President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participated in a roundtable discussion at the White House Monday February 13, 2017, launching Trudeau's idea for the United States Canada Council for the Advancement of Women Business Leaders-Female Entrepreneurs. The president's daughter Ivanka Trump created a Twitter stir by posing with Trump and Trudeau, seated in the presidential chair. Many are offended, but we have bigger fish to fry.

“I’m honored to be here and really looking forward to hearing from each of you,” Ivanka told the group of about a dozen business leaders, “as we think about the unique challenges that entrepreneurs, women in the workforce, female small business owners are confronted with each and every day, and as we think [about] how we level the playing field for this generation and for the next.”

Women attending the Monday Trump-Trudeau meeting included General Electric Canada CEO Elyse Allan, TransAlta Corp. CEO Dawn Farrell, Accenture North America CEO Julie Sweet, and Monique Leroux, chair of the board of directors for Investissement Québec, according to the AP. GM CEO Mary Barra was represented by Carol Stephenson of GM's board of directors.

Katie Telford, Trudeau's chief of staff, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, and Dina Powell, an assistant to President Trump and a senior counselor for economic initiatives, attended. The trio is responsible for setting up the new council and recruiting participants like Barra, GE vice chair Beth Comstock, and Catalyst CEO Deborah Gillis.

The week prior Ivanka Trump hosted a small dinner party at the New York apartment of Wendi Murdoch, ex-wife of Fox News media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Attending the private dinner were IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, Deloitte CEO Cathy Engelbert, Xerox chairman Ursula Burns, designer Tory Burch, and television host Mika Brzezinski. Ivanka Trump explained to the women that she wanted to learn about what the leaders were doing in areas like entrepreneurship, equal pay, paid leave, and education.

Designers Tory Burch, Zac Posen and Diane von Furstenberg

Planned Parenthood, Birth Control, Abortion Rights

Yes, Ivanka Trump champions the idea of gender equality -- although she refuses to openly support Planned Parenthood. This is relevant because controlling her fertility is the top tool a woman employs to advance her family's welfare and her own career.

Designer Tory Burch, builder of one of America's most successful fashion brands and an attendee at Wendi Murdoch's private dinner, not only supports a woman's right to control her fertility, but she co-organized with designers Tracy Reese and Diane von Furstenberg New York Fashion Week's campaign to support Planned Parenthood, now under vicious attack by her father's administration.

Melinda & Bill Gates were more confrontational than ever before in their annual letters and interviews this week, as they aggressively confronted the devastating impacts of now President Trump's expansion of restrictions around the Mexico City policy, governing USAID dollars supporting women's health initiatives worldwide.

Another reason why Ivanka Trump's and her father's words about female empowerment fall on deaf ears is related to the reality that daddy Trump has set back women decades by nominating so few of them to cabinet positions. Trump's cabinet is the whitest and most male in decades, with only four women in the 22 positions picked so far. Trump's cabinet is akin to Reagan's in terms of women.

Meanwhile, when Prime Minister Trudeau assumed office in 2015, he committed to 'gender parity' in his cabinet, nominating 15 men and 15 women. Trudeau calls himself a proud feminist, saying that a cabinet should reflect his country in 2015.

Artists Implore Ivanka But Progressive Activists Also Spare No Criticisms

Unlike her father who lashes out at critics, Ivanka Trump is the total opposite. If she is upset, her discretion is applause-worthy. Because Trump and her husband Jared Kushner ran in a progressive social circle in New York, Ivanka is not accustomed to facing the degree of open criticism that she experienced last weekend when DC gym owner Anne Mahlum was not amused that Ivanka registered under an alias for a workout in her [solidcore] gym.

In New York, countless protests by prominent artists -- whose artwork hangs in the Trump-Kushner home -- raised havoc outside their homes. Just today, February 16, many of those artists formed a new anti-Trump, anti-alt-right nationalism collective called 'Hands Off Our Revolution'.

DC Powerhouse Anne Mahlum Drops the Gauntlet

It started with: "What you do when you find out Ivanka Trump just took [solidcore] but used an alias to sign up for class?"

Anne Mahlum was not amused when the chief Trump daughter dropped into her exercise studio, having registered incognito. Many celebs use this ruse to move around undetected, but Mahlum decided to take action on behalf of Americans, seeking to create dialogue with Ivanka.

"You reach out and ask for a meeting," Mahlum answered her own question, continuing with a paragraph about how Ivanka's father "is threatening the rights of many of my beloved clients."

Twitter responded in a firestorm that included calling for a boycott of [solidcore], which has 13 DC metro area locations, as well as studios in Georgia, Pennsylvania, North Dakota and Minnesota, says its website. Tweeters accused Mahlum of infringing on her client's right to privacy. Others called her "biased and hypocritical," while some posted stories of Ivanka's charity work.

A few hours later Mahlum posted a follow-up statement to the press, saying, "I am extremely proud of the inclusive community at [solidcore] that respects everyone's age, race, religion, sexual orientation, or otherwise, and it is my key priority to protect that community. As I said in my Facebook post, I do not know Ivanka, but I welcome the opportunity to open up the communication channels, and I hope she takes me up on my offer."

One thing is for certain, with Anne Mahlum Ivanka Trump met her match -- and Mahlum didn't have daddy's money or Twitter account to move her to the top of DC influencers.

Related: Why she left a $185,000 job to launch a DC fitness chain Washington Post April 12, 2015

Meet Anne Mahlum, Woman on a Mission

Anne Mahlum grew up in Bismark, North Dakota, the middle child of a third-grade teacher and insurance salesperson. And then she flew high from her final year at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, when she interned on Capitol Hill for then-Sen. Kent Conrad.

In a dizzing blur of activity, Mahlum took her dual degrees in Political science and public relations, earned a master's degree in public communications at American University and got a job as a policy analyst in DC. Bad move.

She eventually took at job at a political watchdog group in Philadelphia called the Committee of Seventy. Her running route (she doesn’t jog — she runs) took her past a men’s homeless shelter. In May 2007, she had the idea to start a runners’ club that might bring order and purpose to the lives of the shelter’s residents.

“Everything about it made sense to me,” she told WaPo. “Running is so powerful. It was absolute therapy for me when my parents went through a divorce.”

After some e-mails and a meeting over coffee, the director of the shelter sent Mahlum the names of nine men and their shoe sizes. A popular store called Philadelphia Runner agreed to donate the footwear for the participants.

The rest is history. Mahlum called her project Back on My Feet, and it's inspiring.

“You have to be all-in,” she said. “You have to be super-convincing. A homeless runners’ club sounds like you are out of your mind. I feel like if I told someone they could fly, they would believe me.”

After six years, she was earning $185,000 a year, had a $6 million budget and commanded a staff of 48. There are Back on My Feet chapters in 11 cities across the country.

Then she did a remarkable thing. She realized she was a better entrepreneur than operations person — and she walked away Aug. 1, 2013.