Episodes

In Episode 9, I interview the woman behind Wengage, a technology that connects like-minded women on the lookout for good company — in real time. An app after my own heart! Her name is Sandra Pellegrini, and the two of us met after a series of online encounters. It only took us 6 months to actually meet in person! 😉 Tune in as we talk about our shared passion for providing opportunities for women to make life-changing connections.

Show Transcript

Each Connect and Bloom episode is transcribed using Otter.ai. While our team is busy correcting typos where possible, it’s inevitable that some mistakes will be missed. (We’re only human!) With this in mind, please forgive any errors when reviewing transcripts, and feel free to report any issues here.

Despina Zanganas  0:04  

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for joining me on the Connect and Bloom Podcast. My Guest today is Sandra Pellegrini.

Let me tell you a bit about Sandra 

In 2016, Sandra founded MYCONXN Limited, a forward-thinking Canadian tech company designing innovative social network solutions. This year will see the launch of the Wengage App, MYCONXN’s first product for women. Sandra brings 25 years of senior leadership, strategy and business development, working with national and international organizations, in professional services. As an experienced public speaker and SME, she positioned wellness initiatives to government on behalf of Canadian businesses. In 2014 she incorporated Direction Benefit Consulting Group Inc., providing advisory services to small business.  Sandra is a graduate of the University of Toronto, Economics and completed one year of fashion design in Italy while on sabbatical.

Sandra, thank you so much for joining me today!

My guest today is Sandra Pellegrini. Let me tell you a little bit about Sandra in 2016 Sandra founded my connection limited a forward-thinking Canadian tech company, designing innovative social network solutions. This year we’ll see the launch of the wengage app, my connections first product for women. Sandra brings 25 years of senior leadership strategy and business development, working with national and international organizations in professional services. As an experienced public speaker and SME, she positioned wellness initiatives to government on behalf of Canadian businesses in 2014 she incorporated direction benefit Consulting Group, Inc, providing advisory services to small business. Sandra is a graduate of the University of Toronto economics and completed one year of fashion design in Italy on sabbatical, 

Sandra Pellegrini 1:44

Thank you. Despina thank you so much. 

Despina Zanganas  1:46

So this is a question I ask all of my guests. How did we originally connect?

Sandra Pellegrini  1:55  

This is actually an especially meaningful question for me because we connected through wengage’s social media page wengage being an app that is designed to facilitate connections you responded to a contest that we held and engaged very positively with our marketing team in supporting wengage and what the app is intended to do for women. And then we subsequently met face to face when you attended one of our events we have maintained the connection I really, really have appreciated your support. It’s been, it’s been really positive. 

Despina Zanganas  2:30  

Yeah, I think it was actually it was cool you know that it’s a different way of thinking about networking right. it was just it, I saw you, on social media we followed each other. And, yeah, I didn’t realize that I think I completely forgot that I had entered this contest and then I got this email from somebody that works at your company that said you win the contest and then I got more even more actively engaged with wengage and what you were doing and then I saw you had a party and invited a bunch of the people who actually use the app and I thought that was really cool and we got to meet in person and, and it got me even more passionate about the app and that was one of the reasons I wanted to have you as a guest because you know wengage is all about connection and connecting women and all that.

So maybe you can tell us a little bit more about wengage and you know how the idea came to you and how it really ties in with networking.

Sandra Pellegrini  3:32  

Okay, well I guess I’ll start off by saying that wengage is a free social connection app. It’s been designed exclusively for women to facilitate a real-time in the moment connection as the very moment that somebody is looking for company. So it engages you to connect with another like-minded woman, like-minded meaning you were both in that moment you were you are looking to attend an event go out for dinner, share the experience of a virtual event. Now that we are in this pandemic timeline. Essentially we’re engaged enables women to connect in the moment they are looking to share an experience with somebody, whether it’s going out to a specific event, whether it is going out for dinner and just trying to try to enjoy the opportunity of a great restaurant that’s in your city, or to connect and share an experience over a virtual tour for example, that’s happening during, during the pandemic. 

