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Female Business Leader Speakers: 8 Canadian Women You Should Book (2026)
TL;DR
19.5% of all private sector businesses in Canada are women-owned as of first quarter of 2025 according to Statistics Canada. Female-led companies are outpacing the broader business population on innovation. This guide profiles 8 Canadian female business leader speakers available through Talent Bureau, with a breakdown of what each one brings to the stage and what kinds of events they’re best suited for.
The State of Women in Canadian Business
Statistics Canada’s Canadian Survey on Business Conditions tracked more than one million private sector businesses in Q3 2025, and found that 20.9% were majority-owned by women. That number has climbed steadily since 2017, when it sat at 15.6%. The growth hasn’t stalled. In 2024, the average across all businesses was 19%, and the most recent quarterly data has it above 21%.
The innovation gap is the figure that often surprises people in a room. Women-majority-owned businesses post an overall innovation rate of 38%, compared to 25.6% for businesses with no women in ownership, according to the same Statistics Canada data. Revenue performance tells a similar story: in 2024, 68.6% of majority women-owned businesses held steady or grew revenues year over year, edging out the all-business average of 67.9%.
These numbers matter for event planners. Your audience is living and working in this environment, building teams, pitching investors, making hard calls, and they respond to speakers who are doing the same thing at a high level. The women on this list have each built or led something significant, and they bring that track record to the stage.
8 Female Business Leader Speakers You Should Book
Three questions worth answering before you scroll
Before you read through the profiles below, it helps to have a few things clear in your own head. What is the primary goal of this event — are you trying to energize a team, open a conversation, mark a milestone, or equip people with something practical they can use? Who is in the room, and where are they in their careers? And what is the emotional tone you’re going for — something forward-looking and energizing, or something more grounded and reflective?
1. Brandi Leifso | Entrepreneurship and Resilience Keynote Speaker
Award-Winning Social Impact Entrepreneur | Resilience Advocate | Author
Brandi Leifso founded Evio Beauty at 21 while living in a women’s shelter to escape domestic violence. Evio now carries a large retail presence, has been featured in Vogue, Forbes, and Allure, and has donated over $550,000 in products and funding to 28 shelters across Canada. She is the author of Fearless Choices: Make a Decision, Change Your Life (HarperCollins, 2026) and a feature film about her life is currently in development.
Brandi speaks on resilience, leadership, and purpose-driven business. She was named one of Chatelaine Magazine’s Women of the Year (2018), recognized as one of Canada’s Top 25 Women of Influence (2020), and received the Retail Council of Canada’s Independent Retail Ambassador of the Year Award (2021). Audiences respond to her because she’s not narrating a success story from a safe distance. She’s telling you about the actual decisions that got her here, including the hard ones.
Best for: Leadership conferences, women’s events, social impact summits, events centered on mental health and purpose-driven work.
Learn More About Brandi Leifso
2. Arlene Dickinson | Keynote Speaker on Strategy, Growth, and Entrepreneurial Leadership
“Dragon” on Dragons’ Den | CEO, Venture Communications | Founder & General Partner, District Ventures Capital
Arlene Dickinson has been one of the most visible faces in Canadian entrepreneurship for more than two decades. She starred in CBC’s Dragons’ Den for 15 seasons and built Venture Communications into one of Canada’s most recognized marketing firms. Her venture capital fund, District Ventures Capital, backs companies in the food, beverage, and health and wellness sectors. Arlene has written three bestselling books, and her accolades include induction into the Southern Alberta Business Hall of Fame, the Marketing Hall of Legends, and the Queen Elizabeth Diamond and Platinum Jubilee Awards.
What she brings to a keynote is strategic depth. Her experience comes from scaling businesses, advising founders, and making high-stakes investment decisions over a long career. She connects well with audiences who are past the early-stage excitement and want to talk seriously about what it takes to sustain growth and lead well.
Best for: Leadership summits, business conferences, board-level gatherings, entrepreneurship and innovation events.
