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OkillLiving LIVING EDITOR: ANGELA BLACKBURN Phone: 905-337-5560 Fax: 905-337-5571 e-mail: ablackburn@oakvillebeaver.comSUBMITTED PHOTOCLAUDIO CUGLIARI / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVERYOU CAN DO IT:At left, Jeanne Beker fromFashionTelevision speaks to a packed house during the seventh annual Women as Career Coaches event hosted by the Halton Industry Education Councilin late March. At right, Sean Aiken, author of The One-Week Job Projectat the Men as Career Coaches function the month before. The Halton Industry/Education Council (HIEC) hostedthese two events to bridge youths to career paths by connecting them with inspirational role models. The following stories were filed with TheOakville Beaver by Michelle Marino, HIEC events lead/communications specialist.Inspiring youths to follow a dreamashion guru Jeanne Beker was the Beker, long-time host of FashionTelevision ind your passion in life and yourCats player turned firefighter; and Kevin headliner for the Halton Industry who is considered one of the most iconic and career was the message of the sec-September, founder of opinionvision.tv. FEducation Councils (HIEC) seventhinfluential women in the fashion industry Fond annual Men as Career CoachesA series of video montages helped set annual Women as Career Coaches (WACC) not only in Canada, but globally.(MACC).the tone for the evening, showcasing a event hosted in late March.Beker took the guests on a journey as she Hosted by the Halton Industry wide spectrum of superheroes and every-More than 700 attendees female highdiscussed her career path and how being pas-Education Council (HIEC) at theday heroes that inspire the hero within school students and adult women thesionate about her career helped her get toBurlington Convention Centre Feb. 24, thethe events theme. evenings career coaches were at thewhere she is today.event drew more than 350 men adultAttendees also took part in table discus-Burlington Convention Centre to talk about Bekers message to the young women in career coaches and high school students.sions about career paths, personal heroes finding their passion, and take part in anthe audience was The more you do, the The intergenerational mentoring event and life lessons.inspirational evening of intergenerationalmore you can do.aims to connect young men with adult The event was sponsored by Passport tomentorship.Since the age of 16, Beker has had many role models willing to share their careerProsperity. HIEC was established Nov. 17,It aimed to inspire young women, and different careers, such as a radio host, musicpaths, encourage positive self-esteem and1989 as a not-for-profit organization.other women, to follow their dreams. news anchor and reporter, author and CTVspromote the goals and dreams of youths.It is a joint venture among industry,During the free, intergenerational eventCanadas Next Top Model judge. The program featured keynote speakereducation and community partners in both students and career coaches participat-A mother of two teenage girls herself,Sean Aiken, author of The One-Week Job Halton.ed in table discussions about career paths, Beker supports the WACC program and Project.HIEC works to bring business and edu-personal goals and life lessons. intergenerational mentorship. After graduating from college and beingcation together with the vision of inspiring The audience also heard four spotlight Also returning this year was CP24 newsunable to find a career that satisfied him, informed career decisions amongst youths speakers who spoke about their career jour-anchor and traffic and weather specialist Aiken travelled across North America expe-in Halton.neys. Pooja Handa who emceed for the evening.riencing 52 jobs in 52 weeks. HIEC has delivered career education These speakers included Cathy McCrory,WACC was created through the belief He has since published a book about his programs to more than 100,000 studentsa sergeant with the RCMPs Commercial that young women need access to adult role experiences and released a full-length doc-in Halton and has five websites.Crime Section; Tina Hart a stone masonmodels willing to share their career path-umentary.For information, visit www.hiec.on.ca,with Hartt Stone; Elyse Simpson, a musicianways, encourage positive self-esteem andIn addition to Aiken, a Spotlightwww.schooltocareer.ca, www.apprentices-and founder of Jangle Records; and Dianna promote the goals and dreams of youths. Speaker lineup included: John Peller, pres-earch.com, www.futureforcehalton.ca andDinevski, a research executive assistant withThe program works by bringing togetherident and CEO of Andrew Peller Ltd.; Ryanwww.EmployerRegistry.ca. Sheridan College.adult women from diverse backgrounds in Porter, motivational speaker and entrepre-HIEC is also on Facebook, visit www.See Bridging page 20Topping off the lineup of speakers wasneur; Sandy Beveridge, ex-Hamilton Tiger hiec.on.ca and click on the Facebook link.19 Friday, April 8, 2011 OAKVILLE BEAVER www.insideHALTON.com