Power of Being a Girl TEEN is a free, full-day conference that encourages leadership, empowerment, empathy and healthy relationships with self and others.
This year’s conference will take place on Saturday, October 15, 2022, from 9:45 AM to 5 PM at the YWCA Banff.
Key Note Speaker – Councillor Kaylee Ram (she/her)
My name is Kaylee Ram, I’m the second youngest person to be voted as a Town of Banff Councillor and the first Indigenous person elected. I’m born and raised in Banff, so I attended the schools that are here today (minus the new elementary school).
To this day I am not the type of person that likes to stick to one thing – for example, in school I attended the Banff Hockey Academy for 2 years, I played in all the school bands, volunteered at various events, and was a member of the High Hopes after-school group, to name a few. I have always been passionate about people, specifically empowering and counselling. Which led me to pursue a BA in Sociology minoring in Psychology at the University of Alberta.
After my time in Edmonton, the mountains were calling my name to return home – and since then, I have taken over and purchased my family’s business, Snowtips-Bactrax. To talk about Banff’s community renders me speechless, it’s so difficult to put into words the energy that attracts you to the number of people that make up this community. Which is ultimately what led me to seek out ways to be more involved within the community’s different organizations, because the ability to play a small role in Banff is so humbling. That motivation to be involved has led me to volunteer as a hockey coach specifically on female teams, sit on the Banff Hospital Board as Co-Vice Chair on the Banff Hospital Board, sit on the Community Grants Committee, Police Advisory Committee and several others.
When hearing and learning about my career and hobbies of volunteering typically result in people asking where I find the time or motivation to be so involved. And ultimately the support system that has empowered me to buy a business, run for Town Council, sit on various committees/boards has been the strength of many people in my life – but specifically the women. My grandma is a residential school survivor, and now an elder of the Nak’azdli Whut’en band, my mom has exemplified a work-ethic I strive to eventually achieve – she was the primary family provider, my official chauffer for years of hockey, my personal cheerleader and also the survivor of a brain aneurysm.