ON BEHALF OF WFIM BOARD – JOIN US MAR. 19TH
FOR 2025 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY EVENT.
ACCELERATE ACTION AND DRIVE RESILIENCE: HEALTH & WELLNESS PATHWAYS.
DIVERSE LEADERS SHARE INSIGHTS, TRENDS & IDEAS TO CONNECT WAYS FOR INDUSTRY, BUSINESS & PERSONAL LIFE TO THRIVE IN TODAY’S COMPLEX ENVIRONMENT.

MARCH 19TH 5:30-9:00PM at Millennium Gardens, Brampton

HOT OFF THE PRESS - WORKSHOP!

RETAILERS & INFLUENCERS JOIN IN THE CONVERSATION…
“HOW TO BE RETAIL READY DURING THESE COMPLEX TIMES”
RE: MADE IN CANADA; DOING BUSINESS NOW / WHEN THE SHOE DROPS

INSIGHTS & ADVICE FROM OTHER SIDE OF THE TABLE
HOW TO HELP, SUPPORT, WORK TOGETHER AS WE NAVIGATE…
IN IT TOGETHER TO WIN AT RETAIL FOR CANADA TOGETHER!!!

To be held from 6:30 – 7:00 / 7:15pm before the main feature presentation.

Network & Nibbles Night featuring: A Highly interactive evening with a variety of renowned industry experts, thought leaders and advocates sharing their unique experiences, views & suggest ways to inspire positive change while managing today’s challenging world in work and life.

Event starts with networking & nibbles while visiting the vendor tabletops that showcase and support emerging trends to support health and wellness products and services for customers and consumers.

Then join the theatre style seating to kick off the Presentation part of the evening:

Hear our esteemed Keynote speaker, followed by a panel discussion…

Keynote speaker

DANA MCCAULEY, PRESIDENT & CEO
CANADIAN FOOD INNOVATION NETWORK (CFIN)

The world continues to change and at an accelerated rate. Dana shares some key trends that are impacting the food industry and challenging the audience what we can be doing.

In her role as President & CEO CFIN, Dana provides some observations from the broader industry, including FoodTech, Innovations from industry & members to be aware.

Where is our place in this world? It’s time to review and inspire new ways of thinking that align with one’s values, goals and objectives, both personally and professionally…

Following her keynote presentation, Dana joins the Panel…

MODERATOR

AARON SKELTON
PRESIDENT & CEO CHFA

Industry Leaders & Specialists share, inspire, to enrich & empower both in business & life,,,

The conversation continues, exploring different perspectives and pathways from an industry, and individual career paths, emerging and corporate standpoint…

What can we all do?

MONICA WALKER

HEALTHY PLANET

BELINDA ELYSEE-COLLEN

DEMPSEY FOOD

SUZIE
YORKE

4X THE BETTER CHOCOLATE

ANDREA DONSKY

MORPHUS

TALI REMENNIK

GRANULARITY

Note: WFIM’s International Women’s Celebration date is LATER to ensure you can still attend the month’s Expo West plus other showcases…

LOCATION

  • Wednesday March 19th, 2025
    5:30pm to 9:00pm

  • Millennium Gardens Banquet Centre
    20 Polonia Avenue, Unit 100
    Brampton, ON L6Y 0K9
    Tel: 905-455-5335

AGENDA

 

 

Time Activity
5:30pm Registration Open
5:30pm – 6:45pm Network, Nibble, and Tabletop showcase (featuring select sponsors, members and speakers); Meet & Greet guests & speakers
6:45pm – 7:15pm Welcome, WFIM event updates and Presentation Introduction
6:30pm – 7:00pm WORKSHOP: RETAILERS & INFLUENCERS JOIN IN THE CONVERSATION…
“HOW TO BE RETAIL READY DURING THESE COMPLEX TIMES”
  MAIN FEATURE PRESENTATION (7:15pm – 8:30pm)
7:15pm – 7:30pm KEYNOTE SPEAKER – DANA MCCAULEY – CEO, CFIN (Canadian Food Innovation Network)
7:30pm – 8:30pm PANEL DISCUSSION – Moderator Aaron Skelton (CHFA) & Esteemed Panelists: Monica Walker (Healthy Planet), Belinda Elysee-Collen (Dempsey), Andrea Donsky (Morphus), Suzie Yorke (4x Better Chocolate), Tali Remennik (Granularity) joined by Dana McCauley (CFIN)
8:30pm – 9:00pm Q&A, Final remarks
9:00pm Event Ends

COST

Early Bird: until Feb 24th
Note: Limited Tabletops only for Sponsors, Speakers and Members Only – apply to be approved on first come basis…

 

WFIM Members Non-Members WFIM Students/Retirees Exhibitor Table top
$60.00 + HST
(early bird)
$80.00 + HST
(after Feb. 21st)
$85.00 + HST
(early bird)
$105.00 + HST
(after Feb. 21st)
$40 + HST
(early bird)
$55 + HST
(after Feb. 21st)
$30 cost
(sponsors, members only – limited tabletops available)

DEADLINE: Registration closes Mar. 10th in order to provide numbers to the venue.

