firestarter: igniting change for women and non-binary founders in Atlantic Canada
firestarter, founded by the Pond-Deshpande Centre (PDC) and The Firehood with funding from the Women Entrepreneurship Strategy Inclusive Venture Capital Initiative (WES WIN-VC), is dedicated to supporting early-stage women and non-binary-led startups in Atlantic Canada. We believe every entrepreneur should have access to the community, knowledge, and resources they need to succeed.
Program goals
Real-life strategy to reach your goals.
By supporting women and non-binary founders, we can unlock tremendous potential and drive growth in the Atlantic Canada region and beyond.
Building a community: we know it takes a village to succeed. That’s why firestarter is building a strong community of entrepreneurs, mentors, industry experts, and supporters who believe in our mission. When a woman succeeds in building a viable venture, she uplifts her clients, family, community, and more.
Reducing the Gender Gap: our mission is to address the gender inequality in entrepreneurship. By providing tailored mentorship and comprehensive training, we enable women and non-binary founders to access the networks they need to grow and thrive. Less than 3% of venture capital funding reaches these innovators, and firestarter is here to change that.
- Investing in Change: achieving balance in the entrepreneurial landscape is healthy in many ways. firestarter is dedicated to bringing parity in entrepreneurship, paving the way for significant economic and social benefits.
Program delivery
We’re providing the tailored training and support programs women entrepreneurs need, free of cost. We consider the industry, stage of business, growth goals, and more to offer these customized programs. Upon completion, participants are eligible to receive a certificate of completion.
Applications are now close for this program.
Virtual Training
August – September 2024
Topics include: Lean startup methodology, pitch coaching, financial literacy, market analysis, product development and legal considerations.
Pitch at Elevate in Toronto
October 2024
The 10 most investment-ready ventures will be selected to attend the Elevate Festival in Toronto.
Beyond the program
Forge connections with top women tech talents in specific sectors, build your network and long-lasting relationships with other founders, investors and partners in the ecosystem.
Committed to Diversity
We are committed to empowering women from all backgrounds,
identities, and abilities. Our programs are designed to foster a
supportive community and address the unique challenges faced
by underrepresented founders.
Meet our Mentors
Participants will gain insights from experienced entrepreneurs and seasoned executives in residence.
Claudette McGowan
Claudette McGowan
Claudette McGowan is a global information technology leader with more than 20 years of success leading digital transformations, optimizing infrastructure and designing new approaches that improve service and cybersecurity experiences. She has worked in the technology industry for several organizations such as Deloitte, Metropolitan Police Services, North York General Hospital, Bank of Montreal, and TD Bank.
At BMO, Claudette served as the Chief Information Officer, Enterprise Technology Employee Experience, and at TD she was the Global Executive Officer for Protect Fusion & Cyber Experience.
Claudette is currently the Chief Executive Officer for Protexxa, a Canadian-based cybersecurity software and services company.
Claudette is an active member of the Canadian innovation ecosystem. She is the Founder of the Black Arts & Innovation Expo, and Chair of the Coalition of Innovation Leaders Against Racism (CILAR), a group of senior business leaders committed to creating platforms that break down systemic barriers within the innovation economy. McGowan recently co-led the launch of Phoenix Fire & The Firehood, a multi-million-dollar women-focused angel fund and network for women in technology.
Her commitment to community is evidenced by her multiple board seats for leading organizations such as Air Canada, MaRS Discovery District, SickKids Hospital Foundation, Black North, CILAR, Elevate Technology Festival, University of New Brunswick Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity, and the U.S. Consul General of Toronto U.S.-Canada Innovation Council. Claudette holds a BA from Lakehead University, MBA from Athabasca University, Hon Doctor of Laws from Carleton University, and is currently in the Computer Science PhD program at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Bethany Deshpande
Danielle Graham
Danielle Graham
Danielle Graham is General Partner of Phoenix Fire and Co-Founder of The Firehood, an angel stage fund and network focused on women in technology. She created Fierce Founders Programs — the first women-focused accelerator and bootcamp series in Canada. Previously, she managed Ontario Centres of Innovation’s Market Readiness Fund, Principal at Sandpiper Ventures and Dream Maker Ventures and Consulting at Deloitte. Danielle supports underrepresented founders looking to scale their tech businesses as a member of the angel community network, investment officer and advisor to tech incubators. Masters of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from Wilfrid Laurier University, a Masters of Arts (M.A.) from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Trinity College, University of Toronto.
Miranda lievers
Gaby Fisch
Gaby Fisch
Gaby Fisch is a coach, advisor and facilitator specializing in leadership development, culture, and organizational development. She is a curious lifelong learner, completing her BA in Cultural Anthropology, followed by her MBA, coaching certification and a consistent stream of professional development courses and self-study.
