Lauren Bacon / Raised Eyebrow Web Studio

Lauren Bacon is the co-author (with her business partner Emira Mears) of The Boss of You: Everything A Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business, a guidebook that combines practical advice, real-life wisdom from successful entrepreneurs, and a fun, creative approach. Bust magazine describes as "like chatting with a knowledgeable friend over afternoon tea." A veteran web designer, Lauren co-founded Raised Eyebrow Web Studio, Inc. with Emira Mears, her co-author and all-around right-hand woman. The two have been in business together for nine years, and during that time have developed a reputation for helping clients in the nonprofit, government and progressive business sectors use online tools more effectively. Lauren started her design career during the web's infancy; more than a dozen years later, she remains passionate about facilitating online communication and helping people connect heart-to-heart through technology. Lauren and Emira are advocates of values-based business and of sustainable growth. She now co-authors a blog on women and business at www.laurenandemira.com.

Sarah Bancroft / Co-Founder & Editor in Chief VitaminDaily

Sarah is one of Western Canada's foremost trend experts on matters of style and shopping. She has appeared on TV programs such as "Canada's Next Top Model," "Fashion File" and Britain's "Big Boutique," MCs high profile fashion events and writes features for Canada's National Post. She holds a Masters Degree in Political Science from UBC and worked in Paris, New York and L.A. as a fashion buyer for the national chain Aritzia, managing seasonal budgets in excess of $10 million. Though she loved the clothing allowance, she left to pursue a career in journalism, first as Associate Editor at Vancouver magazine, then for six years as the Western Editor of FASHION Magazine. She is fluent in English and French and all matters sartorial.Vitamindaily.com

Judy Brooks / Blo Blow Dry Bar

It was 2006, and Judy Brooks was in her 4th year of building out ProActive ReSolutions a company that works with organizations to build respectful workplaces. ProActive had opened offices in Vancouver, Sydney (Australia) and Edmonton and was at the height of developing the team, when a shiraz-fueled conversation between Judy and her daughter, Devon, posed a very vital question: "Why the heck can't women get a great, affordable blow out in this city!?" The first Blo Blow Dry Bar location was born June 6th, 2007. The concept was simple: no cuts, no color--just wash-blow-go. Blo opened three locations in under a year, including one in the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver. Since opening, Blo has received over 100 franchise requests from around the world and had over 85 editorial features. Being first to market in the category of Blow Dry Bar has had its advantages. Blo's cheeky brand has been aggressively built. Blo has a big vision and Judy is working with the young team to capitalize on the success with a well-developed growth strategy. Blo recently merger with Melonhead, Canada's biggest kids cutting stores, to form Head Company Inc, a company Building Brands with Brains. In the last 6 years Judy has sold a company she founded 15 years ago, launched two new ones, and has had the pleasure of working with a number of small businesses as an advisor.

Mary Charleson / Charleson Communications & Author of Five Minute Marketing

Mary Charleson is the President of Charleson Communications, a consulting company established in 1991 specializing in marketing research, strategy and advertising development. She holds an MBA in marketing, teaches at City University of Seattle, the University of Phoenix and Sprott- Shaw Degree College. Since 2002 she has written a monthly marketing column for Business in Vancouver. Her writing has also appeared in Marketing Magazine, Marketline, and the Toronto Star. Charleson Communications has had the pleasure of working with many businesses and associations such as: ActNow BC, Adoptive Families of BC, Book Warehouse, BCAMA, Burnaby Board of Trade, Canadian Dermatology Association, Canwest Media & LMPG, Canadian Women in Communication, Federated Press, Finning Canada, Landell & Associates, North Vancouver Recreation, North Vancouver School District, TBWA Vancouver, Touchstone Theatre, Vancity, The Cultch, Vancouver Playhouse, Vancouver Parks and Recreation, 7-Eleven Canada and Zlotnik Wealth Management. Mary is a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers. She is a frequent conference speaker and workshop leader and has been quoted numerous times by print and TV media for her opinions on corporate social responsibility and marketing to women. Her book Five Minute Marketing will be published in Spring 2009. Visit her blog at: fiveminutemarketing.com

