Trevor Botkin: 0:10

And welcome back to another episode of W Leaders Connect the Corporate Connections podcast, where we sit down with business owners and entrepreneurs and talk to them about their journey, where they're going, where they'd like to go and anything else that comes to mind in our candid conversations where they'd like to go and anything else that comes to mind in our candid conversations. Today, I'm thrilled to welcome Annie Méran, a trailblazing leader in the business community. Annie is the president and founder of EvoLead, where she's been instrumental in guiding business owners towards sustainable growth and innovation. Additionally, she serves as the regional president of the Réseau des Femmes d'Affaires du Québec in the Uruguay region, where she champions the advancement and empowerment of women in the business world. With a remarkable track record of fostering leadership and driving impactful change, annie's insights are invaluable for anyone looking to elevate their business and leadership journey. Please welcome to the show, annie Meyrand.

Annie Mayrand: 1:00

Yeah, it's great. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited that.

Trevor Botkin: 1:06

Yeah, it's it, it's great. Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited, and the one thing I didn't mention is that you're the, the trailblazer also for us out in the ottawa region. So, even though you're a montreal native uh that you are are spending your days and time out in the ottawa gatna region. So, um, I'll just add that in now. Maybe, maybe we can go back, because we met before the pandemic. We met, I think, in early 2020 or late 2019, I think even, and at that point you were still heading up quite a large team with Rogers on that, and you have a multi-disciplinary background, but kind of always in this tech leadership side. So maybe, if you can just kind of give us the, the cole's notes of what your journey's been to date, yeah, sure, and what it got me to where I am today, for sure.

Annie Mayrand: 1:57

Um, you know and maybe I'm going to start a little even further than that when I was a child, I was passionate about music and at 14 years old, my teacher hired me to start helping her with the other students.

Annie Mayrand: 2:16

So I she also had another business, and which was teaching music in kindergarten. So I built my own course, you know, I started having my own students and put flyers and, you know, at that time there was no cell phone or nothing, it was really flyers at the grocery store. And it led me to, you know, understand what coaching is, what teaching is, how to teach your passion to someone else. And I evolved that way and eventually I reached my dream. I was 23 years old and I'm like okay, what do I do now? You know, I'm so young and so I started a, you know, just to have a regular life, and I was ready to put the teaching music on the side. And they quickly, you know, give me a team so I can influence, and I can start influencing for customer service and sales and I build it up, but for me it was temporary.

Annie Mayrand: 3:26

And sales and I build it up, but for me it was temporary. I didn't know I would um, it would be a larger career on that end, but because because I learned how to connect with people and understand them and, you know, show them how to be successful by listening to them and find a way that works for them, I grew up the latter pretty quickly. So after a few years I left Bell for Rogers, you know, on the business side and I went back to school doing my MBA, which is a double MBA with Paris Dauphine in Paris and l'Université du Québec à Montréal here. So it was great to study overseas and study here and, just you know, share a bit more with my peers at the university, which had they all had a big role in organization but little experience for some of them in terms of leading teams. So what I learned a lot from that was you have to trust the people that you work with, because you cannot achieve 100% of what you want all the time within the deadlines. So trusting your peers, finding the right people to work with, was already the biggest learning of that journey doing the MBA and then after Rogers, you know, after that I got my MBA, I got promoted, somebody came to see me and hire me for a bigger role where I had 900 people reporting to me across Canada and US and overseas. And for me it was a way to show that I can lead from distance, I can influence at multiple levels in different languages and still get people super excited about the mission, the vision, the cultural change. For me, building the culture always has been close to my heart. So I've worked there and I've learned, you know, big growth. And then digital change, which brought that I had to close centers. And digital change which brought that I had to close centers. And you know, the rise and falls of business is not always. It's good for the business, but sometimes, you know, the reduction of human resources has been difficult to implement. Should I say difficult to implement? Should I say so?

Annie Mayrand: 6:10

After that journey, I, you know, I followed a friend who's selling product on Amazon and who was really, really successful. So he told me why don't you come? I'll show you how I do my business? So I went to China with him, followed him everywhere, got to learn from him the way he's thinking about his customers and so on and so forth, which led me to build my own dropshipping website, where I learned a lot on, you know, selling products and connect with your customers, which was really, really fun. However, what always drove me is people. So I miss the connection with people, so I'm like I like doing that. It's fun, but it's not only a way to do money Right.

