11 women share the pearl of wisdom they're reflecting on in this moment
Advice and epiphanies bringing peace, joy, context and courage
International Women's Day is a day to commemorate women's achievements and contributions to society throughout history. Today's climate is one of fast and unpredictable change. But from time immemorial, women have adapted — as life-givers, caregivers and the backbone of families. For some women, that instinct comes naturally: they rely on wisdom like one relies on muscle memory. I like to call that intergenerational wisdom — deep-seated wisdom, knowledge and guidance that has been passed down to us. It sits within us all and exposes itself in the moments we need it most — and we share it with one another too.
With that in mind, I asked 11 women across different lifestyles, regions and cultures to tell us both what they find themselves navigating and a nugget of wisdom they're mulling over: what wise perspective, philosophy, quote or piece of advice they find themselves recalling in this moment.
In their answers are themes of attending to ourselves, being our authentic selves, and learning to live in the present — regardless of the opportunities or challenges they face.
Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
Electrical engineer and creator of the Grey Canvas, Toronto
What important challenge or opportunity are you currently navigating?
Social media is a great platform that allows women to connect with other women. It's a great place to get strength, guidance, inspiration, motivation and, at the same time, find a community you can tap into. [Yet], in this day and age, we find so many women constantly comparing themselves to others. What we need to focus on is comparing who we are today to who we were before. Focus on our personal growth.
What words of wisdom do you find yourself reflecting on these days?
Surround yourself with people who will celebrate your growth. As women, we juggle so many responsibilities. The trick to finding out what we should focus on is identifying what balls in the air are made of plastic and what's made of glass. As mothers, we also need to know that not everything that involves our kids are balls made of glass — some are plastic. I got this piece of wisdom from [American author] Nora Roberts.
Founder of Kaela Kay, and wife and mother of 3, Toronto
What important challenge or opportunity are you currently navigating?
The biggest challenge for me is navigating growth during a pandemic and a possible international war. My business has steadily continued to grow, and to keep that momentum going, I have to make strategic decisions … as well as dealing with shipping delays and severe price increases across several of my industries (materials, labour, shipping).
What words of wisdom do you find yourself reflecting on these days?
My favourite saying is "Always bet on yourself" — especially if no one else believes in you. Also, not a quote per se, but a movement I'm committed to is authenticity. I'm committed to showing up as myself on social media, in rooms, in my business, because that is the best way to live life. My uniqueness is my superpower.
Recording artist and writer, Cree, First Nations, Treaty 8 territory
What important challenge or opportunity are you currently navigating?
During the pandemic, I was forced to sort of switch career paths. When live shows and touring were taken away, I thought, "Damn, what am I going to do now?" So I went back to school for film. I'm currently in Whistler, [B.C.], working on Season 7 of APTN's "Moosemeat & Marmalade." I'm finding the balance between my new and old opportunities in music and film. It's very exciting [with] live music and DJs coming back and reviving nightlife. I'm also currently working on my sophomore album with an amazing lineup of producers.
What words of wisdom do you find yourself reflecting on these days?
We all have an inherent value as human beings. We are all worth the same. Don't ever waste time comparing yourself to anyone else [or] where they're at. We all go through things in our own time. It's about shining your light on yourself so that then you can share it with the rest of the world.
CEO of Ethical Digital, Saskatoon
What important challenge or opportunity are you currently navigating?
In my business, we have the ambitious goal to change the trajectory of the internet. Our team has been working on research and projects around social media and well-being, involving more Indigenous women in technology, encouraging more women into careers in venture capital.
Entrepreneurship is always a tricky path; however, growth during COVID is a real roller-coaster. Between growing the business, raising two teenage boys and helping ailing parents in this COVID environment, it's a lot. But I'm optimistic for the future.
What words of wisdom do you find yourself reflecting on these days?
I've started a new ritual I call #joyquest. Instead of succumbing to the monotony of day-to-day life working from my living room as I wait for COVID to pass, I try to take time just for myself, regularly, and find time to do something that I really enjoy. It's helped my mental health considerably.
