Like many aspiring actresses, Chelsea Odell had to give up her Hollywood dream. She never abandoned her passion for art and design, however — it just took her a little time (and education) to fully embrace it.

“I was taking theatre and film [courses in school], and on the other hand I was taking math and chemistry, hoping that by the end of that first year of university I’d know what I wanted to do,” says Odell, a 2014 Graphic Communications graduate. “I got to to the end of that year, and I thought, ‘Huh, I still like everything.’”

Odell, 33, eventually followed her interest in technology to a degree in computer science, graduating from the University of Manitoba in 2006.

Soon after, Odell joined Online Business Systems, an IT and business consulting firm that specializes in custom application development and package implementations for companies such as MTS and Investors Group. As a developer, her focus was on coding applications using an ever-evolving list of programming languages — from HTML to C#.

Despite her love of coding, Odell still longed to satisfy her artistic side — a side that, in computer programming, manifests itself in graphical user interface design.

“Even though I was interested in user experience, I noticed a gap in my own knowledge — [design] tools like Photoshop, etc. — I wasn’t particularly proficient with them,” she says from Portland, the site of one of Online’s U.S. offices.

Not wanting to halt her career to pursue another degree, Odell turned to Continuing Education, and enrolled in Red River College’s Graphic Communications program. Covering everything from the fundamentals of drawing to advanced graphic design, the program gave her the necessary skills to translate her coding knowledge to the design world. Read More →

Thompson, Manitoba may not seem like an obvious destination for someone from Nigeria, but for Justice and Public Safety graduate Olufemi Ogungbemi, moving over 10,000 km to the icy Prairies was exactly what he needed to find his family — and discover his dream career.

“To graduate and get a good job [in Nigeria] is really hard,” says Ogungbemi, a 28-year-old native of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city. “I love my country, and I am a proud Nigerian, but the economy was suffering because of poor leadership in government. I felt Canada was a better opportunity for me.”

The chance to start a new life in Canada came in 2005, when Ogungbemi’s uncles — James Ogungbemi Jackson, a probation officer, and David Ogungbemi, an RCMP officer — asked him to move to Winnipeg, their home for over 40 years. In 2011, following years of paperwork, Olufemi arrived in Manitoba, where his uncles, both graduates of Red River College, wasted no time in introducing him to their alma mater.

“I can still remember the first day [Uncle James] took me to see the Notre Dame Campus,” says Ogunbemi, who also holds a degree in accounting from Lagos State Polytechnic. “I liked everything about the school, and the same day I registered to take a course in Justice and Public Safety.”

While Ogungbemi’s uncles inspired him to follow in their line of work, the idea to work in a justice position was one he’d had since witnessing corruption throughout Nigeria’s legal system.

“There is so much injustice back home [in Nigeria]. I really felt this is what I wanted to do: to protect life and properties, to keep the public peace, and keep people safe. Back home, if you join the police force, they are really corrupt; there is corruption everywhere. When I came to Canada, I felt I had a great platform to continue to my goal.” Read More →

Jolene Ross’s passion for human resources began with a different goal — to become a lawyer.

“Human resources people are often frustrated lawyers,” jokes the 31-year-old, echoing the words of her Red River College instructor, Angie Cusson.

While the legal intricacies of the profession initially drew her to sign up for RRC’s Human Resource Management program, the personal aspects of it are what she now finds the most rewarding.

“Every time you hire somebody, you’re making a change in their lives,” says Ross, a recruitment and retention officer with the Southern Health-Santé Sud regional health authority. “It’s the happy side of human resources; it’s the fun side. I think that’s kind of what drew me to it. It’s being able to interact with people, but still getting to participate in a process that has a legal side to it.”

Ross has helped make that dramatic change in many people’s lives. Since joining Southern Health-Santé Sud following her graduation from RRC in 2008, she has been part of several massive staffing transitions — including the 2012 amalgamation of regions that saw the health authority grow from 3,500 to 5,500 employees.

With sensitive personnel decisions a part of her daily work, Ross says maintaining professionalism throughout every aspect of her job is imperative. It’s a lesson she credits to the Human Resource Management program.