Contact admin@wfim.ca for more information to secure your company’s tabletop (sponsors, members, speakers only… don’t miss out… limited quantities so apply to book early.)

Keynote Speaker

Dana McCauley
CEO, Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN)

Dana McCauley is a value proposition driven innovator who has successfully launched many food products and programs in collaboration with domestic and international food companies and entrepreneurs.​ Throughout her career, Dana has long had her finger on the pulse of food innovation as a successful food writer and editor, a television food trends commentator, and a senior executive in the food manufacturing sector.

Dana was the founding Executive Director for Food Starter, a Toronto based food business incubator and accelerator that was recognized with an Ontario Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence. As Director of New Venture Creation at the University of Guelph, Dana enabled agri-food innovators to transform their inventions into innovations that grow the economy and enhances Canada’s international reputation.

In 2017, Dana was recognized by WXN as one of Canada’s Most Powerful Women in the Trailblazers and Trendsetters category.

Moderator

Aaron Skelton
President & CEO, CHFA

Aaron is the father of three, husband of one, and an aspiring amateur weekend athlete. With over 18 years of experience in the natural, organic, and wellness industry, he is a seasoned executive known for driving impactful change.

Named by the Hill Times as one of the top influencers shaping health policy on Parliament Hill, Aaron has overseen one of the largest national grassroots advocacy campaigns, Save Our Supplements, and has testified before the Senate and House of Commons Standing Committee on Health on behalf of the natural health product industry. As a recognized thought leader, Aaron has been featured in a variety of trade, consumer and political publications, including the Hill Times, Global News and Food In Canada.

Beyond his work at CHFA, Aaron’s career includes leadership roles at Canada’s largest grocery retailer, Loblaw Companies, and co-founding GreenSpace Brands—recognized as Canada’s 16th fastest-growing company in the 2018 Maclean’s Growth 500.

Deeply committed to improving the health and well-being of Canadians, Aaron actively champions people, products, and organizations that are shaping the future of health and wellness.

Panelist

Monica Walker
Head of Food & Grocery, Healthy Planet

Originally hailing from Liverpool, England, Monica has had a life-long passion for food, entertaining and travel. She started her sales and marketing career at Xerox, holding various roles in the UK and France.

Over the last 20 years, Monica has developed a wealth of experience across many levels of the Organic and Natural food industry in Canada, giving her an in-depth understanding in all areas of the business.

  • Organics On Bloor: Owner Operator (2003–2009)
  • Mountain Path, Distributor (2010-2011)
  • Marsham Brokerage: Key Account Manager (2011-2014)
  • ONFC, Distributor : Sales Rep, Key Account Manager, Sr Brand Manager (2014 – 2018)
  • Healthy Planet: Head of Food and Grocery (2018-present)

Panelist

Belinda Elysee-Collen
VP Food North American – Global Distribution, Dempsey Distribution

Belinda is Vice-President of the North America Food division with Dempsey Corporation, a specialty food ingredients distributor in Toronto. She has a passion for helping others achieve their goals. She loves learning about what we eat and how functional ingredients make food better. She has a B.A.Sc. Chem Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and a M.Sc. Food Science from the University of Guelph. She is a P.Eng and a CFS (Certified Food Scientist).

She started her career working in Alberta in the oil industry. She quickly realized that food was her calling and returned to Ontario to pursue it. She has over 25 years’ experience in the food industry selling ingredients, at small and large companies such as Cargill Inc, and International Sugars. Her roles have included technical service, quality management, and technical sales.

Belinda was President of CIFST (Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology) from 2013-2014 and was a CIFST volunteer for 18 years. She was on the steering committee for the 2014 IUFoST World Congress of Food Science and Technology, which attracted 2000 attendees to Montreal. Belinda also volunteers with the Girl Guides of Canada as a Pathfinder, Ranger and Trex leader, leading adventurous and confidence-building activities for girls from 12-17 years of age. She enjoys open water swimming in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter. She has been active with WFIM since 1996 and is grateful to have met Donna Messer early in her career and remembers learning how to network from her, and the importance of women helping women.

Panelist

Tali Remennik
CEO, Granularity

Tali Remennik is a seasoned professional at the intersection of artificial intelligence and forecasting. As the Founder of Granularity, Tali has charted a vision in the world of trends forecasting. Granularity uses the power of AI to predict emerging trends based on data processed from social media and search platforms.

