Algonquin College Celebrates International Women’s Day

Posted on Monday, March 8th, 2021

March 8th marks International Women’s Day around the globe, a day dedicated to celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women, while also calling attention towards accelerating women’s equality. The AC team spoke to a number of AC students who are out changing the world about their experiences. Hear what they had to say:

Ameera Brown

International Women’s Day is something Ameera Brown celebrates with her family. With four sisters, Brown says the day is one she recognizes with her siblings.

“When I was younger, I didn’t really do anything,” says Brown, age 27. “Now, I text my sisters and say good morning you beautiful goddesses, today is your day.”

Brown is a second-year student in the Advertising and Marketing Communications Management program working as a SLiDE intern. This semester she is working with the City for All Women Initiative (CAWI). CAWI is a unique collaboration of women from diverse communities, organizations, and academia working

with municipal decision-makers to create a more inclusive city and advance gender equality.

“I’m excited with non-profits in general,” said Brown. CAWI, in particular is doing work she admires. “They are focused on women and they stress equity and diversity. They hold decolonization seminars and equity seminars and I was so excited to work with them.”

She said CAWI provides a huge benefit to the local community. “They are a small staff but they highlight issues women face in Ottawa. Educating and bringing women together is so important. It can be isolating and maybe you aren’t aware that your issues may be universal and that is reassuring.”

She believes it’s important to mark International Women’s Day. “We have to see how far we’ve come and to see history helps better shape the future. We may not all face the same struggles. Being able to highlight individual struggles helps us support each other and it’s important for women to learn and men too.”

Brown believes women in school and in the workplace can help each other. “We can build a network with each other,” she said. “With online school we are hesitant, but reaching out to other women is empowering, especially with women in your program or semester behind or a year behind you. Building that network is so helpful.”

Britany Donis

Last year Britany Donis took a leap of faith. She postponed her final semester in Algonquin’s Biotechnology program to take part in a one-year co-op work term at the Ottawa Hospital’s Biotherapeutics Manufacturing Centre (BMC).

It’s a decision she’s never regretted.

After an incredible year at BMC as part of the Canadian Partnership for Research in Immunotherapy Manufacturing Excellence (CanPRIME), Donis is now back completing her final semester at Algonquin.

She is looking ahead to graduation, and thanks to carefully managing her course load, is also working full-time as a Process Development Associate at BMC. It’s making for a “crazy” and busy last semester, but it’s worth the extra effort for Donis.

“When the co-op opportunity at BMC initially came up, I really thought about it at first. I am married and a bit of a mature student, so putting off graduation and taking that year extra can be a bit risky. But the opportunity seemed fantastic, and definitely something I was interested in… exploring the pharmaceutical side (of biotech),” said Donis. “It was always my goal to stay there, to hopefully work there full-time.”

“I actually took advantage of all the opportunities that the College had through co-op and internships. The background from school, my co-op positions, it all came together at BMC,” she said, noting her first year at the Ottawa Hospital was an “unforgettable” experience.

“They give you every opportunity to learn through CanPRIME. It is a surreal job. Not something I expected when I started in the Biotech program in 2017.We were part of the team as students, always feeling that we were contributing,” she said.

Marcela Martinez

Marcela Martinez says International Women’s Day is a welcome opportunity for women to ponder their ambitions and plan to achieve them.

“I tell anyone who thinks they cannot do what they want in life that they can, no matter the age, no matter if they are a mom and have household or other responsibilities,” says Martinez, mother of four children, a business owner and a student in Algonquin College’s Business Management and Entrepreneurship program.

Here is the secret, she says: Engage your family, your children. Tell them you have dreams, too. By supporting you in your dreams, let them know the whole family will enjoy a better life. Five years after leaving Colombia for a successful new life in Canada, Martinez can speak about it all with knowledge and confidence.

Coming to Canada was in part an opportunity to “recover time.” Martinez says she has been able to spend more time with her children in her five years in Canada than in all their earlier years. “That is incredible. I am so grateful for that,” she says. With the freedom to manage her own time she could also take on a new role as an entrepreneur.

Martinez owns and operates Akiani Handmade Jewelry (akianihandmadejewelry.com). She sells pieces made using the time-honoured filigree technique, in which threads of silver or gold are woven together without any kind of industrial processes. All the jewelry is made in Mompox, a region in northern Colombia declared a Heritage Cultural Site by Unesco in 1995 and where craftsmen have utilized the technique for hundreds of years.

She knew she wanted to go to college. She had advanced education from Colombia but here everything was different. “I knew I had to be humble. I had to start from scratch because there was so much to learn. I started to research colleges and I read that Algonquin was the best college in Ontario. Of course, I wanted to be in the best college! But I had to improve my English to enter. And math! Lawyers don’t love math! So I took academic upgrading – one and a half years. After that, I started.”

Martinez launched her business before entering the BME program but she says what she has learned at the College has been invaluable. “My professors were saying, ‘You need to do this, this and this to be more successful.’ I started to apply what they told me and do you know what? Through my business, I have now recovered my tuition fees because my sales increased as a result of my professors’ advice.”

About International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.
IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. Today, IWD belongs to all groups collectively everywhere. IWD is not country, group or organization specific.

• Posted in
• Words
• Tags: