The U of R annual event brings together female leaders to share insights and promote meaningful change in communities
For the last 17 years, the University of Regina (U of R) has hosted the Inspiring Leadership Forum. The event is focused around female keynote speakers who participate in various talks and panels to inspire women in our community to lead.
In its 17 year long tenure the event has outgrown two venues. It started out on campus here at the U of R, then moved to Conexus Arts Centre, and is now hosted at the Bunge International Trade Centre in the REAL District. Even at the Trade Centre, the event is sold out and filled to the brim with around 1200 attendees.
This year saw three separate keynotes: Kayla Guru of Bits and Bytes Technology, Sarah and Emma Eagle Heart, who are Indigenous activists, and Christine Sinclair, Canadian women’s soccer legend. The event started at 8 a.m. with a light breakfast and networking before the event began. Following formal greetings from the university, Guru gave the first talk and participated in a Q&A. Following a short break, the Project Resilience group gave a panel discussion, and Sarah and Emma Eagle Heart closed out the morning.
Lunch wrapped up around 1:45 p.m., and awards were handed out to the recipients of the Academic Fellowship for 2025. Then Christine Sinclair took the stage for a laid-back discussion with Cougars Soccer Assistant Coach Mallory Outerbridge. Following the closing of the day, Sinclair held a short book signing for attendees. Throughout the day vendors were available to attendees, such as Sticks and Doodles, Hilberg and Berk, and the university.
Kayla Guru – Bits and Bytes Technology
Guru started and runs her own company, Bits and Bytes. She started Bits and Bites when she was just 14 years old, seeing all the cyber threats coming through day to day. The company is focused on helping with cybersecurity in a world that demands technology. Guru goes to schools K-12 to educate people of all ages on how to be safe online. She has even helped develop a curriculum to teach safe tech in schools. Guru also started GirlCon, a yearly event held for girls to come and discuss tech and how it impacts any field. When asked about GirlCon, Guru stated, “Because I was constantly hearing, as I was talking about security and technology, young women would say, oh, but this isn’t for me. This is not going to be relevant to what I’m interested in the future. And that would always kind of sting me, because I knew that technology was going to be applicable to every single field, whether we like it or not.”
Guru also spoke to how AI is impacting humans now as the newest form of tech to hit the market. “I think in terms of AI, some of the critiques are real. I think there’s a lot about AI we don’t know yet, such as, should we, and how do we give it to millions of people worldwide in a safe way, such that it brings more good than bad?” Guru acknowledges that many people are in different places regarding AI technology and hopes that we can come to a safe means of developing the tech in day-to-day life.
There’s a lot about AI we don’t know yet, such as, should we and how do we give it to millions of people worldwide in a safe way, such that it brings more good than bad.” – Kayla Guru, keynote speaker.
Sarah Eagle Heart and Emma Eagle Heart-White
Sarah and Emma Eagle Heart are sisters that hail from North Dakota, USA. They are Indigenous and spoke on using their traditional knowledge to heal. They are also authors and entrepreneurs.
The Eagle Heart sisters spoke of their protest of their school’s racist traditions in 1994. The high school they attended had a warrior as their logo. During their homecoming celebrations, the candidates for homecoming queen would be referred to as ‘warrior princesses’, the candidates for homecoming king would be referred to as ‘the big chief’and the runner up for homecoming king was ‘the medicine man’. The kids involved in these ceremonies were not Indigenous.
The ‘Big Chief’ would dawn full regalia and sit on a throne of sorts while the medicine man would dance around him with the female participants. There was even a tom-tom beat. The ‘medicine man’ would lift the girls up and ‘inspect them’ until the ‘Chief’ chose his winner. This “tradition” has been going on for over 57 years! The sisters protested for four years until the school finally decided to cut the program. The warriors’ mascot name is still around at Bennett County School, but the homecoming ceremonies are not.
The sisters, who were in their teens, had security to join them around town during the time of the protests. They were told if they attended their big cheerleading competition, they would have eggs and rocks thrown at them. Newspapers said they were doing it for attention. All of this is documented in their 2023 book, Warrior Princesses Strike Back: How Lakota Twins Fight Oppression and Heal through Connectedness.
The sisters also spoke of how important it is, especially for women, to take care of themselves. “I just keep going back to my aunt, who kept telling us, take care of yourself, you know, and really take care of yourself, not just words. It’s about taking care of your spirit, your health, mental health, physical health; all of it is really important.”
Christine Sinclair
Truly the GOAT of soccer, not just women’s. Sinclair has 190 international tournament goals over the span of her career, which is the most from any male or female soccer athlete in the world. Cristiano Ronaldo has 120, which is the highest for men in international play. Not only is she a fantastic athlete, but she is also an advocate for women in sports, an Olympian and an owner of the Vancouver Rise Football Club of the Northern Super League. She also runs the Christine Sinclair Foundation to help girls in sports succeed.
Sinclair sat down with Mallory Outerbridge, an assistant coach for the U of R Cougars Women’s soccer team. Outerbridge also played NCAA Div 1 soccer and participated in many Canadian National tournaments in her career as well. The two spoke about the ups and downs of Sinclair’s career, navigating poor coaching, media pressures, mental health, gender inequities, and her life post- professional soccer.“ [Things are] changing very slowly. The support still isn’t where it needs to be. The women’s games, like infrastructure, need to change. You know, women are playing in stadiums and facilities built for male sports from the 1990s and 1980s so there’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s slowly moving in the right direction.”Following her talk, Sinclair had a book signing with her memoir, ‘Playing the Long Game,’ which was published in 2022.
Why is this event important?
Having a safe and comforting space for women to share ideas and network is vital in this day and age. According to Google, 28-30% of the overall workforce for STEM is women, 44.8% of the workforce for sports is women, and 16% of all murdered women are Indigenous (leading that last statistic, by the way, is Saskatchewan).
Having an event sell out with over 1200 people in attendance, predominantly women, to hear ideas and journeys shared by people just like them is so vitally important. To hear that you are not alone, that you can get through it, is something women do not get to hear often. The U of R hosting an event such as this for 17 years is something to truly be proud of. Our slogan is “go farther together,” and this is a great example of how that slogan is being executed.
