THE MAGAZINE FOR THE BRANKSOME HALL COMMUNITY / FALL 2023
CREATING the FUTURE GLOBAL ENTREPRENEUR CARMEN BUSQUETS’84 IS ONE OF MANY BRANKSOME ALUMS WHO HAVE BUILT THEIR SUCCESS ON INNOVATION
INNOVATION ISSUE LEADING WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REVITALIZING THE WATERFRONT A THEATRICAL ROLE MODEL Plus: BRANKSOME’S NEXT PRINCIPAL
Vision To be the pre-eminent educational community of globally minded learners and leaders.
Contents FALL 2023
Mission Each day, we challenge and inspire girls to love learning and to shape a better world. Values Sense of Community, Inclusiveness, Creativity, Making a Difference
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FEATURES
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IN EVERY ISSUE
A Home for Innovation
Branksome’s new iCAST space will extend the school’s teaching strengths and inspire students to make a better world.
12 At the Cutting Edge Entrepreneur Shelby AUSTIN Cooper’99 is riding the artificial intelligence wave to make office life—and maybe the world—work better.
16 The Height of Fashion Venezuelan-born Carmen BUSQUETS’84 is a high-powered global entrepreneur of online couture.
20 Changing Lives
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Principal’s Message
Psychotherapist Carol COWAN’64 has known heart-wrenching personal tragedies, but that has only strengthened her resolve to help others. A leader at top health institutions, she is the 2023 Allison Roach Alumna Award winner.
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Editorial
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School Scoop Welcome, Grace McCallum Building a Better World Champion for Children
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Alum Life Outpacing Alzheimer’s Dedicated to Public Health Reunion 2023
28 Role Model in the Wings
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Class Notes
A simple question led professional stage manager Giselle CLARKE-Trenaman’93 to create an education program chronicling the lives of Black Canadians.
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Passages
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A Day in the Life Making a Stretch
24 Covering the Waterfront Urban designer Rei TASAKA’97 is passionate about turning Toronto’s lakeside into a jewel for the city.
The cover Carmen BUSQUETS’84 photographed by Kathy Boos.
View The READ online at branksome.on.ca/our-community/alum/the-read.
From the Principal
Making Way and Making a Difference In my last year as Principal, Branksome is experiencing a defining leadership moment of its own—the most ambitious fundraising campaign in the school’s history By Karen L. Jurjevich
T CALEY TAYLOR
his year, my 26th and final year as Branksome Hall’s seventh Principal, is already proving to be a special one. In late September, I spoke at our 95th Installation Ceremony and was touched to receive a heartfelt introduction from former Head Prefects Priyanka DOGRA’16 and Astrid LING’18, along with a special video message from Sarah PSUTKA’99, Ashley CALDWELL’01, Anna Lisa LOWENSTEIN’17 and Missy MAHONEY’98. Our Branksome alums continue to inspire and amaze me every day, and it is so meaningful for me to see the incredible student leaders I have
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had the pleasure of working with during my time as Principal go on to become outstanding leaders in their fields. In my keynote address, I shared three personal stories that describe the attributes I believe have shaped me as a leader: confidence, competence and curiosity. Whether participating in a public speaking competition for the first time, supporting my mother and siblings in the wake of my father’s passing at a young age, or nurturing the curiosity that prompted me to apply for the position of Branksome Hall Principal, these experiences have shaped who I am today. I encouraged this year’s Grade 12 students—and our whole school community—to think about their own stories and pivotal leadership moments, and to share them with others when the time is right. Branksome Hall, celebrating its 120th anniversary this year, is experiencing a defining leadership moment of its own, with this fall’s thrilling public launch of the Make Way Campaign to raise $30 million, the most ambitious campaign in the school’s history. The Branksome community of students, staff and alums has always been unafraid to lead and innovate. This campaign in support of girls’ education, and its centrepiece, the new Innovation Centre and Studio Theatre (iCAST), set to open its doors in 2025, is the next step. iCAST will “There is no be a first-of-its-kind space for JK to Grade 12 students perfect road in Canada, where arts and map. Each of STEM programs will come us designs together to flourish in and experiences unprecedented ways. The energy and exour own citement in anticipating journey.” how our students will be ready to lead in a rapidly changing world is palpable on campus as we watch the building go up. As we empower girls to develop the skills, knowledge and talents required to meet the challenges of the future and to close the gender divide in arts and STEM fields, iCAST will also be open to the broader community, enabling side-by-side learning with guest scholars, industry leaders, artists and entrepreneurs. There is no shortage of Branksome alums leading in these areas, and we invite you all back to campus to mentor, learn and use the iCAST resources. As I look ahead to my final months at Branksome, my deep fondness and immense respect for this community continue to guide and enrich my days. Thank you for the difference each one of you is making, and for this extraordinary opportunity to serve our school for more than two decades. I am excited to share my last year with all of you, and am acutely aware of how much each moment counts. I invite you to join me in making the most of all that Branksome Hall offers every day. R
From the Editor
A Very STEAM-y Issue EDITORIAL COMMITTEE EDITOR
Highlighting alum innovators who are making a major difference By Sarah Baumann
Sarah Baumann EDITORIAL ADVISOR
Berton Woodward ALUM RELATIONS
Neetu White Cristina Coraggio Karen L. Jurjevich Liisa Stephenson Karrie Weinstock
CONTRIBUTORS
Sarah Baumann Kathy Boos Martin Dee Jamie Day FLECK’00 Glasswing International Patricia Hluchy Melanie CHANDLER Jackson’74 Jeff Kirk Donna MacMullin Celia HORE Milne’78 Carolyn Morris Christian Peterson Kiana ROMEO’17 Pedro Santos Liisa Stephenson Caley Taylor Luisa Trisi Amy VERNER’98 Neetu White Candice WONG’00 Tracey Wood Berton Woodward
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ranksome has long inspired the students leaving our halls to make their mark in professions related to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). These numbers will only grow with the completion of the school’s new Innovation Centre and Studio Theatre (iCAST) building and its updated inclusion of arts and creativity (the “A” in STEAM) within an innovator’s mindset. This issue is dedicated to highlighting alums who are already making a difference and leading in these spaces, along with exciting initiatives being explored by current students and employees. These individuals are pioneering new frontiers and making an impact in medicine, mental health, artificial intelligence, fashion, theatre production and urban planning. Most lists of leading innovators are dominated by men—here at Branksome, and in these pages of The READ, we know the future also belongs to girls and women.
