Ignite Excellence Inc. Group of Initiatives

Suzanne F Stevens is the Chief Edge Optimizer of the Ignite Excellence Inc. Group of Initiatives. Her mantra is, “We all perform our best at the edge of our comfort zone.” Her goal is to assist people to push the edge of their personal and professional potential. She achieves that by bringing her backpack, briefcase and boardroom experiences to inspire individuals to elevate their personal backpack (everyday living), briefcase (business success) and boardroom (engaging many) while creating endless possibilities.

Download a copy of Initiatives: Ignite Excellence Inc. Initiatives 2013

Working Together to Expand Possibilities

Living at the edge to personal and professional potential starts at home. At the beginning of 2011, Suzanne and her husband, Michael K Gingerich embarked on an incredible journey they call ‘Mission Africa’.  Building on both of their entrepreneur spirit, leadership capabilities and desire to celebrate, educate and cultivate African women leaders. They started many initiatives, all with the intention of depicting Africa through the lens of opportunity.  Their mandate is to celebrate all that is good in Africa. They focus on the beauty and possibilities of Africa for the world stage to appreciate.

Below is a list of initiatives that are influenced by Suzanne’s belief in:

1. Consistent conscious contribution,
2. Effective communication is the key to engage people and influence outcomes.
3. That investing in women leadership in emerging countries can minimize injustices done to many women and children internationally.