Annie Mayrand: 6:57

So I accepted a role in as a director of technical support in the tech world, which, for women, is a fantastic achievement, and their culture was not necessarily ideal. So I just trusted my own path and, even though I came from different backgrounds and the technical part was not my forte, what they needed is a leader who can connect with the people, gain back the trust of the customer and stabilize the operation, which I did. I gave myself a year and a half to help them doing that, and then they were going through again selling the Montreal section, and I didn't want to go through a downsize or you know that type of thing again. So I decided to change and this is what led me to go back to Rogers, because the values at Rogers. I felt like, after a couple of years of seeing different organizations, that many businesses have values on their website or they say this is our values, but they don't necessarily live it.

Annie Mayrand: 8:06

And when I was at Rogers, I left, not because I didn't like the company. I left because of a promotion and a bigger opportunity for me, and at that time it was not available at Rogers. So I came back for the values and this is where you and I met. And then the pandemic hit. Where you and I met. And then the pandemic hit, um, and I was so happy of my decision because it was, you know, uh, essential service. So we worked like crazy, crazy hours a day to connect customers across the country, which you know, really, really, um, it's really great to to be part of a bigger mission, um, and through that, you know, we had the curfew. We couldn't do anything, we couldn't leave home, um, and it's not my style to watch Netflix for hours, uh, all the time.

Annie Mayrand: 8:59

So I was like, okay, what can I do with my spare time? And I decided to continue learning and always learn new coaching techniques. And even at Rogers, I was part of some special programs for leaders you know that they see climbing the ladder and for coaching techniques, which always has been the pivotal point for me Always how can I help people to feel fulfilled at what they do every day? And my main goal is always how to put my team first, how to make them feel that they're autonomous. You know they're driving the boat, they're not just executing whatever the business wants them to do.

Annie Mayrand: 9:50

So, as a leader, that's what drove me along these years and, reflecting on my journey, every time I was changing I was like, okay, it's, it's hitting a wall. Every time, right, it's like, okay, what the hell am I doing? Now? It's totally out of my comfort zone. What's the common denominator here for me, in every role that I have accepted and the two main question I was asking myself is will I learn something taking this role? And can I bring value? And sometimes I refused some big position because I knew I would bring value, but I didn't see how that would bring value to me, aside a salary and a title. And for me it's important say how can I continue to learn and grow and evolve as a person from a personal perspective and from a professional perspective, not only how I can continue to give, because I'm a giver, I love to give my time, I'm very generous of helping people, but then it still has to come back to you because, because it's also part of energy.

Annie Mayrand: 11:06

You know, there's some, some group I've been part of uh, it's called maverick okay, it's missing mainly in the us, and it's a group of entrepreneurs, a little bit like corporate connection, and they meet and they have some outing and they have some fun. And one day I was there at an event. It was a summer event, we were 300 people and at the end of the three days that we were there, there was a lady that came in the morning and came to see me and she told me. She said we didn't have the chance to speak, you and I. But I just want you to know that every time you're in a room, I feel your energy and I just stayed in the room just to feel your energy. And even sometimes you were not even talking and I was not a speaker, I was just participating, right. It touched me so well I. I was, you know, like she's obviously not trying to flirt with me, right, she's just very genuine comment.

Annie Mayrand: 12:10

And then I look at my friend who brought me there and I'm like, okay, what do I do with that energy? Like how can I sell my energy? How can I help people with my energy and it was turning around in my head and I was struggling with with that um, and then somebody else, like from from that group at another event like he said can, can we talk and I'd love to speak with you. So at the lunch break we went and then we talked and he told me his whole story of his life and you know how difficult he had to go through certain things. And in the end I was like, ok, I don't know this guy, like why does he open up to me like that? And he said well, I have a question for you. He's like you're there with your energy. I felt just so attracted to you, know the energy and and how you could, I could just take your energy. You know, when you're near somebody, some people are driving or is uh sucking your energy.

Trevor Botkin: 13:15

Yeah.