Art curator, writer and cultural worker born in Taiwan. A few names for the place I reside in include Tkaronto (Mohawk), Gichi Kiiwenging (Anishinaabemowin) and Toronto (English settler colonial).
What important challenge or opportunity are you currently navigating?
One challenge I will share, because I know other people struggle with it as well, is acknowledging and voicing my personal level of emotional despair. This remains largely unexpressed because I am privileged enough to be able to live in physical comfort, while there are innumerable and life-threatening challenges that others face.
Personally, I mourn the loss of spontaneity and mobility. As a low-paid and independent cultural worker, I'm used to precarity but always had a sense that there were exciting options and choices available to me. Now, looking ahead involves facing the possibilities of things that won't happen.
What words of wisdom do you find yourself reflecting on these days?
This period of time has allowed me to more closely observe, think about and accept how intricate the world is and the considerable amount that is unknown to me if forming a judgment. My ideas of good and bad, right and wrong and what constitutes solutions and repair to harmful incidents have become more complex. Wrongdoing and damage absolutely need to be identified, [but] what are deeply considered, change-making ways to approach these situations?
Contrary to my economical upbringing and lifelong habits, I've [also] been allowing myself to eat silly and frivolous foods [like] Korean corn dogs. I've been buying my favourite fruit, passion fruit. This too is thinking in new ways. I think that allowing ourselves to have some things that are unnecessary, purely for enjoyment, is one way to affirm the worth that we assign ourselves.
Canadian diver; 2-time medallist at the Olympic Games and 10-time medallist at the FINA World Championships; Laval, Que.
What important challenge or opportunity are you currently navigating?
I am currently at a very happy place in my life. I have recently retired from the sport of diving; I got engaged; and I am expecting my first child! I have to admit that it's a wonderful time and I am fully enjoying and looking forward to giving birth and becoming a mother.
What words of wisdom do you find yourself reflecting on these days?
I try to focus on the present moment as much as possible. These are the words that I [abided] by when I was diving, and I find that they also serve me well in this transition. I did not know what to expect when I decided to retire from the sport that I have been practising for 25 years. Sometimes I have moments of doubts when thinking about my future, so it's important to tell myself to focus on the "now." When you think about it, we are all usually OK in the present moment.
Disability advocate and founder of Access YYT, St. John's
What important challenge or opportunity are you currently navigating?
The biggest challenge that I'm navigating these days is learning to adapt to life with a dynamic disability as I experience more symptoms from my Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. In the last couple years, I have become a wheelchair user, which has been a huge learning curve for me. I love my mobility aids for the help and freedom they provide me, but I now understand that the world really isn't built to include disabled people.
I'm trying my best to use my knowledge and lived experience to improve accessibility in my community and province. Some days, I rise to the challenge and make great strides with my advocacy, and other days, I just miss when living my life and navigating the world around me was easier. It can be a tough balancing act.
What words of wisdom do you find yourself reflecting on these days?
When I first got sick, I thought I could just ignore it and still try to be everything to everyone. But that made me burn out pretty quickly, of course. So I am very fond of the cliché saying "You can't pour from an empty cup." I try to remind myself of that all the time because I can't give anyone else my all if I'm not focusing on taking care of my health first. I think this hustle culture that is fuelled by capitalism can be so toxic, and I'm not ashamed now when I need to rest.
Multidisciplinary artist, live-event producer, director, and president of EC Production; L'ange-Gardien, Que., unceded Algonquin territory
What important challenge or opportunity are you currently navigating?
Today my world is all about navigating the new while I pivot. Since the start of COVID, the production and event industry in Canada has been completely shut down. So I've had to not only fill my new unfamiliar time available, but also find a way to make money, all while fighting off the doom of depression because my world as I knew it had disappeared.
I'm lucky because I'm extremely self-motivated and I quickly created new projects to keep me busy, starting with writing two self-published books. After the books came out, I began making all-natural hand-pressed bath bombs called Butch Bombs, and that's been fun. Still, although I'm able to find new ways to be in this unpredictable world, there is no doubt that I continue to suffer great sadness and separation anxiety from my beloved live-event industry.
