What would happen if people of all genders had equal access to financial knowledge?
The story of Movement51 (M51) begins with our sister company, The51: a Financial Feminist™ platform and venture capital firm where current and aspiring investors (particularly women and gender-diverse individuals), come together to democratize access to capital.
But the problem is aspiring investors and founders can’t come together to grow, fund, and champion the feminist businesses our world needs most… if they don’t know where to start. As is the case with so many issues rooted in economic and social inequality, the solution: it starts with education.
Founded in 2020, M51 is a non-profit educational platform created to eliminate gender disparity in financial knowledge.
Since our inception, M51 has addressed financial inequalities through innovative educational programs like the Financial Feminism Investing Lab, accessible community events, strategic partnerships with academic institutions like the University of Calgary, and like-minded non-profits, like the Canadian Women’s Foundation.
With programming that focuses on entrepreneurship and early-stage investing through a feminist lens, M51 is powering the full economic participation of women and gender-diverse people in Canada.
Our Values
Inclusivity
We ensure that every individual feels welcome to pull up a seat at the M51 table.
Insights-Driven
We listen to the numbers; our decisions are backed by data and research.
Building Capacity
Growing confidence in our program participants, community members and team is always a priority.
Education
We believe education is circular: we provide programming to the community, and the community in turn teaches us what’s needed to further our mission.
Community
As the foundation of our brand, community is authentically built through connection, trust and the belief that ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’.
Did you know?
Inclusivity, Insights-Driven, and Community are shared values with our sister company, The51.
We’re Hiring
Shape the Future of Wealth with Movement51!
Meet our team
they are just like you!
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Shelley Kuipers
Co-Founder, Board Director
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Arielle Land
Program Director
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Emily McBride
Program Manager
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Kristy Sadler
SVP Marketing
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Courtney Dragani
Chief Growth Officer
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Iva Kubickova
Community Director
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Lisa Oldridge
Executive in Residence
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Danielle Gifford
Faculty Advisor
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George Damian
Expert in Residence
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Roxanne Leduc
Diversity and Inclusion Expert in Residence
Board Of Directors
Shelley Kuipers
Co-founder, Board Director
As an activist in business, entrepreneurship and investment, Shelley is hellbent on taking the status quo, and transforming to create more equitable, feminist, corporately sound and ecologically sustainable businesses.
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Previous to co-founding The51, Shelley founded crowdsourcing company Chaordix (acquired by Benevity) and software development and marketing firm, Stormworks (acquired by Solium). She is also the co-founder of people-powered brands company IOVIA, founded in London, UK, which provides a brand accelerator for plant-based food startups. Shelley also collaboratively runs her family office Adventure Capital, with her partner and two sons. Shelley has had the opportunity to live and work in Canada, US, Germany and the UK, as well as lead global commercialisation efforts across markets in UK/Europe, South East Asia/Australia and Africa.
Shelley has been early-stage investing for the better part of 20 years. Her investment experience started in oil and gas, but she quickly diversified her investments into the tech sector with a focus on innovation-driven companies across many sectors. Shelley’s investment highlights include: Stormworks, Solium, Medgate, Evoco, Rival, Sampler, Zayzoon, SmartBe Wealth, Strategic Asset Management and Provision Analytics. To date she has made +30 investments.
Shelley’s most notable investment was Solium, which was acquired by Morgan Stanley in 2019 for $1.1B. As an early-stage investor, board member and member of the management team, these roles powered Solium’s global brand awareness and commercialisation. Additionally, Adventure Capital’s participation as board member and management advisor contributed to Medgate’s acquisition by private equity firm, Norwest & Georgian, and Evoco’s acquisition by Accruent.
Shelley serves on the board of Rival, Virtual Gurus, ReUpp/The Upside, as well as the A100, and University of Calgary USeed, Social Impact Fund. Shelley is also a Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) Associate with CDL Atlanta - Commerce.