How did the idea come to me the idea came to me while I was in that moment I was in that moment when one thinks surely there’s got to be a solution for this. In my case, I was up in the Yukon in Whitehorse, where many Europeans travel in the summer, I had spent a year in Milan, Italy years, a few years earlier, and thought how great it would be to meet a woman from Italy, or Europe, and share thoughts about or share information about the Yukon and just meet somebody new. The problem was, how do I find this person to why loiter in a restaurant or loiter in a hotel lobby and just listen for someone speaking a different language. I ended up in a ended up at the sports bar watching the Blue Jays on TV, and I really had no way to find that person what was frustrating at the time was knowing that there was likely someone there looking for company at the very same time, but she had no way to find me, either. And then I returned home thinking again surely there must be a solution for this. And there was none. I started sharing the idea with other women, and I came across people who understood exactly what I was talking about. I understood that having an app like wengage that could connect you to another person would have been pivotal to them in terms of how they would have been able to take, take advantage of an opportunity at a certain moment in time. I started to think about business trips I’d been on our personal trips or even Saturday nights when I was at loose ends at home. And then I started to think about the number of women who were likely at in my own locale at home, an international network really sitting very close to me at home that I could meet when I couldn’t do otherwise at the current time. And so again wengage was born. 

So how does one wengage tie in with networking. Networking is connection really, wengage and wengage makes connections, success for wengage will be a worldwide network of connecting of women connecting with each other, getting out and engaged in in life which whichever way they wish in any moment in time, just as significant to networking is that wengage makes like-minded connections and therefore helps you make the connection with ease, because when you connect with someone who shares the same interest as you, the ice is broken, and it makes it so much easier to start a conversation to build rapport to compare notes. It is not so much about the other person and connecting by personality. It is connecting via a common love for or passion for a certain interest.

Despina Zanganas  7:41  

Yeah, no I think that’s, that’s what I love about why wengage you know I’ve been in that situation I remember I was on a business trip in New Jersey and knew nobody, right, and so I was there I think about a week, and there was only the people that were in that office that I was going to, and you know they all had families they weren’t really interested in, in interacting with me. Same thing with Chicago you know I was like, the center of Chicago so exciting, but I stayed in the hotel because I was like, Is this a bad part of town, I don’t know where to go to eat and all that kind of stuff. So it’s really isolating I think it’s such an important thing. I do remember one time. You know, I’m one of the founders of Lean in Canada so when I went on business trips. There’s this, I guess you’d call it a portal that Lean has, and they show all the different, you know, groups that are all around the world. So I remember once I went to the Lean in London page Lean in London in the UK. And I did see a group and they just happen to have an event I mean, like these events might happen whatever two months or something like that and so you know I like gladly went to that event and connected with a bunch of women that were there so I totally see the need for it you know you just, you don’t feel as isolated. When you’ve got something like that and same thing in the city right like sometimes when you’re a woman, some of your friends might be married or they have kids or something like that. So, to connect with other people and just expand your network I think is so amazing and you know everybody’s got tips on like the great restaurants to go to the great nightclubs coffee shops all that so it makes so much sense to me, and it’s, it’s, I think it’s so important for this day and age.

Sandra Pellegrini  9:41  

I would just add that what we discovered in talking to two women is how broad the need for it is, it is not. When you think about this, What I started to coin the single status moment in time, had really nothing to do about whether you were in a relationship or not, whether you were on a business trip or not, whether you were at home. There were just so many times when one found themselves at loose ends or with an interest that nobody else shared. So, if there was an event for example, I met one woman who loved NASCAR, I’ll never forget nobody in her circle, wanted to attend the event, and she immediately said if she could find a company, it would make the experience so much better than doing it alone. So the application in terms of someone being younger or older in the middle of their career. At the end of their career. Women who lost their husbands and we’re looking for a new social network, or one to add to their social network, seem to come to us time and time again, such that the target market ended up being a woman who was in a single status moment in time somebody on a business trip or travelling solo for personal reasons, or simply at home and at loose ends, on, usually on the weekend we found that people were looking for company.

