TRAILBLAZRS
Trailblazrs was an industry project started in 2018 by a group of students at the Centre for Digital Media. The client, Dr. Gerri Sinclair, wanted them to create a tool to address the significant gender gap in the tech and finance industries, which the group did by creating a collection of video interviews of successful female entrepreneurs and investors and hosting these on a website, Trailblazrs.com.
In spring 2019, my team, XLead, took over phase III of the project. After a lot of brainstorming, we successfully revamped Trailblazrs, which is no longer just a video database, but an interactive video platform. Trailblazrs.com is a digital hub for women who need role models and inspiration and for successful women who want to share their experiences.
The new Trailblazrs website is a platform that addresses two unique users. It allows contributors to create personal accounts with a self-service video recording and uploading system that allows them to record anywhere, at any time. For viewers, it is an easily accessible collection of short videos and resources always available at their fingertips.
My primary role on the team was front-end development for the new site hosted on Wordpress, and this meant working around the chosen theme, finding the right plugins and integrations, and working in tandem with the back-end developer to ensure a functional system. Secondary roles included being a technical translator between the development team and the rest of the group, as well as being part of the creative process.
Team blog: https://blogs.thecdm.ca/xlead/