Anita Rossall
Past Board Chair
Anita is a life-long supporter of science and engineering, with over 25 years wide-ranging experience in the energy sector and consulting, and 50 years of experience in not-for-profit, both as a volunteer and a board executive.
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Throughout her career in the downstream petroleum industry and business consulting, she worked regularly to deliver on difficult goals, during challenging and inhospitable business environments. With experience in facilities design, sales, marketing, business process improvement, ERP system implementation, capital/strategic/tactical planning and operations she uses her diverse knowledge and experience to build teams and solve problems to deliver results. In addition, she brings her board experience to the areas of governance and sustainability.
Anita has consistently demonstrated her devotion to the promotion and understanding of STEAM and how science literacy leads to career and business opportunities, especially for women. For her contributions, the Alberta Women’s Science Network presented her with the 2010 Minerva Mentoring Award, the Alberta Science Network (ASN) honoured her in 2014 with the creation of the Anita Rossall Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Volunteer Contribution to ASN, University of Toronto presented her with an Arbor Award in 2014 and APEGA named her the recipient of their Summit Award - Community Service in 2015.
Through The51 she has invested in Fund1 (where she is an advisor on the LPAC) and the Food and Agtech Fund and made several co-investments along the way.
In her leisure time, Anita enjoys kayaking, hiking, cycling and cross-country skiing in places near and far.
Lisa Helfrick
Board Director
Lisa is a human capital leader, certified executive coach and former accountant. She has over 15 years of HR advisory and leadership experience with companies like PwC, Korn/Ferry, WestJet and Sandbox Talent. Lisa believes that healthy and sustainable organizations and communities require diverse leadership and strives to advance this within her work, as a mentor, and as a volunteer.
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As the Founder of Sandbox Talent Inc., Lisa helps startup and mid-size Boards and management teams improve performance by strengthening their talent bench, coaching executives to reach their fullest potential, streamlining HR as businesses scale, and creating programs that foster high-performance cultures.
Prior to founding Sandbox, Lisa held key leadership roles in organizations ranging from large, global enterprises to Canadian technology startups. At WestJet Group of Companies (at the time, a $4B market cap global commercial airline), she led a large multidisciplinary team as the Head of Talent. In addition to overhauling the recruitment function (~4,500 annual hires), she led the build of multiple talent management programs. Her team recruited over 31 global leaders including C-Suite, CEO & Board members. These leaders played an instrumental role in the airline’s rapid growth and eventual $5B acquisition by ONEX Corporation.
Throughout her career, Lisa has been a passionate advocate for women in leadership. Since her early days in executive recruitment with Korn/Ferry, she has consistently worked to elevate minority representation in executive and Board roles.
Lisa holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from the University of Calgary and is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC). She is the co-host of Silicon Valley Impact, a podcast that interviews successful global leaders and emerging startups. She actively invests in early-stage startups, loves exploring the Rocky Mountains and stays busy as a mother of soon-to-be three children under the age of four.
Kelsey Armstrong
Acting Secretary
Kelsey is a partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Calgary, where she has practiced since her admission to the bar by the Law Society of Alberta in 2011. Her practice focuses on corporate finance and securities, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and general corporate matters.
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Kelsey completed her J.D. (with Distinction) at the University of Alberta where she was awarded the Horace Harvey Gold Medal for highest standing in her graduating class. Prior to attending law school, Kelsey obtained her B.Comm. (with Distinction) in Finance from the University of Calgary. On completion of her studies, she was awarded the Haskayne School of Business Gold Medal as well as the Governor General’s Silver Medal.
Michelle De Souza
Board Director
Michelle De Souza is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) with 17 years in the Oil and Gas industry, where she successfully managed a planning team at Cenovus Energy inc. (when Cenovus generated revenues of $21B, and had a capital annual budget of $1.5B).
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She supported executive leadership, helping translate the corporate strategy into operational targets, action plans and value creation opportunities. This included having a major role in the annual corporate strategy development, long range planning, detailed three-year planning, quarterly press releases, and Board material.
