Astrid Pregel is a retired senior executive with Canada’s Foreign Service and a global expert in women’s economic empowerment. While specializing in international trade, export marketing, and international development assistance in her diplomatic career, her personal interest in women’s leadership and empowerment led her to develop a rich understanding of the potential women have to grow the economy, reduce poverty and change the world.

Astrid is the founder of Feminomics, a boutique consulting firm working at the intersection of gender, entrepreneurship, leadership, and the economy. Launched in 2007 and activated as necessary throughout Astrid’s diplomatic career and beyond, Feminomics is focused on the economic empowerment of women. Astrid has worked with governments, foundations, international institutions and non-profits on gender and public policy and programming, women’s leadership, entrepreneurship, gender based analysis and gender budgeting initiatives. Her clients include the Global Affairs Canada, Department of National Defence, Status of Women Canada, Canadian International Development Agency, Metropolis, World Bank, United Nations, City of Atlanta, WEConnect International and SheEO.
In addition to her policy and programming work, she has coached, mentored and advised countless numbers of women on career advancement, leadership, entrepreneurship, personal empowerment, social activism, impactful communications, taking control of difficult situations, and raising government and corporate sponsorship funding. She has held director positions on the boards of numbers of non-profits focused on women’s empowerment, micro-finance, early childhood development and community trails. She is an Advisory Director of Global Mining Sustainability.

Astrid is the founder and Godmother of the supplier diversity movement for women-owned business enterprises in Canada and is the first Canadian to be inducted into the Women Business Enterprise Hall of Fame in the USA.

Astrid believes that women are the world’s single most important resource and catalyst for positive change and poverty eradication. Her global wanderings have shown her that where women have been educated and empowered, economic growth and stability follow. Where women have been denied these basic rights, there is economic stagnation and very often, civil unrest.