2017 Winner
Wise 50 Over 50 Award™
Marika Morris – Marika Morris Consulting
www.marika-morris-consulting.org
The sole proprietor, Dr. Marika Morris, resigned from a full-time, permanent, federal government job as Senior Policy Research Advisor at Public Safety Canada in order to generate information for clients which they can use to advance equity and full human development. Marika Morris has a Ph.D. in Canadian Studies, in the Policy, Economy, Society stream, from Carleton University. She has over 25 years of work experience, which she has now parlayed into expertise, experience and networks to serve her clients.
I established Marika Morris Consulting at the age of 50. I developed considerable research, evaluation and training experience over 30 years, and wanted to apply it to worthwhile projects that advance equity, contribute to solutions for social and economic problems, and improve people’s lives. I wanted to develop ongoing, meaningful relationships with clients, placing their needs first, rather than the needs of an employer. Starting my own business gave me the freedom to make the most of my skills and really place clients first.
Marika Morris Consulting is a social enterprise – a private business with social goals. It offers a sliding scale of fees, in that it reduces fees and conducts some pro bono work for small, not-for-profit and Indigenous organizations. Business goals are balanced with the social goals of contributing to equality and full human development through research, evaluation and training.
A year into her business, Marika Morris was invited to speak at the United Nations headquarters in New York about her research on women and leadership, an event co-sponsored by Canada, Mexico and the Dominican Republic. She continues to provide services through the United Nations Development Programme to promoting gender equality in public institutions around the world.