A special IWD message from Shahrzad Rafati

“On International Women’s Day, we must recognize the barriers that women around the world continue to struggle against. Particularly, the lack of women in leadership limits the presence of female voices in important decisions and contributes to related inequalities, such as the gender pay gap. Leadership inequality is therefore a key area of focus when it comes to changing the narrative for women’s representation more generally.

I believe that leadership is about paving the way for other leaders. As an entrepreneur, my goal has always been to build a business that is a platform for change, and at BBTV we’ve proudly had a 0% pay gap over the past 5 years, and have 40% female-identifying employees and managers across the business. We hope to inspire future leaders of all kinds, and while we have come a long way, we still have a long way to go.“

Shahrzad Rafati

Shahrzad Rafati is the Chairperson and CEO of BBTV, the leading creator monetization company with a mission to help creators become more successful, and a successful quadruple bottom line business that measures success across financial, people, social, and environmental KPIs. 

Shahrzad actively pursues ways to encourage social change and is a champion for equality in all forms, and is passionate about job creation, climate action, education, and advancing opportunities for women and girls. In 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Shahrzad as Co-Chair of G20 EMPOWER, a private sector alliance intended to support the greater recruitment and advancement of women in leadership in the private sector in each of the G20 countries.

Shahrzad is an inspiring leader and champion for equality who supports a number of influential Boards and Associations including as Vice-Chair Invest in Canada, Board Director for Bjarke Ingels Group, and Co-Chair of G20 EMPOWER. She has been broadly recognized for her contributions to the media industry and entrepreneurship.

In October of 2020, Shahrzad also led BBTV’s historic IPO as one of the Top 10 Tech listings of all time on the TSX.

CanadianSME

With an aim to contribute to the development of Canada’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s), Cmarketing Inc is a potential marketing agency and a boutique business management company progressing rapidly in its scope. By acknowledging a firm reliance of the Canadian economy over its SMEs, the agency has resolved to launch a magazine, the pure focus of which will be the furtherance of Canadian SMEs, and to assist their progress with the scheduled token of enlightenment via the magazine’s pertinent content.

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