As International Women’s Day approached this year, our team (three men) considered the different ways we could acknowledge women’s achievements and take part in the annual celebration.

We could highlight a list of women who inspire us, as we’ve done before. Or we could revisit the many stories we’ve told about trailblazing women.

But we felt like that wouldn’t be enough. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is #BreakTheBias. Through that theme, the IWD community calls on us to imagine a gender-equal world, one free of bias and discrimination, one that is diverse and inclusive, one where difference is valued and celebrated. That’s why doing what we always do for this special day wouldn’t have been enough.

Breaking the bias means doing something major and different. With that as our signpost, we reached out to some of the women in our community and asked them how we could celebrate their achievements beyond a single day this month. And in the process, we gave ourselves the answer: Firstly, we should celebrate their worth and work beyond one day in a month. And secondly, we should recognize that they’re in a better position to highlight their own work than us.

To that end, we invited three amazing women-identifying leaders from our media, tech and political community to serve as special guest editors for the rest of March (Women’s History Month). In taking this approach, it’s our goal to provide a platform for a diverse group of women to share their experiences in business while shaping our storytelling throughout this entire month—and hopefully leave a lasting impression.

VTJ is committed to diversifying our community and will be looking at ways to highlight the voices and perspectives of women and other underrepresented voices in the coming months on an ongoing basis.

Without further ado, meet our special guest editors: Erin Gee, Anthonia Ogundele and Rumneek Johal.

Erin Gee, writer, co-host of the Bad + Bitchy Podcast

Erin Gee is a co-host and co-founder of the Bad + Bitchy Podcast, which examines politics and pop culture through the lens of intersectionality. She is also a freelance writer who has been featured in Chatelaine, the Globe and Mail, and Harper's Bazaar. Erin is a regular contributor to the Vancouver Tech Journal, where she seeks to elevate the voices of those underrepresented in the tech industry.

Erin was named to Refinery29’s 2021 Power House list.

Anthonia Ogundele, founder, Ethọ́s Lab Educational Society

Anthonia Tolulope Adetokunbo Ogundele is the mother of an amazing teen, which inspired the vision of Ethọ́s Lab. Anthonia has always had a passion for creating meaningful spaces of connection and community that can be seen woven throughout her professional career.

She launched Ethọ́s Lab with a mission to empower the next generation of leaders and inspire a legacy of Black leadership within STEAM. In doing so, Anthonia also launched Canada’s first Black-led virtual reality environment. She was honoured with the City of Vancouver’s Black History Month Community Leader Award while being recognized as one of Canada’s top 5 Black tech founders to watch in 2021.

Rumneek Johal, Editor in Chief, 5X Press

Rumneek is a journalist, host, and editor-in-chief of 5X Press, the essential South Asian youth magazine in Canada. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia's Master of Journalism program, and has previously worked as a host/producer at Decomplicated. In her own words, she is a “brown girl with a lot of opinions who is committed to challenging the status quo, asking questions and making space for women in media.”

Throughout the rest of March, you can look forward to stories both written and assigned by our guest editors, to hearing more about their unique journeys and to learning what #BreakTheBias means to them.

Welcome Erin, Anthonia and Rumneek!