Despina Zanganas  11:18  

Yeah I think it’s also great, like you mentioned, it’s for different age groups right like it could be a way to find a mentor or just to learn from different people. I think it’s amazing. I’ve had, you know, some of my friends don’t share the same interest and I wish that they would. So, this is a great resource, I think, 

You know there are a few different kind of connections apps out there, how would you say that wengage is different from those apps?

Sandra Pellegrini  11:50  

We’ve been talking about real-life connections and in the moment connections, wengage is all about finding company in the moment, for a real-life connection to go out to embrace life. So it’s a good opportunity to talk about ethical technology. Our mission is to connect people to a real-life situation to a real-life connection, it is not to be connected to the device per se. So if we think about a quality connection, we are connecting people through their common interests. We are prompting hopefully a dialogue, and an easy dialogue and easily rapport, and then a plan to go out or to do something to share an experience. It’s all about human connection, it’s all about networking really just you know what you’re talking about is that it’s about the reasons you started this blog. So the human connection to each other and to life experiences, engagement and as many interest as one has to take every opportunity in life that one has when, in the absence of company you miss out. That is our objective to to essentially put as many opportunities for women in front of them via the connection to somebody. So our roadmap our improvements are enhanced enhancements are all based on this vision, and it’s all with a woman in mind, the kinds of things she’ll think about in terms of safety in terms of stigma in terms of a perceived agenda when going out alone, for example, we are always in the mind of a woman, and, presenting a solution that will make her feel comfortable and safe, and excited about taking every opportunity she has whether she’s on a business trip, as you mentioned earlier, being on a business trip and feeling frustrated because you are stuck and ordering room service. When you are in New York City or Chicago or San Francisco or Toronto or Vancouver, and can’t take advantage or don’t feel confident in terms of safety to take advantage of the things you might want to do whether you know it’s a run in the morning, or it doesn’t have to be an event, it could be something keeping up your workout routine. In the mornings.

Despina Zanganas  14:17  

Yeah, for me, I remember in Chicago. It was safety that was the biggest thing because the hotel that they put me up in was a little bit shady and I didn’t know like if it was a bad part of town and I had nobody I mean this was before, you know any of these app or connections, really existed so it’s not something I could have done so I was stuck there and I was really frustrated because I’d never been to Chicago before and I really really wanted to explore the city, and I didn’t get the opportunity and it was so unfortunate because I would have loved that. Thankfully I went, you know, probably 10 years later with a bunch of girlfriends and then we really got a chance to explore the city But yeah, it would have been such a useful thing. That’s why I love the concept about your app and that’s why I really wanted to have you on the show because it’s all about networking and all about connecting and all that. 

Would you consider wengage, another social networking app?

Sandra Pellegrini  15:16  

As a by-product Yes. Was it conceived to be a social networking app, no. The conception of the app or the initial idea of the app was to satisfy a need to find company in the moment you were looking for a company. I spent a year in Milan, and on a Saturday night, it would have been great to meet other women who were in Milan, like me, on, on a course on sabbatical on a business trip, who were at loose ends, and we would have been able to take in either sites or dinner, or whatever. So the original idea of wengage is to find company in the moment you are looking for company. But by doing so, you’re going to build a network because as soon as you meet these people, and especially if you have a connection to a common interest, you are likely going to stay in touch with that person or you may meet up with them again. Or you may not. But, you will certainly build a network of people and most likely an international network of people. So while it is not designed to be a social networking app byproduct of it is a network, if that makes any sense clear to you.

Despina Zanganas  16:39  

Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s so key. 

So let me switch it up a bit, I want to know how did you learn how to network?

