This business column is about to go international.
Tomorrow morning, on one of the blurry-eyed crack of dawn flights out of YXS Prince George, I will embark on what I've labeled "Jennifer's Excellent American Adventure". It will be a three-week journey taking me to five American cities: Washington, D.C.; Kansas City, Missouri; Austin, Texas; Denver, Colorado; and San Francisco, California in that order. I have never been to any of these cities and, despite having travelled to many countries; I really have only limited experience traveling in the USA.
It will not be a lonely trip. I will be joined by eight business women from across Canada with international backgrounds in business and economic development on what is called the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), the US Department of State's premier professional exchange program. The IVLP brings approximately 4500 international visitors to the U.S. each year for visits meant to strengthen ties between America and professionals from around the world. The particular program I will be taking part in is called 'Women in Trade and Entrepreneurship' and I am honoured to represent Prince George as a Canadian visitor and as a business representative.
What I hope to get out of the IVLP experience is a robust understanding of American history, politics and business through a female lens. I want to learn how the U.S. government supports economic development and innovation while gleaning best practices that our chamber may advocate for in our province and country. I will meet women in business at all stages, from Kathy Bennett, CEO of Bennett Packaging and Displays in Kansas City, one of the largest packaging companies in the country to the owner of Amy's Ice-cream, a woman whose small dessert shop now has 13 stores across Austin, Texas. From business women like these, I intend to discover the resources that helped them build their businesses and flourish despite economic hard times. On March 8th, I plan to revel in the culmination of all my travel experiences as a guest of honour at the World Affairs Council International Women's Day event. Through it all, I hope to get one step closer to discovering what it takes to be a successful woman in business.
I see myself as a participant but also as a two-way conduit in this situation. Some of the communication will flow from the U.S. to Prince George. During my journey from city to city, I will share some of my new business connections, lessons, and travel stories with readers over the next three weeks in this column. If you'd like to follow my experiences more closely, you may do so by following my travel blog posts on a site called Travel Pod. There you'll find daily photos, musings, and updates with greater detail and commentary.
Other communications will flow from Prince George to the U.S. as I introduce the city I love and call home to everyone I encounter. All the other female participants come from cities of more than one million people: Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal with the exception of Halifax with 300,000 in population. And then there's the girl from P.G.: population 75,000. I'll do my best to put us on the map and let everyone I meet know why Prince George is a great place to do business.
Until next week, follow the daily updates off my travel blog by subscribing to my RSS feed at: http://blog.travelpod.com/members/jbrandlemccall and above all, stay in the black and keep coming back.
Jennifer Brandle-McCall is the CEO of the Prince George Chamber of Commerce.
