If there’s a local woman you know of who’s been awarded for their service to the community, it’s likely that Jen Murtagh helped put them there. On the committee for the Heart and Stroke Foundation and previously on the nomination committee for this very program—the BCBusiness Women of the Year Awards—Murtagh has made it her life’s mission to champion (and make visible) the work of women that often goes unnoticed.
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“A lot of women do a good job of hiding, so they either play a bit small or tell themselves the story, ‘I haven’t done that much,’ or, ‘Who am I to nominate myself?’” Murtagh muses.
Alongside her own experiences with major life changes, it was the philosophy that women should be seen that led Murtagh to co-found Maturn—a leadership and development program that works with companies to provide support to women through the changing seasons of life at work—in 2021.
“We support women at work through key life stages. So we have to ask: how do we better support and how do we retain women through those very predictable life stages?” she says.
Maturn offers evidence-based programs that support women through four key career “exit points”—fertility, maternity leave, motherhood and perimenopause/menopause—including a maternity leave program and a three‑month motherhood leadership coaching cohort focused on work-life balance, mental load and equity at home. They also train organizations and provide best-practice tools for workplaces to systemically support and retain women through those four life stages.
“I hope these conversations are more normalized, that they’re not seen as personal issues but as leadership workplace retention issues,” she says. “I hope it helps redesign how work-life is integrated and it’s not seen as support but as the status quo.”
Beyond her coaching work, Murtagh is also a staunch advocate for women’s heart health, helping to raise more than $1.5 million to expand the Leslie Diamond Heart Health Clinic at Vancouver General Hospital last year.
All because—simply—women need support, and Murtagh has made capacity for it.
What brand are you currently obsessed with?
Läderach chocolate.
What TV show are you watching right now?
Love Story on Crave.
What skill are you currently working on?
Learning Italian.
