International Women's Day

StrikeUP is Canada’s premier digital conference for women entrepreneurs, featuring engaging keynote speakers, workshops, and panels. SBEC creates a supportive environment for local women entrepreneurs to connect, share ideas, and build valuable relationships while accessing tools and strategies to grow their businesses.

Access on Demand Content

Speaker: Radhika Kapoor, Creative Director and Brand Strategist at Moonrabbit Strategy

Are you a woman entrepreneur feeling overwhelmed by endless marketing to‑do lists or struggling to clearly articulate what makes your business unique? Many founders believe branding is just a logo or color palette, but it is the heart of your business—the bridge between your vision and the community you serve. Join Radhika Kapoor for an empowering webinar created specifically for women‑led startups and small businesses, where branding will be demystified and transformed into a strategic tool for confident leadership.

This session will explore the critical difference between branding and marketing, the power of defining your purpose as a guiding “North Star,” how to stand out authentically in a crowded market, and how to craft a brand voice and visual identity that reflects your values and leadership style.

Access on Demand Content

Speaker: Nicole Troster, Founder, Coeurage Labs

This interactive session is designed for women entrepreneurs who are ready to grow their service-based businesses with greater intention and clarity. Participants will gain insight into what is keeping them stuck, define who their ideal clients are, and learn how to use the three essential pillars of positioning, systems, and offers to increase revenue in a way that feels focused, strategic, and sustainable.

The session is practical and motivating, featuring guided reflection, group engagement, and a workbook to support the experience. By the end of the workshop, participants will understand their current growth bottlenecks and walk away with one to two clear actions they can implement immediately, along with a downloadable workbook, space to reflect and share, and tools to reduce business chaos and scale with confidence.

Access on Demand Content

Speaker: Agnes Lan, Founder of Change Connect

This webinar explores how artificial intelligence can help women leaders and organizations grow smarter at a time when teams are being asked to do more without more resources. As leaders face overload, limited data, and too much time spent on manual work, AI when used intentionally can improve efficiency, consistency, and decision making without replacing people.

The session will focus on where AI can immediately reduce workload across sales, operations, and leadership, how it supports better business outcomes, and how it creates leverage for women leaders without increasing burnout. Practical and grounded in real business impact, this conversation is designed for organizations looking to scale responsibly while building stronger and more inclusive leadership.

Access on Demand Content

March 2: Alexandru Horghidan

Alexandru is a Small Business Consultant with the Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre (RHSBEC). He leads several key initiatives, including the Starter Company Plus program, the annual Entrepreneurship Finance Conference, and the annual International Women’s Day Celebration Week. Alexandru also serves as the project manager for the CLIC Human-Centred Design program.
With over six years of experience in small business consulting and previous professional experience working in Economic Development, Alexandru brings strong expertise in business planning, market research, and strategic guidance. He is passionate about innovation, emerging trends, and technology, and has supported hundreds of entrepreneurs in starting, growing, and strengthening their businesses.

March 3: Radhika Kapoor

Radhika Kapoor is the Founder & Creative Director at Moon Rabbit Strategy, a branding & creative advertising agency based out of Whitby, Ontario. With over 15 years of experience working with B2B and B2C brands, her expertise lies in creating robust brands and impactful marketing messages.

She is passionate about supporting organizations at the grassroots level and has worked with businesses across sectors including retail, food, IT, healthcare, education, non-profit, finance & tourism. Notably, Radhika has worked with Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada, the Canadian Association of Community Health Centres, Lux Second Chance, Sunday Glow, Timpano-India & WWF to name a few brands. Radhika has been a Fractional Executive with YSpace’s ELLA accelerator for the last 4 years.

March 4: Nicole Troster

Nicole Troster is a seasoned startup advisor and growth strategist who helps entrepreneurs build scalable businesses with clarity and confidence. Drawing from her experience as founder of an award-winning accelerator that has supported over 450 founders, Nicole now leverages her proven frameworks to empower individual clients in streamlining their businesses, optimizing their offerings, and implementing repeatable systems that drive consistent, sustainable growth.

March 5: Agnes Lan

Agnes Lan, owner of Change Connect helps organizations grow through change and is described as influential and inspirational by her clients and peers. She has a knack for breaking down complex strategies into tangible business tactics. Leading the way in Sales Transformation for SMBs and Enterprises alike.

Agnes has considerable experience on the assessment, strategy, design and implementation of business transformations in various industries with a focus on Sales - customer focused business strategies, organization design, sales efficiency and transformation. Agnes has consulted for clients in Broadcast and Media, Advertising and Marketing, Distribution and Warehousing, Education, Manufacturing, Professional Services and Construction.

With degrees from the University of Toronto, Indiana University Kelley School of Business, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Harvard Business School, her passion for learning contributes to numerous professional designations as a Professional Engineer, Lean Black Belt Professional and ADKAR Change Management Practitioner.

March 6: Danielle Barkman

Danielle Barkman is Director of Marketing & Business Growth at Women Business Enterprises Canada Council (WBE Canada), where she leads national marketing, growth strategy and engagement with large enterprises and government organizations to advance equal opportunities for women-owned businesses within supply chains. WBE Canada is a national non-profit that certifies women-owned businesses and works across the public and private sectors to embed inclusive procurement practices that strengthen supply chains and drive economic impact across Canada.

March 6: Sandra-Marie Virgili

Sandra-Marie Virgili is the Manager of Operational Communication and Vendor Outreach for Supply Ontario. Since joining the organization in July 2025, she has led efforts to educate vendors and the public on how to do business with the Province of Ontario and supports vendors in navigating public-sector procurement.

With a career rooted in public service, Sandra-Marie has worked across policy, operations, and stakeholder engagement, including roles in economic development, red tape reduction, and renewable energy. She holds an MBA from the DeGroote School of Business and is passionate about empowering women entrepreneurs with the confidence, knowledge, and practical tools needed to compete and succeed in the public sector.

March 6: Bo See Fok

Ms. Bo See Fok has over 10 years of experience in the Federal Public Service and joined the Procurement Assistance Canada (Ontario Region) team in September 2023. She has held several positions within the Procurement Directorate mostly related to Real Property Contracting.

In her current role as Acting Regional Director, Bo See is responsible for stakeholder engagement and cultivating partnership opportunities with organizations to support businesses looking to become government suppliers and increase participation of underrepresented groups in federal procurement.