international women’s day with making changes

In recognition of International Women’s Day, attendees learned more about how they could support Making Changes and help #AccelerateAction.

 

Women and girls still face barriers and biases that impact their personal and professional lives.  The closer we get to gender parity, the better it is for families, our community, and our economy.  But at the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158 – roughly five generations from now – to reach full gender parity. 

Since 1981, Making Changes has been providing innovative programming to support women and teen girls on their employment and education journey helping them to overcome these barriers.

In recognition of International Women’s Day, we partnered with The CORE on March 4th, 5th & 6th (11am – 1pm).

The event featured a variety of activities, including:

We were grateful for the support and participation of our amazing community! Thank you for helping spread the word and make an impact. Below are the downloadable resources that were available:

Together, we were part of the change!

IWD 2025 support provided by RBC

Dress for Success Calgary

Ollia Macarons & Tea

International Women’s Day Collaboration

In honor of International Women’s Day, we partnered with Ollia Macarons & Tea to raise awareness, give back, and celebrate the incredible women we work with daily.

At Dress for Success Calgary and Making Changes Association, we are committed to empowering women by providing the skills and resources they need on their employment journey. We actively seek partnerships with businesses that share this mission, and Ollia, with its 10-year legacy of community support, was the perfect partner.

Ollia, proudly women-led, collaborated with us to create an exclusive IWD Macaron Box Set. For each box sold, $2 was donated to Dress for Success Calgary, helping provide professional attire, career coaching, and job-skill training to women in our community.

The IWD Macaron Box Set featured four delicious flavours: Lavender Honey, Earl Grey, Vanilla, and Rocher. Boxes were available in-store and online, with local next-day delivery across Calgary.

IWD CASK BATTLE

On March 8th, we celebrated International Women’s Day at Annex & BORN’s Taprooms with a Charity Cask Battle! From 1pm-6pm, each taproom featured two casks paired with local women’s charities. Attendees enjoyed pours of all four casks, filled out a Cask Punch Card, and voted for their favourite. The charity with the most votes received 100% of the cask sale proceeds!

We had an incredible experience at Annex Ales, learning how their craft beers and sodas are made—and even creating our very own beer! With the guidance of the Annex team, we brewed Blu-Barb Ale (Blueberry & Rhubarb) for Making Changes, and it was ready to compete in the Beer Battle for International Women’s Day!

We’ve tabulated the results from Saturday’s Charity Cask Battle, and it was a close race! For Making Changes, our Blu-Barb Ale (Blueberry & Rhubarb) came in second with 19 votes. Thank you to everyone who voted and supported us! Your participation helped make this event a success, and we’re grateful for the chance to be part of such an amazing cause. Stay tuned for more ways we’re making changes together!

All persons welcome at making changes

Making Changes acknowledges the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy which includes the Siksika, Piikani, Kainai, the Tsuut’ina Nation and Stoney Nakoda Nations of Chiniki, Bearspaw and Wesley and the Metis people of Alberta, Regions 5 & 6. We honour the hardships that were endured by the peoples on this land to allow us to be in this space to do the work that we do in our community. We respect the culture of the peoples who walk through our doors and we strive to provide space for them. We acknowledge that Indigenous peoples continue to experience hardships and our agency will be champions for change in our daily service to community. Making Changes is committed to inclusivity and recognition of all peoples who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.