Sandra Pellegrini  16:48  

I learned, I think over the years I was very lucky to grow up in a career in an industry where there were many events, and it was a natural thing for people to communicate and share ideas. And I learned from others as well. I watched others, good communicators, I was very shy. At the start, as, as many, many people are and I learned that most people are shy with public speaking, and presentations, and that kind of gave me the confidence to move forward and get over it. I really wanted to learn,to not feel shy to, to not have any nerves when I walked into a room, so I made a point of doing it, I made a point of getting out there and meeting people and just learning from others and watching other people listen. That is primarily I guess from experience isn’t the answer to your question, I learned by doing it by going out attending events and also be and also taking speaking engagements as well.

Despina Zanganas  18:02  

Yeah, I mean, what I love about your app is, it’s a different way to network right like it’s not just entering a room and kind of working a room. 

What do you think the benefits are networking? why do you personally network?

Sandra Pellegrini  18:16  

I personally network. I love people. I know that sounds poetic, but when you think of the human capital, the Bank of human capital that exists in a room, when you walk into an event or walk into any room. It’s phenomenal. Once you network and you expand your social capital, you are essentially expanding your access to so much human capital, the wisdom and the knowledge that people have, whether they’ve learned it from formal training formal education, or life experiences, is, is amazing. The validation you can get from others, and talking to them about your own ideas about the path that you are on about what you feel about current trends that are there happening within your own business or within your own personal life is phenomenal. So I believe that the more we network, the more we learn, the more we learn, the more we offer to others. If it’s in our professional lives, we added dimension to our own offering, and, and certainly it adds a profound dimension to your own personal life.

Despina Zanganas  19:37  

Absolutely, that’s the same thing that I found myself. 

Is there anything that you wish somebody would have told you about networking?

Sandra Pellegrini  19:47  

I think it sounds, I know this. This is a common piece of advice, that people get in terms of just any interaction with another person but is to really listen. If you walk away from an interaction have it genuinely at networking events if we’re talking about networking events you have a very small amount of time it’s either on a break, or before presentations, it’s around a table, and this, there’s small snippets of time to if you really want to get the most that you can from a networking event, Then you want to, to learn what other people are about. And the way to learn about other people is to hear them speak. Oftentimes we want to present ourselves as well and give a perspective about what we do so you can make a connection. But if you’re doing all the presenting then you’re not learning about people that you have around you, and that is the most valuable thing to take away from a networking event, the connections you can make the resources that you can have as you move forward in your career or in your personal life. So I would say listening is really key, and listening to how that person can connect with you in terms of your objectives, what you need in terms of whether it’s information or a resource or potential hire or a potential client. You only learn about, another person by listening.

Despina Zanganas  21:33  

Yeah, you know what, that’s such a great point, and you’re not the first person who mentioned it, I feel like there’s so many people like you the expert networkers that have been on my podcast that’s what they talk about, you don’t talk about yourself, necessarily, you talk about the other person and it’s just consistently asking them questions because, first of all, they’ll feel like you’re listening to them, and you have to find ways of how you can help them right because networking is really about helping other people maybe not necessarily helping yourself. Right, that’s that’s exactly what I found, I think it’s a key component of networking, 

Sandra Pellegrini  22:17  

I think it’s a great feeling to help somebody. It’s a great feeling when you get a phone call and someone says you know I met you at ABC event, and you were talking about this particular issue. And now I’ve got this on my hands. Can you help me out or is there someone else that you know, that might be able to help me, I love those phone calls. Yeah, it validates the whole process really,

Despina Zanganas  22:46  

I think, In general, people are generous people and they just really want to help others and yeah there’s a bit of like a thrill when you see something come out of a connection that you came, that you introduce somebody or you met somebody at an event, it’s really, It’s really interesting. 

How do you maintain relationships with people like sometimes you can go to an event or even when people are using your app, maybe this is some advice that you can give people that are using your app, how do you maintain that relationship when you first met somebody?