Contributors Melanie CHANDLER Jackson’74, Writer
Melanie has worked as a journalist and award-winning children’s author. She lives in Vancouver with her husband, also a journalist. Now their daughter looks to be heading into a similar career. Visit Melanie’s page at the Writers’ Union of Canada site. Patricia Hluchy, Writer
Luisa Trisi, Writer
Luisa Trisi is a Toronto-based writer and communications consultant. Since launching Big Picture Communications in 1999, she has worked with an array of clients, including Artscape, ATMA Classique, Koffler Centre of the Arts and Tafelmusik, among others. Amy VERNER’98, Writer
Patricia Hluchy is a journalist with more than 30 years’ experience at leading Canadian publications, including at the Toronto Star as a reporter and later editor, and at Maclean’s as an assistant managing editor. She currently is a freelance writer and editor.
Based in Paris since 2011, Amy Verner is a journalist, copywriter and editor. She spent seven years as style reporter for the Globe and Mail and now contributes regularly to Vogue.com. She thrives on the culture of Paris: the museums, the galleries and, of course, the croissants.
Michael Cherkas + Associates
Celia HORE Milne’78, Writer
Candice WONG’00, Writer
Branksome Hall 10 Elm Avenue Toronto, ON M4W 1N4 Tel: 416-920-9741 www.branksome.on.ca
Celia Milne is an award-winning medical journalist and corporate writer. Her articles have appeared in Maclean’s, the Globe and Mail, Chatelaine and many medical publications. Celia holds an MFA in creative non-fiction from the University of King’s College, Dalhousie.
Registered physiotherapist Candice Wong graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago as a doctor of physical therapy. As she describes on page 48, she and a colleague started their own clinic in Toronto in 2012. Candice and her partner have a three-year-old daughter.
Alums, employees and friends of Branksome Hall
DESIGN AND PRODUCTION
CONTACT
Neetu White in Alum Relations nwhite@branksome.on.ca
FALL 2023
Volume 62, Number 2 Canadian Publications Mail Agreement No.40010445
Carolyn Morris, Writer
An award-winning writer and former journalist, Carolyn Morris shines a light on people who are changing the world. Having written for Toronto Life and Readers’ Digest, and working as a CBC Radio producer and a University of Toronto communications specialist, she recently launched an editorial consultancy.
Berton Woodward, Writer
The READ’s editorial advisor started in journalism in Vancouver, then worked in Hong Kong for 16 years at Time Inc.’s Asiaweek magazine. Returning to Canada with his Filipina wife and two children, he served at Maclean’s and York University and is now an editorial consultant. R
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SchoolScoop NEWS FROM THE BRANKSOME HALL COMMUNITY FALL 2023
Welcome, Grace McCallum Our next Principal, who will take office on July 1, 2024, is a highly experienced Canadian educator who comes to us from an IB school in Brazil
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ranksome was delighted to announce Grace McCallum as the school’s eighth Principal this past June. Grace’s appointment followed a comprehensive international search process, which included extensive community consultations. Grace will start her new role on July 1, 2024. “I am honoured to have been chosen as Branksome Hall’s eighth Principal,” Grace said following the announcement. “Branksome has a proud history as a girls’ independent school leader, nationally and internationally. While I may have the mindset of a leader, I am a teacher at heart—students will always be at the centre of my decision-making and purpose. I am looking forward to returning to Canada and joining this strong community in shaping the school’s innovative and bold plans for the future.” Grace is a proud and well-travelled Canadian with nearly two decades of experience teaching in and leading International Baccalaureate schools across four continents. She has an extensive track record in academic excellence, strategic planning, fund development, partnerships, master planning and building projects. She is also a strong community-builder and forwardthinker, with a passion for girls’ education. Grace is coming to Branksome from the
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role of Principal at the American School of Brasilia in Brazil, an IB school with nearly 700 students. She previously held senior academic leadership roles at the Frankfurt International School, a founding and leading IB school in Germany, and the Canadian International School of Beijing, China. She began her career as a public school teacher in New Brunswick. In appointing Grace, Branksome is also
welcoming her husband, Chris, and their two daughters, Lila and Avery, who will start at Branksome Hall in the fall of 2024. Grace and Chris say they are excited about their return to Canada—they are proud Maritimers from New Brunswick and look forward to being closer to family as their girls grow up. Please join the school in congratulating Grace. There will be receptions throughout the 2024–25 year for alums to meet her and welcome her to the community. R
Strategy
What do Noodle, The GarageCast podcast, the University Counselling Team, the iCAST construction project and our community partnership with Let’s Grow Learning & Living Hub have in common? They are all examples of how Branksome’s refreshed strategic priorities are coming to life every day. The updated school strategy for 2022–25, released last January, builds on the strengths the school has honed over its 120-year history—its IB advantage, dedicated employees, student support, innovation, commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and communities —positioning it to thrive in today’s exciting and complex world. See details at branksome .on.ca/strategy-refresh-2022-25.
Conferences
Building a Better World In February, hundreds of secondary students, teachers and staff from across the GTA—as well as a global audience who joined virtually—attended the 40th annual World Affairs Conference, co-hosted by Branksome Hall and Upper Canada College. The theme was “Hybrid Thinking,” a call to strategize ways to work toward a better future. Speakers such as Tricia “C.K.” PURKS Hoffler’80, Pooja Handa and Martin Luther King III held the audience rapt with their inspiring messages about how we can affect change in the world. The World Affairs Conference is Canada’s longest-running student-led conference. More than 30 Branksome Hall students participated on the many organizing teams that made this day a reality. Congratulations to all for their hard work over months of preparation!
