Helping immigrant and racialized women navigate barriers to employment and find meaningful jobs
Age: 39
Job Title: Founder and CEO of Grow Women Leaders
When Tracy F. Barry first arrived in Canada as a 17-year-old from Nigeria, she felt lost.
Integrating into Canadian life and forging a career path — especially as a young, immigrant woman — seemed riddled with barriers. But then she had an idea: She reached out to successful immigrant women from across the country — doctors, lawyers, a few politicians — and gleaned insight into their success.
“They basically talked about how difficult it was,” says Barry. “It was difficult, but they persisted in navigating it.”
Barry put herself through school and launched a career in leadership, all while raising five children. But she wanted to do more. She wanted to help women navigate the workforce just as other women had helped her. That desire resulted in Project150 — a storytelling initiative that involved interviewing more than 200 women and was later turned into a speaker series and book.
The success of Project150 inspired Barry to start her foundation, Grow Women Leaders, which helps steer women — especially those who are immigrants, Indigenous or racialized — to fulfilling careers with training, job-matching resources and career support.
“Seeing the talent that was going unused and seeing the pain that everyone was going through, I promised myself that if I can go through this and become successful, I’m going to ensure that other women, other newcomers, would not go through this.”
Since launching the foundation in 2018, she’s helped more than 2,500 women find meaningful employment, earning accolades like a Women of Inspiration award and a Top 25 Immigrant Award along the way. She knows that systemic barriers still exist, but hopes that resources like her foundation help women navigate those barriers and build rewarding careers.
“I hope we can keep doing this for as long as we can, so that more women can be empowered, irrespective of where they are from.”