Annie Mayrand: 13:16

And other people. You feel yourself with their energy and he's like he's doing that with me. I mean he was taking my energy to boost him up and he told me that I said that's exactly what I'm doing right now. But he said my question is with who do you recharge your own energy? I'm like, oh, that's a fantastic question. And I started looking around me. Who around me is really filling me in? And all these things in my path has been important for me to continue to evolve and identify those people that really helped me be who I am, just by being there, and also to reassure me on my mission. And my life mission is to keep just being there for people with my own energy and just without doing much, and just helping them grow, helping them connect, helping them, you know, feel fulfilled at what they do, and not telling them what to do, but helping them finding their own way, which led me to corporate connection and also to start my own business.

Annie Mayrand: 14:26

Eventually, I left Rogers last year, you know, and I thought I could help way more leaders and, you know, being on my own and during the pandemic. Well, I learned other techniques like NLP. I'm certified personal and professional coach in NLP, I'm a coach associate with the International Coaching Federation and I've learned hypnosis. Hypnosis for me was a powerful tool to help my own team at that time at Rogers to feel more focused and less overwhelmed with stress because we know, pandemic created a lot of stress and working from home. But I wanted a tool to help my team and now I'm using this in my coaching with leaders and also individually to help people remove their own barriers and and. All these things are so different one from another but for me it all comes together in the same way. It makes me my I would say what I have to offer very different than the regular type of crowd.

Trevor Botkin: 15:39

And just for those who are maybe listening that have never heard the term before the NLP is Neuro Linguistic Programming.

Annie Mayrand: 15:46

Yes, thank you.

Trevor Botkin: 15:47

Yeah, no, just I'm sensitive to other people's listening to acronyms and going. I have no idea what that is. I mean, it's an amazing journey and there's a lot of things I would love to, I guess, pull apart a little bit within that journey, apart a little bit within that journey. But maybe I'd be curious, now that we're a year into this journey of of solopreneur and and being back on your own and going back to your time of your drop shipping company where you're on your own, and what would you say the difference is between this solo exercise and that solo exercise from from your own experience as an entrepreneur?

Annie Mayrand: 16:26

well, when my drop shipping, I was interacting with customers, but online, right um, though, when I coach, I meet with the people and I see them right. And and when I do hypnosis, most of my customers prefer to do it face to face. So, like I have a place that I can meet with them, some I do virtually as well. It's as efficient to do it virtually than in person, but most people prefer face to face in person. So for me, again, it goes back to my energy.

Annie Mayrand: 17:00

When I'm there physically, I feel I can give even more than just writing to a customer and make them happy with the product. It's Annie's energy and I could feel in their eyes. I could see it, the aha moment and the enlightening and this is wow, amazing, more than oh. I really love the product. So, as a solo printer, it feeds me way better than just the dollar value of how many products I should sell, which I feel more. Maybe I can with my time. It's less scalable. However, I gain so much benefit from me gaining the energy of my customers as well.

Trevor Botkin: 17:49

Does music still play a big part in either your life or in your coaching practice as well?

Annie Mayrand: 17:57

I wish I put that aside for so many years. I put that aside for so many years, unfortunately. You know, when you do music. In university I used to practice three to five hours a day to be able to play certain songs. It was classical music, so it has to be perfect. So it created for me this desire or dissatisfaction of never being there, like never happy with the end product, because I'm not a robot. I'm never going to do it perfectly the same every time. So there's a lot of learning there where you have to let go and it's very demanding emotionally. So I put that aside for many years and since last year I moved. Now we have a piano here, but for many years I couldn't have a piano where I lived. I would have disturbed my neighbors and when I say disturbed people say, yeah, but it's beautiful.

Annie Mayrand: 18:56

Yeah, it's beautiful when you know the song, but when you're learning it you repeat the same little part you know for so many hours. They they're going to probably say damn, is she going to get it or what, right? So I put that aside and put my passion elsewhere, which, but eventually I missed it, right. So so lately I put it back there. But there's so much learning from this part of my life of being a musician and just connect with my emotion and learn the technique and then forget it just to be able to play play from the heart. And I had fantastic teachers that are still mentors for me, that their advice are still rolling out in my head and everything I do.

