How Toast Came to Be

Toast confronts the systems plaguing women+ in the tech industry - from the persistent gender pay gap to the isolating 'lonely only' experience, and the glaring absence of opportunities to lead and receive mentorship and sponsorship.

More than a career platform

Co-founded by April Hicke and Marissa McNeelands in 2022, Toast was born out of a genuine need to diversify technical teams. Both Marissa and April faced experiences where they lacked support and mentorship in the workplace.

The slow progress in getting women into STEM fields and in closing the gender pay gap inspired us to disrupt the system. We seek to level the playing field for women+ and change the way organizations look at hiring. We are not just helping women+ land tech jobs; we are ensuring they rise and thrive in them.

What makes us different?

  • Toast aims to help both organizations and women in tech. We specialize in tech recruitment and help companies diversify their technical teams . We also help women in tech thrive in their roles through our membership collective.
  • We’ve developed a membership portal to help women in tech find mentorship, support, and growth opportunities. Read more about it here.
  • We implement a blind hiring process to eliminate bias from the recruitment process. Read more about it here.
  • We use an AI-driven job matching tool to match candidates with roles that match their skills, experience and career interests.

Toast Today

Toast has become Canada’s first female-focused talent partner aimed at placing women in tech companies. Toast is backed by the federal government to help organizations who have tagged gender diversity to their ESG reporting for 2024. Since launching, Toast has built a community of thousands of women+ in North America and we are partnered with over 70+ organizations.

A Toast to the Future

We’re expanding our community to the U.S. in 2024 - keep an eye out for Toast chapters in Los Angeles, Seattle and New York later this year. Our team is working on new features to add to our Membership Portal as well as new programs to help our Toast community grow and succeed.

Work with us

We're always on the hunt for organizations eager to elevate their hiring strategies and their workplaces into environments where women thrive.

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