The Dragon Ladies are Coming

When I titled this post I thought a great deal about what the two women it is about have in common. Oh, there are differences – one is American, and one is Canadian. One is a marketing and communications professional, and one is known for food, arts, and crafts (and no less a marketing genius than the other). Both, though, have garnered television fame. Both have become household names across this country, and beyond. Both have written books. Both are incredibly powerful and influential women. Both are dragons, I think, one on a show with that word in the name and the other a dragon in her industry. And both are coming right here, to Fort McMurray.

The women in question? Arlene Dickinson, of Dragon’s Den fame (but perhaps more importantly famous in her chosen profession) and Martha Stewart, known from television and achievement in her industry. And both are coming here in 2013 as part of the Northern Insights Speaker Series.

I was at the press conferences announcing the visits from both these women. I was beyond delighted, because I am a fan of both. I love Dickinson’s style, both professional and personal, and I love her success in the Canadian marketing industry. I love Stewart’s ambition and tenacity, and her ability to meet any challenge. Even more than that I love what these two women have accomplished – because I have a thirteen year old daughter.

I think it is tremendously important to be able to show my daughter women who are strong, intelligent, ambitious, and successful. She and I have watched Dragon’s Den for years, admiring both Dickinson’s business acumen and her fashion sense. She and I have enjoyed Stewart’s sense of home style. She and I have both most enjoyed watching two women do well, because role models matter.

In this world of Lindsay Lohans and other celebs-gone-bad it is so important to be able to share with my daughter women who are able to use their skills, talent, and ambition to succeed. That isn’t to say that these individuals have not faced challenges or made mistakes – but rather that they have met those challenges and learned from those mistakes, using them to continue to build their success. They have encountered challenges and roadblocks just as we all do – but what matters is how they have dealt with them, and how they have continued to succeed.

I think it is absolutely remarkable what the Northern Insights series, through the Fort McMurray Public Library, is bringing to this community. We have already been visited by renowned intellect Malcolm Gladwell, and iconic entertainer Bill Cosby. These two visits were remarkable in that not only did we learn from them but we shared with them the narrative of this community. I suspect both now have a new perspective on Fort McMurray, and I think this is tremendously exciting for this community. The upcoming visits from Arlene Dickinson and Martha Stewart have this same potential, the possibility of learning from them while they learn about us. It is a chance to have an exchange of information of a powerful kind.

For me personally though, this is a remarkable opportunity for my daughter, the Intrepid Junior Blogger. This is a chance for her to see two women who have done well, succeeded in the wildest possible way, and who are the kinds of role models I would like to see my daughter follow. These two women are not perfect, but it is perhaps their imperfections and how they deal with them that is the most inspiring, because none of us are perfect or without flaws. Both have encountered failures and challenges, and both have risen above in a manner worth emulating.

I am very excited to see these next two speakers in the Northern Insights Speaker Series. I know that after each visit my daughter and I will have a great deal to discuss, and that it will open doors and windows in both our minds as we explore our own ambitions and potential. And that, as someone is well known to say, is a good thing!

 

Tickets to see

Arlene Dickinson

on September 4

go on sale July 24

and

tickets to see

Martha Stewart

on December 4

go on sale October 23.

 

These are two dragons

you don't want to miss!