Learn More About Arlene Dickinson
3. Diana Matheson | Keynote Speaker on Leadership, Teamwork, and Women in Sport
Founder, Northern Super League | Olympic Medalist | Entrepreneur
Diana Matheson represented Canada’s Women’s National Soccer Team more than 200 times between 2003 and 2021, competed in four FIFA World Cups and three Olympic Games, and scored the goal that won Canada a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. After retiring from professional play, she earned an EMBA from Smith School of Business and a UEFA Master for International Players. Then, Diana co-founded Project 8 Sports in 2022 to develop women’s professional soccer in Canada. She is now co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of the Northern Super League, Canada’s first women’s professional soccer league.
Diana speaks on leadership, teamwork, and entrepreneurship. She draws a connection between elite athletic performance and what it takes to build an organization from the ground up. For audiences interested in what genuine perseverance looks like across two very different competitive arenas, she’s a strong fit.
Best for: Women in leadership events, entrepreneurship conferences, performance culture, team-building.
Learn More About Diana Matheson
4. Jessica Moorhouse | Canadian Financial Literacy and Women’s Leadership Keynote Speaker
Money Expert | Author | Host, More Money Podcast
Jessica Moorhouse is an Accredited Financial Counsellor Canada® and the host of the More Money Podcast. Her book Everything but Money: The Hidden Barriers Between You and Financial Freedom became a bestseller by identifying the psychological and emotional patterns that shape how people relate to money. She founded MoorMoney Media Inc., has spoken at major conferences, and has been covered by CBC News, CTV, BNN Bloomberg, Forbes, USA Today, and the Toronto Star.
She left a full-time marketing career in 2017 to focus entirely on financial education. Jessica spent years watching people struggle not because they lacked information but because they hadn’t addressed what was underneath — the numbers. Her talks are practical, grounded, and designed to change how people think about money
Best for: Financial wellness events, women’s leadership conferences, HR and workforce programming, events addressing economic pressures employees are currently managing.
Learn More About Jessica Moorhouse
5. Justice Faith | Keynote Speaker on Innovation, AI, and Social Entrepreneurship
Co-Founder, Révolutionnaire | Forbes 30 Under 30 Honouree
Justice Faith co-founded Révolutionnaire with her sister Nia to help community organizations and global brands turn social goals into real action. The organization has worked with Roots Canada, Rogers, and L’Oréal. Before founding Révolutionnaire, she was a consultant at McKinsey & Company, advising clients on strategy and organizational performance. She is a member of the UN Women Leaders Network, and has been recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30, Canada’s Top 25 Women of Influence, and the Toronto Star’s Top 24 of 2024.
As a keynote speaker, Justice has presented at the United Nations and at conferences and schools globally. She speaks on AI, DEI, innovation, and social entrepreneurship, with a perspective that connects organizational strategy to community impact in ways that feel concrete rather than abstract. For audiences that want to think seriously about what comes next, she’s a sharp and energizing presence on stage.
Best for: Innovation and future-of-work events, DEI programming, entrepreneurship and social impact conferences, purpose-driven organizations.
Learn More About Justice Faith
6. Manjit Minhas | Entrepreneurship and Women in Business Keynote Speaker
Dragons’ Den Celebrity Judge | President & CEO, Minhas Breweries & Distilleries
Manjit Minhas co-founded Minhas Breweries and Distilleries at 19 years old. The company grew from a $10,000 investment into a $220 million global business with more than 90 beer, spirit, and wine brands. She has partnered with celebrities including Paul Feig and Gene Simmons, pioneered eco-friendly and inclusive products like gluten-free beer and environmentally conscious packaging, and raised over $60 million for the United Way. In 2024, she became the first woman to own a team in the Canadian Elite Basketball League and received the UN Global Citizen Laureate Award.
Manjit has a direct, warm style on stage that works well across audiences. She’s not performing authority. She earned it through a career that started before most of her peers had finished school, and she talks about business the way someone who has actually built one does, which means she’s comfortable getting into the specifics rather than staying at the level of principle.
Best for: Entrepreneurship events, business leadership conferences, women in business programming, innovation and sustainability discussions.