Trevor Botkin: 19:46

I can relate and bring this learning into my coaching or the way I drive my business right now and I would assume that the discipline that you pick up from being a classically trained pianist where, as you mentioned, it's just over and over until you get it and then there's a muscle memory, but there's, it's never. It's never perfect, it's always you can be more fluid or or honor the music differently. I guess that would also help you in terms of this, this journey that you've been on, which seems to be a never ending sort of. You know, you're like in Montreal, under in, right, like, always, always the scene of like, oh, more orange cones on Pie IX, but you know that it can always be better than than than you were and it sounds like there's a they dovetail nicely from from those two aspects. What's been the biggest surprise in the last year for you, having left Rogers and going into full-time coaching with these, I guess, two or three different platforms, what's surprised you the most now that you've been doing it for a year?

Annie Mayrand: 20:57

I left everything. Last year I moved near Ottawa. I was living in Montreal. I left the corporate world. I moved away from my friends and family for love. Love brought me here, which is amazing, but it's still a lot of change.

Annie Mayrand: 21:18

Right, resilience surprised me the most. Where I'm in an area where I don't know anybody. Here, I have to start a business where my contacts are all far away. It's something I've done, but I was 14 years old the first time. Right, it's different now. I know I have that drive, I know I can do it, but every day, how to put that together is a journey and even though I believe in myself and what I can bring to the world and to my client, some days it has been difficult. But what surprised me the most, aside my resilience is, I learned throughout the years to never, you know, when I have something in my head, believe me, it's not anywhere else. I'm determined and just connecting with you, right, hey, trevor, like we haven't spoken in two years. Right, is there a corporate connection in Ottawa? And you said, no, do you want to build one? I'm like, oh sure, right, how do we do that? I don't know, but I have to trust that. Well, first I trust you. And then I'm like, ok, if I trust him and he trusts me, well we can do anything together. And same thing for the Réseau des Femmes d'Appel du Québec. So I'm now the formal president of the region here, not the big network right, the region in Utahwe. I'm so proud of being trusted by this group.

Annie Mayrand: 22:53

But when I moved to Ontario I was like, oh, it's in Quebec and I'm right across the border, but maybe it's not for me. So I called them. I was like, why should I assume? Right, I learned in life, don't assume, just ask. And and I asked, and they're like, yeah, you can, you can join the group.

Annie Mayrand: 23:12

So right away I went online, look for the president in the region. I connected with her and I said I'm interested in joining the regional committee. And she's like, oh, there's just a spot, somebody just left the committee, so maybe you can come in. So, which I did. And after two or three weeks she told me that her mandate would come to an end.

Annie Mayrand: 23:34

And I took more time to think about it because I just said yes to you to build a corporate connection, right? And then I said, no, I'm interested in taking the role, right. So I started to demonstrate some interest and finally they chose me and I'm so proud and so happy because for me, it's a way to give back to the women in the region here and influence and encourage women to build their business and flourish in their business and my my coaching is not only for women, but I always give time, like volunteering time when I was in Montreal, so this is my way of being involved and being part of a network and a vision that is bigger than me. Same thing with corporate connection and this is the surprise of how I can still be chosen, even though I'm new in this area and you know what I mean and still make my own way and influence people to still grow and evolve the way I believe they can.

Trevor Botkin: 24:51

What excites you the most when you're working with a business owner or an entrepreneur and helping them? What's your favorite piece of that puzzle?

Annie Mayrand: 25:01

Well, the piece I love the most is when I see in their eyes the light that they just catch something that will make a difference for them. Not in something I've said, but with a question or with, maybe, a technique. I've learned to help them find this aha moment and now they're good to go, and for me it's all about how they can be autonomous without me. I don't want a recurring customer feeling dependent on my coaching or my technique, and maybe I have the wrong business model, because most people want a customer to come back, but I want them to be able to fly with their own wing right. And Evalead has two L's.

Annie Mayrand: 25:52

Everybody asks me why two L's in evolution and leadership right Two L's? Because you spread your wings. You can, you know, spread only with two wings, and for me it's the evolution and leadership. But leadership starts with you and aha moments come with the leader itself or the person itself with their own leadership, and sometimes it's not necessarily a position, a leadership position, it's just the person needs to lead a change within their own life and when there's this aha moment, it's so beautiful. I feel fulfilled, seeing them flourish.

