. Her formidable leadership made sure Cheekbone stood out not only for its stunning products but also for its ethical backbone—it became a symphony of transparency, philanthropy, and support for women and youth. To date, over $250,000 have been donated to philanthropic causes, testament to Cheekbone’s core values.

Cheekbone’s prestige has been hard-earned. In 2019, Jenn Harper made a confident appearance on Canada’s Dragon’s Den, the nation’s equivalency of Shark Tank. While she turned down offers, her unwavering resolution steered Cheekbone towards exponential growth. Jenn’s tactical negotiations led to expansive contracts with major retailers in North America, shining a beacon of inspiration for Indigenous women by placing an Indigenous CEO-led brand on equal footing with global industry giants.

Jenn Harper stands as more than a CEO; she is a voice for entrepreneurship, exerting influence on topics that are reshaping the business landscape: social entrepreneurship, empathy, representation, inclusivity, and sustainability. Regularly sought after for her insights, Jenn weaves her narrative as both a woman and a representative of North America’s Indigenous peoples, substantiating the importance of these values in today’s business ecosystem.

The accolades accruing to Jenn’s name bear the weight of her achievements. In 2022, she was listed among the 100 Women of Influence by Entrepreneur Magazine—a list graced by the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Kim Kardashian. And importantly, in 2023, Jenn was conferred an Honorary Doctorate degree from the Goodman School of Business at Brock University. This honorary degree recognized her unwavering dedication to community betterment and adamant endeavors in championing sustainability.

Jenn Harper, with Cheekbone Beauty, brings forth a narrative of passion, resilience, and authenticity. Her biography is not just about the ascent of a brand; it’s the story of a vision brought to life, of barriers broken, and of a future envisioned where commerce and charity coalesce seamlessly, all painted with the strokes of an eco-friendly brush.

Break
11:30 am - 12:30 pm

Take a quick movement and body break then rejoin us ready for peer coaching circles

Peer Coaching Circles
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
Share your challenge or problem and find real support

We gather in small groups for these interactive problem solving sessions. Each person can share a challenge and receive loving peer reflection in a safe, intimate space with support from SVIW leaders and experts.

Closing Circle
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Closing circle, reflections, and goodbyes before ending SVI Virtual

Closing circle, reflections, and goodbyes before ending SVI Virtual

February 10-14, 2025
February 10-14, 2025

Pricing

Social Venture Institute Women Virtual 2023

Tuition: (all prices are in CAD)

The tuition includes access to the full 2-day gathering, featuring all sessions, True Confession, Case Study, and peer coaching, plus engaging skill-building workshops throughout the following week—all recorded so you can revisit the content anytime. Join us for an enriching experience designed to inspire, connect, and equip you with practical tools for your journey.

  • Generous $425
    • If you’re in a position to contribute more, this tier enables you to invest in our mission of accessibility and inclusion. Your generosity supports SVI Scholarships for participants facing systemic barriers and helps foster a vibrant, equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem.
  • Standard $205
    • This price reflects the full cost of delivering the event. By selecting the standard tier, you help sustain the event and ensure equitable access for others, particularly those managing households, caregiving, or underfunded ventures.
  • Subsidized $55
    • This option is for women, gender-diverse individuals, or anyone facing financial barriers. We honour the realities of caregiving, systemic inequities, or early-stage entrepreneurship that can limit resources. Choose this tier if it makes your participation possible.
  • If the subsidized ticket is not accessible to you, please contact us at [email protected] for a fully subsidized ticket.

Our Partners

Thank you to our community partners for helping support, uplift, and work together to eliminate barriers to equity and economic access!

Coast Capital
Junxion logo
Chambar logo
Stephanie Vellins - Harris logo

Community Amplifiers

Thank you to our community amplifiers for helping support, uplift, and work together to eliminate barriers to equity and economic access!

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