Alberta's 2SLGBTQI+ entrepreneurs are building something powerful.

They're generating economic activity, creating jobs, and filling gaps that no one else would fill, often because they had no other choice. They're also navigating barriers that most business owners never have to think about: identity disclosure as daily strategic labor, disproportionate wage gaps, workplace discrimination, and the very real question of whether visibility is safe.

Hosted by Community Futures, this session features Elli McDine, Executive Director of the Alberta 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce. Elli brings together personal experience, original research, and a showcase of queer and trans owned (and allied) businesses from across Alberta to paint a full picture of this ecosystem: what it looks like, what it's up against, and what it makes possible.

Drawing on the Alberta 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce's Beyond Barriers listening sessions, RUNWITHIT Synthetics' 2026 entrepreneurial impact research, and the 1000 Queer Biz Strong initiative, this session explores:

• What makes queer and trans entrepreneurship distinctly different from generic founder experience
• The case for supporting 2SLGBTQI+ businesses — in Alberta and nationally
• Real stories from queer and allied business owners building across the province
• The role of allyship and collaboration to support collective thriving!

This is a Pride Month presentation, but it's also an economic development conversation. When queer and trans people thrive, communities thrive.

Presented by Elli McDine, Executive Director, Alberta 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce.

Meet Your Facilitator:Elli McDine

Elli McDine (she/her) is the Executive Director of the Alberta 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce as well as an entrepreneur (ellimcdine.com), public speaker and documentary filmmaker. With over a decade of experience leading transformation inside complex organizations and across systems, Elli brings both her lived experience as a trans woman as well as a rigorous research approach to her work and leadership.