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CQCC Connect Vancouver
May 26, 2025 @ 9:30 am – 1:30 pm
Join us in Vancouver for CQCC Connect, a premier event designed to bring together 2SLGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, and allies in a dynamic and inclusive space. This is your opportunity to unlock new business opportunities, foster meaningful connections, and engage in insightful discussions that drive sustainable success.
Location: Jig Space, 8889 Laurel St, Unit 106, Vancouver, BC V6P 3V9
What to Expect
This event offers a mix of engaging discussions, high-impact networking, and tailored opportunities to support the growth of 2SLGBTQI+ businesses and supplier diversity initiatives.
- Breakout Sessions – Dive into engaging and thought-provoking breakout sessions tailored to your interests, where you’ll explore key topics, exchange ideas, and connect with like-minded professionals.
- Networking Session – An exclusive opportunity for CQCC members ONLY to connect
Run of Show
9:30 AM – 10:00 AM | Registration open
10:00 AM – 10:45 AM | Fireside Chat
10:45 AM – 11:45 AM | Breakout Sessions (Workshop-style)
11:45 AM – 12:30 PM | Networking Lunch
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM | Connection Circles: Ask & Offer Wall (Members Only)
- Open to CQCC members only, this interactive session is designed to spark meaningful peer-to-peer connections. Attendees will write one Ask (something they need support with) and one Offer (a skill, resource, or connection they’re willing to share), and post them on dedicated walls.
Why Attend?
Whether you are an established business owner, a corporate leader looking to expand your diverse supplier network, or an ally looking to support the LGBTQ+ business community, CQCC Connect provides a space to engage, collaborate, and grow.
Join us for an inspiring and impactful day that will help shape the future of LGBTQ+ entrepreneurship and supplier diversity.
Thank you so much for your interest in CQCC Connect Vancouver. Due to overwhelming interest, the event is at capacity, but sometimes life happens and people who previously registered cannot attend. If some spots open up, interested wait listers will be contacted in the order that their forms are received:
Speakers
Fireside Chat: Breaking Barriers, Winning Markets: Thriving as a Small Business in a Competitive World
Our Team
Cicely Belle Blain is a queer, neurodivergent writer, entrepreneur and activist from London, UK, now based in Vancouver. They are passionate about heart-centred leadership, anti-oppressive education and creating space for justice-oriented conversations and change. Cicely Belle is the CEO of Bakau Consulting, an anti-racist consulting company, the Editorial Director of Ripple of Change Magazine, and the author of Burning Sugar (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2020). They also instruct Executive Leadership at Simon Fraser University and serve on the board of the Tegan and Sara Foundation. Cicely Belle is one of the founders of Black Lives Matter Vancouver and was subsequently listed as one of Vancouver’s 50 most powerful people by Vancouver Magazine in 2018 and one of BC Business’s 30 under 30.
Breakout Session 1: Unlocking Growth: Building Stronger Supplier Networks
Our Team
Breakout room 2: Building a High-Performing Sales Funnel: Practical Workshop for Revenue Generation
Our Team
Romanian-born Ioana Birleanu built a 20-year career in frontline tech sales, becoming the first female LGBTQ+ sales director in Western Canada for a global tech leader and consistently ranking in the top 1% of performers worldwide. After co-founding Growth Flourishing with her wife, she now helps entrepreneurs and business leaders achieve authentic growth through sales and leadership advisory that aligns systems with values. Beyond her business, Ioana serves as an Adjunct Leadership Professor at Adler University and brings her unique perspective as an immigrant change-maker to various non-profit board leadership roles.
Graphic Recording
Our Team
u003cspan class=u0022outlook-search-highlightu0022 data-markjs=u0022trueu0022u003eMirandau003c/spanu003e Maslany is a graphic recorder and illustrator based in Vancouver, BC. She creates hand-drawn visuals to help organizations share complex information in a fun and engaging way. At CQCC Connect Vancouver u003cspan class=u0022outlook-search-highlightu0022 data-markjs=u0022trueu0022u003eMirandau003c/spanu003e will be creating a graphic recording (hand-illustrated summary in real time) that will unfold throughout the day. And participants will receive a digital copy of the graphic after the event. Join us in-person on May 26th to see what u003cspan class=u0022outlook-search-highlightu0022 data-markjs=u0022trueu0022u003eMirandau003c/spanu003e will create!