Photo: Contributed
Okanagan Edge and the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce are partnering to showcase some of the region’s most exciting entrepreneurs through the “Top 40 Under 40” program.
Sponsored by BDO, the “Top 40 Under 40” recognizes high-achieving professionals in our community and showcases their accomplishments. This marks the sixth year the chamber has conducted a “Top 40” showcase. Honourees will be featured throughout the year on Okanagan Edge.
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In 2019, Amal Alhuwayshil started ‘I’m All Courage,’ a social enterprise to support and empower people of all identities and genders. As a diversity and inclusion, inspirational speaker and a coach, a portion of her income gets contributed to support gender equality and inclusion advocacy groups and not-for-profits. Alhuwayshil is also a yoga teacher, whose practice has supported her with mental health in times of depression and anxiety, and she loves sharing this gift with her students.
Alhuwayshil has been involved with various student movements in B.C. She was elected as external affairs vice-president of the UBCO Students’ Union in 2017 and then became its first female president a year later. She has successfully shifted the organization from a corruption and party-focused culture to a thriving and students-centred culture. In 2018 she was elected by post secondaries across B.C. as campaigns co-ordinator for the B.C. Federation of Students, which is both an activist and an advocacy role.
Through those three roles she was running advocacy campaigns on campus and getting petitions signed by the students, then working with the decision makers to make the changes needed. Alhuwayshil was among other students who worked with the provincial and federal government on behalf of B.C. post-secondary students, advocating for the affordability and accessibility of post-secondary education in B.C., achieving wins such as the estimation of interest on student loans.
Leadership to Alhuwayshil is to take a part of the solution rather than just talk about the problem. The UBCO Students’ Union was known for its corruption, misuse of students’ money, running an $83,000 deficit and not operating under its constitution. She decided to run to challenge the status quo and to create the change needed. The first year was the reform. The team ended employment and changed the staffing structure and the bylaws and policies that allowed the corruption to happen. The following year she was elected as the first female president to continue working on the transition and nurture the culture shift.
Alhuwayshil is currently the director of external events for the Junior Chamber International Kelowna (JCI or Jaycees), and a member of the JCI Community Improvement Committee whose aim is to liaise with municipal, provincial and federal government officials and advocate for issues that will improve the lives of those between the ages of 18 and 40 living in Kelowna.
Alhuwayshil dedicates her time volunteering throughout the community. She is a champion for Central Okanagan Elizabeth Fry Society’s #SpeakOut campaign, she has participated in Motionball Kelowna for three years, she is a board member of HER International, she was a co-chair/chief of operations for the 2017 Breaking Boundaries Conference (an International Women’s Day conference/fundraiser for House of Hope) and is a former volunteer with Hope Outreach and the Kelowna Women’s Shelter.
Alhuwayshil has her bachelor of business management degree from the University of British Columbia Okanagan.
Alhuwayshil’s achievements include but are not limited to: 2020 JCI Breakout Member of the Year Award; second place in the 2020 Trellis Sprout Challenge; Donor of the Campus Engagement and Leadership Award (2019-2024); 100 Awesome People in 2019; and a TEDx speaker in 2017.
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