Women of Westman Conference focuses on future

The Women of Westman Conference had a sold-out crowd of more than 400 women who listened to several speakers discuss building confidence and overcoming obstacles in business.

The sixth annual event was hosted by the Brandon Chamber of Commerce at the Keystone Centre in Brandon on Wednesday.

The theme — Future in Focus: Women Shaping Tomorrow — centred around empowerment, connection and leadership.

“This year’s conference was really to empower and start those conversations about what women are capable of doing, what women are already doing when they’re in the room, and how to get them into those right rooms,” chamber president Jennifer Ludwig said Thursday.

The conference featured breakout sessions, a keynote speaker and a panel discussion.

Each presenter shared their personal story describing the success and hardship they faced to grow within the business industry, which helped attendees learn ways to achieve their short- and long-term goals, Ludwig said.

“We wanted it to appeal to women at every level of their career path,” she said.

“With the conversations that were happening, I do think that no matter where you are, whether just starting out, or you know, whether you’re years into your career, there were different pearls that you could take home and learn from.”

Ludwig said she resonated with Colleen Munro’s keynote speech — “Lessons from the Old Boys Club: A Girl’s Guide to Building a Better Business” — because it was about having confidence in a male-dominated profession.

Munro became the president and CEO of her family business, The Munro Group, after her father died in 2008.

The business consists of four companies: Hugh Munro Construction (a heavy civil construction firm), Fort Whyte Lowbedding (a specialty hauling company), Lilyfield Quarry (an aggregate resource supplier) and ClearSecure Distribution and Manufacturing (the distributor for RockGlass and RockScreen).

Munro said she has been on construction job sites since she was 12 years old and has experienced many challenges throughout her career, including being a woman leading a company, developing listening skills, adapting her approach and standing up to bullies.

Her speech focused on the lessons she learned from entering a male-dominated profession in a time where there weren’t any policies for sexual harassment and bullying, she said.

She spoke about how women can find positives in workplace challenges.

“As women, we’re still going to have doors shut on us. We’re still going to not be able to … have the opportunities, and I think that, you know, sometimes that makes us try harder,” Munro said.

The sold-out conference was encouraging and heartwarming to see because it provides a mentorship opportunity — something Munro said she didn’t have much of when she entered the industry.

“Women have incredible strength,” she said. “We’ve got such different skill sets, and I think it’s important to recognize … them as value and sometimes I think we give our power away, and we need to hold onto that power.”

Women and girls shouldn’t let limiting beliefs such as being told they don’t belong in industries like construction prevent them from chasing those career paths, Munro said.

“You might be the only one woman in the room, but they’re going to listen to you because, if nothing else, they’re curious,” she said.

Munro was the first woman to be appointed to the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association Board of Directors in 1996 and was the chairperson for the Western Canada Roadbuilders and Heavy Construction Association in 1998 and for the Manitoba Construction Sector Council in 2023.

Ludwig said she also resonated with other presentations such as Margaux Miller’s discussion about using AI as a small business owner and Tracey Maconachie’s session on building internal authority, which taught her about what it means to “take pause.”

“A lot of times, we are quick to jump to try and answer as quickly as possible because we feel if we don’t, then people lose confidence in us, but that’s not always the case,” Ludwig said.

The four breakout sessions included Brandon University president Christine Bovis-Cnossen; Tracy Baker, a certified financial planner with Cardinal Capital Management Inc.; Create Marketing founder Ashleigh Hamm; and strategist and business leader Archana Krishnan.

Ludwig said the conference is a way to bring women together for networking opportunities.

Next year’s event will be held on March 10.

» tadamski@brandonsun.com