Trevor Botkin: 26:35

What's the goal or what's the dream for EvoLead and for you as a coach?

Annie Mayrand: 26:43

That's a great question. What's the dream? Being able to touch as many people as possible and to create these connections, help them connect with other people that will help leverage their business or their own self. So the more people I can influence and just feeling that I can be part of their journey, of their own success, that is a professional success or personal success. You know seeing people get like with hypnosis, getting rid of some of their fears, and now they're like ready to like superheroes, right, and then they're ready to change the world, change their world. So for me, it's just having the opportunity to connect and being introduced to these people and just see how they can use me as a tool to lift up their own journey. That's my dream.

Trevor Botkin: 27:46

And is there a plan to get back into music and maybe performing one day?

Annie Mayrand: 27:51

Oh no, don't start that. I practice for my own. I start to practice back every day. I love Beethoven, so I've chosen a few partitions and already I'm playing for me, my boyfriend and his girls. But aside that, you're not going to see me on stage, it's for my own benefit.

Trevor Botkin: 28:18

Yeah, that's perfect. Well, no, but I think I mean, obviously you give so freely and that's such a big piece of who you are. So to hold on to something that is purely for you and for those people that are close to you and obviously that are in your inner circle, I think there's nothing wrong with that. I think it's a beautiful thing to be able to say no, this is mine and I don't need to share it with anyone else yeah, you know, sometimes people say, oh, you should play, you should do this, and I get you have to.

Annie Mayrand: 28:52

And they're like you have to play because you know. I say why don't you learn right, like am I a circus clown and you can ask on demand, but I, I laugh about it. It's just that for me, now it has become more personal, it's my own way of meditation. Right, it's the way I connect with my inner self and and I bring that back to me, um, and it's not because I don't want to share, I'm happy to share, but it's weird what I'm going to say. I'm very shy, so music for me is really shy and it's just my way of connecting with myself, like an introvert. That's my introvert part. So it's really really rare I'm going to say, hey, let me just play for everybody and I like to enlighten the room, but not that way.

Trevor Botkin: 29:48

Well, look, I really appreciate you taking the time today to sit with us and share with us your journey, and I'm really excited to be working with you to build out the Ottawa Gatineau region of our community. So thank you so much, annie of our community.

Annie Mayrand: 30:08

So thank you so much, annie. Thank you for allowing me to participate in that amazing you know mission that Corporate Connection is. I firmly believe in the energy and the mission of the organization. Otherwise, it's not just a work right, it comes all back to my value of connecting, fulfillment, support each other. And right this morning I connected one of the members with one of my friends in Costa Rica and I said hey, I think the two of you should meet and whatever comes out of this, I'm just happy to help. Right, and I think with Corporate Connection we can bring so much, and especially in the national capital of Canada, it has to be a group and I'm excited to be part of building that group. So thank you for allowing me to be part of this journey.

Trevor Botkin: 31:05

Well, we're certainly better for having you here, and I think, because some of the stuff you talked about today I didn't know I knew some of it and some of it I was like, oh, I didn't know that. But I think what sticks out for me, if I may, is the discipline but the hunger to learn, and I think so few people carry that with them through their life and and so too often it's like I'm done school, I've done my degree or my mba, and now I just want to work. And you're the opposite. It's like can I learn, can I bring value? And those are the two things that you're always sort of weighing when you're looking at decisions, and I think that's really beautiful because it's a testament to adaptability, perseverance, but just kind of this never-ending improvement. I think it's really beautiful.

Trevor Botkin: 32:03

Thank you, and with that I also I think I'll just take a moment to acknowledge the members of Corporate Connections Canada, but also uh of the new Ottawa region. I think there's about seven uh of you in the Ottawa region. So I think that's really, really interesting to see where we're going to go as we we build and foster leadership within our nation's capital. I'm really excited about that, thank you. Thank you and to everyone else listening today. Thank you for tuning in. I hope you found as much value as I did in listening to Annie and I will put in the notes ways to connect with her through her website, through LinkedIn and anything else that Annie feels important. We'll make sure it's in the liner note of this. So to everyone else again, check with us next time. Let's continue to lead with purpose, continue to learn, continue to improve and ultimately make lasting impacts wherever you are, and, as always, this is where leaders connect.