Deborah Collins / Partner, Soya Marketing

Deborah is co-founder of Soya Marketing (aka Sit on Your Ass Marketing). She has applied her social media wizardry to create a Facebook strategy for Opus Hotel Group, to launch a hot Montreal restaurant and to manage sticky issues for companies dealing with controversy. She has guest lectured at Simon Fraser University and the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Deborah's marketing background includes more than a decade at some of Canada's leading agencies including National PR and RMG Connect. She's worked on big-name accounts such as Molson, Telus, Vancouver General Hospital and VanCity. She was also a marketing manager for Biolytical Laboratories, a BC-based company that produces a rapid HIV test.

Laurel Douglas / Women's Enterprise Centre

Laurel Douglas is the CEO of Womens Enterprise Centre, the go-to place for women in BC who are starting, purchasing or growing their business. From its offices in Kelowna, Vancouver and Victoria, Women s Enterprise Centre provides business loans, training, mentoring programs, business advice and resources to women business owners across BC. Passionate about empowering women to their business success, Laurel's career spans 25 years and four countries. Her international work experience includes eight years in the telecom and investment banking industries in France, Germany and the UK, with Alcatel, Nortel and J.P. Morgan. Since moving to BC in 1994, she has been active in several economic development roles, as the Executive Director of the Okanogan Science & Technology Council (OSTEC), working with the National Research Council and, since 2004, as CEO of Women's Enterprise Centre. Laurel received an MBA from INSEAD in France (1987), a BBA from Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo (1983) and a Diploma in Community Economic Development from Simon Fraser University (1995). Laurel has been on the board of the Economic Development Commission of the Central Okanagan since 2003, and currently sits on its executive. Laurel is fluent in French and German. She has two young children, and enjoys hiking and yoga in her spare time.  

Jill Earthy / MomCafÉ

Jill's passion is connecting women, something she has done informally for as long as she can remember. While recently on maternity leave with her second daughter, Jill recognized a common theme in many of the conversations she was having with other moms. Many of these professional women who now have young kids were feeling a lack of adult social interaction. Jill wanted to find a way to bring these women together in an encouraging environment. A café like setting seemed ideal to stimulate conversation and to encourage new ideas. She launched MomCafé to create events that would foster new connections and supportive friendships, in the hopes that women will link up to start new businesses, share childcare, enjoy an interesting conversation and so much more. The possibilities are endless. Jill is an entrepreneur with an MBA and is Executive Director of a successful non-profit organization supporting female entrepreneurs all over British Columbia. Jill lives in Vancouver with her husband and two young daughters.

Stephen Jagger / Reachd

Stephen Jagger is an entrepreneur that has been starting businesses since high school. He is currently involved in 2 companies. Combustion Labs Media Inc, which operates as Ubertor.com, is a real estate software company that provides websites and online marketing tools to thousands of real estate agents across North America. His other business, Reachd.com is a training company that focuses on marketing professionals and businesses that are interested in learning more about search engine optimization, blogging, online video, Google Adwords and social media. He is very active in the community as a member of the Vancouver Board of Trade Communication Committee, the Vancouver College Alumni Association, a volunteer with Kids Help Phone, the founding member of the largest real estate agent meetup in North America and a mentor for the Leaders of Tomorrow program. Follow Steve on Facebook and Twitter.

Lorna Ketler and Barb Wilkins / Bodacious

Cousins Barb and Lorna were sick and tired of not finding the kind of store and fashion that celebrated their fabulous curvaceous bodies, so, they created one for themselves. Be inspired and "Celebrate Your Curves" with these Bodacious women. They've been in business since 2000 and have watched their business grow from a small store selling pre-owned items (mostly from their own closets!) to today's Bodacious Lifestyles Inc. boutique, featuring their own in-house brand of fun, funky and sexy styles! Their Bodacious line honours their belief in well-fitting, sexy and flattering designs. These ladies believe strongly in having fun, providing great service and supporting and promoting positive body awareness! Hear their story of how they jumped into the unknown to follow their dream.

