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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:06] SPEAKER_01: Hello, I'm Mario Tonigus, managing editor of Canada's podcast.
[00:09] SPEAKER_01: My guest today on Calgary's podcast is Monica Kretchmer,
[00:14] SPEAKER_01: who is founder and CEO of Universal Women's Network,
[00:19] SPEAKER_01: Women's of Inspiration Awards, and support her.
[00:23] SPEAKER_01: That's a lot. Thanks a lot for joining us, Monica.
[00:27] SPEAKER_00: Though excited to be back, Mario, it's been a while.
[00:31] SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to talk to you today.
[00:33] SPEAKER_01: All right. Let's start off by just telling people what those three entities are and what you do with those.
[00:41] SPEAKER_00: So thank you for the warm introduction. Yes, it's a mouthful.
[00:44] SPEAKER_00: So Universal Women's Network is a wear media company.
[00:48] SPEAKER_00: We unlock the ripple effect to advance women,
[00:51] SPEAKER_00: also to strategically partner with top companies committed to equity diversity,
[00:56] SPEAKER_00: and to support the diversity inclusion as supportive champions,
[00:58] SPEAKER_00: and to invite men to the conversation as our allies and support her.
[01:02] SPEAKER_00: We do that through media events.
[01:05] SPEAKER_00: Of course, we have the awards, which is Women of Inspiration Awards.
[01:08] SPEAKER_00: We have a book featuring the leaders of diverse industries.
[01:14] SPEAKER_00: We also have a magazine and our own podcast, which is the Women of Inspiration podcast.
[01:18] SPEAKER_00: So everything that we do is about putting women in front of the spotlight
[01:23] SPEAKER_00: and really providing an opportunity for top companies to be involved,
[01:27] SPEAKER_00: so they can have their brand visible.
[01:30] SPEAKER_01: So tell me how this all began and why.
[01:33] SPEAKER_00: So I always say that every woman has a career path in their journey,
[01:36] SPEAKER_00: that they why they start their career or their business, and I'm no different.
[01:42] SPEAKER_00: So I'll go back to 2007. Sorry, 2005.
[01:49] SPEAKER_00: I mean, I was married for 15 months.
[01:50] SPEAKER_00: I left my marriage with a seven-month-old baby,
[01:54] SPEAKER_00: and that was the beginning of my seven-year journey through the court system.
[01:58] SPEAKER_00: 4,800 hours of litigation, 22 days of trial, all the way Supreme Court.
[02:04] SPEAKER_00: That was in the first seven years of my son's life.
[02:07] SPEAKER_00: There was about five people on my hands that I talked to on a daily basis,
[02:11] SPEAKER_00: core family members, of course, and my lawyer. She was right in the mix.
[02:14] SPEAKER_00: And so there was a light at the end of the tunnel when I got through there,
[02:18] SPEAKER_00: and it was like, you know, I actually had no opportunity where, you know,
[02:25] SPEAKER_00: it was like, do something of impact now or you may lose your chance.
[02:30] SPEAKER_00: Because I signed a moratorium, which means that I couldn't be sued for eight months,
[02:34] SPEAKER_00: lo and behold, there is such a thing.
[02:37] SPEAKER_00: Anyways, I decided that I was tested for this bigger purpose, and what would that be?
[02:42] SPEAKER_00: And that's when I decided to create a network where every woman's voice belonged,
[02:47] SPEAKER_00: based on a shared value system, courage, confidence, commitment, integrity,
[02:51] SPEAKER_00: the same values that got me through my seven-year journey.
[02:54] SPEAKER_00: But what I wanted to do is create an inclusive network where every woman's voice belonged.
[02:59] SPEAKER_00: And I got to tell you Mario, coming out and starting from scratch, quitting my job,
[03:04] SPEAKER_00: jumping in with both feet, no plan B, only a plan A, and then going for that inclusive network,
[03:10] SPEAKER_00: people told me I was crazy. They said, don't do it.
[03:15] SPEAKER_00: There's pick one type of woman.
[03:17] SPEAKER_00: And for me, that has never, ever resonated.
[03:20] SPEAKER_00: I'm so happy that I, you know, it's been a real road path over the past nine years.
[03:26] SPEAKER_00: But I'm so happy that I stuck to my guns, kept with the inclusivity because I guess we are now.
