A Decade of Impact: Ask Her Celebrates 10 Years
When Ask Her was founded in 2016, the mission was clear: municipal leadership should reflect the communities it serves.
What began as an effort to encourage more women to run for Calgary City Council has, over the past decade, grown into a broader movement focused on advancing inclusive and equitable representation in municipal politics across Alberta. Through training programs, mentorship, advocacy, and community-building, Ask Her has helped prepare women and gender-diverse people to engage in civic leadership and shape the future of their communities.
Ten years later, that work continues, but so does the momentum created by hundreds of conversations, training sessions, campaign launches, partnerships, and moments where someone heard the words “you should run” and began to believe it.
That impact can be seen not only in election cycles but in the growing community of aspiring candidates, campaign volunteers, advocates, and civic leaders who have found support, connection, and confidence through Ask Her’s work.
“By creating pathways into municipal leadership for people who may not have previously seen themselves reflected there, Ask Her has helped broaden conversations about who belongs in politics and who gets to shape the future of our cities.”
- Karen Vanthuyne, Ask Her Board President
At the centre of that work is Prepare Her: Ask Her’s flagship training program, designed to equip women and gender-diverse people with the practical skills, knowledge, and confidence needed to engage in municipal politics.
Through workshops on communications, fundraising, voter outreach, campaign strategy, and team building, Prepare Her has trained a growing number of participants, many of whom now serve on municipal councils, campaign teams, boards, and as MLAs across Alberta.
But the impact of Ask Her extends beyond elections and political outcomes.
Over the years, Ask Her has helped foster a growing community of people committed to more equitable representation in public life. It has created spaces for mentorship, collaboration, and learning. It has encouraged difficult but necessary conversations about barriers to leadership, representation, and belonging in politics. And perhaps most importantly, it has consistently reminded women and gender-diverse people that their perspectives, experiences, and voices belong in civic decision-making.
To celebrate this milestone, Ask Her will host A Decade of Impact on June 18 at Calgary City Hall, featuring conversations with Mayor Jyoti Gondek and former Ward 1 Councillor Sonya Sharp on leadership, representation, and the future of municipal politics in Calgary. The evening is an opportunity to reflect on how far representation has come over the past decade, while also looking ahead to the work still to be done. Tickets and additional information are available on Eventbrite.
The conversations happening today about political participation, inclusive leadership, and democratic representation are not separate from the conversations that inspired Ask Her’s founding a decade ago. If anything, they underscore why this work remains essential.
Municipal government is strongest when it reflects the full diversity of the communities it serves. That vision continues to guide Ask Her’s work as the organization looks toward the future, preparing the next generation of candidates, advocates, organizers, and community leaders to shape Alberta’s cities in the years ahead.