NEWS RELEASE
COUNTY OF SIMCOE
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Join us on May 26 between 2:30 and 4 p.m. to get advice and guidance on how businesses can break down prejudice, promote unity, and foster compassion in our communities.
Experts Monica Henao and Jonas Stark from Get REAL will provide insights on ways that leaders can combat 2SLGBTQ+ discrimination, racism, and bullying.
Through this virtual Ask an Expert session, participants will gain:
- Increased knowledge of 2SLGBTQ+ identities, terminology, and language to help avoid costly PR missteps externally with clients, customers, and partners
- Practical steps and creative ideas on how to improve company culture internally to increase staff retention and performance
- A chance to work through realistic and customized workplace scenarios
- The opportunity to ask questions anonymously and get advice from two highly experienced Get REAL speakers, including a transgender speaker
This is a free event, but registration is required. To register, visit https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/ask-an-expert-corporate-inclusivity-tickets-336571834417.
About the speakers
Monica Henao is Get REAL's content manager and lead speaker. She is a media communications graduate from the University of Guelph-Humber and has brought her multifaceted experience to Get REAL. Born in Colombia, and raised in Canada, Monica embraces all parts of her identity and wants youth to do the same. Her passion for human beings — hearing their stories, their experiences, their struggles, and their triumphs — gives her the drive to continue to create and amplify content that highlights the voices we don’t hear every day.
Jonas Stark (he/him) has been a Get REAL speaker since his graduating year of high school. Inspired by seeing a Get REAL workshop when he was a student himself, Jonas joined Get REAL as its youngest facilitator. His work ethic, skill as a public speaker and ability to relate to audiences across Canada has led to him being a leader within the organization, speaking to tens of thousands of youth in B.C., Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia over the years. Born and raised in Toronto, Jonas is passionate about mental and physical health within the trans community, and overall, young queer folks as a whole.
As a trans man, Jonas is passionate about being a speaker because he believes that everyone deserves to feel valid and accepted, no matter how they express themselves. Passionate about systemic inequalities, Jonas is working to complete his undergraduate degree in politics and public policy.
About Get REAL
Get REAL began as a small student project in 2011, at Western University. As O-Week volunteer leaders, we saw excellent results combating homophobic, transphobic, and racist language and attitudes one-to-one with our first-year students: countless students changing their language within a matter of days, and countless others coming out to us and telling us they felt comfortable being themselves. We wanted to see if our approach — friendly, honest, diverse, and personal-story driven — could be translated into a workshop for some of our old high schools, and the idea for Get REAL was born.
About the Ask an Expert series
This session is part of the Ask an Expert series presented in partnership with the County of Simcoe, the Small Business Centre of Barrie, Simcoe County and Orillia, South Georgian Bay Small Business Enterprise Centre, Orillia Area Community Development Corporation, Nottawasaga Futures, North Simcoe Community Futures Development Corporation, Community Futures South Georgian Bay, Sandbox Centre and Henry Bernick Entrepreneurship Centre — Georgian College.
To view recordings of past sessions, please visit www.simcoe.ca/askanexpert.
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