	Keynote Addresses – As an international speaker, Suzanne F. Stevens has created keynote addresses tailored to the culture in which she speaks. She has launched five keynotes focused on providing insights and strategies to pushing your edge to your personal and professional potential. An area, in which she lives and breathes.Suzanne F Stevens cultivates conscious contributions and Influential communications.She inspires and challenges individuals and organizations to contribute NOW while creating a positive ripple effect from any situation to impact their Community, Company or Country and beyond.As an expert in influential communication Suzanne challenges her audiences to influence, differentiate and engage more people and more business. She helps her audience to look at how they interact, win business and move people to action. She suggests what they believe is one perspective, what they have heard is another, and what works can be an entirely different thing.Keynotes include: I AM HERE. Make YOUR Mark – Consciously Contribute™ from Any Situation  Inspired by African Leading Ladies Diamonds out of the Rough™ Conscious Contributors’ Leadership Attributes Inspired by African Leading Ladies Explore YOUR  Edgeness™  The Interaction between Discovery & Potential The UnSales Sales™ Debunking 10 top Sales Perceptions Presentation Oxygen™ Top Persuasive techniques to Breath Life into your Presentations Visit Keynotes page for more information on these addresses.
	Wisdom Exchange TV- Wisdom Exchange TV is a resource to help African women to learn, lead and succeed in life, business, and community.  It is a forum where women of all disciplines will be inspired from the achievements of pioneering African women in business, education, philanthropy and politics. These are the women that are the Change Agents of their communities, countries and continent. They will inspire us to stretch our vision of what we can do, and what WE can be. New interviews and Expert Perspective blogs are updated regularly with the insights of the women leaders of today for tomorrow.Wisdom Exchange TV is a free resource and has subscribers from over 50 countries, more than half of which are African.Suzanne F. Stevens and her husband, Michael K. Gingerich, founded Wisdom Exchange TV in 2011 and traveled through Africa uninterrupted for two years. They have recently returned from backpacking through Africa interviewing women leaders for Wisdom Exchange TV (www.wisdomexchangetv.com). This initiative is self-funded and is an investment in future women leaders. Suzanne is the host and co-producer of the first African focused web-enable platform to educate, cultivate and inspire future African women leaders. To date, Suzanne as interviewed 63 African women pioneers and Wisdom Exchange TV is being watched in 77 countries and growing.Suzanne and Mike are continuing to interview African pioneer Leading Ladies as they are committed to this platform and investing in the change agents of Africa – women.As a result of working in and visiting Africa over five years, Suzanne builds on her expertise in influential communications and uses conscious contribution insights and leadership lessons as a foundation for her I AM HERE, Consciously Contribute™ from Any Situation and Diamonds out of the Rough, Conscious Contributors’ Leadership Attributes keynotes.To learn more visit: http://suzannefstevens.com/wisdom-exchange/; www.wisdomexchangetv.com
	The Ignite Excellence Foundation- Suzanne F Stevens founded the Ignite Excellence Foundation in 2007 (advised by Tides Canada – Charity number: BN 86894 7797RR0001).  The mission of the foundation is Leadership, Advocacy and Education; the vision is to Invest, Inspire and Develop African women leaders of today for tomorrow.In the past, the foundation achieves it’s objectives by empowering African women to present their messages with confidence, providing scholarships for tertiary education, investing in bricks and mortar, and raising funds and sponsorship for women leadership initiatives in emerging countries. The foundation has also supported Frontier College, a foundation promoting Canadian Literacy.Moving forward the foundation’s funds will only go toward providing tertiary education scholarships to perspective women leaders. Other initiatives will include be building capacity through various resources, (such as Wisdom Exchange TV) and events, (such as African Business Women Connected Summit & Expo).To donate or learn more about the fund and who it supports visit: www.igniteexcellencefoundation.org
	Hiking Heights for Higher Education – This is an initiative that calls on anyone in the West or Africa who wants to change the landscape of leadership to assist many of the injustices done to women and children in Africa. We often invest in girl and boy child’s primary education, but to change policies we need leaders with integrity. By equalizing the leadership landscape by providing more women with the skills to lead in business, education, or politics we will create a ripple effect of women’s voices being heard, and more importantly, listened to in the communities, countries and on the continent.This is why Ignite Excellence Foundation invests in tertiary education for African women. We offer scholarships to individuals who have demonstrated leadership ability and have insight in how they will create a positive ripple effect either in their community, country or continent.The goal of the Hiking Heights for Higher Education campaign is to raise funds. The execution is to ‘hike’ to the highest point of as many African Countries as possible. We hike to the highest accessible point.To donate, participate or find out more, visit: http://www.igniteexcellencefoundation.org/hiking-heights-higher-education-fundraising-campaign/ or email info@igniteexcellence.com
	The Ignite Excellence Conference – This conference is in support of the Ignite Excellence Foundation and raises funds for tertiary scholarship for perspective women leaders in emerging countries. The conference brings together top Canadian women experts and professional speakers to provide personal and business strategies and inspiration for attendees to reach their personal and professional potential. The speakers have donated their time and insight to benefit the foundation.Suzanne F Stevens is the creator, host and producer of this inspiring event. Most of the proceeds go toward the Ignite Excellence Foundation, excluding venue and visual equipment. In 2010 $30,000 was raised.To find out more about the conference, or to receive notification of the next conference visit: http://www.igniteexcellencefoundation.org/ignite-excellence-conference/
	African Business Women Connected Summit & Trade Expo - The first-ever continent wide summit and trade show to enhance the economic performance of women-led businesses in every country in Africa will be held in Ethiopia in September 2014.The summit’s objective is to enhance economic performance on the African continent in the three largest export sectors for women: craft/textiles, agribusiness and services.  As a fundraiser, Suzanne will be actively soliciting sponsorship for this summit. In addition, Suzanne is the producer of the leadership day which will draw top African women leaders and influencers.ABW will unite leading companies, associations, students and African business women from ALL 54 countries in Africa to each other, to the latest technology tools and trends and to African and Global buyers to drive significant growth in their sectors.The ABW kick off summit taking place in September 2014 is a platform to build on women’s leadership in Africa, to create crucial business connections, and to create an ongoing vehicle to keep them connected for tomorrow. Through innovative resources like the Wisdom Exchange TV– an online discussion forum – ABW will continue to build the connections these women and their businesses need to continue to grow and to give back to their communities, their economies, their countries and the continent.To learn more about the summit and how to participate visit http://www.abwconnected.com/
	Ignite Excellence Inc. – Suzanne is the President & Founder of Ignite Excellence Inc., a leadership and sales development company specializing in influential communication. Ignite Excellence helps clients to influence, differentiate, and engage more people, and win more business. Suzanne and her team have trained on 5 continents to fortune 500 companies.Ignite Excellence licensed consultants will be able to provide 12 comprehensive training programs in influential communication internationally. Programs develop skills in: Persuasive presentation skills, Influential sales communications, Influence without authority, leadership communications, negotiations, connecting with clients, project communications and more.To learn more about the programs and client successes visit:www.igniteexcellence.comTo meet the demand in emerging economies, Ignite Excellence Inc. launched igniteU – online influence University. These self-paced influential communications business programs allow individuals to develop their skills to get to their next level. This affordable online solution gives the learner the control.To learn more about the available programs or becoming an affiliate Visit www.igniteU.igniteexcellence.com
	Explorers, Adventures & Photographers- Suzanne and her husband Michael Gingerich, share their insights as they travel through Africa. As Michael and Suzanne continue their travels, they write blogs from both of their perspectives and create a photo journal depicting Africa through the lens of opportunity. Together they are on a journey of you, me and we.To learn more visit: www.youmewe.ca