Sandra Pellegrini  23:21  

If you, if you’ve made a connection and you have a common interest and staying in touch, and, and you’ve exchanged coordinates you’ve exchanged business information and contact information, then you follow through. Then you follow up and you follow through and you do it within a certain period of time. You have to have a plan so if you’ve met somebody and you want to keep that connection, you mentally mark it in your mind to follow up within a few days to perhaps mention the commonality of your interest or the discussion that you may have had if you’re able to make a few notes in your mind again about what it was that interested you in that person or what you talked about, it could be even a common love of a travel destination have nothing to do with your career, but there was some connection there and following through following up is key. I believe it validates your or conveys your sincerity and it conveys also your word. As, you lead that kind of conversation.

Despina Zanganas  24:36  

For sure, like you talk about, you know, a common travel destination or something like that, it’s really funny I think when people hear the word networking, they think that it’s all about your career and like, it’s almost, what’s the word I’m trying to find, It’s almost for your own benefit and you’re using somebody but it’s not always like that sometimes. you know you network just to find friends or you network to find a reference for a plumber or something like that it’s not always about building your career and using somebody or something like that a lot of times it’s not about using somebody it’s about, you know, growing together and helping each other I mean I love the idea of, of, you know, sharing travel experiences I’ve, you know, when I was at Lean in Canada there’s so many people who’ve met and develop friendships, just because of it and actually you know we’re in completely different careers and stuff like that and it really exposes you to different people that you may not have met like outside of your social circle. You know friends that you went to high school with or college or something like that.

Sandra Pellegrini  25:41  

One of the interesting things too. I’m sure you’ve found in meeting people from other countries or even other parts of the country who are in your own field, is that their life experiences, their culture, the way things are done, the givens in terms of the work environment, bring a different perspective to your very own profession. And you can learn a lot about people and the application of your work to different cultures to different people to different types of industries. It’s always a learning, again going back sound like a broken record but it’s always a learning experience, even if you’re not talking about a specific subject as you said, you could be talking about something entirely different, from your own work. But, that person’s perspective in different ways. Tweaks a different idea or makes you think differently about how you might apply the work that you do.

Despina Zanganas  26:53  

I think that’s such a great point. I want to talk about, like, other kinds of events now. So, you know, what other ways can people network you know we’ve talked about just like working your room, and you know potentially using your app or something like that. Are there other ways to network?

Sandra Pellegrini  27:14  

I think, well first of all I think you can use your network to network, I think, the network is a live dynamic phenomenon, and if you stay in touch with the people within your network, you naturally meet people through that network. And they’re trusted, because you have a group of trusted individuals within your network, they by extension have theirs, and you just brought in your network. So that’s the first thing I would say about terms, in terms of how I brought in my network or how else my network. And lately, I’ve been especially, you know in this COVID times I’ve been attending various virtual events where there is a live chat, and there’s a live display of people who are participating in the event. And I went on a wine tour for example one of the restaurants in Toronto, named Terroni in Toronto, had a virtual tour of vineyards and in parts of Italy certain regions of Italy, and there were a dozen women or more who participated in this event, and I, so to speak, met them, we talked about, you know, the wine and where we had travelled and if we had travelled to this region, and I could have very easily prompted a connection in a different way. It was a social event entirely, but it was. Nonetheless, a potential networking event. So I think just to keep your eyes and ears open to any possibility to meet people, is, is a way to consider what networking is in your day to day life.

Despina Zanganas  29:11  

That is so interesting, I think that’s so cool a tour of Italy’s wine regions that’s amazing that must have been a lot of fun.

Sandra Pellegrini  29:19  

It was informative and it was, it was different and it was, It was a way to support, you know, we’re trying to support our local industries right and our restaurants and our local businesses. So A, it was, you know, first and foremost a way to support business. And then secondly, it was, it was potentially a way to meet a group of interesting women. 

Despina Zanganas  29:43  

You talked about, you know, we’re in COVID times and things like that and this was a different way. Has it completely changed for you? And how have you personally adapted?