CALEY TAYLOR
Refreshing Priorities
WAC Co-Chairs Amyna, Seungmyoung, Rahul and Jefferson with closing keynote speaker Martin Luther King III
Campaigns
CHRISTIAN PETERSON
Making Time for Make Way In September, Branksome Hall officially launched its historic $30-million Make Way Campaign. More than 2,000 community members joined a fun-fi lled Welcome Back event on campus to kick off the school year, celebrate the Campaign launch and mark the school’s 120th anniversary.
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Student Profile
Prospective doctor Katharine O’FLAHERTY’23 has won the prestigious McEuen Scholarship to the University of St Andrews By Kiana ROMEO’17
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hat do you want to be when you grow up?” As a young girl, Katharine O’FLAHERTY’23 didn’t know exactly, but she was 100 per cent certain about one thing: she did not want a career in the medical field. Blood, needles and all the things that make medical professions messy just weren’t for her. But what was once her biggest fear turned into a passion that inspired her to want to become a doctor—and earned her the prestigious McEuen Scholarship to the University of St Andrews in Scotland. The award is Canada’s largest single undergraduate scholarship given annually. At Branksome, when she wasn’t in her favourite higher-level chemistry and biology classes, Katharine explored her interests by joining the Senior Dance Company and participating in Spirit Week, just two of many highlights that stood out for her. Crucially, in Grade 10 she joined the Sunny View Club, where she and her peers would travel to Sunny View Public School each week to play and bond with students receiving support for their complex physical and developmental disabilities. This experience encouraged her to further explore her love of working with children and inspired her to pursue a career in pediatric medicine, messy or not. “I think I’ve always gravitated toward working with kids,” explains Katharine. “I have been a camp counsellor and assisted at my dance
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studio with kinder dance classes. I love how children are always so excited to try new things. And then I think about pediatric medicine. I can only imagine how challenging it is to spend your formative years growing up in a hospital and missing out on a lot of the fun that comes with childhood. Having the opportunity to guide kids on the road to recovery in what is probably one of the most challenging times in their lives is something that I really want to have the opportunity to do.” Last summer, before heading to university, Katharine spent her time volunteering in the emergency department at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, a singular opportunity for an aspiring doctor. This experience further cemented her desire to explore pediatric medicine, where she will not only get to pursue her love for science but also work with the children she adores. After falling in love with the St Andrews campus in Fife, Scotland, on a tour earlier this year, Katharine applied for the McEuen Scholarship in the hopes that she would receive assistance toward her medical studies. One day in the spring, she got the call that would change her life. “It was pretty crazy,” says Katharine. “I interviewed for the scholarship at noon that day and a phone call came in around 1 p.m. letting me know that I received it. I cried when they told me the news. It’s such an incredible opportunity.” And this opportunity is like no other—not only was she the only student selected from a large pool of hopeful applicants, but for Canadian students hoping to study medicine at St Andrews, this is their only chance to receive a full scholarship. Having grown up inspired by her mother, a medical oncologist, Katharine plans to go into pediatric oncology or hematology, but she is excited and open to seeing what paths open up during her studies. R
CALEY TAYLOR
Champion for Children
SchoolScoop
2023 By the Numbers
115
Number of graduates
100% Ontario Scholars
781
Offers of admission
35%
Studying STEAM professions
2.83M
$
Total value of scholarships Top three Canadian destinations 1. McGill University 2. University of Toronto 3. Queen’s University
International destinations included Cornell University Goldsmiths, University of London Harvard University Parsons School of Design, The New School Stanford University University of Miami University of St Andrews (Scotland) Specialty post-secondary programs Commercial Aviation Management Neuroscience Strategic Design and Management
Staff
A New Trio at Athletics and Wellness Meet Jason Amadio, Jeremy Wong and Nick Mercuri
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n 2022–23, we welcomed three new employees to the Athletics and Wellness team: Jeremy Wong, Aquatics Coordinator, Jason Amadio, Manager of Sports Performance and Rehabilitation, and Nick Mercuri, Health, Fitness and Conditioning Coach. Jeremy has been involved in the aquatics industry for 15 years in the public, private and non-profit sectors. His passion is for lifesaving sport—a combination of swim, rescue and first aid skills in a competition-style format. Recently, students in his Branksome Hall Lifesaving Club attended the Ontario Junior Lifeguard Games in Markham, taking home silver and bronze medals in the 9-and-under Jason Amadio, Jeremy Wong category. Jeremy has a young daughter and and Nick Mercuri son who absolutely love the water too! Jason’s skills and experience help to support all community members with both their fitness and rehabilitation from injury. A licensed and nationally certified athletic therapist, he joined Branksome after serving as an athletic therapist with the Kansas City Chiefs (NFL) and assistant athletic trainer with the University of Nebraska and University of Florida. Favourite memories from his first year at Branksome include helping coach the senior softball team to its first championship in over 21 years. Jason’s community involvement has included stints with Ontario Hockey League (OHL) teams, seven years as coach of a local youth football team, and five years as a power skating coach and skating instructor. Nick is a licensed and nationally certified athletic therapist who served as a head athletic therapist and medical director for the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League. Nick’s community involvement has included providing therapy assistance for the local OHL hockey team and surrounding universities, developing fitness and recovery programs for local youth and high school football teams, and four years of coaching girls’ flag football.
Audits
On Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
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he Branksome Hall DEI Audit Report: Summary of Findings and Action Plan 2023 was released in April, speaking to the experiences of our students, employees and alums, including those from marginalized backgrounds. School leaders appreciated connecting with and hearing from the community, including alums, about this report following the multi-year audit process. They will continue to explore different perspectives and best practices that will inform the school’s approach and programming related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) going forward.
