Jackie Swirsky photo by: Breanne Farley

Jackie Swirsky
photo by: Breanne Farley

Jackie Swirsky

Jackie has a Masters degree in Speech Language Pathology (SLP) from the University of Alberta and currently works as a full time SLP.  She and her husband Matt and raising their two children, Olivia and Zev in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  She is the 2017 winner of CBCs future 40, honoring Manitoba's new generation of leaders and change makers under the age of 40.  Jackie is the founder and past volunteer facilitator for BLiNK, a playgroup for trans and gender creative children out of the Rainbow Resource Center and was a consultant in the creation of the Manitoba Education Document, Supporting Transgender and Gender Diverse Students in Manitoba Schools.  Jackie is a passionate speaker on gender identity and how educators can support children's gender diversity in schools.  'Be Yourself', winner of the 2016 Nautilus book award, is her first published children's book.

What people are saying…

“Jackie is a great and engaging facilitator. I appreciated that there were different parts to the content - videos, personal stories, break out rooms, stats etc.”

“I sincerely enjoyed this training. I learned several relevant best practice recommendations and overall this was an excellent workshop. Jackie is so sincere, genuine, and authentic.”

Jackie presents on topics including:

  • Gender identity

  • Gender diversity / gender creative children

  • The language of acceptance

  • Developing supportive environments for gender creative students

  • Resources available to support gender diverse kids

Excerpt from November 2016 Presentation; Supporting Gender Diverse Students

Jackie has been an invited guest speaker at:

  •  St. Amant: Ongoing Gender Diversity training hosted by St. Amant’s Corporate Education in collaboration with their Diversity and Inclusion committee

  • Winnipeg Schools including; St. John's Ravenscourt School, Brock Corydon School,  Isaac Brock School, Churchill High School, St. Amant School

  • Winnipeg 1 School Division Human Rights Committee

  • OUTshine National Gay Straight Alliance Summit

  • Winnipeg 1 School Division Panel Presentation: Making Schools Inclusive and Responsive for Transgender and Gender Creative Students    

  • University of Manitoba, Department of Education, Guest Lecturer

  • Limmud Winnipeg Conference

  •  Cultural Proficiency - Celebrating Diversity Conference @ Stanley Knowles School

  • Adult Secondary Education Council (ASEC) Conference

  • Aqua Essence Swim Academy

  • Education for ACTion: Our Human Rights Journey Conference by Manitoba Teacher's Society

  • Marymound

  • Seven Oaks School Division - KEYNOTE for GSA Gathering

  • Affirm Talks

  • Trans March and Rally at the Legislative

Achievements

future 40 logo.jpg

  • WINNER of 2016 Silver NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD                                                                                                                                                   Category: Children's Illustrated, Fiction   Nautilus website

  • Nominated for the Community Individual Award from the Manitoba LGBT* Chamber of Commerce, 2016

  • #1 Best selling Author at McNally Robinson Bookstore in the 'Books For Young People' category

Testimonials

 “[Jackie] is an excellent presenter, very thorough, interesting and certainly relevant.  The teachers were saying today how very powerful the presentation was.  It allowed for all of us to reflect on the language we are using with our students and gave us some good suggestions”. – Elementary School Principal

“Loved the presentation today… [Jackie’s] tone is wonderful; has a touch of seriousness, of comical, of practical, down-to-earthedness, not always obvious in a life situation that could be very stressful” – Audience Participant

“The talk was excellent.  It was funny and light but really effective in terms of helping bring understanding to the whole concept of gender creativity and gender fluidity… I wish it could be mandatory” – Parent

“Thank you for the presentation… I feel so much more prepared to have conversations with children and adults about this topic… The books you suggested look like excellent conversation starters” – Elementary School Teacher

If you wish to request Jackie Swirsky for a public speaking engagement, please visit her 'contact us' page.