Sandra Pellegrini  29:58  

I think first and foremost, the most significant realization for me during this time is just how important human connection is how much better I feel. How much more motivated energized, happy. I feel when I’ve participated in any type of real-life event, our discussion here for example, Zoom calls I have where we’re face to face and speaking in real-time. The Terroni event that I mentioned, when that, whether it’s a drive-by for a happy birthday. When you see people face to face in a real life experience. I just feel better. And that makes me feel more positive just about the human connection, and the positive, positive value it has on our own mental and physical health. So what is COVID. As a result of realizing that I suppose I had looked for events to participate in webinars, I signed up for an eight-week seminar, related to financial services to learn yes about certain, certain topics but also there’s a group chat, there’s polls that go on during the weekly event. We discuss we debate we go back and forth. So what I’ve learned is how important it is to maintain those connections.

Despina Zanganas  31:38  

Yeah I think that’s so important. It’s the same thing for me I’ve really realized how much I value human connection, and that I get energy from people you know, going to an event really just energizes me sometimes you feel like, I don’t necessarily know if I want to go to event it’s snowing or it’s raining or something like that but when you get there, you get this energy, and I see you nodding right like, you’re probably the same way you get energy from other people, and you just, you’re so glad once you’re there, you know, not every single time. I can’t say that having. But yeah, there’s just something about being around other people and I think that’s what a lot of people have missed during these times, Is that human connection. 

So I want to talk about, you know, making events or networking, and how to make it more inclusive, I mean your app is specifically for women. How do you think we can make networking, more inclusive, and how do we support women in this case?

Sandra Pellegrini  32:46  

In both cases, you do it deliberately. There has to be a plan. You have to listen first of all and understand what the issues are and what might prevent, Or what hold might hold back. People from networking or participating in various events, and then address them and offer ways to offer support in ways that are meaningful and impactful. If there’s, it can’t be glossed over as sort of a very high-level objective to include people, there has to be a real understanding again of what the issues are that hold people back perhaps, and then and then help them I think there’s a general, as you were mentioning earlier, I think people genuinely, genuinely like to help others. And there’s a great opportunity to mentor people. Once you get along in your career, there’s a great opportunity to be a friend or a buddy to another person who might be holding back. So I think we first have to understand what the issues are and then we have to address them in a deliberate way and offer assistance.

Despina Zanganas  33:59  

Yeah I think that’s a great point. Do you have a favourite networking story like if something happened to you, or have a great experience to share when you met somebody?

Sandra Pellegrini  34:14  

I was thinking about this and thinking about this and certainly, I’ve met so many people over the years that have added to my life in one way or another and certainly that’s great. But perhaps the one incident that stands out that was really impactful to me was, after I had did a speaking engagement, at an industry event. And I was, I was fairly young, and I specifically signed up for this, in order to get over my fear of public speaking. And afterwards, circulating in the room and speaking to different people, a very senior person in the industry who I’ve met came up to me and said, said some very kind words about my presentation, but especially made the point that I was so confident and my voice sounded confident and strong and clear, and I was blown away because inside I was anything but. And then I learned that the manifestation of that somehow came out, in a fairly decent presentation. And it calms me right down afterwards, I felt pumped I felt very excited, I learned to really enjoy presentations and meeting people. And it really turned me around. So I think sometimes, networking events, a few are a little bit shy or a little bit nervous about how you yourself are being perceived, sometimes just the exercise of doing it, and getting validation from other people can really, really make a difference in your life.

Despina Zanganas  36:04  

Yeah, I think that’s a great point. I’m going to switch it up a bit because you talked about public speaking. I used to feel the exact same way you know absolutely terrified but I think that one of the lessons I’ve learned is that a lot of times people can’t tell that you’re terrified. I took an improv class, and that was one of the things that you know we were practicing public speaking, and what our teacher said to us was how did you feel and everybody was like, oh my god, I was terrified. And the person. And so the people, the teacher would reach out to the class, and he would say, did anybody notice. And everybody say No, you look so confident. You know what I mean. So I think a lot of times it’s our own self-talk and our own nervousness that really, you know catches those problems for us kind of thing are the issues. So, it’s so great that you had somebody to say that I mean, for me it really made a difference to so to hear that from another person, is it calms you down when you they give you a little bit of confidence and it’s a wonderful that that person was a stranger. 