“[RRC] challenged me to become more of a professional,” says Ross, who also holds an arts degree from the University of Manitoba. “In our line of business that’s extremely important, because you sometimes deal with people when they’re at their worst, and when they’re at their worst, you have to treat them with that respect.” Read More →

Karen Dueck has gone from serving breakfast to serving the needs of children and youth in the community – and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Back in 2006, Dueck was working as a server in a restaurant to help support her family. She didn’t think going back to school was an option for her until a friend told her about the Youth Recreation Activity Worker certificate program at Red River College.

“When I first heard about it, I thought it was too good to be true,” says Dueck, whose two children were in their early teens when she entered the 10-month program, and who had experience doing respite work with a child with special needs.

“I had always enjoyed working with children and youth, but it wasn’t until I heard about this program that I really thought of it as a career. To that point I was just working to work, and to put food on the table.”

Designed to prepare young people to work with inner city children and youth to provide healthy recreational activities, the Youth Recreation Activity Worker program is offered at no cost to qualifying students aged 18 to 29. Dueck, who was 28 at the time, took the plunge and applied. At the end of the program she completed a summer work practicum as an Activity Worker with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Winnipeg, which partners with RRC to offer the program jointly. Read More →

Old is new again when it comes to some counselling techniques.

Red River College grad Bill Thomas (Community-Centred Therapy, 1999) specializes in combining Western psychotherapy with traditional Aboriginal healing methods. Not only is he getting results, he’s also finding the two methods have a lot in common.

“[Clients] equated it to an internal vision quest,” Thomas says of the healing process. “The deep psychotherapeutic techniques in the Western world? [First Nations communities have] done that throughout the centuries from a spiritual point of view, so we had those embedded in our healing processes from our ancestors. It’s incredible.”

Thomas first developed the technique while completing his degree in social work at the University of Northern British Columbia in 2006. Today, he works as a clinical supervisor and mental health therapist for First Nations and Inuit Health while also running his own therapy practice.

Born and raised on Peguis First Nation, Thomas grew up in a less-than-ideal family environment.

“I went through a lot of trauma in my childhood years,” he says. “I saw my mom and dad go through some bloody battles and I just wanted to give up at four years old, and that’s when I had my first spiritual intervention with God. That helped a lot with living.”

Thomas, 50, has known he would help others since he watched his grandmother counsel her friends as a young boy.

“A long time ago, people used to go around visiting on the reserve and that’s how they did the traditional counselling. They’d counsel one another, help each other with chores and talk to each other about problems and stuff like that. I watched my grandma do that. She was my pillar.” Read More →

Amber Balcaen has her sights set on NASCAR. And to make it there, she needs your help.

The 22-year-old Red River College grad recently launched an IndieGoGo campaign to help raise funds for a test run at the end of December, where she’ll be driving an ARCA (Automobile Racing Club of America) asphalt car for HARE (Hassler and Associates Racing Enterprises) Motorsports, at Daytona International Raceway.

“If I showed you a picture of an ARCA car, you’d be like, ‘Oh that’s a NASCAR’ because it looks identical,” says Balcaen. “Essentially that’s what it is, it’s just another form of pavement racing, it just mirrors NASCAR. It’s another gateway into NASCAR.”

This test run is vitally important for Balcaen’s career – completing it ensures she receives her ARCA license, thereby allowing her to race in 2015. To get there, she needs to raise $6,000 by Dec. 24.

“It’s very hard to show proof of return on investment for a test, because it’s not a race. There aren’t thousands of fans in the stands; you’re just testing a car. So it’s hard to really show the numbers that sponsors want ­– that’s why I thought that crowdfunding was [a good way to raise] money for the test.”

Balcaen has been racing for 12 years, but this will be her first time doing so for ARCA, a minor but professional league of stock car racing that’s used as a feeder series for NASCAR. She had her first chance to drive for NASCAR in November of this year, when she was one of only 20 drivers invited to participate in Rev Racing and NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity. Read More →

“#InnovateOrDie,” reads the motto on the walls at Bold Innovation Group, and it’s a message the IT company takes to heart.

“We took an old motto and we renewed it for our generation,” explains Yvan Boisjoli (shown above, at left), one of Bold’s four founding partners. “[The original was], ‘If you’re not growing you’re dying.’ So what we did was just refresh it to #InnovateOrDie.”

Since Bold launched in March 2012, this mentality has helped the Île-des-Chênes-based company quickly become one of the leading third-party suppliers of apps for ecommerce behemoth Shopify.

