Meet Lynette: Fearless, Authentic, and Driven by Impact

“I’m Lynette, and some people like to call me fearless, but I think I’m just a small-town girl with big-city dreams and exceptional determination.

I love creating and building, whether it’s new organizations, brands, coalitions, or communities. Bringing people together around a common goal and leading them to achieve what they thought was impossible is what drives me. And my passion for adventure has motivated me to do this in three different Canadian provinces and now across the world as an entrepreneur focused on international business.

I believe my purpose is to kick down doors and help others through them because the most important thing I want to build is a better legacy for future generations.

In my spare time, you’re most likely to find me on the dance floor, cuddling my cats, or travelling the world.” 

What first inspired you to join Women United, and what does being part of this community mean to you? 

Some of the cabinet members invited me to an event back in 2024, and I found it incredibly moving, but I was also struck by the sense of community. Then, I got to know some of the staff and was inspired by their drive, passion, and commitment to supporting women. It’s something that I share, and I felt that something was missing in my volunteer work. The cause, cabinet members, and Women United staff encouraged and inspired me to join. 

I left my first cabinet meeting incredibly energized by being in that room filled with passionate, talented, and brilliant women, by the sense of community I felt, and by the ambition that emanated from our conversations. I left that meeting knowing I’d made the right choice and that I could contribute to real and tangible impact for women in my community. 

What specific issues or barriers facing women and girls are you most passionate about addressing? 

Oh gosh, so many! I’ve dedicated a lot of my career and volunteer work to supporting and growing women leaders across all sectors, helping them lead in a way that is authentic to themselves and not simply trying to emulate what they see or what’s expected by male leaders or a system simply not built for us. 

It’s incredibly challenging and takes a great deal of courage to choose authenticity over expectations, but research proves that more women leaders leading authentically are not only better for culture, but are also better for business. 

Because these systems weren’t built for us, they don’t work for us (I’d argue they don’t work for a lot of people), so I’m also passionate about helping women change the systems and question the norms we are given and expected to blindly obey. 

Has there been a moment or experience with Women United that felt especially meaningful to you? 

In 2024, I attended a Women United event about gender-based violence. As a survivor of gender-based violence and someone who had experienced it for most of my adult life, it was the first time I had attended an event that felt so honest, authentic, and action-oriented. 

I was inspired to participate in the donation-matching campaign. This event and campaign also inspired me to start sharing my writing about my own experience, witnessing the power that sharing your story can have in helping other survivors. 

Who is a woman, past or present, who inspires you and why? 

Shakira. This woman has been an unapologetically authentic trailblazer since day one. She dominated an industry in her second language, singing differently and dancing differently than everyone else, but it was authentic to her, and she became a trendsetter. 

She was then subjected to public humiliation and heartbreak from her ex-husband, but she had the courage to bare her soul in her album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (Women No Longer Cry) and state on national television that for too long, women have been given a script for how to handle grief. 

That previous generations were taught to hide their tears, conceal their feelings, and suffer in silence in front of their children and society. But “no one is supposed to tell a she-wolf how to lick her wounds.” 

And now she continues to be an unapologetic symbol of sensuality and sexual confidence at 49, implicitly saying to the world that women, our beauty, and our sensuality don’t have an expiration date. 

As a woman who just turned 43 and has experienced a lot of similar things in my life, I find her such a beacon of inspiration. 

If you could grant one resource or opportunity to every woman or girl, what would it be and why? 

Confidence. 

Of course, women face so many barriers (financial, structural, and cultural), and so much gets taken from us that I would love to restore. But over the years, I’ve asked a lot of women through my workshops and leadership training, “What is one thing you are looking for or hope to get out of this?” 

The most common answer is confidence. 

We talk a lot about imposter syndrome as if there is something wrong with us, as though we have a syndrome. But so much of it comes from external messages and symbols telling us that we aren’t enough, that we have to prove ourselves. And we internalize those messages so they sound like our own voice. 

But we weren’t born not believing in ourselves. Quite the opposite. So if I could imbue every woman across the world with unshakable confidence in herself, imagine what she could do. Imagine what our world would look like. 

What’s one book, movie, or podcast that you feel every woman should check out? 

Well, of course, I would recommend my own podcast, The Stay Spicy Podcast, which is available on all platforms. 

The premise is that we were all born spicy in our own way, but our systems and society work hard to file down the edges and dim the light that makes us uniquely and beautifully spicy so that we can fit into a more palatable box. 

We believe that the world needs more of you and what makes you unique, so stay spicy! 

Having said that, a movie that has always been my favourite, and that I think really embodies that principle, is called Morning Glory, starring our very own Canadian Rachel McAdams. Highly recommend!