Pulling Women out of Poverty, while Pulling Planes - Lia Grimanis

Fearless Women Podcast By Janice McDonald

We are all in serious need of inspiration, as we continue through this challenging time. My guest today is the definition of fearless - Lia Grimanis, Founder and CEO of Up With Women - an organization that gives women and children inspiration and strategies for rebuilding their lives after homelessness.

Lia has many remarkable feats to her name. Financial Post Magazine listed her as one of Canada's 100 Most Powerful women, and in 2012 Chatelaine named her one of the 2012 Women of the Year. And yes, she has Guinness World Records!

At 17:08min hear Lia recount the incredible story of pulling her charity from the brink of bankruptcy " I was staring down the last 5 thousand dollars in my bank account, and I was joking with the shelters that they might want to make room for me - I might become homeless again. And at that point, I was giving a talk for the international women form. Wendy Freeman, the CEO of CTV news was in the audience, we were talking about Up With Women - she said, I want to put you on TV. I said, well great! I'm about to go bankrupt, I would like to break a Guinness World Record on live TV, and then I was going to sell the exposure for sponsorship - cause if I couldn't get grants, I knew I could sell stuff. On my 42 birthday, I broke my first Guinness World Record on Live TV, and within a matter of weeks we had raised almost 40 thousand dollars, and we were back in business."

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