Women Win Toronto is an organization dedicated to train and prepare women from diverse backgrounds to run winning campaigns in the 2018 municipal election. Toronto is the most diverse city in the world, but looking at our City Council, you wouldn’t know this. When we launched Women Win Toronto, out of 45 elected officials, there were only 6 Councillors who are racialized, only 1 of whom is a racialized woman. Less than a third were women. In order to build a fair and equitable city, we need political leaders that represent the diverse needs of all residents.
In May 2017, Women Win Toronto launched its first-ever training program for women of diverse backgrounds to run winning campaigns in the 2018 municipal election. This series of workshops and training sessions walks through many aspects of running of winning campaign, including crafting a narrative, building a campaign team, and leading fundraising initiatives, stakeholder engagement, media and communications, and data management, and health and well-being on the campaign trail.
Co-Founder & Program Director, Women Win Toronto
As a team of five core campaign experts, we:
Led all aspects of program design and development, communications and public engagement, including call for participants, volunteers, organizers to bring Women Win TO to life;
Developed full curriculum framework, including topics such as: Building an election campaign team; Developing relationships with key stakeholders; Fundraising and the art of “the ask”; E-day, data collection & door knocking; Crafting a communications strategy; and Taking care of yourself during the campaign. Read the curriculum overview here.
Recruited top-tier workshop facilitators, including former City Councillor and MP Olivia Chow, former MP Peggy Nash, campaign strategist and founder of Progress Toronto Michal Hay, TDSB Trustee Ausma Malik, former campaign manager and political staffer Ange Valentini. Read about our facilitators here.
Responsibilities:
Managed the design and development of all brand collaterals, including logo, website, key messaging, website copy, media and more; collaborated on social media strategy to recruit program participants and promote campaign achievements.
Led session on Political Communications, Design & Digital Strategy (with former candidates Jennifer Hollett and Li Koo), which included an overview of narrative and storytelling, writing and designing effective print literature, web design and digital strategy for voter mobilization, media relations and issues management
In the media:
Political boot camp for women celebrates its first electoral wins, The Toronto Star
Toronto Election 2018: Doug Ford’s court win plows huge hole through council diversity, NOW Magazine
Women make up only 30% of Toronto’s next council but advocates ‘encouraged’ by strong showings, CBC News
The monolithic face of Toronto politics may finally change, The Globe and Mail
Winning Women (podcast), Spacing Magazine
How to get more women onto City Council, CBC Metro Morning with Matt Galloway