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From Adversity to Acceleration: Turning STEM Expertise into Consulting Success
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Host Kailey Armstrong welcomes Jessica Vandenberghe, Assistant Dean of Community and Culture at the University of Victoria and Founder of Guiding Star Consulting, to YWAIT | Women Advancing Ideas Together. Kailey and Jessica discuss Jessica’s journey through STEM education, obtaining her Masters in Engineering, her First Nations heritage, and why she founded Guiding Star Consulting. Jessica highlights the need for female STEM role models for children and why diverse voices are key to fostering collective understanding and facilitating Truth and Reconciliation.
Jessica is First Nations from the Danita First Nation in Treaty Eight territory, and her background story includes a sense of self-motivation learned from her parents, and why she chose a STEM career over a more creative pursuit. She speaks about why diversity, equity, and inclusion are not simply about reducing barriers, but need to focus on building the supportive and safe environment needed for people to thrive. Jessica’s career journey was fundamental in leading her to establish Guiding Star Consulting. She shares with Kailey how she was shaped by her experiences and the STEM mentorship and parenting inspirations she now passes to her own children. The conversation is eye-opening and insightful, highlighting Jessica’s profound understanding of what is needed to foster greater DEI and support Truth and Reconciliation.
About Jessica Vandenberghe, P.Eng. FEC FGC (Hon) FCAE:
Jessica Vandenberghe, P.Eng., FEC, FCAE has worked in oilsands, infrastructure, mining, regulatory, and a variety of other industries. She has built her experience off the Bachelors and Masters Engineering degrees from the University of Alberta. Jessica has strength in project management, people leadership and business strategy with a compassionate, authentic approach and makes decisions through a risk-based lens.
As a mother and an Indigenous female engineer, she is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion along with Truth and Reconciliation. She serves on a variety of Boards and Councils and you can find her doing volunteer outreach work with students in her spare time along with co-hosting the Podcast called Unsettled: Journeys in Truth and Conciliation.
She is excited to be part of the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Victoria, serving as the Assistant Dean, Community and Culture.
Her consultancy firm, Guiding Star Consulting, serves Indigenous Communities and those who wish to contribute Reconciliation in a good way. She also delivers workshops, keynotes, strategies / business planning, environmental scans, and engagement on equity, diversity and inclusion. She brings her lived experience to work on governance, policy, development and facilitation of human centred learning, strategic and business planning and Reconciliation implementation to her clients.
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Contact Kailey Armstrong | YW Calgary:
Contact Jessica Vandenberghe | Guiding Star Consulting:
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