In 2020, Michelle entered into the small and medium-sized ecosystem, helping tech entrepreneurs and startups with business planning, cash management, forecasting and venture capital strategies.
Michelle values all efforts in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion work. She chaired a group of women in the energy sector that included 13 major producers and midstream companies. Their mission was to influence corporate culture and business policies to be more supportive of women in energy, that would ultimately result in a robust pipeline of female talent for senior leadership.
During her time at the National Research Council, Michelle and team built a national collaboration group to support female-led Canadian startups to successfully raise capital.
Currently, Michelle sits on a not-for-profit Board for Movement51, which is an organization that drives change in the areas of financial acumen, education, entrepreneurship, and investing through a gendered lens.
Leaning on her finance and accounting experience, Michelle currently works for RBC Dominion Securities, Canada’s leading full-service wealth management firm. She works with an experienced team - the Andrukow Wealth Management Group (AWMG) - who support 175 families, with over $600 million of client assets.
Alison Pidskalny
Board Chair
Alison is a trusted ally to founders, CEOs and Boards. As a strategic consultant she builds community-informed strategic plans that (re)invigorate and focus clients on bold directions.
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As a strategic advisor Alison is a trusted ally to founders, CEOs and Boards. Her approach to long-term planning delivers Authentic Insights that (re)invigorates and focuses clients on bold and courageous directions. Alison is an all-in ally, bringing her full self as a consultant, board director, business angel, fundraiser and philanthropist, along with her vast network, her uncanny ability to synthesize big ideas, and her seemingly boundless enthusiasm for community, connectedness and inclusion.
Alison is also part of the team that will launch the first pro soccer team in the city, Calgary Wild FC, and is and co-chair of Rosé and Croquet, an annual garden party benefitting YW Calgary's programs for vulnerable women and their children. She is a mom of two, an avid traveller, downhill skier, and member of Unicef Canada's "Women Unlimited", which has taken her to remote parts of Ghana and Rwanda.
Susan Snider
Board Director
Vice President, Strategy Innovation and Impact at Equality Fund.
Katherine Martens
Board Director
Katherine Martens is a CPA and an accomplished finance professional with over eight years of experience in accounting, tax, and consulting. Currently serving as a Fractional Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for various organizations, Katherine excels at driving financial strategy, optimizing business performance, and advising senior leadership on strategic growth initiatives. Her expertise spans financial planning and analysis, mergers and acquisitions, cost-control measures, and internal control development.
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Katherine's passion for empowering start-ups and entrepreneurs shines through her work, where she delivers tailored strategic financial solutions that drive growth and help clients achieve their business targets. She has a proven track record of enhancing operational efficiency, streamlining processes, and cultivating strong relationships with key stakeholders, including clients, financial institutions, and suppliers.
Previously, as Director of Accounting for Young Women in Business (YWiB), Katherine championed initiatives to create opportunities for women to thrive professionally and build meaningful connections. She continues to lead by example, advocating for greater inclusion and financial literacy for women in traditionally male-dominated sectors.
With a commitment to impactful leadership and strategic growth, Katherine Martens blends financial acumen, operational expertise, and a passion for elevating organizations and their people.
Who is M51 for?
The statistics around women’s and gender-diverse people’s participation in entrepreneurship and investing are appallingly low. M51 was created to even the playing field — to afford people of underrepresented genders opportunities to learn about and activate their investing and entrepreneurship potential. To that end, M51 specifically targets our education opportunities to women and gender-diverse people. (For more information and definitions, see our footer!)
However, we also understand and appreciate that within gender categories there are multiple other identity factors that contribute to a person’s experience and opportunities. As a proudly intersectional organisation, we emphasize the support, and amplify the voices of women and gender-diverse people who are Black, Indigenous, people of colour, LGBTQ2+, newcomers to Canada, members of the disability community and/or belong to any other systematically marginalised or underrepresented groups.
How can we build the next generation of investors and founders? It starts with education.
Check out our collection of resources to entertain, educate, and equip you with knowledge for full economic participation as an aspiring investor, investor, or founder.