Lia Grimanis (born December 12, 1971) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Charity founder and CEO, Guinness World Record Holding Strongwoman and

adventurer An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

. She is the founder of Up With Women, an organization dedicated to helping

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

and at-risk women to rebuild their lives.

Up With Women

Grimanis founded the organization to give women and children inspiration and strategies for rebuilding their lives after homelessness. Grimanis was driven to establish Up With Women because of her time spent as a homeless

teenager Adolescence () is a transitional stage of physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated with the te ...

. Up With Women's mission: Success Belongs to Everybody Up With Women works to: * Provide advanced career and life-building coaching and

education Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...

for recently homeless and at-risk women. * Provide leadership mentoring for formerly homeless children to help them to become leaders in their communities. Up With Women Child Advocates participate in a variety of projects. One of the more notable activities is to create a community action project and creatively give back to the community. * Raise public awareness about women's homelessness, through

community outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...

and media relations. Up With Women's media work aims to share positive stories about formerly homeless women and children who have rebuilt their lives. The media work also works to highlight key issues surrounding women's and family homelessness, while engaging the public to support the cause of ending homelessness,

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...

and

violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against women or girls, usually by men or boys. Such violence is often consi ...

Biography

Grimanis has almost 25 years of experience as a successful businesswoman and entrepreneur. On a civic level, she has served on Toronto mayor David Miller's communications advisory team, with a special focus on the "Opportunity for All" platform. She served as a media strategist and she wrote the Opportunity for All platform speech. ''Financial Post Magazine'' listed her as one of Canada's 100 Most Powerful women, and ''

Chatelaine Chatelaine may refer to: * Chatelaine (chain), a set of short chains on a belt worn by women and men for carrying keys, thimble and/or sewing kit, etc. *Chatelaine (horse), a racehorse * ''Chatelaine'' (magazine), an English-language Canadian wom ...

'' named her one of the 2012 Women of the Year. The global businesswomen's organization the International Alliance of Women recognized Grimanis as one of 50 women around the world making a notable impact on the

economic empowerment Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming strong ...

of women, and she was named Volunteer of the Year by ''

Flare Magazine ''Flare'' is a Canadian online fashion magazine. It is published by St. Joseph Communications. History ''Flare'' was created by Maclean-Hunter publishing in 1979, as a rebranding of ''Miss Chatelaine'' magazine. ''Flare'' promotes itself as "Can ...

''. Grimanis has also been nominated as one of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

's Top 40 Under 40. Grimanis holds a Guinness World Record for strength, the Heaviest Vehicle Pulled in High Heels (14,520 lbs) She also held another Guinness World Record for strength, the Heaviest Vehicle Pulled 100 ft by a Woman (17,820 lbs) (from 2013 to 2018). She uses these feats of strength to send a message to women survivors of violence, poverty and homelessness that we're stronger than we think we are. Grimanis has been involved in a variety of community engagements, outside of Up With Women. She is a co-founder of Toronto-based Social Venture Partners, an organization that blends the power of business with the passion of philanthropy to assist grass roots organizations that are focused on

poverty reduction Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics clas ...

. She sits on the advisory board of Future Possibilities for Kids, and has also worked in partnership with the United Way, the Canadian Women's Foundation and Raising the Roof. She is also a founder of Muff Scouts, an international adventure sport organization for

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

and

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

women. Grimanis has frequently appeared in the media, having had news and story features appear on NBC morning news program '' Today'', ''Inc Magazine'', CNN Money, Global, CTV,

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

Citytv Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...

, '' More Magazine'', the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'' and the ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

''. She focuses in on the media to help disseminate the positive stories of women and children coming out of homelessness, while raising awareness about the issues today. She is frequently asked to give speeches to such diverse groups as business people, women's groups, sales professionals, community service providers, and government workers.

Awards

* Named one of Canada's 100 Most Powerful Women * Two time

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

holder: ** Heaviest Vehicle Pulled 100 ft by a Woman ** Heaviest Vehicle Pulled in High Heels * Chatelaine Woman of the Year * International Alliance of Women World of Difference global Unsung Heroine * Flare Volunteer of the Year * Amazing Woman's Day Business Trailblazer

References

External links

Up With Women
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grimanis, Lia 1971 births Businesspeople from Toronto Canadian humanitarians Women humanitarians Canadian women in business Living people Canadian LGBT businesspeople Canadian LGBT sportspeople Lesbian sportswomen Sportspeople from Toronto