Interview With Jillian Kowalchuk, founder and CEO, Safe & The City

Introduction

Canadian by birth, Jillian Kowalchuk is the Founder and CEO of Safe & the City, an active advocate for gender equality, and a woman whose mission is to eradicate an epidemic invisible to many – sexual harassment.

Tell us about your career so far.

I have always been deeply passionate about advocating for people’s health, well-being and global equality. I started my undergraduate studies in psychology and sociology.  Then I  went on to pursue an MSc in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, one of the world’s most renowned institutions.

My focus was to use both my degrees, world travel and my own personal experiences to advance universal access to health, freedom and justice. Following my study years, I worked as a global public consultant at various private and public organisations, as well as a researcher at UCL London.

My career then progressed to Tech, quite by accident, with the development of a personal safety app, Safe & the City.  The idea came about after an incident in which I experienced a near sexual harassment encounter on the streets of London.

Following the fastest route suggested by my navigation app at the time, I found myself walking through a narrow alley in central London and subsequently sexually harassed by two male kitchen staff. I was cornered in that alleyway and threatened with sexual assault, but luckily their threats didn’t realise.  However, from that incident, I realised there was a lot of information that could have been shared to know the situation I may have walked into or that I could have at least shared with others.

What 2 things do you do to build your confidence?

The first thing would be facing your fears and going for it because you often find it’s not as scary as you’d thought it would be. I discussed a parallel to this in a recent blog when I first learned to jump off the deep end when learning how to swim.

After taking the plunge, like many experiences I have as an entrepreneur, taking the first step is the hardest. Secondly, would be spending time with yourself and feeling comfortable with your strengths, abilities and flaws.

By getting comfortable with this, you realise your self-worth doesn’t always need to be compared or critiqued by others. I’ve learned to have confidence and set boundaries so that you can invest more time and energy into the people and activities which help to grow you.

What has been your biggest life lesson so far?

Spending a lot of time abroad as a young girl.  My early years were spent in Yemen, where my family was based until the Civil War of 1994.  This has probably given me my biggest life lessons and shaped my life.

Travelling and also working in many countries around the world meant I was exposed to many different situations and, in particular, the living conditions of many people.

I must have visited at least 50 countries as part of my career in countries such as Uganda, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.  This allowed me to become immersed in different cultures, but also to gain an understanding of the serious issues on the ground, not always open for discussion, but which profoundly impacts communities.

The biggest life lesson is the fragility of life, but the beauty in our differences and similarities that bring people together.

How do you feel about getting older?

In general, there’s a lot of pressure to figure things out at a young age and you realise that even when you’re older, most people don’t have it all figured out yet either. I believe there’s a lot more of life ahead, and I try not to take that for granted by staying present.

I am looking forward to different phases of life and how it will evolve my personality and passions into different activities.

What’s your purpose in life?

I believe in empowering others and striving for something greater than we have today and for future generations. The legacy I want to leave behind would be to advance issues of equality, whether that is through technologies, like Safe & the City, involving myself in policy making or using my voice to speak out against injustice.

These types of experiences I’ve had in a relatively short span of life have greatly impacted me and so many others in my life. This has given me a higher purpose about speaking out and finding ways to help others to feel empowered to share their experience to help prevent that same trajectory for someone else.

With Safe & the City, I wanted to share my story and the idea of a navigation app that would show a route that people would feel safer walking, rather than being faster. By listening to others, especially women, I began to apply my knowledge of public health, psychology and immersive travel to start to recognise patterns.

Many had been through similar situations but did not know how to report harassment or whether it would make any difference. This validated the concept of a crowdsourced, data-driven app, capable of, not only reacting to, but also preventing sexual harassment.

How do you balance work and life responsibilities?  What sacrifices have you made?

I balance both through self-care, physical exercise, meditation, keeping a gratitude journal, and spending time alone and with friends. By setting priorities with what needs to come first, you learn where to invest a good majority of your time. In other words, I’ve tried to recognise it is okay to say ‘No’ to things that I may not have time for.

I often make sacrifices as an entrepreneur but it’s reassuring to know that it’s all worth it in order to see my business evolve over time.

What are your top self-care tips?  How do you relax?

My top self-care tips are getting enough sleep, including taking naps, meditation, writing daily in my gratitude journal and exercise. I keep a notepad on my phone with the kind things people have said to me to remember why I am doing what I am doing and working hard to achieve it.

I relax by listening to music that matches my mood, going for walks and speaking with trusted friends and family through difficulties.

What advice would you give the next generation of girls?

To follow their dreams and go for whatever it is they want to do in life.  Do not let the traditional ways people or ideals hold you back. Invest time into getting to know yourself, push your comfort zone and recognise all the talents you have to share with others and improve the world for the better.

We have some more fabulous interviews on Woman Ready, why not take a look?  Read our interview with Kate Pankhurst or Lisa Reddings, for example.