[03:32] SPEAKER_00: That's a sexy word. And if you are not drinking that coole, you are missing out.
[03:35] SPEAKER_00: So, woman of inspiration was actually created for my lawyer.
[03:38] SPEAKER_00: So, I created a woman of inspiration more than 2015 to honor my lawyer for that one person who believed in me.
[03:46] SPEAKER_00: And so, over the past nine years, we've celebrated over a thousand women from five continents.
[03:52] SPEAKER_00: And I am just wrapping up this year. We, and you talk about, you know, the journey that support her,
[03:59] SPEAKER_00: that came aboard in 2018 when I was seven was 12. I'm like, where are your role models?
[04:03] SPEAKER_00: Where are those allies for men, for women?
[04:07] SPEAKER_00: When right now, all we're seeing in the media is how men are tearing women down.
[04:12] SPEAKER_00: And I just, I subscribe to the glass very full.
[04:16] SPEAKER_00: And I'm an optimist. So, I rather look at the positive rather than the negative.
[04:22] SPEAKER_00: And so, how do we inspire change to move forward?
[04:25] SPEAKER_00: And not to me was, let's amplify the voice of those male allies, individuals or organizations that are support hers.
[04:32] SPEAKER_00: For women.
[04:35] SPEAKER_00: And that was at the time when, you know, me too was happening. And so, you know, I was a little nervous, not so much actually,
[04:41] SPEAKER_00: because I'm a bit of a disruptor. But people said, why are you doing this? You have a woman's network.
[04:45] SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, this is the perfect time. Because insanity is doing the same thing over again and getting different results.
[04:52] SPEAKER_00: And to me, it was we are never going to reach equality if we don't invite half the population to the conversation.
[04:59] SPEAKER_00: So, that's woman of inspiration, support her and universal woman's network in a nutshell.
[05:06] SPEAKER_01: So, are you surprised that how much you've grown in the last few years?
[05:13] SPEAKER_00: No, because there's only one speed Mario and that's go.
[05:18] SPEAKER_01: Where do you get the energy to do this?
[05:21] SPEAKER_00: You know what? I, so our name is universal woman's network.
[05:25] SPEAKER_00: And I honestly do say that, I mean, you heard my story and just a glimpse of that.
[05:30] SPEAKER_00: And I truly do believe that, I mean, I listen to those whispers, I'm fully guided.
[05:36] SPEAKER_00: I do crazy stuff that people go, what are you doing? It's because I really have, number one, I have no fear.
[05:43] SPEAKER_00: I believe in myself. And I'm kind of a visionary. And I'm just like, I don't want to wake up one day and go, I wish I could have done that.
[05:52] SPEAKER_00: Because I believe that we're only on this earth for a short period of time.
[05:56] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, truly, I was tested for a bigger purpose. And so, I get lit up when I can see the ripple effect happen.
[06:04] SPEAKER_00: And the change happened. And, you know, you kind of have to put yourself, I'm, I'm going to share something with you, which I don't talk about very often.
[06:12] SPEAKER_00: But I would like to say that I operate on autopilot. I'm like, tell me where I go universe. I'm gone.
[06:17] SPEAKER_00: And sometimes I'm out the door, ran down the street with my shoes off, like just going because I, I had this thing that I need to do.
[06:27] SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, I mean, I'm just working on purpose, like, you know, so many other people that can relate to that, they feel that energy.
[06:35] SPEAKER_00: And that flow.
[06:37] SPEAKER_01: What's it do for you when you meet the women that you meet and their stories? Is that inspirational for you?
[06:45] SPEAKER_00: Oh, my God, I have not met. I'm going to get like, you can't ask me that question. Give me warning here because I get like weepy, you know, like I start like leaking out of my eyes.
[06:56] SPEAKER_00: You know, it's every woman. I've always said that every woman has a story. And that her story doesn't define her and empowers her.
[07:05] SPEAKER_00: And I have not met one woman who does not have a career path or a journey that's public, but there's also a backstory.
[07:18] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, she may have had a perfect career path, a perfect this perfect that like, and those are still inspiring stories.
[07:25] SPEAKER_00: But we also have the women that have, you know, risen from the Phoenix and overcome insurmountable challenges and barriers and, you know, those women inspire me.
