Personal and Professional Journey
1. Your career spans over two decades across corporate and non-profit sectors, culminating in your role as a leadership coach and co-founder of Maturn. Can you share pivotal moments that influenced your transition into entrepreneurship and leadership coaching?
Someone once said to me, “Don’t wait for a life-changing moment to change your life.” That phrase has stuck with me ever since.
By 2019, I had reached a point in my life and career where I barely recognized myself. I was constantly sprinting from one commitment to the next—skimming the surface of my relationships and hoping they’d still be there when I finally had time to slow down. My days were packed with back-to-back meetings, and my nights were swallowed by unanswered emails. I felt like I was failing—especially as a mother.
At the same time, my father was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. I was emotionally depleted, physically exhausted, and deeply disconnected from the things that once lit me up. I knew, in my heart, something had to shift.
I had always felt a quiet nudge to start my own business but I was afraid. It took a deep commitment to my own inner work, the support of an incredible coach (thank you, Heather White), and the courage to believe in myself.
I’ve learned that you don’t need to have it all figured out to take the first step. Sometimes, it starts with just listening to the whisper. Get curious. What’s calling you?
2. You’ve described “Brave Connectedness™” as a guiding principle in your work. How has this concept shaped your approach to leadership and personal growth?
One of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned is that we’re not meant to do this alone.
I was raised by a single mother, living on the poverty line. She was a wonderful mom, doing everything she could while working as a bank teller at BMO, but she had no real support system. Our family was in Ireland, and she carried it all on her own. I learned from a young age to be fiercely independent, and that became a defining part of who I was.
The story I told myself was: If you want something done, do it yourself. Don’t ask for help. Don’t rely on others.
That mindset served me until it began to stall me.
I once heard Dr. Claire Zammit say, “You can’t become yourself, by yourself,” and it hit me deeply. That was the turning point.
I’ve come to believe that meaningful change requires community, courage, and coaching. It requires co-creation. I never could have imagined how much my life and work would evolve once I allowed myself to truly be supported. That all opportunities happen through people.
When I first had the idea to create Canada’s first maternity leave program for career-minded women, I knew I didn’t want to build it alone. In the very early days, I reached out to my now business partner, Sonja Baikogli Foley. Her brilliance, experience, and energy brought so much more to Maturn than I ever could have achieved on my own.
Today, I lead with a deep belief in co-creation and being an open vessel for support. It’s a core part of our feminine power and one of the greatest lessons I carry into everything I do.
Maturn: Addressing the Motherhood Penalty
3. Maturn is recognized as Canada’s first dedicated maternity leave program. What inspired you to develop this initiative, and how does it aim to transform the maternity leave experience for working mothers?
Maturn was born from a deeply personal place. During my first maternity leave, I found myself navigating an unexpected and overwhelming shift. I had always been driven, ambitious, and clear on my career path but after becoming a mother, I felt like the ground beneath me had changed. My confidence was shaken. I had a colicky newborn, I wasn’t sleeping, and what I imagined would be a joyful pause in my career felt more like an identity crisis.
I remember meeting other mothers during that leave on walks, in coffee shops, but while they seemed to be thriving, I often felt like I was just surviving. It was incredibly isolating. Looking back, I know now that so many of them were quietly struggling too. But at the time, I couldn’t find the support, the space, or the tools to help me process the emotional, psychological, and professional changes I was experiencing.
That experience of feeling unmoored in what should have been a powerful and transformative season was what ultimately inspired me to co-found Maturn. We launched Canada’s first dedicated maternity leave program to help working mothers navigate one of the most pivotal years of their lives with support, structure, and community.
But as we worked with more women, we realized something important: the challenges don’t end with maternity leave. So we expanded. Today, Maturn supports women through key life stages including fertility, maternity leave, early motherhood and leadership, and now perimenopause and menopause.
Why? Because women are navigating massive identity, health, and career shifts at every stage, and they deserve to be supported through all of it. These aren’t side stories in a woman’s career journey; they are the story. And when workplaces acknowledge and invest in these transitions, they not only retain incredible talent, they help women thrive.
Maturn is here to ensure women no longer have to choose between ambition and caregiving, career and wellbeing. We help them rewrite the story—on their terms.
4. Looking ahead, what is your vision for Maturn’s growth and its role in reshaping organizational support for motherhood?
Looking ahead, our vision for Maturn is to fundamentally reshape how organizations support women, not just during maternity leave, but across every key life stage. We want to see a world where transitions like fertility, early motherhood, and perimenopause are acknowledged, supported, and integrated into the fabric of workplace culture.
Our ambition is to continue scaling Maturn across Canada and expand into new countries where there is a clear need and a growing desire, for more inclusive and supportive workplace practices. We see a global movement emerging around how women are supported at work, and we want to be at the forefront of that shift.
We’re also committed to continuing our research and advocacy work, bringing visibility to the often-invisible challenges women face, and equipping companies with the data and insights they need to take meaningful action. Our programming will continue to evolve as well, with new offerings designed to meet the unique and complex needs women face at every career and life stage.
At the heart of our vision is a bold goal: to end the motherhood penalty. Because no woman should have to choose between having a family and having a thriving career. And when we build systems that truly support women, everyone benefits.
