Oct. 30 event will feature leaders of AFC Toronto, BDC’s Thrive Venture Fund, and Tealbook.
On October 30, the ELLA Fireside Chat and Ascend 2025 Showcase will host a conversation featuring women who built entirely new markets from the ground up, followed by live pitches from women founders looking to do the same.
Hosted by YSpace — York’s pan-university entrepreneurship and innovation hub — the event will bring together founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders for a night that celebrates women entrepreneurship and marks the culmination of ELLA Ascend 2025, YSpace’s dedicated program for women entrepreneurs.
“The hope is that everyone leaves with a sense of practical empowerment.”
Opening the evening will be a highly anticipated fireside chat featuring Helena Ruken, co-founder and CEO of women’s professional football club AFC Toronto, Mona Minhas, managing partner at BDC’s Thrive Venture Fund.
Joining them will be Tealbook founder and CEO Stephany Lapierre and CATTLEytics Founder and CEO Shari Van de Pol.
Ruken is leading the push to establish professional women’s soccer in Canada, and has long championed sport as a medium for fostering confidence and leadership in women and girls. AFC is Toronto’s first professional women’s soccer club and competes in the Northern Super League, which currently plays at York University’s campus.
Minhas, newly minted managing partner at BDC’s Thrive Venture Fund, is also reshaping how capital flows to women-led ventures. Before she joined BDC Capital in 2021, Minhas served in leadership roles at Toronto-based retail startup Knix, in addition to holding leadership roles at Rogers Communications and the Canadian Broadcast Corporation.
“Programs like Ascend are supporting bold, capable women founders with great vision, who’ve proven they can execute,” Minhas said. “The question now is: how do we help them build the networks, systems, and access that make growth lasting?”
The fireside discussion, which will be moderated by Marilyn Horrick, Senior Vice-President of Market Growth and Partner Relations at Desjardins, will cover how the participants challenged convention, spotted opportunities in overlooked spaces, and helped scale ventures from the ground up.
“I’ve had the great chance to meet and speak with many entrepreneurs in Ontario, but across the country, and through those conversations, what I’ve really learned — yes, capital is still a big part of the question — but so is being able to create a network, being able to get advice and mentorship and guidance,” said Horrick.
Following the conversation, YSpace will showcase ventures from the ELLA Ascend 2025 cohort, which is powered by Desjardins and supported by funding from the federal government through Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.
ELLA is the flagship accelerator program for women entrepreneurs. Its four-month Ascend program is designed to help women entrepreneurs build momentum and scale their ventures. YSpace provides these startups with personalized mentorship and workshops, over $60,000 in startup resources, and 50 percent matching support toward fractional executive services.
This year’s cohort includes 12 businesses ranging from medtech and EdTech to video production, nostalgic-scented candles, and curated dining experiences. It’s that breadth that sets ELLA apart, according to Marlina Ramchandran, ELLA Entrepreneurship Manager at YSpace.
“Innovation takes many forms, which is why we’ve expanded ELLA beyond the conventional accelerator model to support founders across service-based ventures, product-driven businesses, and high-growth technology ventures,” she said. “This really started when we were doing our market analysis and realized that most women-led businesses were in product and service-based businesses that have the potential to scale and grow.”
Women own only 18 percent of Canadian businesses and receive a fraction of venture capital funding. That gap represents an economic loss, too, and closing it could add as much as $180 billion to Canada’s GDP. ELLA is closing that gap, having already supported more than 2,700 women entrepreneurs since 2020.
“ELLA is especially critical at this moment because women entrepreneurs face persistent systemic barriers at a time when the economy is under significant strain,” Ramchandran added.
Canada is navigating record-high unemployment and the ripple effects of global trade tensions, and Ramchandran believes women-led businesses can play a pivotal role in this climate.
“Women-led businesses have proven to deliver strong returns, and can play a pivotal role in driving innovation, creating jobs, and stabilizing local economies,” she said.
At the upcoming showcase, three ventures from the Ascend cohort will step into the spotlight to share their pitches with an audience of peers and ecosystem leaders.
It’s a fitting close for a night built to spark what YSpace hopes will become the next wave of women-led companies in Canada. Ramachandran wants the event to leave a lasting imprint on the people in the room.
“The hope is that everyone leaves with a sense of practical empowerment,” she said. “The most important thing for attendees to take away is that they too can use the tools and insights shared tonight to build and grow.”
Join us for the YSpace ELLA Fireside Chat & Ascend 2025 Showcase where bold ideas, breakthrough innovation, and entrepreneurial achievement converge in one extraordinary celebration. Register now.