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CALEY TAYLOR
Graduates
A Home for Innovation Branksome’s new iCAST space will extend the school’s teaching strengths and inspire students to make a better world By Sarah Baumann
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ARCHITECTURAL RENDERINGS: CICADA DESIGN INC.; ILLUSTRATIONS: TRACEY WOOD
ranksome Hall has always been known for its emphasis on independence and innovation for its students. Our many distinguished alums are proof of that. Now we are building the Branksome of tomorrow for our community of creative innovators. The Innovation Centre and Studio Theatre (iCAST), currently under construction, will extend into the school community and beyond, offering a space where arts and innovation are integrated and ideas are realized. Inspiring collaboration, sparking interdisciplinary learning and providing a showcase for emerging and fastchanging technologies, iCAST will link the existing arts spaces on Branksome’s West campus in a seamless flow of multi-use space to the East. Throughout, the stress will be on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, or STEAM—the skills that many experts say Canada needs most. On this tour, get to know some of the alums and current community activities already leading in ng the way in the fields iCAST will propel even further forward.
Join us on the following pages forr a look around!
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Flexible, open-seating areas where students will present original ideas, and take part in informal performances, lectures and debates. Who might use them?
Carmen BUSQUETS’84 A digital entrepreneur and renowned global fashionista, the cofounder of Net-a-Porter is the type of alum who could thrill students at Pitch Spaces and is a perfect example of the goals of iCAST teaching (see page 16).
Noodle Jr. Grades 5–6 students joined the Noodle program last year, with 32 students sharing their budding business ideas with the community at their very own trade show in June.
Re:Solved Four students from around the world faced off in the final debate of Branksome and the Munk Debates’ inaugural Re:Solved competition in May, with more than 100 students participating this year from 20 countries.
On this floor, the home of the Metal Shop, Woodshop and Robotics Lab, students will combine technology with their passions and interests, applying advanced computing and engineering tools in a real-world way. Examples:
Rob Robotics Team This Th Thi h s Senior & Middle School club made Scho Sch history his hi h iisto in 2022–23, competing in five comcom o om petitions and making p pet it itt to to provincials for the firrst fi rstt time.
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Olivia BARRY’93 With work spanning handmade and machine-made, this alum is an artist, industrial designer and ceramist. Olivia has had her dinnerware collections carried by Crate and Barrel and Bloomingdale’s, and her studio lighting pieces collected by architects and interior designers for corporate and private environments.
Rei TASAKA’97 As senior urban design manager, planning and design, at Waterfront Toronto, Rei is passionate about her mission to transform the Ontario capital into a world-class waterside city (see page 24).
These reconfigurable ideation hubs for students, faculty and staff will fuel entrepreneurship and creative exploration. Current role models:
The GarageCast This weekly podcast, hosted by Branksome’s Michael IanniPalarchio (Head, Innovation and Strategic Projects) touches on innovation themes, includes guests from the Branksome community and sparks conversations around the future of education.
Amanda PUN’13 As a Founder-inResidence at London, U.K.–based Entrepreneur First (EF), Amanda is building her startup through their accelerator program that brings exceptional individuals together to help them find a co-founder and provides support from world-class advisors and mentors.
Shelby AUSTIN Cooper’99 This alum’s spectacular rise in the field of artificial intelligence is changing how major enterprises handle their workflow (see page 12).
These spaces will facilitate traditional and experimental performance in music, dance and theatre, as well as filmmaking and screenings. Plus, a 2,550-squarefoot tension grid will allow students to design and execute professional-quality theatrical lighting plans. Current stars:
Giselle CLARKETrenaman’93 Once a student of venerated Branksome drama teacher Judith FRIEND’75, Giselle has become a top professional stage manager in Canada (see page 28).
Seussical The Senior & Middle School’s annual production always impresses as a showcase of the students’ professionalism and passion. Everyone in the orchestra, on stage and backstage collaborates, and many new friendships blossom.
Mallika CHANDARIA’16 Mallika is the founder and creative director of The 98 Art Collective, a creative production company, and has directed and produced theatre, film and immersive pop-up shows internationally.
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Innovators
is no stranger to global controversy. In fact, her business is at the centre of one of the great debate topics of our time—artificial intelligence. But that’s fine with her. “Half the world thinks this is all hype,” she says. “And half the world thinks we’re on our way to a scary artificial general intelligence kind of moment. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.” And, as she will explain, her part in it really involves baking chocolate chip cookies. With an infectious enthusiasm, leavened with a disarming selfdeprecation, she will tell you about the importance of what her Torontobased tech company, Arteria AI, does through streamlining document flow in large enterprises, and how it will improve lives as it continues to grow. Which it almost surely will, given her track record of the past decade or so, jumping from young lawyer to startup founder to high-powered global enterprise exec to her current status as CEO of this successful spinoff venture. (continued on page 14)
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the first to tell you that most people think working with documents is “the most boring thing on the planet.” But listen to her account of how she named the company. “We believe that documentation is, really, this beautiful ‘aha’ layer in organizations. We think it’s like the fabric. Nothing gets done without it. In a lot of cases, the contracts are the lifeblood of an organization. So we were looking for something that represented, in a visceral way, being the core—like an artery.” And then there’s the other half of the name: AI. Artificial intelligence is critical to Arteria’s product—its “digital documentation infrastructure”—which it offers to its large, mainly fi nancial, clients, including investment banking giants Goldman Sachs and Citi. It can automate certain operations across the enterprise, from securities trading to mortgage lending, which inevitably require a vast number of steps—read “documents”—that are often highly repetitive. People may have to retype information, or rubber-stamp simple decisions stage by stage. Arteria helps eliminate a lot of the box-ticking, bringing together and analyzing what’s known as “unstructured data”—collections of everything from emails and texts to standalone files—so that the humans involved gain more insights into the process while having much less to do. The result, she says: “As people do their jobs, they’re able to do them in a smarter way.” What Shelby says she especially loves is the challenge in what she does.“I’m never obsessed with the solution, but I’m obsessed with the problem. And then I try to find people who are smart enough to solve bits and pieces of it. I’m the least sporty person on the planet, but I’m effectively there to be the coach of the team. That’s the job I love doing.” Her high-energy year-end letters to staff even end with “Live long and prosper.” Yes, she’s a bit of a Trekkie, from the Jean-Luc Picard years (Star Trek: The Next Generation) and she can do the split-fingers salute. “There’s a small part of me that’s very, very nerdy, and
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CHRISTIAN PETERSON
(continued from page 12)
Shelby and husband Graeme Cooper at the Make Way Campaign launch at Branksome Hall in September 2023.
