Fredericton Program Helps Immigrant Women Build Networks To Find Jobs, Build Businesses
FREDERICTON — May Shehata moved from Qatar to Canada last March to build a life here and have a future home for her children. But like many women coming to New Brunswick meant leaving behind a vast network of friends, family, and colleagues.
“I wanted a starting push,” said Shehata, who started applying for jobs as soon as she arrived. “Where to go, who to speak to, what to do in case you want to have a career here or a business.”
Shehata’s starting push came in the form of Finding Your Path, an economic empowerment program that aims to do just that.
May is one of the 13 women who graduated this June from the eight-week pilot program led by Ignite Fredericton. Held twice a week through Zoom, each week students would focus on a different topic led by an expert in the field. Subjects ranged from building confidence and self-esteem to time management, networking, leadership, and communication.
“Sometimes women limit their potential,” said Doyin Somorin, project coordinator. “Especially when they feel they always have to take care of the homefront and they tend to neglect or ignore the fact they need to do things for themselves.”
Somorin said that often when moving to a new country, many women are so busy setting up their kids in school or finding a place to live that at the end of the day their own career is overlooked.
“The goal of the program is to fill the gap that immigrant women encounter when they find themselves in a new environment,” said Somorin. “We want them to remain in our beautiful city… we don’t want them to feel alone.”
The program is open to any women regardless of their status, whether they are permanent residents, international students, or a temporary foreign worker.
Over 50 women applied to the class. Because of the strength of applicants, 13 were accepted instead of the intended eight. Many of the students are highly educated with graduate degrees and come from fields like communications.
Anat Ziv has a Ph.D. in Sociology and moved to Canada from Israel two and a half years ago.
“After each session, I just signed into my LinkedIn and enhanced my network,” said Ziv. “After you have those connections you feel more like part of the community.”
A week before graduation the students got together to share food at a potluck. There they got to catch up on the small talk they missed because of online learning.
“The networking really helped me to reach the right person to guide me in developing my career professionally and academically,” said graduate Ola Musallam, who moved from Palestine a year ago and has a background in psychology and mental health.
“After one of the sessions I had a quick chat with Doyin and she started to ask me about my education background and my experience and my plans,” said Musallam. “She recommended that I reach out to someone who was one of the facilitators in the program.”
Having the confidence to reach out to people professionally is one of the ways the graduates are putting what they have learned into practice. About halfway through the program, Shehata landed a job as an executive assistant. She said that the class gave her a better idea of what the work environment is like in Canada and how initiating business starts here.
“Having these women to support you whenever you need is very good,” said Shehata. “They are very nice, very helpful, and very willing to communicate with you.”
Classes were taught by Fredericton’s Chamber of Commerce CEO Krista Ross, Tanya Chapman CEO of The Chapman Group, Michelle Alcorn, founder of R & R Solution and CEO of Atlantic Canada Language Academy, Shauna Cole, founder of Career interrupted and Esther Hephzibah, the CEO of Shine Transformation Solutions.
“With this program actually I felt more comfortable staying here,” said Shehata. “I was mostly considering going back, but now I have direction. I have people to go back to if I need anything.”
The economic empowerment program is one of the activities of the Immigration Fredericton strategy. Key stakeholders include The Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, the Multicultural Association of Fredericton, and the City of Fredericton.
Somorin will continue as project coordinator for another session in the winter that already has applicants on the waitlist. She hopes to involve the graduates in future programs as well.
“The program is open to all women that are willing to learn,” said Somorin. “They are willing to be connected to the community, they want to network, they want to learn leadership skills, they want to build up their confidence level, they want to build up their self-esteem, time management skills.”
To read more stories like this in Huddle, sign up to receive our free daily newsletter.
Rachel Smith is a summer intern for Huddle. Send her story suggestions: [email protected].