Gaby brings over 19 years of broad experience in HR, coaching, and facilitation gained through a unique combination of corporate, non-profit and tech start-up experience.
Gaby spent over nine years at CIBC and over five years with the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, in a variety of HR leadership and Talent Development roles. Some of Gaby’s most recent roles include: Chief People Officer at Inkblot Therapy, Internal Leadership Coach at Deep Genomics, Sr. Director, Talent Development at Flybits, and Execu=ve-in-Residence at the Brampton Venture Zone. Gaby is a keen advocate for building deliberately developmental organizations, and loves documentaries, podcasts and nature-based travel.
Sarah Stockdale
Sarah Stockdale
Sarah Stockdale is the Founder of Growclass, an award-winning Growth Marketing Certification and community of Founders and Marketers. Prior to founding Growclass Sarah led growth teams for Tilt (acq by Airbnb) and Wave (acq by H&R Block. Sarah is also the Host of The Growth Effect, a Globe and Mail podcast, and the Author of the popular millennial newsletter We Need To Talk About This.
Dejana Dua
Jeanette Renshaw
Jeanette Renshaw
Jeanette is a Partner and the Head of Startup Growth at GrowthX, a pre-Series A venture capital fund that helps and invests in rising city founders. She specializes in helping early-stage companies prepare and operationalize their sales and go-to-market strategies. Her background includes experience working with hundreds of startups around the world and across a diverse array of industries.
She’s been coaching companies through The Revenue Accelerator program since its inception.
Before joining the GrowthX team, Jeanette built the sales technology stack and lead generation playbook for multiple early-stage companies through her consulting practice. She has extensive experience developing and executing go-to-market strategies at the early product stage across various industries and products.
When she’s not working with founders, Jeanette regularly teaches spin classes in her hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana and is obsessed with mixed martial arts.
Helen Kontozopoulos
Helen Kontozopoulos
Helen co-founded ODAIA in 2018, an AI-powered commercial insights SaaS platform for Pharma companies. Our mission is to reduce patients’ time to therapy by facilitating meaningful interactions with healthcare providers, through human-centric software powered by AI.
As Chief Technical Evangelist, Helen brings her understanding of artificial intelligence, customer analytics and digital transformation to drive ODAIA’s thought leadership efforts, ultimately helping pharma teams adopt AI in their work and leverage data science and AI to achieve a competitive advantage.
Helen is the host of the ‘Making Impact’ podcast, where she talks to life sciences leaders and how their work impacts our lives with technology.
She has been teaching product development, design, and entrepreneurship for 9 years at the University of Toronto in the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences.
Helen co-founded UofT’s Department of Computer Science Innovation Lab (DCSIL), an incubator that supports students and faculty to commercialize their innovations in emerging technologies, especially in AI.
Leah Skerry
Roshni Wijayasinha
Roshni Wijayasinha
Roshni Wijayasinha is a seasoned marketer with over 17 years of marketing experience, bringing brands, products and companies to market across a variety of industries. Having built her career on the agency side, she’s worked at leading global tech giants such as Microsoft and Sony, before falling in love with startups. Having helped both Thinking Capital and Benecaid exit, building their digital marketing infrastructure as their VP of Marketing, Roshni then decided to start her own marketing consulting practice, Prosh Marketing, where her and 75+ Fractional CMOs help growing businesses with part-time marketing leadership. Roshni is also an expert in residence at a variety of incubators and accelerators, writes for the Forbes Communications Council, and is an angel investor.
Layla Freig
Stevie Trim
Temi Odesanya
Temi Odesanya
Temi imparts her knowledge of Machine Learning and Responsible AI as an educator through her teaching engagements at several Canadian Post-graduate institutions and corporate institutions such as Durham College, Conestoga College, Concordia University etc. Her commitment to education extends beyond the classroom as she regularly shares her insights on global stages, including The Globe and Mail, Evanta—a Gartner Company, AI & Big Data Expo, Corinium Intelligence, Ivey Business School, Black Professionals in Tech etc. Temi’s comprehensive approach to integrating technology, education, and personal development cements her status as a dynamic leader and influential voice in both the corporate and academic realms.
Kara Leblanc
Daniela Pico
Contact Information
For more information about the program delivery please contact:
- Danielle Graham – The Firehood: danielle@firehood.net
- Vanessa Paesani – PDC: vanessa.paesani@unb.ca
About The Firehood
The Firehood is a movement focused on increasing the participation, leadership and prosperity of women in technology.