Leadership, Mentorship, and Overcoming Barriers
5. Mentorship often plays a crucial role in professional development. Can you discuss any mentors who have significantly influenced your path and how those relationships shaped your approach to leadership?
Mentorship has been a powerful force in my professional journey, and I’m especially honoured to be speaking on this panel alongside one of my own mentors, Tracey McVicar.
What I admire most about Tracey is the way she leads with both strength and heart. She’s incredibly thoughtful, generous, and intentional in how she shows up for others. She has been a true champion of our work at Maturn, making introductions, opening doors, and consistently cheering us on.
Watching how she navigates the world has taught me so much. Tracey embodies what it means to be a heart-centred leader, while also bringing a powerful clarity and confidence to the table—what I like to call “don’t mess with me” energy. She’s deeply respected in our community, and she continues to be a brilliant source of inspiration, not just to me, but to so many women in leadership.
6. Sally Helgesen’s How Women Rise highlights the importance of women articulating their achievements and aspirations. Have you faced challenges in self-advocacy, and what strategies have you employed to overcome them?
Self-advocacy hasn’t always come easily to me and I know I’m not alone in that. I see so many women, especially in leadership, hiding parts of themselves. We hold back because we’re worried about how we’ll be received, afraid we’ll be judged, or not liked. We often place more weight on how others perceive us than on standing fully in our own power.
What I’ve learned, and what I continue to practice, is shifting that focus inward. Instead of asking, What will they think of me?, I now ask, Am I making an impact? Am I living in alignment with my purpose and my values? And if the answer is yes—then honestly, who cares?
Marianne Williamson said it best: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.” That line has stuck with me for years. It’s not our flaws that hold us back most, it’s the fear of owning our brilliance.
So many of us are waiting for the world to change, to become more inclusive, more equitable, more empowering for women. But what if the revolution starts with us? What if we stop waiting for permission and simply let our lights shine?
The shift for me has come in caring less about being palatable and more about being purposeful. It’s not always comfortable, but it’s powerful. And I truly believe that when women give themselves permission to show up fully – brilliant, radiant, and real, we don’t just rise. We help change the world.
Balancing Parenthood and Professional Life
7. As a mother and stepmother to four children, how have you managed the interplay between parenthood and entrepreneurship? What insights can you offer to other women striving to balance these roles?
I stopped overfunctioning.
My first marriage ended, in part, because I co-created a dynamic I eventually came to deeply resent. Call it the curse of competence, but it began on maternity leave. I gradually took on more and more of the mental and emotional load at home. And when I returned to work, that load never rebalanced. It was invisible, exhausting, and unsustainable.
I didn’t come into this world as an overachiever or over-functioner. That was learned behavior. But it became my downfall. I burned out—badly. My people-pleasing tendencies and the stories I told myself, that everything needed to be done by me, and done perfectly weren’t serving me or my family.
So I changed.
I stopped doing it all. I began holding my family capable of stepping up. I chose a partner who values equity. I stopped making it so easy for everyone around me. I taught my kids to do their own laundry, I outsourced the grocery shopping, and I dropped the ball on registering my son for sports (so his dad could pick that up). I showed my kids how to take the bus so I wasn’t responsible for every single pickup and drop-off.
And in releasing my grip on the mental load, I freed up time—for my work, for myself, and for joy. And guess what? Nothing fell apart. My kids are loved, supported, and can make a meal for themselves. They are learning self-reliance and witnessing what shared responsibility looks like.
Also, can we throw out the word balance? I’m convinced a man with a full-time wife invented that term. It sets women up to feel like we’re constantly failing, like life and work are in a tug-of-war. I don’t strive for balance anymore. My barometer for success has changed.
Are my kids happy? Am I happy? Are we healthy? Do we share joyful moments? Is my work making an impact? Do I have more energy than I have exhaustion? Do I have a trip planned? Those are the questions I live by now. And they’ve served me far better than any illusion of balance ever did.
Advice and Insights
8. For aspiring entrepreneurs and leaders, especially women, what key advice would you impart to navigate the challenges and opportunities in today’s professional landscape?
First, stop waiting to feel “ready.” You will never feel 100% prepared to step into something new and that’s okay. Clarity comes from action, not from overthinking. So take the leap, even if your voice shakes.
Second, get really clear on why you’re doing the work. When you anchor into your purpose and the impact you want to make, it becomes easier to navigate the inevitable doubts, rejections, and detours. Purpose is what keeps you steady when everything else feels uncertain.
Third, stop playing small to make others comfortable. So many women shrink themselves, minimizing their ideas, staying quiet in rooms they should be leading, or holding back because they’re afraid of being “too much.” Don’t wait for permission to own your brilliance. You are not too much, you’re just enough.
And finally, build your people. Surround yourself with those who remind you of who you are when you forget. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, so choose wisely. Entrepreneurship and leadership can be isolating, but they don’t have to be. Find your people, ask for help, and return the favour when you can.
You do not need to know the end game before taking the first step. There is no perfect path. But if you lead with integrity, stay curious, and keep showing up, you’ll build something meaningful. And you’ll become someone even more powerful in the process.