Dragons' Den's Arlene Dickinson coming to Kelowna

As a 'Dragon' she is tough, fair, straight-shooting, intuitive and entertaining.

Calgary-based marketing expert and venture capitalist Arlene Dickinson will bring that same flair to Kelowna on Oct. 12 as the keynote speaker at the inaugural Okanagan Women in Business Conference.

She will, of course, share some backstage stories from her 15 seasons on the CBC-TV hit reality business pitch show Dragons' Den.

In fact, Dickinson is the star of the show and is the longest-running female Dragon on the series.

But, Dickinson will also talk about how to leverage marketing in even the toughest of economic times, outline her personal success and talk about entrepreneurial lessons found in her three books -- Persuasion, All In and Reinvention.

Dickinson is a self-made multi-millionaire who started as a marketing expert with Venture Communications.

She is the founder and general partner at District Ventures Capital, a venture capital firm that helps market, fund and grow entrepreneurs and their businesses in the food and health sectors.

The Okanagan Women in Businesses Conference, to be held over the afternoon of Thursday, Oct. 12 at The Laurel Packinghouse in downtown Kelowna, is being put on by the Okanagan chapter of the CFA (certified financial analysts) Society.

It's sponsored by Odlum Brown Investments.

It's also billed as an afternoon to acquire and inspire 'actionable skillsets' women can start to use right away.

The conference starts with a lunch, followed by a 'Growing Forward' workshop at 1:30 pm with management and leadership consultant Joy Playford, a 2:30 pm 'Negotiating for the Compensation You Deserve' workshop with pay expert Jullian Climie, Dickinson's keynote at 3:30 pm and a social and networking mixer 4:30-5:30 pm.

Tickets are $250 at this link.