letting it out is one of my favourite activities,” she says, laughing. So is she a techie? Does she code? “I did have a summer job doing coding when I was little. And I did learn a number of things in my basement, but to claim I’m technical would be laughable to my team. What those experiences helped me realize, though, is that I was technically literate enough to understand that there are solutions to the problem.” Above all, she no longer thinks of herself as the legal expert she started out as. “It’s so funny because being a lawyer is one of those professions where people really develop a sense of identity around it, and I just lost that, probably a decade ago. My career took such a left turn.” In fact, much of her time at Branksome— from SK to Grade 13—was built around the law. “I was a real humanities junkie at the time because I spent my whole early life thinking I would go to law school and be a lawyer.” But what she got from her teachers remains very valuable. “What they taught me to do is think critically, challenge the status quo, ask questions, get answers, ask more questions. And teaching girls to be leaders—why couldn’t it be me, even though I was never first in class in anything? Why couldn’t it be me if I worked
hard enough and tried hard enough and gave more of myself to the problem? And then, you know, perhaps I had some gifts to give as well.” She went on to display those gifts through undergrad at American University in Washington, D.C., law school at Western and a budding career as a partner and litigator at Davies, a major Toronto firm. But she became fascinated with, yes, documents, and decided in 2010 to make the jump to starting a company, ATD Legal Services, that could handle them better through then-existing technology. Which was hardly a smooth process, in her telling. “When I quit my job, I rented several thousand square feet, sat by myself with no support, and bought, like, 50 computers. It was completely bananas. Because I had no idea what I was doing—and that’s probably an understatement. I didn’t know how to run a company. I didn’t know how to get a client. I knew nothing!” Did she have financial backing? “You know, I took money from my bank account. That company was bootstrapped from end to end. It was a crazy ride. But looking back, it was beautiful. And it was such a good learning experience.” It was also so successful that four years later,
Deloitte Canada, part of the global professional services firm, acquired it and installed her as a senior executive, eventually responsible for its acquisitions and leader of its Omnia AI team, the national artificial intelligence practice. Then, in 2020, she and Deloitte agreed that a part of Omnia should be spun out as its own enterprise, with her at the top. Deloitte gave Arteria AI full backing and remains a warm supporter, but eventually unwound its interest as the company found other venture-capital backing and some powerful clients.
embroiled in AI, including all those controversies. “We are using very powerful tools that are real and can be very useful,” she says.“That doesn’t absolve us of being careful. But the world is changing so rapidly and a lot of what we’re hearing about is leaked research papers, not necessarily what’s going to be there in practice. So we have to be careful about what we rely on.” Cue the cookies. Shelby points out that much of the hue and cry revolves around ChatGPT, the generative AI system that can create content, which does play a role in her system. But artificial intelligence involves many more systems and tools than that. “ChatGPT is one form of Large Language Model,” she says. “So, a subset of a subset of a
subset that has some really useful things, but it’s not the only kind of model we use. “What I would say is this: if ChatGPT and all of the Large Language Models are chocolate chips—and they are makers of delicious chocolate chips—I am not a chocolate chip maker. I am a cookie baker. And so my job is to bake the most delicious chocolate chips into my cookies, and then serve my cookies to whomever I can. I am a user of chocolate chips—sometimes I even add special things to make them more delicious—and then I add them to a much larger sort of stack.” Her ultimate concoction, of course, automates a great deal of repetitive work conducted by, as she says, “thousands” of people working for her clients. To which some will ask: Will those workers be able to keep their jobs? Shelby is both candid and humane about that. Many of the repetitive tasks are gone for good, she says, though often it is “just 10 per cent of their job.” But she adds: “I’ve been very vocal that we have to be clear about what we’re offering the people whose jobs are these repetitive tasks. I think it’s not intellectually honest if you don’t acknowledge that some may lose their jobs.” Companies must look at retraining or other measures to take care of those displaced. More broadly, she says, “I think 100 years of economic history show us that AI will create more jobs than it will destroy.” On her LinkedIn account this year, Shelby
posted as “required reading” an influential essay by Marc Andreessen, one of the venerated pioneers of the internet, titled “Why AI Will Save the World.” While acknowledging some risks, he asserts: “AI is quite possibly the most important—and best—thing our civilization has ever created, certainly on par with electricity and microchips, and probably beyond those.” Shelby voices similar views, and has publicly urged Canada to get much more deeply into AI businesses. “For Canada to slow down and be the most conservative in its view of where this all goes will do nothing but hurt us,” she says. “I’d like to see young women bake more cookies—except in a less domestic kind of family!—by building awesome companies. I’d like to see more women getting startup seed money, which for them is less than two per cent of the global take right now.” She is an enthusiastic supporter of Branksome’s new Innovation Centre and Studio Theatre and a member of the Make Way Campaign’s Innovation Council. “It’s really spectacular. I can’t believe that not only are we going to enable this experience for our girls, but we’re also going to enable other schools to come and learn within that environment.” There are a lot of lucrative AI niches for budding entrepreneurs to fill, she notes. In the future, “you will have an assistant to help you in every aspect of your life. And honestly, my hand on heart, I believe that leads to a better world.” And yet, as someone who with husband Graeme Cooper has two kids—Simone, 10, who’s at Branksome, and Stafford, 8, at Upper Canada College—she is remarkably cautious about AI in her own life. She won’t use datagathering gadgets like Alexa or Siri, and she has especially strong views about toys. “I don’t want a stuffed dog talking to my kids and putting them to bed. I don’t think kids are in a position where they can materially appreciate that it’s not an emotive human. I really think we have to be very careful.” Careful, she feels, in creating a much better world. R
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Innovators
THE
HEIGHT OF FASHION By Amy VERNER’ 98
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Photo by Kathy Boos
Venezuelan-born Carmen BUSQUETS’84 is a high-powered global entrepreneur of online couture
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armen BUSQUETS’84 is sitting
on a sleek, curved sofa in her London flat, where mixed-media contemporary art and handcrafted decorative objects provide an inspired backdrop for the meetings she regularly holds here. The residence doubles as one of her offices, for Carmen is just as likely to be working from any number of international destinations, including the homes where she grew up in Caracas, Verbier (Switzerland), Barcelona and Miami, as well as a Paris apartment. Her boyfriend is based in New York and her mother lives in the Bahamas. (continued on page 18)
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(continued from page 17) With her oversized glasses and silvery streaked hair, Carmen has a striking presence. She is wearing a champagne-hued Paco Rabanne dress that gives a relaxed silhouette even though it is elaborately embellished with black embroidery and studs. Silver metal chains are draped across her lithe frame, while her faux-fur slides reveal a side more playful than might be expected of someone so business-oriented. But given that her focus is fashion—and she has carved out this niche as a highly driven woman—projecting a nonconventional style underscores her confidence and awareness of the industry. “I know how to dress up and I know how to act proud. But it’s an act, an alter ego, because you need to survive by appearing a certain way, and you need to know when to dress as a business person.” Her approach to power dressing, in other words, has evolved from a larger sense of both image and purpose.
