Ravina Anand, BSc, MPPGA 20’; Photo: Lancelot Clarke
Preparing to be a policy leader takes many forms for Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs (MPPGA) students. We met with Ravina Anand, a current MPPGA 2nd year student, to find out about her work as Co-Founder of the Female Laboratory of Innovative Knowledge (FLIK). FLIK was recently awarded a Global Changemakers grant for 2019-20.
*FLIK uses an inclusive definition of “womxn” and “female”, and we welcome transwomxn, genderqueer womxn, and non-binary people who identify, have identified, or have been identified as female or womxn.*
SPPGA: What is FLIK?
The Female Laboratory of Innovative Knowledge (FLIK) is a community hub where ambitious womxn can access resources to advance their own initiatives and ideas while discovering other phenomenal females working towards social impact.
We created The Female Founder / Apprenticeship Portal, a space where apprentices and founders connect. Apprentices gain experience in an industry they love while training under an established female founder and founders have access to ambitious talent helping them scale their businesses quickly. After the 3 month apprentice agreement, you can start finding a new match or get hired!
SPPGA: How does FLIK help womxn move forward?
What makes us different? We focus on entrepreneurial womxn to create equity in the startup space. We provide curated matching opportunities to expose young females to the world of entrepreneurship and have a strong online community with career resources and engaging interviews of today’s female leaders. By combining the forces of media, social impact, and entrepreneurs, our service aims to inspire young womxn to become the next wave of entrepreneurs and allows established founders to find amazing talent and scale their businesses quickly. At FLIK, we help womxn of all ages use their expertise to be their own boss. Over 50% of Gen Z say they learn by doing and want to see a difference in traditional education and skills training. With FLIK’s Female Founder / Apprenticeship Portal, we offer a real, tangible solution.
FLIK is a platform that allows female students to apprentice under some of the top female founders and leaders. You get to train 10 hours a week in a meaningful project gaining skills and experience under a founder and help them with projects in their businesses as well. We have the founders of GIST News (Sports Media), Janelle Hinds (Forbes 30U30 2019), Kim Kaupe (Superfan Company works with Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, etc. also Forbes 30U30), Sarah King (Head of Greenpeace Canada’s Oceans & Plastics) apparel brands, heads of foundations, recruiting firms, digital marketing agencies, tech, AI, amongst many other female leaders across industries looking to connect with ambitious womxn like you! FLIK is agnostic to degrees so it doesn’t matter if you’re in computer science, business, medical science, health sci, psychology, anything, just if you’re interested and ambitious sign up.
SPPGA: How can UBC students get involved?
To all the female-identifying students out there, if you’re looking for female founders/leaders as mentors and want to work with them check out weareflik.com
Follow FLIK on Instagram at: instagram.com/weareflik, to keep updated or subscribe to their newsletter at weareflik.com, or for more information contact Ravina at: ravina@weareflik.com
SPPGA: Thank you Ravina!
Ravina Anand, BSc, MPPGA 20’ and Michelle Kwok, BMSc 20’; Photo: Connor McCracken