Learn More About Manjit Minhas
7. Sage Paul | Indigenous Leadership and Creative Entrepreneurship Keynote Speaker
Award-Winning Artist & Designer | Artistic Director, Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto
Sage Paul is an urban Denesuliné tskwe and member of the English River First Nation. She is a founding collective member and Artistic Director of Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto. As an artist and designer, her work has been shown at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Harbourfront Centre, Western Canada Fashion Week, South Africa Fashion Week, and the Centre for Craft, Creativity and Design in North Carolina. Sage has designed costumes for Kent Monkman, Darlene Naponse, and Danis Goulet, and received the Design Exchange RBC Emerging Designer Award. She has been recognized as a Woman of Influence, a Toronto Star Change Maker, and was honoured by the Ontario Minister of the Status of Women as a woman transforming Ontario.
Sage speaks on Indigenous fashion, creative leadership, cultural sovereignty, and the space where artistic practice and social responsibility meet. For organizations building events around genuine inclusion rather than token representation, her perspective adds something both specific and substantive.
Best for: DEI and social justice events, creativity and innovation programming, Indigenous-centered or culturally inclusive conferences, arts and design audiences.
8. Vickie Kerr | Keynote Speaker on Entrepreneurship, Instinct, and Building an Iconic Brand
Creator and Founder, Miss Vickie’s Chips
In 1987, Vickie Kerr started making kettle-cooked chips in her farmhouse kitchen using potatoes her husband grew. She had no formal business training. However, she had background in childhood nutrition and a goal to make a healthier snack for her family. She did have strong instincts, and she trusted them. This included an early push for nutritional transparency on packaging that was well ahead of what the food industry was doing at the time. Miss Vickie’s grew into one of Canada’s most recognized snack brands. When a fire destroyed the farmhouse, she and her husband Bill rebuilt and kept going.
Vickie speaks in keynote and fireside chat formats. What she offers is something that’s harder to find on a speaker roster than credentials or accolades: a first-person account of building a brand from a kitchen table guided by values rather than exit strategy. Her story resonates with entrepreneurs at every stage, and with broader business audiences who want to hear from someone who did it on their own terms.
Best for: Entrepreneurship and small business events, brand-building and marketing conferences, leadership and culture summits, audiences who respond to grounded, experience-based storytelling.
In the Spotlight
How Arlene Dickinson Became an Investor | CBC News
How Diana Matheson Founded the NSL | The Social CTV
Book a Female Business Leader Speaker
Representation on stage affects how your audience receives the content. These female business leaders have each built something at a meaningful scale, from fashion to venture capital to sports.
Start planning your event program by booking the right guest speaker. Complete our contact form or email an agent at hello@talentbureau.com.
Or continue your own search:
FAQs – Female Business Leader Speakers in Canada
A female business leader speaker is a keynote or featured presenter who brings direct experience leading, building, or scaling an organization to the stage. This includes founders, CEOs, investors, entrepreneurs, and executives who speak from firsthand experience rather than observation. At Talent Bureau, the female business leader speaker category includes a wide range of industries and career paths, from venture capital and tech to sport, fashion, finance, and consumer goods.
An IWD event works best when it moves beyond acknowledgment and into a real conversation about leadership, work, and what it takes to build something. Female business leader speakers bring the professional track record to anchor that conversation in specifics: real decisions, real setbacks, real outcomes. They also send a clear organizational signal that the event is designed for substance, not ceremony.
Female business leader speakers work well across a range of formats: leadership conferences, annual general meetings, staff retreats, women’s leadership forums, entrepreneurship summits, and HR and workforce events. The right fit depends on your audience and what you need them to walk away with. Talent Bureau’s agents can help you match a speaker’s background to your event goals.
Start by thinking about where your audience is right now, the pressures they’re carrying, the decisions they’re facing, what would actually be useful to hear. The best keynote match is a speaker whose career experience speaks directly to that context. Talent Bureau agents work with planners to do exactly this kind of matching, beyond simply surfacing names.
Three to six months in advance is the standard recommendation for high-profile speakers, particularly around dates like March 8 when demand spikes across organizations. That said, shorter timelines do happen. Availability varies by speaker and format, and it’s always worth a conversation. Contact Talent Bureau to check current availability for any speaker on this list.