GLASSWING INTERNATIONAL
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et for all the signalling of her artistic taste and expressive style, Carmen maintains a low profi le relative to her success as an investor, entrepreneur and philanthropist. She is a respected force in fashion who has parlayed her Venezuelan upbringing and ongoing passion for learning into a career that has brought her both significant fortune and personal fulfi llment. It is no exaggeration to suggest that she has had a singular impact on shaping global luxury e-commerce while supporting both startups and visionary individuals across the fashion-tech industry. Over the years, articles have referred to Carmen as “fashion’s fairy godmother,” “the high priestess of internet haute couture” and “the hidden face of luxury online business.” Indeed, while her three decades of experience transcend a single job title, Carmen is best known as the co-founding investor in Net-a-Porter. In 2000, having already run her own luxury boutique in Caracas for 10 years, she actively sought an opportunity to help finance high-end fashion sales online. Together with her family, she was the largest
single investor, and after Net-a-Porter was sold to Compagnie Financière Richemont in 2010, Carmen and family exited very successfully, multiplying their initial investment many times over. In 2006 she launched London-based CoutureLab, a multifaceted platform and creative laboratory spanning online and physical stores and selling bespoke pieces. As her investments increased, she formed Cabus Venture, named after her fashion boutique in Caracas, which she founded and ran from 1990 (when she was just 25) to 2002. The Cabus Venture portfolio would come to include Moda Operandi, Cult Beauty, Lyst, Farfetch, Tagwalk and The Business of Fashion news site. Even her website, carmenbusquets.com, which outlines her involvement with myriad companies, doesn’t reveal the extent to which people constantly seek her out for investment and counsel. “As an entrepreneur and investor who has fought to carve my place in a male-dominated industry, I devote a lot of my time to mentoring female entrepreneurs, teaching them what I have learned about running sustainable and profitable businesses that generate cash and are focused on growth,” she says. “I like to encourage women to always be true to themselves and to find what they really want in life, instead of
Carmen with students at a Glasswing International school in Guatemala.
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letting society or their families impose decisions on them. By empowering young women to become independent and interdependent, they learn to grow up feeling more secure in themselves and have the confidence of surrounding themselves with the best people.” If Carmen has all the qualities of a natural leader, she says this wasn’t the case during her four years as a Boarding student at Branksome. Yet she insists this period was foundational to her development. “I wasn’t a leader at Branksome,” she explains. “Although some people might remember how I dressed up, I do not think I did it to stand out. Or to inspire other people. I think I did it because that was my own individualism, my own creativity.”
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ut how did Carmen end up so
far from Caracas? Her father grew up in Spain during that country’s civil war, then moved to Venezuela, where he became a successful metallurgical industrialist specializing in cabling. Her mother, a sociologist and anthropologist, was born in Cuba and moved to Toronto at age 13 to attend boarding school. Years later, she met Carmen’s father, when business brought him to Toronto. They eventually settled together in Caracas, but it was the Toronto connection that led them to Branksome. “ I needed to go to Branksome,” says Carmen. “I remember visiting and saying, ‘I want to come here.’ Religious schools got the worst of me, whereas Branksome got the best out of me. And if I couldn’t give more, my best, it’s because I had my limitations, which I didn’t know that I had back then. But for me, it was a happy time.” When she was a student, she had yet to be diagnosed as dyslexic and 60 per cent deaf. She remembers how she would sit at the front of the class, not because she wanted to be seen as an avid student but because she needed to hear her teachers and watch them closely. What might have otherwise impeded her growth became a tool to help her experiment and adapt. Today, she believes not only that her intuition is sharper as a result but that vulnerabili-
“I am quite resilient and fearless in the way I deal with my personal and professional life. I believe in feeling the fear and doing it anyway.” multiple niche trends,” she says. “All of this is great for the fashion industry because it is forcing brands to change and to adapt to the new social and environmental consciousness, or else risk being left behind.” With Carmen’s parents exposing her to eastern philosophies and the teachings of Greek-Armenian mystic George Gurdjieff from a young age, she remains intentional about everything she does—from beginning each day with meditation to extending support to various institutions and non-profit organizations. She is on the board of Glasswing International, Nest and Parsons School of Design, and is a national council member of World Wildlife Fund. Glasswing, a non-profit that fosters health, education and community programs in Latin America and New York, is particularly close to Carmen’s heart for its strides in mental health for those affected by trauma. Nest is a non-profit dedicated to the responsible growth of the handmade economy, which is driven primarily by women.
