“Being a female founder brings a unique set of challenges to the table. It requires us to be resilient, hustle and creative in all aspects of our business. Irrespective of those challenges, it has meant being the hardest working person in the room, and always being over-prepared for every opportunity, as preparation equates to confidence. My advice for female founders would be to advocate for themselves because no one else is going to. Often, women may feel afraid of being too self-promotional or opinionated. We are the CEOs of our own brand, so raise your hand, take the plunge, and take credit for your ideas. Nobody else has any more or less of a right to be doing exactly what you are. Instead of trying to fit into the glass slipper, we should try to shatter the glass ceiling by becoming the CEO that our mothers always dreamed we would marry.“
A special IWD message from Fatima Zaidi Share on X
CEO and Founder of Quill Inc.
A full-service podcasting hosting platform and production agency that supports brands in launching their podcasts. As a member of the National Speakers Bureau, Fatima has spoken at various events around the world on media and tech trends leading her to keynote on world stages alongside speakers like Gary Vaynerchuk. In addition to being a commentator for BNN Bloomberg on the challenges that female and BIPOC founders face in entrepreneurship, she is a frequent contributor to publications including The Globe and Mail, and Huffington Post, and has also been featured in publications like Forbes and Entrepreneur. Over the past few years she has won two Top 30 under 30 awards, the Young Professional of the Year by Notable Life, Veuve Clicquot’s Bold Future Award, The Women in Content Marketing Award, and one of Flare Magazine’s Top 100 Women.
Outside of entrepreneurship, Fatima is Co-Chair of the #Tech4SickKids council for SickKids Hospital which is the second-largest pediatric research hospital in the world. She is on track to raise 25 million dollars to build a new emergency wing of the hospital, as well as fund some of the world’s biggest data and AI projects.