Formerly a Management Consultant at Accenture, she played a pivotal role in crafting and deploying data science use cases for retailers across North America.

Panelist

Andrea Donsky
Expert & Educator, 4x Published Researcher, Author – on a mission to change the conversation perimenopause & menopause

Known as the “Menopause Educator and Researcher” to her nearly 350,000+ TikTok followers, Andrea Donsky is a nutritionist on a mission to change the conversation around perimenopause and menopause.

Andrea is a four-time published menopause researcher and entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in the health and wellness space. She is also a respected multi-award-winning influencer, media personality, speaker, and author.

Andrea hosts the popular podcast ‘Menopause Reimagined,’ and appears as a Menopause Expert on television across North America.

Her latest venture, www.wearemorphus.com helps women to “Reimagine Menopause” as a journey of empowerment so they feel heard, supported, and validated. Morphus empowers women to take control of their symptoms and health with nutrition, lifestyle, research, and science-backed supplements.

Andrea is currently writing a book on menopause, which will be published in the spring of 2026 by Simon and Schuster.

Follow her on TikTok and Instagram @andreadonsky and @wearemorphus to learn more.

Panelist

Suzie Yorke
CEO/ Co-Founder/ Brand Accelerator/ Advisor / Award Winning Entrepreneur

Suzie Yorke is on a mission to bring healthy foods and good fats back. At 50, this Quebec-born, Ontario-based mom of four kids saw a need for a “good-fat” grab-and-go bar for health and fitness mom and enthusiasts such as herself. An eleven-time Ironman competitor and yoga practitioner, Suzie spent years adhering to a low-fat diet only for her health to hit a wall in her mid-40s. After reading Nina Teicholz’s best seller, The Big Fat Surprise, she immediately shifted to a high-fat, low-carb diet, and her health improved within months. While she loved the benefits of her new nutritional approach, Suzie found it challenging to find convenient and tasty low sugar snacks. Seeing a gap in the marketplace and a huge opportunity to help others through better food, she borrowed money from her daughter’s university fund and within 12 months developed and launched Love Good Fats, a family of delicious, low-sugar foods and snacks loaded with good fats.

Starting in 2017, Suzie led the launch and expansion of Love Good Fats to exceed $100million in Gross Revenues in a little over 3 years with sales in the largest retailers across Canada and the US. Love Good Fats quickly became one of the fastest-growing bar brands in North America. As a 25-year veteran of the CPG industry, Suzie has worked at brand building companies such as Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Kraft, Heinz and Weight Watchers. She also worked at two hyper growth Start-ups prior to creating her own rocket ship success story brand, at age 50. She is moreso a unique, later blooming entrepreneur, who utilized her accomplished marketing background, personal journey, and deep devotion and passion for health, to drive towards her Mission to spread the word that fat is back, and sugar is out!

Suzie is now on her second Start-up and launching FourX Better ChocolateTM, This new brand is about to change how we think about chocolate: it’s the world’s first Bean-to-BarTM, Fair-TradeTM functional chocolate, with 0g of Sugar added, that is also providing your daily dose of vitamins, minerals, adaptogens and supplements.

Suzie became enamored with chocolate from Ecuador and Peru given it’s so delicious with cacao that is 100% Single Origin, Cacao Fina de AromaTM, Bean-to-BarTM and Fair TradeTM, grown in small family gardens with cacao beans being infused with the scents of fruits and flowers. This is all the secret to the claim of “World’s best cacao beans” from South America. Suzie is sourcing her incredible, healthier chocolate from small craft chocolate facilities in Lima, Peru. She is first to market with delicious, healthy, 0g of Sugar added pure chocolate infused with Protein, Fibre, Adaptogens, Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements and MCT oil. All to bring health back to chocolate with her tag line being: The World’s Best Tasting Chocolate Just Got Healthier”.

Her First book is launching this Fall, titled : Chocolate! Part 1. How an Autistic, Lesbian, Woman 50+ created better and healthier chocolate!

Suzie’s astounding success has been recognized with many business awards since launching Love Good Fats, including the 2019 WXN Top 100 BMO Entrepreneur Award, 2020 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards Ones to Watch Award, The Women of Inspiration 2021 Special Recognition Entrepreneur Award, The 2021 RevolutionHer Entrepreneur Role Model Award, the 2021 Globe & Mail Report on Business Top Growing Companies in Canada, placing in the coveted top #1 spot for 2017-2020 Revenues Growth, the Women of Influence Top 25 Women in Canada 2023 Award, the 2022 LGBT+ Business Advocate of the Year Award.

Suzie currently mentors’ other founders and supports many women-owned businesses, as well as LGBTQ+ and BIPOC Founders.