Founded by brothers Yvan and Eric Boisjoli, Stefan Maynard and Jason Myers, Bold has already put 15 Shopify apps on the market and plans to launch another two per month for the foreseeable future. In its short time in existence, Bold has served almost 15,000 clients, including Microsoft, Time Life and Cirque du Soleil.

The Boisjoli brothers, both graduates of the Computer Analyst/Programmer (now called Business Information Technology) program at Red River College, are self-described ‘Code Pirates’ – meaning they build the apps – while Maynard is a ‘Design Ninja’ and Myers heads up Marketing. The fun job titles go hand-in-hand with the company’s ‘Work hard, play hard’ mentality; their office includes a foosball table and arcade games and the founders endeavor to ensure it’s a workplace with lots of perks.

The ‘Work hard’ part is also vitally important, as demonstrated by the company’s growth and success. Starting with just the four co-founders in 2012, Bold now has a staff of over 40. And they’re receiving accolades, winning the Young Enterprise category of the Entrepreneur Prizes handed out by the St. Boniface Chamber of Commerce, along with a national award for economic development and employability from Réseau de dévelopment économique et d’émployabilité (RDEE) Canada, the nation’s Francophone economic and employability network. Read More →

Kyle Goertzen has been sober for three and a half years. He attributes part of his recovery to helping others overcome the disease of addiction.

“Working in addictions, being able to give back in that capacity is huge for my recovery,” says the 29-year-old. “Being in recovery, for me, is about helping other people get well and eradicate the stigma associated with the disease of alcoholism and addiction.”

A graduate of the Applied Counselling program at Red River College, Goertzen now works for three addictions recovery organizations: Addictions Foundation of Manitoba and Tamarack Recovery Centre, where he’s a residential care worker, and 210 Recovery, where he’s a peer support worker. His own experience getting sober is a big help in his work.

“I can put myself in others people’s shoes. I’ve been in that same situation, so I think in that sense it’s an asset. I have a solid understanding of what the illness is all about and am able to approach it with compassion [and] non-judgment.” Read More →

Profile by Stacy Cardigan Smith (Creative Communications, 2006)

As a woman working in a male-dominated trade, Alicia Demare has faced her fair share of hardships. But if you ask her, it’s all been worth it.

“I was lucky enough to find something that I love to do,” says Demare of working as a cabinetmaker.

She’s loved woodworking since the age of 10, when she and her younger sister made picture frames and “bedazzled them out” with assorted gems and jewels.

She’s come a long way since then; at just 24-years-old, the Red River College Cabinetry and Woodworking grad is about to receive her Red Seal in Cabinetry.

Despite excelling in her trade, she’s come up against many who discredit her based on her gender. As the only female employee at her last job, every day she would leave work “upset with what someone had said.”

“I’m going to be honest with you, [it’s] very difficult,” says Demare. “One guy – he’s retirement age and he’s just set in his ways. He would get right in my face and tell me he [didn’t] want to babysit me and it’s very hard for me not to take that personally because it’s not me, it’s my gender.” Read More →

Casey Ludwick helps at-risk youth find a voice.

“Who’s there for these children when everyone they care about or look up to… is ignoring them or not there?” says Ludwick, a 24-year-old graduate of Red River College’s Applied Counselling program. “You can’t tell a child to ‘Just get over it,’ because a child takes what they’re experiencing and accommodates it into how they think and see the world.” 

According to Ludwick, the best way to help kids find their voices is to avoid labeling them.

“We’re so quick to label children in a certain way due to diagnoses or what we see presenting, and then we set the tone for them. How often do you think a child gets undivided attention to really speak and tell the world who they are without being told who they are first?”

Ludwick works as the girls coordinator and youth counsellor at Wahbung Abinoonjiiag Inc., a North End-based domestic violence support centre for children and families. The facility provides opportunities for holistic healing using culturally appropriate teachings.

“It is a safe, positive place where girls who live in the North End can come to have fun, relax, and learn more about themselves and their culture.”

Despite the challenging nature of the work, Ludwick loves her job; she utilizes a strength-based perspective and sees resiliency and positivity in all of her clients, who range in age from nine to 13. 

“Rather than seeing these kids [according to the negatives] – they could be involved with criminal activity, they’re lacking basic food and shelter, they’re involved in tons of maladaptive behaviours – you can either focus on that, or you can look at them for their strengths.” Read More →