Nathalie Belanger

My formative years

Growing up in rural Canada in the 1970s taught me a lot about self reliance, living from the land, and making the best with what you had. My grandmother tended a huge garden, I picked berries and apples, and my neighbours tapped maple trees in the spring. I learned how to milk cows, I even had a couple of chickens one summer. We preserved and cellared some food for the winter. I learned how to make “sucre a la creme” a French Canadian variation on fudge and tire (a molasses based taffy that required lots of pulling to create a shiny finish). My grandmother also taught me how to sew clothing and knit. I also learned how to use a saw, axe and chain saw to cut wood. My brownie uniform had proficiency badges up both arms from everything I had learned to do myself.

But because of the influence of media and my city cousins, I craved all things manufactured. I also have memories of full days in shopping malls (my grandmother’s favourite form of entertainment). I only realized years later that these were pretty neat skills and that very few people my age still possessed them. Having all these skills made me a little fearless in trying new things…

The eighties

The movies Working Girl; Bright Lights, Big City; and Baby Boom all inspired me to dream big, that nothing was unattainable if you worked hard and had a little bit of luck. Women were finally getting beyond the secretarial pool, but still faced some discrimination. Why else would Stephanie Zimbalist need Pierce Brosnan as a front man to her Private Investigator agency Remington Steele?

I survived High School and Cegep, we had moved to Montreal by then and I lived with my grandmother in a very small apartment in the East end. We had very little money, so at 15 I started working. First it was only during summers, but then I took evening and weekend jobs while I was in school. I am probably one of the few people I know who never worked in retail or food service. My typing and computer skills were pretty good, so I opted to take on office jobs. One of my night jobs was a supplement to the secretary of the Vice President of Marketing at a large Montreal bank. After school, I would walk over to the office building on Peel and Dorchester, take the elevator to the 25th floor, put my dictaphone on, and type up in a word processor letters that the secretary had not managed to get through during the day. I would print them on fancy letter head paper and place them in a large book for his signature. At the end of my shift, I would bring the book to his office so they would be ready for signing in the morning. I often took a moment to look around the beautifully furnished office and out the window to the river and distant mountains. Yes, I imagined myself sitting in that big leather chair. That became my driver and my measure of success.

Developing a passion for technology

Whether it was watching my first boyfriend play Tron or Star Cruiser on his Apple II, playing hours of Tetris when I worked at the Concordia Computer Centre, or helping foreign grad students debug their code in between games – technology intrigued me. So it was only natural that my first few jobs be in the field of technology. While I love keeping up with the latest gadgets and trying to evaluate how it will be used by companies and consumers – I learned early on that great technology without a purpose or a clearly articulated user benefit (even if it was purely entertainment) had little market value or staying power.

A global mindset

Richmond, Quebec was not exactly a cosmopolitain metropolis; but Montreal and Toronto certainly gave me access to many cultures. My early jobs included travel which exposed me to new cities, sites, and tastes. These jobs also allowed me to meet many people with fascinating stories. I love taking the time to get to know people from different walks of life and understanding their path. In doing so, I often learn a bit more about the places they have lived in and visited and how that influenced them.

Exploring new cultures either through travel, cooking, reading or interesting encounters is my favourite pursuit. I have a long list of places I still want to visit and foods I want to taste.

On being a woman

I was fortunate that the companies I worked for didn’t discriminate on the basis of gender or race. In some cases, I even had great female role models in the leadership team. I know this was not the case for many women of my generation especially those outside Canada. I was also incredibly fortunate to have chosen a life-mate who always treated me as an equal. There are no gender-based tasks in our household. We both enjoy cooking, we work side by side in our yard and I am as likely to take out the garbage as he is. We have tried to teach our son basic life skills so that he too can do his share once he selects a partner.

Life changing moments

While the birth of our son was certainly a memorable event, I would not say it drastically changed my life. I considered it an addition rather than an alteration to how I behaved and saw life. My grandmother’s passing at the ripe age of 89 was expected, so while it was a sad time for me, it didn’t dramatically change how I thought about my life. When my sister was diagnosed with advanced Cholangiocarcinoma shortly after her 38th birthday, my world stopped. While we lived in different cities, I tried to spend as much time as I could with her. Melanie passed away on Halloween 2010 and while I didn’t realize how much of an impact her death had on me, my priorities gradually shifted. I wanted to spend my time more meaningfully. That did not mean that I was no longer focused on my career, but I wanted my job to have an impact on the company I worked for and the team I managed. I refused to compromise for work that didn’t generate value and I wanted to spend higher quality time with my friends and family. This still holds true today and is one of the major drivers for this new adventure.