What words of wisdom do you find yourself reflecting on these days?
"Find your people and be your authentic self." These aren't always easy things for folks to do because finding your people nowadays means finding them online, and that's just scary to navigate. But your people are out there, and you will feel stronger walking with them. Also, be yourself. Again, not easy or even safe for some, but being your authentic self is the way to find true happiness in this world and the only way to find your people. These things have not only carried me through my tumultuous past, but also through today, rife with change and uncertainty.
Founder of Matriarch Movement, Métis and Nehiyaw, Muscowpetung First Nation, Treaty 4 territory
What important challenge or opportunity are you currently navigating?
I am currently going through a death and rebirth of my old self, toxic cycles and old patterns that feel familiar but have run its course.
If I could reflect 10 years from now, I would say always choose the path that is in alignment to your soul, to your higher self. Sometimes we go through a betrayal, a loss, a challenge, to remind us of our power and how we have the ability to heal through anything — whether that be historical, familial, ancestral or multi-generational. I am reminded daily to call my energy back from all timelines, people, expectations and projections that do not serve a higher purpose or plan.
What words of wisdom do you find yourself reflecting on these days?
Lately, I've been ending my tobacco offerings and prayers, "In a good way — or something better." We don't even know the opportunities, the people and the dreams that could happen in our lifetime. "This, or something better" allows [the] Creator to take the wheel and you to surrender to the outcome.
The Tax Chick, partner at Stevenson Hood Thornton Beaubier, Saskatoon
What important challenge or opportunity are you currently navigating?
Over the past couple of years, I have been on a mission to spread foundational information about Canadian income tax to the public. My approach is somewhat unorthodox within the tax community and I have faced some skepticism and criticism. Nonetheless, I feel called to give back to the community and to help empower business owners to become more actively involved in financial decisions about their business.
One of my biggest challenges professionally has been in navigating the two pieces of my professional life: my life as a tax partner in a law firm versus my role as "the Tax Chick." I used to refer to the Tax Chick as my alter ego — the Sasha Fierce to my Beyoncé. But as time goes by, I am starting to realize that the Tax Chick is who I really am. Now, I need to start integrating these two pieces of my professional life.
What words of wisdom do you find yourself reflecting on these days?
There are two pieces of advice that come to mind: do not be afraid to be curious. My dad was a professor of anatomy and cell biology until he passed away 5½ years ago. He encouraged curiosity: because of his guidance, I was never afraid to raise my hand and ask a question in class or to admit that I did not understand something.
[And] be yourself, not what someone else thinks you should be. I have been fortunate to have some great coaches and mentors during my career. Several times I have been reminded of the importance of staying true to myself and what my gut tells me. I am slowly learning to trust my intuition and to spend less time seeking the permission or guidance of others.
Inuk history teacher, fashion designer and owner of Inukchic; originally from Pond Inlet, Nunavut; living in Ottawa
What important challenge or opportunity are you currently navigating?
Since I left my home community 12 years ago, I often wondered [during the] first few months what I'm doing in Ottawa — it was quite foreign to me. I was so used to close-knit community, open-door policy and often being outdoors in nature. But now I have [adapted] to it, I'm used to city life, like for instance, [I] make appointments to visit a friend and stay indoors more.
Being more on my own, I have done more sewing and art. It seems to be my therapy. With this, it sort of just grew to more than I expected. I have done fashion shows and exhibits and partnered with Brador Fabrics to design fabrics. I am getting ready for a fashion show at Vancouver Fashion Week.
What words of wisdom do you find yourself reflecting on these days?
Our words are so powerful. We have to be kind to ourselves with words and speak to our future as if it's now. We are here on earth [for] such a short time we have to stand strong and not get distracted with negative things and just move forward, especially being a woman and Indigenous.
Michaella Shannon, a member of Frog Lake First Nation, is a television host and personality, actress, model, writer and facilitator. You can find her on Instagram at @michaella.shannon.