[07:37] SPEAKER_00: And I just, I get lit up when, you know, we created a woman of inspiration, words to amplify the voice.
[07:43] SPEAKER_00: It's a woman who lead inspire motivate and our words, you know, it was inspired by, you know, my own story and me wanting to put a woman who was okay not being in the spotlight.
[07:54] SPEAKER_00: And so I get inspired seeing the amplification of that leader being in the spotlight and the ripple effect that happens, not only on her confidence, but on how it amplifies her business or her career or the impact or even anybody else kind of going, I'm so thankful that now she's getting the recognition she deserves.
[08:13] SPEAKER_00: So that feels my bucket overfall.
[08:16] SPEAKER_01: So do you think Monica, we're in a period of time now where we're a little, I guess a little easier for women to succeed than a few years ago or have we made progress at all.
[08:33] SPEAKER_00: So my optimist hat on, I'm going to say yes, I believe we made a ton of progress and I'm going to give you a small example.
[08:41] SPEAKER_00: I international women's day, we used to celebrate international women's day.
[08:47] SPEAKER_00: I'm going to say the turning point, I think where I noticed it was 2018.
[08:55] SPEAKER_00: 2018 was not very long ago.
[08:58] SPEAKER_00: 2018, people still weren't doing a real big deal about international women's day.
[09:04] SPEAKER_00: I'd even people ask me what day is that? It's March 8th for those of you who don't know.
[09:10] SPEAKER_00: But I have seen a dramatic increase in the ability to recognize women for women to feel comfortable owning that spotlight for men to now come into that, you know, we call them support hers.
[09:27] SPEAKER_00: And I've been driving that bus since 2018 encouraging more men to get on board.
[09:30] SPEAKER_00: But I've noticed since 2018 when we started to support her and that was kind of international women's day where I saw the tide kind of changing.
[09:40] SPEAKER_00: And now where I think there's more improvement to be done is you can't just celebrate woman one day.
[09:47] SPEAKER_00: In our world, we sell them 300, sell them. We sell them. We sell them up a lot.
[09:51] SPEAKER_00: But we you can't stop celebrating women. And it's an every single day. And it's up to every single person to support and champion for women.
[10:02] SPEAKER_01: So tell me, you know, when you're looking at, you know, the future and what you're doing, what are your thoughts on where you're going with all this and the future to the moon.
[10:15] SPEAKER_00: Of course, I have a big vision.
[10:19] SPEAKER_00: I've always had a big vision and very, very clear crystal clear about it. And, you know, I want to inspire one billion women.
[10:25] SPEAKER_00: I've always said that and everybody says, you're crazy. But, you know, they said that and many times do it make journey.
[10:32] SPEAKER_00: And I don't, you know, we're at least subscribed to that. But women of inspiration, we're excited to be back in person this year.
[10:38] SPEAKER_00: I mean, five continents, who would have believed five continents, right? Who would have believed that, you know, we would have produced a book during the pandemic featuring leaders from diverse industries and then engaging the transportation industry with graphics trucks that we had rollin' around North America for the past three years.
[10:59] SPEAKER_00: You know, I just don't see, I don't see a limit, skies limit in my world. And I see women of inspiration. I mean, New York is on the radar next year for 2024.
[11:11] SPEAKER_00: We're also going to be, so I'll tell you where we're at and where we're going.
[11:15] SPEAKER_00: Women of inspiration awards is going to continue building grow.
[11:19] SPEAKER_00: We have actually created our support her award that was a single award category. Now it's going to be support her awards.
[11:28] SPEAKER_00: So we're going to actually really embrace that diversity of leadership and offering awards for men and women that are working towards a common goal.
[11:37] SPEAKER_00: The men that are winning support her awards have got to be champions for women, period. They can be doing incredible things, but there has to be that element in there for them to be succeeding.
[11:49] SPEAKER_00: So that's how we're going to sort of tackle that. Then we've got our top companies. Because one thing I know is that there's a lot of chatter out there, but I want to see the top companies that are really taking action.
[11:59] SPEAKER_00: I want to know the great things that they're doing inside their organization outside of their organization.
[12:05] SPEAKER_00: So we've created top companies for equity, diversity, inclusion, support her champions so that we can now all work men, women, top companies, and get to that final goal.
