Episode Summary
Have you been thinking, “How am I going to move forward this year, especially in a leadership role?” In this episode, our guest, Heather Odendaal, talks about how we can lift as we climb.Listen as she shares about:How you can move forward in your leadership journey Who Heather is and how she ended up in WhistlerHow she got into event managementWhat WNORTH is, how it started, and its missionWhat proximity bias is and how it could affect youHer future desires for women in leadershipThe Lift as We Climb Conference and the benefits to attendingAnd a lot more! Join the Lift as We Climb Conference! Use this link if you’re showing up in person to get $400 OFF your conference ticket: https://wnorthconnect.com/2024conference/?promo=WNORTH-dynamicIf you choose to join virtually, you can join through this link to get 50% OFF your ticket: https://wnorthconnect.com/2024conference/?promo=WNORTH-dynamicVHeather’s Bio: Heather Odendaal is an accomplished Canadian entrepreneur, brand builder, and event producer whose experience in corporate environments inspired her to create and co-found WNORTH, a global organization dedicated to the development of women mid-career on a trajectory towards senior executive leadership.Prior to launching her organization, Heather was employed as a sales executive for a Fortune 500 company. There, she noticed the lack of women in senior executive positions, and she and her husband decided to take matters into their own hands and launch WNORTH.What originally started as an annual conference in 2015, WNORTH now connects top female business leaders in corporate, public, and entrepreneurial sectors through The Members' Club, which provides women with development opportunities, including workshops, leadership masterminds, events, and courses, as well as a 100% virtual forum of online content and more. WNORTH also holds Chapter Cities throughout North America and the U.K., where members can network and uplift each other through meet-ups, group exercises, and activities.When the pandemic hit in 2020, Heather and her team quickly pivoted to create virtual experiences for their members and conference attendees. They are hard at work highlighting and solving the problem of the insufficient support structures in North America for women in the workforce, which was even more pronounced over the last year and a half.WNORTH was named Innovative Business of the Year 2021 at the Whistler Excellence Awards, and the WNORTH Virtual Conference was recognized by BizBash as one of the top 10 Most Innovative Meetings 2021.Heather’s Social Media links: Website: https://wnorthconnect.com/about/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heatherodendaal/