Fannie Smith | Natalie Wise | Ekaterina Ramirez | Liz Sauvé
Born in Quebec City, Fannie spent most of the early years of her life moving between la belle Province and the Coast. She returned to Vancouver in 1998 and now considers this her home.
After years of honing her program management skills with Canada’s leading luxury Travel Company, Entrée Destinations, Fannie found her true passion in Para Sports.
Fannie joined the Networking in Van team in August of 2011 and her love of social media, blogging and networking has grown ever since. She splits her time between her roles as High Performance Coordinator for the Disabled Skiers Association of BC , Event Coordinator at the BC Wheelchair Basketball Society , Mother, Volunteer and helping manage this site. She feels blessed every day to be spending her energy doing things that she truly believes in and she is so passionate about.
When she is not biting her nails watching a Canucks game Fannie can be found tweeting, baking, perusing the Farmers Market for fresh kale or attending networking events (with a preference for events that offer added benefits such as key note speakers; her favorites include “Sport Speak”, the Canadian sport Centre Pacific’s Speakers Series and events put on by Y.E.S Vancouver and Women in Leadership Foundation).
She believes that with perseverance, determination and confidence that any dream is possible and like many of the athletes she works with every day, she has her sights set on the world stage and hope to one day support athletes on their journey to the Olympics/Paralympics.
“It isn’t sufficient just to want – you’ve got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want.”-Franklin D. Roosevelt
Follow her on twitter @TheFanSmith Read her Blog Posts here or connect with her on Linkedin here
After having been in school for the past 6 years completing both an undergraduate arts degree at the University of Victoria as well as a Master’s in Sport Management at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, Natalie is now looking to continue her professional development while at the same time making an impact on the community. She loves the idea of forming reciprocal, collaborative relationships with others – open innovation is the new black!
At present, she works as a marketer for a Vancouver-based property management company and as a former member of the women’s national field hockey team spends most of her free time coaching as well as blogging, volunteering for sports organizations, training for marathons and playing the occasional round of golf.
“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” – Tennyson
Follow her on Twitter @Wisegazelle
With a desire to bring deep meaning to every moment of life Ekaterina Ramirez made a decision to leave a lucrative career in IT industry and follow the inner calling to research how to help people unlock their potential. As a result of this beautiful journey, Energy Match Transformation was born – a company recently called “yoga for business” that focuses on helping entrepreneurial women develop a winning mindset so they can be highly effective and productive in their business.
As an advocate for generous giving and abundant receiving, Ekaterina used to volunteer for Women Against Violence Against Women, Westcoast Family Resources Society, and The Salvation Army; genuinely loves the organizations like YWCA and Minerva; has been blessed to learn from many incredible mentors about networking, business development, leadership and communication.
Ekaterina’s favorite business networks are the organizations that focus on building relationships and supporting each other such as Forum For Women Entrepreneurs BC, Women In Leadership and Young Women In Business.
On Twitter she can be found as @Ekat_Ra.
After graduating with her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communications and Political Science from Simon Fraser University, Liz pursued her Certificate in Public Relations, where she was introduced to the Chief Connecter herself. Jen was a guest speaker in one of Liz’s classes, and fast forward a few months, Liz is now expanding her role with Networking In Van and considers herself a connector in training.
The positive affects of networking and reaching outside of one’s comfort zone are not lost on Liz, as her most recent opportunities have been created from such situations. Liz is currently working as a consultant for a communications, consultation and community engagement firm, and volunteers with the non-profit society Young Women in Business (YWiB).
Her favourite networking events connect like-minded professionals, enhancing their professional and personal growth, and even better if it supports a good cause. Having worked with children as a Lifeguard for seven years and having a four-legged companion in her rescue dog Karlee, if your event supports kids or animals, it likely has Liz’s support.
“That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”
-Abraham Lincoln
Follow Liz on twitter @lizsauve and read her blog posts here
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