"Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women." ~ Maya Angelou Today around the world, women are standing up for each other in celebration of International Women's Day. And pushing for Gender Parity. We've just wrapped up the first half of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, and as we get ready to bring the world together for the 2018 Paralympics on March 9th, I thought it would be interesting to celebrate achievements of women in the Olympics, past and present.

“We dedicate this award to Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, our fearless whistleblower who now lives in great danger. We hope ‘Icarus’ is a wake-up call — yes, about Russia, but more than that, about the importance of telling the truth, now more than ever.” ~ Director Bryan Fogel, acceptance speech, Icarus, feature documentary

Those distant days of looking up from your personal work area to greet your co-worker, ask about their weekend, or rumble about last night's hockey game, are are just that, distant. Don't let your eyes wander for just a moment, because by doing so your hand shifts slightly to the left where it isn't supposed to be. Thus triggering ringing bells and vibrating technology, blinking and flashing lights... and everyone looking right at you! Your employer knows that precious nano seconds were just wasted because you quickly brushed a bit of hair from your eye.

Pink Shirt Day is celebrated on various dates around the world. Today, February 28, we're celebrating it in Canada. How did it start? Some highschool kids in Nova Scotia, Canada witnessed a Grade 9 boy being bullied for wearing pink to school. Thee highschool kids took a stand against the bullying. They protested by distributing pink t-shirts to all the boys in their school. Today, many employees are wearing pink to protest bullying in the workplace too.

"See something, say something" is all fine and good, but it's meaningless if law enforcement doesn't "do something." That's just one of the many reactions being expressed after the mass shooting in Florida on Wednesday, February 14th. When a tip, anonymous or not, gets overlooked, tragic events may occur. And in this case, the worst case scenario happened.

Let the games begin! You don't need to speak a certain language to understand sport. It's something shared by all, no matter where someone is in the world. The Olympics is a great example of how sport can bring the world together. If you're like me, you're excited to watch your country compete in the Olympics in PyeongChang. But where there's sport, there's likely unethical behaviour. And with doping scandals being front and center surrounding many athletes at the moment, the world will certainly be watching what happens during this year's Olympic Games. Now there's a place to report on any unethical behaviour. There is a hotline for that!