As for business, what drives her to invest over and over again? She’s looking, she says, for something she hasn’t seen already. “People keep coming to me for the same investments that I have done in the past. I’m like, ‘I don’t want to go to the past.’ I invest out of curiosity—this is my master’s.” By which she means that startup financing is a bit like undertaking an intensive postgrad degree. “By the end, you’re going to spend $100,000 to $150,000 to go to the school. I may as well do the school with the founders and learn from them and learn their business.”
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pending a few hours with
Carmen provides a mere glimmer of her wide-ranging views and perspective on the world. But perhaps she is also deliberately reserved about her brilliant mind. “Somebody once told me that I dress down my intelligence. And I’d say maybe it’s because I don’t like to sound arrogant. I have always been careful with this kind of thing because I’m deaf, so the fact that sometimes I cannot hear people leads to a misunderstanding of them thinking that I am arrogant.” Carmen points out that overcoming challenges and obstacles, no matter their magnitude, will always require effort, which is why she continues to draw strength and balance from her mind and body disciplines. “I am quite resilient and fearless in the way I deal with my personal and professional life. I believe in feeling the fear and doing it anyway,” she says. Of course, someone can be both a learner and a leader—and while she admits that her trajectory has been unique, Carmen notes that life is what you make it. “I think everybody’s journey is a beautiful journey. I just think that we must put a lot of effort into making it interesting—by observing, by always asking questions of yourself.” R
Carmen with Donna Karan (left) and Iris Aguilar (centre), a Wayúu artisan from the Ipuana clan in La Guajira, Colombia.
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PEDRO SANTOS
ties can be reframed as strengths—a survival instinct, in effect. “I listen to body language, and sometimes I realize the biggest thing you need in business, before you meet people and before investing, is to understand whether they’re walking their talk. This is a skill that I developed thanks to my deafness, my sound distortion and my dyslexia, which I would have never been able to have otherwise.” If this is her superpower, does she have any secrets to her business success? “I don’t invest in all my businesses thinking that I’m going to be huge. That’s a factor of surprise and luck that I cannot control, that no one can control. We’ve seen many times that the biggest businesses have gone bust in times of challenging economic situations while other businesses have grown during the same situations.” And she acknowledges that financial freedom can be self-perpetuating, creating even more opportunity—a luxury many people do not have. “By running my own companies and the businesses I had some kind of control over—like Net-a-Porter and Cult Beauty—I understood the need to be profitable and to generate cash to gain your own freedom and success. When you manage to do these two things early on, the sky’s the limit. Women cannot afford to lose money in their companies, so generally women founders are super cautious and more prone to generate profit and cash.” While artificial intelligence has become an area of interest, Carmen also notes that, in fashion, innovation is often generational, with trends reflecting people more than technology. “Generation Z fascinates me, and all of my disruptor businesses are geared toward them. They remind me of what I was like in the 1980s, too early for my own good. I feel that the Generation Z kids are more individualistic and that they are savvy buyers who know what they want with more clarity. Instead of following fashion’s general trends, they create
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Innovators
Psychotherapist Carol COWAN’64 has known heart-wrenching personal tragedies, but that has only strengthened her resolve to help others. A leader in top health institutions, she is the 2023 Allison Roach Alumna Award winner
Changing Lives By Celia HORE Milne’78 Photography by Christian Peterson and Caley Taylor
AROL COWAN’64 HAS an extraordinarily long list of credentials as a leader in health and welfare. What has catalyzed her is not a longing to rise to the top, but more a burning desire to jump in and help. She always felt viscerally that life was unfair to many. In working hard to change that, she was elevated by those around her. “I am just being me,” she says. “I feel compassion and believe in excellence; this combination has led me to leadership roles, all in the best interest of making a difference.” And what a difference she has made. Despite her own personal tragedies, she has helped improve the lives of countless children, teens and adults at ground level by being a caring and tireless social worker and then psychotherapist. And at a higher level, she has changed lives by creating better pathways through the health-care system, leading hospital boards and foundations, defining and defending professional standards, and volunteering in numerous ways that increase justice and equity. “I just can’t stand suffering,” she says. “I just can’t.” To name a few of her achievements, Carol is past chair of the Women’s College Hospital Board, past chair of the hospital’s current and former foundations, past chair of the Crèche Child and Family Centre (now the Child Development Institute), and past director of Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre. Most recently, she was a director of the Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital Board. She has even been a director of the National Ballet School of Canada. (continued on page 22)
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(continued from page 21) Within her own profession, Carol served as the president of the government-appointed Transitional Council established to develop the College of Registered Psychotherapists and became the founding president of the College of Registered Psychotherapists and Registered Mental Health Therapists of Ontario. Currently, she serves on the discipline committee of the college and has also maintained her own private practice for the past 30 years. And as a passionate believer in trying to improve the mental health-care landscape, Carol chairs a group set up to establish Eli’s Place, a farmbased residential treatment centre that will help adults aged 18 to 35 who have been diagnosed with serious mental health issues.
