For Women's Day I was asked to write a word as co-president of a company progressing within a predominantly male universe.
I always find it a little weird to speak out on these issues because although they clearly concern me, I am lucky enough to live in a mini-bubble.
Let me explain.
In my cohort at the Beauce Entrepreneurship School (C-15), there were ⅕ women in the group. It was striking. Female business leaders were in the minority.
In my current business group, composed of business people from all continents, there are a third of women. Different ;)
In our company BBQ Québec, sitting on the management committee, there are 4 women and 5 men. No one was chosen because of their gender, everyone is there for what they can bring regardless of their gender.
I have the incredible chance to live in a business that is interested in the passion of these people, their ambitions, their experiences, their aspirations, their potential, their skills, their determination. It gives way to many beautiful things and especially to careers that move for those who have decided so. Everything is possible, I invite everyone to aim for my seat, we will never lack succession if we invite people to dream big, dream hard and move forward.
All these possibilities that we experience within the company are the result of something that we created through decisions, you will tell me. You are right. We had to decide to take a stand and bet that the impact of women in a man's world could bring another dimension.
However, it is also the legacy of Mamie Colette, the grandmother of the Lavoie brothers, who raised her two daughters Line and Johanne alone following the death of her husband. Courageously, with her head held high, balancing studies, work and motherhood, this determined woman decided that she would not be a victim of life. She set her standards and raised her daughters to become exceptional human beings who succeeded in all areas of their lives, with a model mother who paved the way for them.
It is also the legacy of Grandma Cécile (the maternal grandmother of the Lavoie brothers) who managed the business of Gaston, her late husband. The man who built a large part of the houses in Saint-Jean-Chrysostôme (the cradle of the history of BBQ Québec) and founder of "Matériaux Lavoie" where the first BBQ Québec boutique was born, within the family hardware store.
Just a few years after starting the hardware store, Bruno, who would become Max and JP's father a few years later, took over the business with his wife Line.
The 2 Lavoie brothers were raised in a family business where, although Bruno is the official face, Line takes care of the behind-the-scenes work. The guys grew up in a man's world where women were recognized as competent and had their place. There is no customer who is going to teach Line, a hardware store owner for 40 years, competent down to her manicured nails behind the counter of the least well-located hardware store in Quebec but in the place where the service is the most extraordinary, the most human, where competence is indisputable and put forward. Line does an exceptional job, she has no complexes to have in this predominantly male world.
What does it give?
It makes guys confident in their women.
This results in businesses where you are aware that you are operating in a man's world but you don't think like a woman, you think like a person authorized to make your decisions because you don't have to justify that you are a woman or a man.
It allows you to sit around a table of 15 men representing the largest BBQ retail stores in North America without feeling like an imposter.
It allows me to take a plane to meet the CEOs of a multinational whose management is exclusively male and feel respected, and on the same level as the rest of the group in the discussions.
This gives us hope for the grilling world, where there are more and more female chefs, female teachers who compete, smoking enthusiasts, students in our many BBQ classes, participants in our company's BBQ Camp, participants in the many barbecue events and festivals, customers in our stores, and women who love barbecue a little, a lot, passionately, madly. All this, according to their interests, and not just their gender.
This is the most beautiful legacy for which I want to say thank you on this Women's Day. Because in the end, it impacts almost 30 women from a small Quebec SME.
Thank you Cécile, thank you Mamie Coco ;)
Happy Women's Day to all our readers!