Do you have any pet peeves when it comes to networking?

Sandra Pellegrini  37:23  

I suppose, a lack of sincerity that may come across from people sometimes. But if you’re doing your job and you are really interested in the other person and asking the right questions, then hopefully you draw enough, authenticity, out of the exchange. And you can, and you can overcome that. It goes back to what I was, I think, mentioning before, is that when, when people don’t listen. Many times I’ve met people who have, I certainly get an overview of what they’re doing, but afterwards walked away and realize that they know, they knew nothing about you. Because there wasn’t any opportunity to engage, but so I would think, when it’s not a two-way street when the dialogue isn’t at least 60/40 or even 30/70. There should be an exchange of ideas, there should be an exchange of comments about what the event is about or, or what, whatever you’re talking about, but I would say when it’s not an even exchange or or or a balanced exchange is probably the best way to describe it between, between two people.

Despina Zanganas  38:52  

Yeah, I think that’s so important I think we’ve all been there. We’ve been to events or we’ve been somewhere where the person just talks about themselves and they don’t ask you any questions, so it definitely has to be a balance.

Sandra Pellegrini  39:04  

Yeah and it’s not about, it’s not about wanting to hear yourself speaking, it’s just, you want to have a quality exchange, you want to have quality discussion. And that’s probably one of my, my pet peeves.

Despina Zanganas  39:19  

Yeah, same here. Same here. 

So for anybody who listens to this show on a regular basis, they know that this is a question I ask every guest. Is there anyone you’ve always wanted to meet. Now this person has to be alive and realistic. The reason I am asking is because you’ve probably heard of the six degrees of separation which is the idea that on average people are six or fewer social connections from each other. Kinda like a friend of a friend. So I’m hoping that one of my listeners might know this person and they can connect you.  So tell me, who have you always wanted to meet?

Sandra Pellegrini  40:03  

I gave a lot of thought to this because there’s so many women who are so talented. And so passionate about being good role models, being mentors and providing leadership to women in general. I started to think about our own Canadian group of women who fall into that category and I ended up with, two, two sisters, actually. I was talking to people on my team and we started to talk about Erica and Leslie Ehm I don’t know if

Despina Zanganas  1:10  

I know Erica Am I have no idea who Leslie, I didn’t know she had a sister. 

Sandra Pellegrini  1:14  

Yes, she’s the author of a book called Swagger, which is a guide, basically intended to achieve one’s personal best to bring out the swagger in you, but with the intention of achieving your personal best. They both are positive, and they both are influencers in the sense of bringing positivity to women. And as I think about the team of people and the culture I want to develop at wengage, I would love to have just a brainstorming session with them. I would love to talk about what starting a new business means how you start with a core group of senior leadership and build out a dynamic and positive and balanced way of thinking throughout an organization, they have worked Erica both Erica and Leslie have worked with, with many leading companies, and I would, I would just love to talk to them about what I vision for the future. And also wengage itself as a product and how they feel it will affect women’s lives, hopefully as positively as we think it will.

Despina Zanganas 42:21  

That’s so interesting. Yeah, I, you know, I want to go Google them and find out more, I mean I know Erica, as I said, but Leslie I’ve never heard of and what’s the book again?

Sandra Pellegrini   

The book is called Swagger

Despina Zanganas   

Swagger, Okay I am definitely gonna go Google this after we’re done because I’m actually really curious. I mean, you know, there is so many wonderful Canadian women out there that are so inspiring and I’d love to hear more from them,

Sandra Pellegrini  42:30  

I’m sure you would really relate to this. 

Despina Zanganas   

So we’re about to wrap up the show but before I do that I always take questions from the audience. And this is actually a question from Elisa. So I just moved to the city for a job. The only people I know are my co-workers and they don’t seem to want to socialize outside of work so I’m feeling a bit lonely, and I don’t like the idea of going out by myself. Do you have any suggestions about how I can meet people, I mean this ties exactly to your app right so I think this is a perfect question for you.