Danielle LaPorte / White Hot Truth

Danielle LaPorte is the founder of White Hot Truth, the lead author of the bestseller, Style Statement: Live By Your Own Design, and the co-founder of Carrie and Danielle. A former think tank exec, she helps social entrepreneurs rock their careers and creativity with her signature Fire Starter Sessions. Danielle has been featured in Elle, The Huffington Post, Vogue Australia, The National Post and Domino. You can reach her at d [at] daniellelaporte.com

Nancy Mudford / Le Petit Spa

Le Petit Spa is a lifelong dream come true for Nancy Mudford. Living in Montreal before moving to British Columbia in 1990, Nancy brings her insight, energy and creativity to Kitsilano/Point Grey's French-inspired day spa. Relax and rejuvenate in beautiful, tranquil surroundings. Le Petit Spa delivers an intimate, personal and beneficial experience for customers in need of pampering or just regular maintenance.

Sarah Murray / The Honey Mustard

Sarah Murray is the style director for The Honey Mustard. While designers create fashion, and boutiques make sales, The Honey Mustard works on all the elements required to make brands recognizable to the media ad public. She is also the founder of Fashion High, a not-for-profit association of fashion industry professionals who are working to educate the public about Vancouver's local fashion industry and sustainable fashion.

Lindsay Perkin Wassell / SEOmoz

Lindsay began her Internet Marketing and SEO career in 2001 with Robeez Footwear Ltd where she transformed a mediocre web property into a high performing global ecommerce operation. Despite widespread apprehension, it turns out that the market was ready to buy baby shoes online not only in North America but in Europe and Australasia. Sales soared 900% in 18 months.

After a year of backpacking and odd jobs in Australia and Asia, Lindsay returned to Canada where she rejoined the Internet Marketing space with Hcareers (onTargetjobs), a job board company with multiple web properties. The job eventually brought her to Denver, Colorado where she assumed the role of Director, Search Marketing & Analytics. Lindsay gleefully joined SEOmoz in January 2009, where she now manages the SEO Consulting team, helping companies from the Fortune 500s to niche players succeed on the web.

Mhairi Petrovic / Out-Smarts Marketing Company

Mhairi (pronounced va-ri)- is the President and Founder of Out-Smarts Marketing Company (www.out-smarts.com), an organisation dedicated to working with small to medium sized businesses to develop and implement marketing strategies that maximise on-line exposure through Internet, Social Media and Email marketing. Since graduating with Honours in Commerce in 1990, Mhairi has developed and in depth knowledge of sales and marketing functions through her employment on both sides of the Atlantic with some of the best known companies in the world including Coca Cola, Unisys and MicroStrategy. Prior to founding Out-Smarts in 2002 Mhairi focused on software and Internet technologies in various sales and marketing roles for nearly a decade, often working with Fortune 500 clients such as Nike and the Bank of Montreal, and establishing remote offices in virgin territories. She achieved a number of awards for exceeding targeted expectations. Passionate about social media and Internet marketing, Mhairi blogs and podcasts regularly and puts her knowledge of the Internet and social media to good use to network, grow her business and to educate and share her knowledge with others through her frequent speaking engagements.

Alexandra Samuel / Social Signal

Alexandra Samuel is the CEO of Social Signal, a Vancouver-based social media agency. Alex has guided the online strategy for some of the web's most ambitious social media projects, including BC Hydro's Facebook Green Gifts, Vancity's Change Everything, and Techsoup's NetSquared. Alexandra holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University, where her dissertation examined the motivations for online participation.

Jacqueline Voci / Partner, Soya Marketing

Jacqueline is co-founder of Soya Marketing (aka Sit on Your Ass Marketing), a new kind of PR agency that empowers businesses to use Google, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to get their stories to the market. Soya has been featured in Business in Vancouver and the Vancouver Province. Jacqueline has applied her web storytelling skills to help Blast Radius market to Fortune 500 executives and to help The Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education promote an education revolution. Prior to Soya, Jacqueline was a marketing director at Intrawest, a communications director at Pivotal (during the height of the dotcom boom), and a PR consultant at National PR.