BCBusiness

May 2021 - Women of the Year

With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.

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MAY 2021 BCBUSINESS 23 W I N N E R STEPHANIE HOLLINGSHEAD C E O , H R T E C H G R O U P STEPHANIE HOLLINGSHEAD was a few weeks into her job as chief executive of Vancou- ver's HR Tech Group when she heard about the province's call for proposals for the Diversity and Inclusion Tech Project. "I was so new in the role, I didn't have the connections or the knowledge to know how to put the proposal together," she recalls. "I didn't even have any business cards at the time." But Hollingshead, an Okanagan native who has worked in HR since graduating from UBC with a commerce degree in the 1990s, was adamant that HR Tech Group should get involved. "We had previously done some provin- cially funded research work on diversity and inclusion, and had recommended calls to action in that report," she says. "And I'm a change maker, so I thought, OK, an implementa- tion project to drive change in the sector, that's in my wheelhouse." Hollingshead leveraged $1.3 million in funding to embark on a variety of proj- ects, including the Diversity and Inclusion Hub, a library of hundreds of equity, diversity and inclusion resources, and diversity and inclusion leader- ship programs that routinely sold out within 24 hours. So far, she and her team of three—the company also uses a handful of contractors—have provided almost 200 B.C. tech sector leaders with intensive D&I leadership training. The project was supposed to end after two years, but Hollingshead signed an exten- sion this March that will result in more funding. "I'm having a lot of fun with it because R U N N E R - U P NATASHA JUNG C O - F O U N D E R + E X E C U T I V E P R O D U C E R , C O L D T E A C O L L E C T I V E WHEN NATASHA JUNG picks up the phone, she warns me that she's starting to get contractions. "I'm trying to go about my day as normal as possible," she says, without a hint of stress in her voice. "You don't know when the heavy hitters will start." For Jung, it somehow seems like just another day juggling responsibilities. The Richmond native had built a career in marketing when, in 2016, a gig as a host with the Vancouver Asian Film Festival sparked her interest–and an idea. "I had a very eye-opening experience where I really felt seen, heard and understood for the first time by watching these short films," she says. "And it kind of inspired me to tell my own story and invite others to tell theirs as well in other mediums." So Jung and a few friends launched online publication Cold Tea Collective with a mandate to tell stories for, by and about Asian millennials. The site, which takes submissions from contrib- utors across North America, participates in campaigns like last year's partnership with Dove and U.S. media and entertainment outlet Refinery29, focused on highlighting Asian Canadian women and their experiences with self-esteem and body confidence. In addition to Cold Tea, Jung works in communications for Vancouver-based food delivery service Fresh Prep (though she recently took maternity leave) and sits on the advisory com- mittee of the Vancouver Board of Trade's Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council. "I've always been about building community and storytelling in some way, shape or form," she says. "On a lot of these lists, you see people who are experts working in their industry for decades. But I think for me personally and for many millennials, the reality is that you end up in a lot of different roles throughout your career." we've made connections not just within the tech sector but beyond, with so many organizations that are support- ing diversity and inclusion in different ways," she notes. "And not just our projects, but in supporting other orga- nizations' projects. It's really inspiring to see the amount of collaboration toward diversify- ing the sector." The role and the work are something of a full-circle story for Hollingshead, who became a member of HR Tech Group earlier in her career. The company has grown from eight members in 1992 to some 500 today, representing more than 160 Western Canadian firms. "It's been so near and dear to my heart, so valuable as an HR leader in the tech sector," Hollingshead says. "I think of the organization as a lifeboat— for many years, it was that for me as an HR person." —N.C. COMMUNIT Y BUILDER TOP RIGHT: LINDSAY WU

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