[12:15] SPEAKER_00: We're doing a survey, which is super exciting for support her.
[12:20] SPEAKER_00: And again, you know, I'm super, you know, busting out doing some really crazy things with that because I think it's timely.
[12:26] SPEAKER_00: So it's like inviting, it's a support her research study, closing the gap by inviting men to the conversation as her allies.
[12:34] SPEAKER_00: And so with the international support her day coming up, we will reveal the results of that.
[12:40] SPEAKER_00: It's just going to happen where we build and grow and build and grow on it.
[12:44] SPEAKER_00: I don't think we need to stop celebrating women. I think we need to see women's voices represented in all industries.
[12:52] SPEAKER_00: But we also need to see those allies come to the table and know that they offer value that they provide value that they are part of the solution.
[13:01] SPEAKER_00: They're not part of the problem.
[13:04] SPEAKER_01: So obviously very busy.
[13:08] SPEAKER_01: You're probably crazy busy, but what do you do besides all this?
[13:13] SPEAKER_01: Like to relax and strike a balance in your life?
[13:19] SPEAKER_00: So if you would have asked me about well, during COVID, it would be nothing.
[13:25] SPEAKER_00: I mean, I slept for pleasure.
[13:27] SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, that was a luxury was sleep, to be honest with you.
[13:31] SPEAKER_00: When you're a business owner during COVID, it was just like, and I was just like gas pedal on.
[13:36] SPEAKER_00: I didn't and I was very unhealthy. I worked 18 hours a day.
[13:43] SPEAKER_00: And you know what, I just, I had so much that I need to do it.
[13:46] SPEAKER_00: I wasn't willing to not get through the pandemic.
[13:51] SPEAKER_00: Like I knew this was an opportunity to make change.
[13:54] SPEAKER_00: Let go of what's working that's not working and then build further.
[14:00] SPEAKER_00: Coming out of the pandemic, I made a really strong conscious decision that I was going to start taking weekends off.
[14:08] SPEAKER_00: And I have got to say, since leaving my divorce, leaving my marriage in 2007,
[14:16] SPEAKER_00: up until only the end of the pandemic, I had no balance.
[14:21] SPEAKER_00: I was always running as a single mom. I was running as a single mom and fighting the courts and, and running started my business.
[14:29] SPEAKER_00: There was zero me time and there and, you know, what kept me going was my purpose.
[14:34] SPEAKER_00: But I realized that I'm 52. I'm happy and proud of saying 52.
[14:39] SPEAKER_00: I want to live to be 100. He's on the Kellyanne.
[14:42] SPEAKER_00: You know, when I interviewed her, we were both, she turned 100. I turned 50 and when I was interviewing her.
[14:47] SPEAKER_00: And it struck me as, oh my goodness.
[14:50] SPEAKER_00: If I want it live to be hazel age and hit that 100 years, I'm going to start taking better care of myself.
[14:57] SPEAKER_00: So I started taking weekends off and I started carving out that space where Saturday is my play day.
[15:04] SPEAKER_00: You know, like it's a walk. It's a high love walking. I don't run anymore. I walk 10,000 steps a day.
[15:10] SPEAKER_00: I try to get to bed by 10 p.m. Sometimes if there's something fun on, I mean, I go past my bedtime for sure.
[15:15] SPEAKER_00: But sleep is a sleep is essential that 10,000 steps a day. It sounds really simple.
[15:22] SPEAKER_00: But those are the things where I get creative when I go back into nature.
[15:28] SPEAKER_00: I love being outdoors. I love water. A puddle, a pool, a river, a ocean, a lake.
[15:36] SPEAKER_00: You'll find me because that brings me peace. So yeah, I try to just get out.
[15:43] SPEAKER_01: Excellent. Thanks very much, Monica, for joining us today.
[15:48] SPEAKER_00: Well, you're very welcome. Thank you for having me and I look forward to seeing you at Women of Inspiration.
[15:54] SPEAKER_01: All right. Wonderful. That was Monica Cretchmer, who is founder and CEO of Universal Women's Network, Women of Inspiration Awards, and support her.
[16:05] SPEAKER_01: I'm Mario Tonigüzi, managing editor of Canada's podcast. This has been Calgary's podcast. Thanks for joining us.
