Growing up, my family owned multiple businesses in a small Northern Ontario town. That experience shaped my entrepreneurial spirit and instilled an understanding of business risk, working hard and saving for a rainy day. More importantly, it engrained in me a “service to others” mentality. From helping out in the family gas station and diner as a child, to running a bar and then co-owning (with my sister) a retail chain of video and electronics stores in my mid-twenties, I have always had the desire to build a legacy.
“If you don’t build your dream someone will hire you to help build theirs.”– Tony A. Gaskins Jr.
After a couple of bad starts, I went to work as a manager for a large, publicly traded, direct sales company. I was responsible for recruiting, training and supporting independent distributors. As rewarding as it was to be recognised as a top sales manager in Canada my dream of a higher education prevailed and I left to attend university full time.
I attended Laurentian University as a mature student and completed an undergraduate degree while single parenting my two sons. It was there I would meet my future spouse and business partner David Chellew. Not long after completing my degree the two boys and I along with Dave and his two girls, blended our families and purchased a home together on the beautiful Lake Nepahwin in Sudbury Ontario. We would also go on to open a branch office for a large Ontario based mutual fund dealership and an office in downtown Toronto, prior to joining a full service brokerage firm in 2007.
