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Lisa Ling, Olympian

Lisa Ling is an karate Olympian, and co-founder of Future is Female (www.futureisfemale.com). ?We are a team of Canada?s top female Olympic athletes who share our stories, struggles and successes with girls age 10-16 and their parents,? she says.

A recent profile in the Globe and Mail newspaper details some of Ling?s ambitions, personally and professionally. Some excerpts from the article:

Karate competitor takes kick at new venture
By Elizabeth Church

Lisa Ling is co-founding a series of motivational events for girls and their parents featuring the stories of Canadian female Olympic athletes.

To say that Lisa Ling has a wide range of interests would be putting it mildly. Ms. Ling, a 29-year-old native of Kitimat, B.C., has a master's degree in law from the London School of Economics and holds nine national titles, and as many international medals, in the sport of karate.

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A few years ago, after watching a James Bond movie, she chucked her career as a management consultant with Monitor Group to travel to Hong Kong and try her hand as an actress in action films. Now, after playing a part in a movie called Extreme Challenge, she is up to something different again, co-founding a series of motivational events for girls and their parents featuring the stories of Canadian female Olympic athletes.

The speaking series is called Future is Female. To say that Lisa Ling has a wide range of interests would be putting it mildly. Ms. Ling, a 29-year-old native of Kitimat, B.C., has a master's degree in law from the London School of Economics and holds nine national titles, and as many international medals, in the sport of karate.

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"You have to do things in your life that you are passionate about? Consulting, karate, films -- what I discovered is that each of these
things is not enough, but together, it's perfect.

"I call that beauty, brains and brawn, and together that really defines who I am. I see my career involving all three of those."

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"We want them to know that if you believe in yourself, you can be anything that you want to be. You don't have to fit into a box. You don't have to do one thing."

Ms. Ling says she learned that lesson growing up in Northern British
Columbia in a family of four girls. Her father, a local doctor, treated all of his daughters like the sons he never had. She says he encouraged them to be disciplined and to rise to a challenge, and held regular karate sessions with them in the basement of their house.

Ms. Ling and her partner have settled on an unconventional format to get their message across. Each of their events -- they want to hold six or seven in major Canadian cities next year -- will contain short talks by female Olympians followed by a fashion show featuring athletes as models.

Ms. Ling says the fashion show is a way to add some fun to the evening and also to show that fit bodies come in all shapes and sizes.

"They'll see that you don't have to have toothpick legs to be in shape. We want them to go away realizing that beauty and strength comes from inside."

While several mentorship and motivational programs are already targeted at young women, Ms. Ling argues that Future is Female is different because of its focus on sport.

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