1) What is your name, title, organization and accountability?
Caroline Trépanier
Associate Director – Corporate Communications
Bell Canada www.bell.ca

2) When and why did you attend WLC (Women Leading Change)?
I attended WLC in April 2001 on Prince Edward Island, Canada. A senior leader at Bell signed up for WLC but left the company before attending. The training was available and a great leader offered the opportunity to me … I didn’t know what to expect!

3) Can you share a little bit about your experience attending Women Leading Change (WLC)?
It’s not either / or! You can have it all!

Before attending WLC, I felt I had to make choices (pick and choose); I couldn’t have a great career in Canada’s top telecommunications company and at the same time be a great artist, a great mom, etc. I was scattered between all parts and pieces of my life and never really focused and fully happy anywhere.

NOW

I am …a manager and a strategic talent in my organization (I still have lots to learn and that’s what makes my job challenging, but also have lots to teach and create)

I am…an artist (and very proud to be recognized as such in my company ‘ask Caroline she knows what’s trendy.’ I’m now the creative reference at Bell ‘…ask Caroline she will find a creative solution to solve this’…).

I am… a happy mother of a 4 year-old.

I am …an athlete that trains every morning before going to work (it’s very early but so essential to feed you with the energy level you need to get through the day, cliché? Try it just for fun).

I am…on my son’s daycare board of directors, where I can make a real impact and it’s tangible, with fast results.

I am… a mentor. This opportunity gives me as much in return as what I invest… I surprised myself asking my mentee to do a list of twenty things she would do if she wasn’t afraid… I did mine the same night

I am… a friend that listens. Now I allow myself a couple of nights out with the girls here and there.

I am…a complete woman. If you think my life sounds busy… I’m certainly not busy doing everything I love. I still have room for more since I know now that I can have it all… I do!
Life is not a rehearsal!

Since I attended WLC, I speak of all my projects, I ‘talk to open the field.’ It’s amazing how ideas flow and how focused I am to implement these ideas.

I actively use the activity mountain exercise and I’m a great climber…it’s a powerful tool to deliver outstanding results.

4) What results are you most proud of having produced?
The cultural change that I’ve initiated at Bell started with new brand positioning in our advertising and resulted in an internal cultural shift. ‘We have to be the change we want to see,’ we can’t just tell our customer ‘we are simple’ without taking concrete actions to abolish the bureaucracy within the company.

I did my first art exhibit in the “Just for Laughs” Museum in Montreal (not an art gallery, a museum!), and sold 9 of my canvasses the first night. I had more that 250 people at the opening night. You can see some of my canvasses at this web address: www.bluesponge.net/caroline/

Filling out this profile… it was the ultimate test to discover that the small fry is really gone…!

5) What resources do you want from or do you have to offer the rest of the IWL community as you continue your leadership journey?
I offer to help any of you see the little light shining inside that indicates which way to go. We are all great but need to discover how great!

I will never be thankful enough that someone sent Rayona on my path and that I was ready, when she crossed it, to hear and apply most of her teaching that I understood (I’m French…I didn’t get some words, but enough to BECOME REAL).

Merci beaucoup, Rayona and all the team!

Caroline Trépanier & KaroT (my artist name)
caroline.trepanier@bell.ca