Sandra Pellegrini  43:08  

Well thank you.

Yes, that’s true. Oftentimes, I’ve been on, even on business trips that extend for as long as a week, meaning I’m outside my own social network.

And, certainly, you may have lunch and you may have, may have a quick coffee or a drink after work, but it still leaves you with evenings and weekends, potentially alone. The wengage app is there to connect you with anybody local or anybody else who is in the moment looking for companies so while you may think of this as applicable only while you are travelling on your own. Certainly anybody and again this single moment in time can use the app. I personally am very excited about meeting people from around the world in my own city. Whenever I find I haven’t spare evening or even an afternoon. This is where you can meet as many people as you wish, no matter where you might find yourself to be.

Despina Zanganas  44:17  

You know what I think is so interesting too is, you know there’s that, if you’ve talked about this before. Maybe not on this podcast but you and I have talked about this, how there’s a bit of a stigma or there’s a bit of a fear, if you go out to a restaurant alone on a Saturday night, right, like, is everybody watching me do people think I’m a loser right. So it kind of takes that out of the picture. And also, that kind of safety issue. I don’t know if you want to talk about that a little bit.

Sandra Pellegrini  44:51  

No, it’s true, I am certainly all about. Personally, I’m all about taking every opportunity and not missing out on life. And so if there’s a great restaurant, and take your example, for example, certainly we saw, often we don’t say, well, well you know I have enough gumption and I will put myself together and I’ll go out there, but it’s just not that much fun. I mean, you may get there and you may experience a great meal or perhaps a wonderful wine list, but at the same time you’re looking around the room and there’s, you know, at a minimum two people engaging or having a conversation, and on your own. There’s just no one with him to share that experience, that piece of missing out. Even though you went to the event is something that is quite profound and makes you feel like, again you’ve, you’ve had some you’ve missed out on something.

Stigma is also something in the perceived agenda of people thinking that you are walking into a room to meet people, meet men, find romance. When really, are you want to do is have a meal, or have or have the experience of going to an event that will hold the woman back for sure, and they would prefer to stay in.

I don’t know how many times you’ve talked about travelling Despina I don’t know how many times you’ve walked down the hotel hallway and seen all the room service trays sitting at the door. I find that so sad. You could be in a wonderful city. And yet people are locked in their rooms on their own, having a meal instead of meeting somebody else or experiencing the great environment of a fantastic restaurants. I don’t know I, I just think if we can do something to get people out of their rooms, whether they’re at home on a Friday night or they’re in a hotel room will be a good thing.

Despina Zanganas  47:01 

That is so that’s such a great point. I never thought about all those trays outside hotel rooms I’ve definitely seen them before COVID You know, they were just lined up. And, yeah, it’s kind of sad actually now that you point out, so before we end up just before we close up I want to talk about how to get wengage I believe it’s in beta right now, am I correct.

Sandra Pellegrini   

We’re in beta. Now, the team is soon to see. We’re soon to complete an internal beta, and in July, we will be launching and if you follow our social media pages, there will be a link to download the app, and we will be engaging as much as we can with as many people as we can to get feedback and hopefully, hopefully, grow the word about how anyone can use it.

Despina Zanganas  47:59  

That’s so exciting, I will definitely spread the word when it actually comes out because I think it’s such an important app for women to have and to connect in different ways for those women who don’t typically want to go out to an actual event, or doing COVID You know when they don’t have the time so maybe it’s an outdoor walk or something like that. So, Sandra, I want to thank you so much. It was great to talk to you and learn more about wengage and your experience with networking,

Sandra Pellegrini   

Thank you thank you Despina thank you for doing this, I think it’s really important for women. I think we need to learn off each other and give each other, confidence, and we need to just keep moving forward. So thank you for this and for all that you are doing.

Despina Zanganas   

Thank you.