Speaking · Designing Pathways to Work™
Audiences invite Alison to speak because they want a practical, real-world approach they can carry forward — grounded in two decades of practice and ventures still in motion.
Signature keynote
45–60 minutes · Plenary · Tailored to your audience
The flagship keynote. Alison Ainsworth walks audiences through the five-step model that has shaped her work: identify strengths in everyday life, translate them into viable opportunities, design for fit, activate the natural network, and sustain the pathway. Illustrated through Wags Cookies Ltd., Sweet Freeze, and live work — and anchored by Statistics Canada data on what is currently being missed.
The talks
Signature keynote · 45–60 min + Q&A
The flagship keynote. A practical, evidence-informed walk through the five-step model — from identifying strengths in everyday life to activating the natural network around the person — illustrated by operating ventures and real outcomes. Designed for plenary audiences who need a clear, repeatable approach they can carry home.
Breakout · 30–45 min · Families & service providers
What it actually looks like to begin with strengths, interests, and the realities of a life — long before any conversation about role, hours, or system. Concrete language, decision frameworks, and the questions that move a family or a team from waiting to designing.
Breakout or workshop · 45–75 min
How modest, human-scale ventures can generate income, visibility, confidence, belonging, and broader community participation. Built from the inside story of Wags Cookies Ltd. (acquired with an inclusion mandate) and Sweet Freeze (mobile, community-integrated). Includes the conditions that make small ventures viable — and the conditions that don't.
Panel or workshop · 45–90 min
Sustainable work depends on connection. This session maps the natural network that already surrounds a person — family, neighbours, employers, faith and community spaces — and demonstrates how to activate it as the load-bearing structure of a real pathway. Built for cross-sector audiences ready to do the connective work.
Plenary or fireside · 30–45 min
A pointed talk on the gap between assessed capacity and actual participation — what Statistics Canada's data tells us, what it doesn't, and what the work looks like when we treat unmet participation as the unfinished business it is.
Who this is for
Plenary keynotes and signature sessions for disability, employment, education, and inclusion-focused gatherings.
Grounded, accessible talks for families navigating the path from school, into adulthood, and toward meaningful work.
Working sessions for teams ready to evolve how pathways are identified, supported, and sustained.
For employers, chambers, and local business networks ready to participate in real opportunities — not symbolic ones.
Briefings and panels for those shaping the systems, programs, and investments that make pathways possible at scale.
What audiences gain
Logistics
Bring the work to your audience