The LeadHERship Show with Harriette Schumacher Harriette Schumacher

Chantal is a builder of people and businesses. Her interest in the psychology behind human interaction brought her to Saint Mary’s University from Bermuda, where she focused on Psychology, Business, and Human Resources. Following university, she made Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada her home and began supporting leaders in the private and public sector as a Consultant.  This work led to her role with North American technology company, Unique Solutions Design Ltd., where she led the development and execution of their human capital strategy for four years as the company tripled in size.

Chantal Brine is a thought leader on living with purpose.  She follows a simple yet powerful mantra while pursuing what makes her happy: “Life is too short to do something that you are not passionate about.” In 2018, Chantal Brine founded her own start-up En Point, with a goal of helping 1,000,000 individuals through the power of mentorship. En Point helps organizations create and maintain high-impact mentorship programs with consultations and through their online mentorship platform.

Chantal is a believer in experiential learning, a proponent for mentorship, and an active advocate for women. As a TedX and sought-after speaker, she often talks about the importance of living an authentic life and the impact of mentorship in advancing one's career. Chantal most recently joined Unity Charity, a national charity that is using hip hop art forms to help youth build resilience, as a Board Member and Governance and HR Committee Member. She co-chairs the Mentorship Committee for Women in Communications and Technology, Atlantic Chapter, is the past Chair for the Atlantic Regional Advisory Board for the Canadian Association of Career Educators and Employers, serves on the Halifax Chamber of Commerce WorkForce Taskforce, and sits on the Program Advisory Council for Techsploration. She is also a mentor with the Newcomer Entrepreneurship Hub, two time judge with Ryzhe Ventures out of Innovation Guelph, and active member of a number of women in tech, startup, and ‘future of work’ peer groups.

Charlene Brophy is President and CEO of FONEMED, an international tele-medicine company, offering a patient-centred platform that incorporates technology and disease-specific algorithms as well as tele-medicine support and remote biometric monitoring to over 2300 client groups and 40 million individuals globally. Charlene has brought her hands-on knowledge of our health care system into developing countries and communities which otherwise would not have access to medical care. Today, FONEMED oversees operations for close to 1000 employees supporting their Canadian, US and international operations.

Charlene has been recognized by multiple organizations for her success in the business community. She was awarded Newfoundland and Labrador’s Organization of Women Entrepreneurs (NLOWE) Entrepreneurial Excellence Award in November, 2020. She has been the recipient of four Business Excellence Awards from The St. John’s Board of Trade. She was awarded the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Innovator of the Year by Atlantic Business Magazine in 2017 and recognized as one of the Top 50 CEOs in Atlantic Canada from 2017-2021. In May of 2021 Charlene was inducted into the Business Excellence Hall of Fame by Atlantic Business Magazine.

In addition to her business commitments, Charlene has a profound sense of community and believes in giving back to the province and the communities that have supported her over the years. She supports various local charities through her hands-on approach, and she is proud to continue to grow her business from right here in NL.

Laura O’Blenis is the founder of Stiletto and Co-Founder and former Managing Director of the Canadian Association of University Research Parks. With more than two decades of experience in economic development and working with post-secondary institutions, Ms. O’Blenis and her team develop strategies that get results for the workforce and broader economic development impacts for communities throughout North America. A skilled consensus builder, O’Blenis has facilitated more than 700 strategy sessions in communities globally. Specializing in innovation and community ecosystem building, innovation districts, research and technology parks, and innovation hubs, she has travelled the world to study global trends and best practices that have been applied to Stiletto proprietary processes and strategies. She was awarded the Startup Canada Female Entrepreneur of the Year for Atlantic Canada in 2016, recipient of the Governor General Award for the establishment of the Canadian Association of University Research Parks in 2017, was a finalist for Businessperson of the Year for the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce in 2018, is the recipient of the 2019 NBCC Alumni Award and was most recently recognized as one of the top 25 Most Powerful Women in Atlantic Canada (2022).

In this upcoming fireside chat, Laura will share her top ten lessons learned on how to define what success means to you and how to take incremental steps to get there.

Patricia Bernard is a Wolastoqey woman, grandmother, lawyer and Chief of the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation in northern New Brunswick. Her commitment to resolving a 250-year-old specific land claim dispute, for the benefit of her community, has been ongoing for the past 25 years, wherein she researched, litigated, negotiated and settled the dispute in 2021. But this major file is only one of many of her accomplishments throughout her career.

Prior to becoming Chief in 2013, Patricia was a councillor for the community since 2007. Patricia worked for the federal government in the Specific Claims Branch in Ottawa and in Governance and Registration in Amherst with Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada from 2000 to 2006. Patricia has a degree in education and law and was called to the New Brunswick Bar in 2000. In fact, she was the first Wolastoqey woman to graduate with a law degree. All her time in university was focused on Aboriginal history and law, and it has definitely paid off.

Aside from her focus on the land claim, Patricia, while a councillor and legal and governance advisor to her community, focused much of her time on developing and implementing policies, by-laws and protocols that work towards transparency, accountability, fairness and overall good governance. As Chief, she was instrumental in bringing unity to the Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick. Patricia, in her first year as Chief, held the first meeting in her community towards uniting the Wolastoqey communities and was the leading promoter until a unified organization was structured.

Patricia continues to be instrumental in advocating for the advancement of the Wolastoqey and Indigenous people of New Brunswick generally, in having Aboriginal and Treaty rights recognized and implemented within this province, and in advancing the very important work of reconciliation. Patricia has been instrumental in pursuing recognition of Aboriginal Title to her traditional territory. She often acts as a spokesperson for the Wolastoqey Chiefs when discussing the Claim. She serves as a role model for all young New Brunswickers, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike.

Her home community of Madawaska is a model for any Canadian community. Madawaska First Nation is major economic driver in the region and contributes revenues for not only her community, but also for the local municipal government (City of Edmundston) and for the Provincial government as well. Grey Rock Power Centre is an economic success with a strong foundation that has progressed under her leadership. The Grey Rock Power Center employs over 300 people from the surrounding region. Her exemplary leadership was recently recognized when her community was awarded the 2018 Indigenous Economic Developer of the Year Award by Cando (a national Indigenous organization involved in community economic development.) In 2019, Chief Bernard was appointed to the Order of New Brunswick, one of the highest honours for any civilian in the province.

Under Chief Bernard’s leadership, Madawaska recently voted, in a referendum community vote, to leave the Indian Act in regards to the management of lands. Her community also left the Indian Act with respect to Elections and Membership. Self-determination and self-government are continuous goals for Chief Bernard, so she is not stopping anytime soon.

In today's episode we will discuss boundaries - the need to establish boundaries, what happens when we don't, and how to establish them. 

In today's episode, we discuss how to set goals and make strategic plans that will enable you to achieve those goals.