Finalist: VIATEC Emerging Leader of the Year Award

April 3, 2025 VIATEC announced, I am a finalist for the 2025 Emerging Leader of The Year Award.

This is not only a great honour but also a significant milestone in my professional journey. 

In case you’re unfamiliar, the VIATEC Awards is a Victoria, BC-based event that started 23 years ago.

Essentially, they spotlight outstanding leaders, companies, and products in Victoria’s growing tech sector.

Beyond recognition, the VIATEC Awards serve as a wonderful opportunity for our community to support one another, collaborate, foster connections, and have fun!

Reflecting on my nomination, I feel immense gratitude.

The path to this moment has been filled with invaluable learning experiences and significant personal growth.

Leadership is often about the unseen efforts that accompany it – the choices I make to pause, reflect, and respond thoughtfully rather than react impulsively.

I've committed to holding myself accountable, embracing my mistakes, and acknowledging my vulnerabilities instead of striving for unattainable perfection.

As Remarkable Communications continues to grow and thrive, I recognize the critical role my growth as a leader plays in that success. This has allowed our business to double in size over the past year, with steady growth expected as we continue our expansion out of BC and across Canada. 

No woman achieves success alone and I am grateful to the community of people who have helped me along the way; thank you to my mentors, coaches, confidants, as well as the women who have inspired me to aim higher and do and be better. 

I look forward to celebrating with all of you at the VIATEC Awards in less than a month! Thank you for being a part of this incredible journey.

I’m Laurel Anne Stark and I’m a storyteller, decolonial justice advocate, technologist, and thought leader who blends ancient wisdom and modern technology to help us break free from the colonial-capitalist patriarchal system that divides us and undermines our wellbeing. I’m actively building a world where we prioritize humanity above extraction, well-being over productivity, people over profits, and belonging over division, but I can’t do it alone.

If you’d like to join me on this journey, I encourage you to follow me on socials and sign up for my newsletter. Together, we can decolonize our lives.

Yours in Solidarity, 

Laurel