Hanan Chebib has worked across corporate events and tech industries, always looking for the next project she could tackle and complete, which she quips as always on the lookout for her next “mechanical, fire breathing Octopus” - a callback to an impossible project she took on. We had an enlightening conversation about the attrition rate of women in the tech-industry, how role-models are significant to stimulate growth, and how mentors play a role in guiding an industry. Hanan now works at Chic Geek, a Calgary-based non-profit building a welcoming, supportive community for women in tech.

For the transcription of this episode please visit: https://www.rainforestab.ca/yyc-blog/podcast-episode-156-transcription

Thank you for listening to the Leaders, Innovators and Big Ideas podcast, supported by Rainforest Alberta. The podcast that highlights those people who are contributing to and/or supporting the innovation ecosystem in Alberta.

Host: Adam Casole-Buchanan is the Director of Partnerships at Briefbid, a free media planner that helps marketers make smart media investments. He writes poetry in his spare time, and he's huge fan of logic puzzles.

Guest: Hanan Chebib has had the honour of working across multiple industries in her career but in every case, she enjoyed being in the heart of figuring out "how" with strong, insightful people. Through her work, Hanan led brave and innovative change by bringing together unique perspectives and expertise. She provided a thoughtful, open, collaborative environment to solve new challenges. Hanan is currently Program Specialist at Chic Geek.

Some of Hanan's most recent achievements include: 
• Artistic Producer for a series of dance films at the Alberta Ballet available online for a digital audiences during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

• As the Head of Innovation at the Alberta Ballet, Hanan led a team of production crew, an architect/designer, a metal fabricator and multiple industry leaders, in the development of a new product that addressed the waste, storage and transport of large-scale set pieces, called the Set Assembly Kit. 

• As a key part of a lean and highly productive team at Beakerhead, Hanan was the Director of Creative Experiences building spectacles of art, science and engineering for the streets of Calgary every September. Over four seasons, she had the pleasure of working with artists, scientists, inventors, and community builders to bring one-of-a-kind experiences to delight and inspire Calgarians.

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Show Quotes:

"A lot of the research that we have done shows that 2x more women are leaving tech than men - and that's primarily women in their mid-career." "I recognize how important it is to have people advocating for you, and who want to see you succeed, be part of your professional life" "If we know that women don't see themselves in higher levels of the company - and if we can provide a mentor...that's a huge gain."

"I can imagine all of the steps that are needed and all of, maybe the resources that are needed in order to come to the end point. So whether that's a photography gig, a corporate event, you know, building out a festival. Plopping a fire-breathing mechanical octopus in the middle of Inglewood, you know, four or five days."

"So what I get to do right now within the team is sort of exploring what those programs look like and how do they operate online. And having really great, beautiful discussions with women in tech about the challenges that they're facing and the things that they want to see change as well as, like providing them with some really good services, you know, hoping that they'll stay within tech instead of leaving tech."

Credits...

This Episode Sponsored By: Assembly Coworking Space

Episode Music: Tony Del Degan

Creator & Producer: Al Del Degan