The Space I Needed Didn’t Exist. So I Built It.

By TRACY BARRY
When I think about my journey, I don’t think about titles or milestones. I think about moments of uncertainty. Arriving in Canada was one of them.

I remember the feeling of starting over in a new environment. Learning how systems worked. Observing expectations that were never clearly explained. Trying to understand how opportunity was accessed and how credibility was established.

It wasn’t just about finding work. It was about finding direction.

What I Couldn’t Find

What stood out to me most during that time wasn’t just the challenge. It was the gap.

Beyond the Bumpenya:
The Real Work of Being Princess Sarah Culberson

By Jackelyn Gill
It was a childhood proverb in her adopted West Virginia family: “If part of our world is off balance, Sarah, it affects all of us.”

And things around Princess Sarah Culberson were off-balance in the Bumpe Chiefdom of Sierra Leone.

At 28, she learned she was the Mahaloi through her biological lineage. The granddaughter of the Paramount Chief. The Bumpenya, Lady of Bumpe.

A long night of joyful celebration followed her arrival in the village. It was “mind-boggling and overwhelming and shocking and beautiful.” And then her birth father, Joseph Konia Kposowa, Chief of the Mende Tribe, showed her the rest.

We All Have the Power to Be Our Authentic Selves

By Tanya Mushynski

When I was named one of WXN’s Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100, I felt an immediate sense of gratitude. I was honored to be part of a community of women who are not only advancing in their careers but lifting others as they do. I also paused to reflect on what brought me to this moment including the people who supported me along the way.

That reflection stayed with me as I joined the WXN Leadership Summit and Awards Gala. I remembered what Sherri Stevens said to all of us: Pause. Take this in. Reflect on what brought you here.

Rising Boldly Into a New Era

By Sonia Edmonds
A Quiet Realization

I didn’t expect the moment that changed me to be so quiet.

I was sitting in a conference audience when someone beside me leaned over and whispered, “There are no women leaders on this stage.”

It wasn’t dramatic. It wasn’t confrontational. It was simply true.

And in that instant, something shifted.