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HERE DID ALL this determination come from? Carol says she absorbed so much from Branksome—which she attended from Kindergarten to Grade 13—including the values she internalized and the critical lessons she still carries with her. “I took from Branksome a belief in myself and the necessity of always considering others. Those have been the guiding goalposts that have shaped the rest of my life,” she says. She remembers with clarity and warmth the hallways, the laughter, the field days, the Slogans (still in her basement) and the friends she made. She tries to “Keep Well the Road.” Carol’s parents helped to teach her that the world is made up of “haves” and “have-nots,” and that she was one of the “haves.” When she was seven or eight, she says, her family took a driving trip to the southern U.S., including visits to impoverished communities. “My parents wanted to be sure I understood that people lived in shacks and lived off nothing and that that inequity was not all right. I just had this profound feeling from then forward that I wanted to make it more equal.” Her mantra is “Work hard for those who have little voice—
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the monetarily impoverished, physically disadvantaged and challenged, women and immigrant populations.” While still in high school at Branksome, she spent a summer working with disabled children. She also volunteered to work with a charitable organization called Settlement House that was dedicated to supporting children from poor neighbourhoods. In the mid-1960s, Carol took a group of four little girls to the new City Hall buildings, which had just been completed. The girls stood in the vast, open square looking out at all the space in front of the iconic curved buildings. “I remember to this day one of the girls saying, ‘Is this the whole world?’” Carol became a Clan chieft ain and then a Prefect, much to her surprise. “Why did they want me? How did that happen? I never thought I was unique or special. I really appreciated everyone around me. I listened a lot, learned a lot. Cared a lot.” After leaving the school, Carol obtained an undergraduate degree from York University and then a master’s degree in social work at the University of Toronto. She married Michael Levine and they moved to Africa, where Carol taught French at a high school in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Once back in Toronto, she worked
at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and then in front-line child welfare and the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto. Carol had her first baby, Elizabeth, in 1976. Then, in 1979, she gave birth to quadruplets Peter, Alexis, Tamara and Katherine. The fourth of the babies, Katherine, was born with a complicated heart condition and had to have heart surgery. Tragically, Katherine died before she was six months old. Th is occurred during a terrible nursing scandal at SickKids involving baby deaths, and Carol was asked to be a parent representative on the inquiry led by Supreme Court Justice Charles Dubin. “Even then,” she says, “I just felt the need to make it better.” When asked about her ability to carry on despite immense loss, she responds, “Purposeful activity has always been of enormous value to me. So that continued.” As a mom raising young children, Carol proceeded through life in her altruistic way. She taught her children how privileged they were to have fresh air and clean water, summer holidays and exposure to spectacular countryside with lakes and blue sky, urging them to be pen pals to children caught up in war. She took on a foster child. She volunteered at
Her mantra is “Work hard for those who have little voice—the monetarily impoverished, physically disadvantaged and challenged, women, and immigrant populations.” Casey House Hospice. She joined the Junior Committee at the Art Gallery of Ontario and established tours for the sight impaired. A highlight from this time was meeting sculptor Henry Moore and arranging for people with sight impairment to enjoy his sculptures by touching them. Carol’s energy caught the eye of leaders at Women’s College Hospital and she was asked to sit on its board of directors. “It felt like the right thing to do,” she says. Career-wise, Carol decided to turn her focus to what she calls the mental health of wellbeing. “For me, social work was always about helping in concrete ways but also understanding the emotion of anxiety, trauma, depression, loss and grief. There was always some aspect that pertained to the mind.” She returned to the University of Toronto in 2006 and 2007 and obtained several post-graduate diplomas in
advanced clinical practice with individuals, children and families. From there, she migrated to her own private psychotherapy practice.
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N 2009, SHE answered an ad in the Globe and Mail inviting applicants for the Transitional Council for the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO). “I’ve always argued that professional accountability is critical. I submitted my resumé. I was appointed and worked with a very special invested team of multidisciplinary thinkers,” she says. CRPO was formally established in 2015. Carol was first president of the Transitional Council and then president of the college. She celebrates and belongs to the regulatory bodies governing both social work and psychotherapy. “I really believe they both align and yet are distinctly different,” she says. Carol suffered another horrific loss in 2016 when her daughter Tamara, 37, died by suicide. Bright, active and engaged in the world, Tamara had been overseas for four years working for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. When she came home, her struggles with a mental illness called paranoid delusional disorder became unmanageable and she fell through the cracks of the very health-care system that Carol had worked so hard to improve. “I was the one who was called by the police,” says Carol. “I went down to the yellow tape. I don’t think the grief ever leaves you. It is in the spot somewhere deep inside, you know? I wished I’d given myself permission to grieve more at the time. But you do it when you’re ready and, for me, when you feel you’re not going to fall apart.” The following year, Carol’s essay on her daughter’s struggles, “Death by a Thousand Cuts: How an Army of Mental Health Professionals Let My Daughter Down,” was published in The Walrus. “There are legions of Canadians like me,” she wrote. “It is not just the patient
who gets worn down by our fragmented mental-health system, but also the family members and friends who are on call 24/7.” Carol’s personal journey through heartbreak, shame and guilt has put her on a parallel track with patients she has helped. “I guess what each of the deaths of my two daughters did for me was to help me understand the physical and mental anguish that death delivers,” she says. Her journey has also provided an intimate look at resilience and healing. “In grief and tragedy,” she says, “some kernel carries us forward. Recovery is a process. Something provides a sense of well-being for a moment and then those moments build.” Carol’s great pleasures over the years have been family, regular exercise, tennis and travelling to the far reaches of the world. She lives in midtown Toronto with her second husband, of 25 years, Allan Kaplan. Carol feels extremely privileged to have a big backyard surrounded by trees. Every year for the last 50, she has made her signature strawberry jam as a gift for friends and family, a tradition set by her mother. “These are the things that feed and nourish me,” she says. Deservedly, Carol was honoured this year with Branksome’s 2023 Allison Roach Alumna Award. In nominating her, former classmate Dr. Frances SHEPHERD’64 said: “Carol has given her life to other people.” Yet despite all she has achieved, Carol insists she’s quite ordinary. She likens herself to the person described in the first stanza of For Those Who Fail by 19th-century American poet Joaquin Miller. “All honor to him who shall win the prize,” The world has cried for a thousand years; But to him who tries and who fails and dies, I give great honour and glory and tears. “Not a star,” she says, “but someone who worked hard.” R
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Innovators
COVERING THE WATERFRONT Urban designer Rei TASAKA’97 is passionate about turning Toronto’s lakeside into a jewel for the city By Patricia Hluchy Photography by Christian Peterson
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or the past eight years, Rei TASAKA’97 has been one of the visionaries revitalizing the relationship of Canada’s largest metropolis to its vast southwestern extremity, Lake Ontario. That meeting point was much vilified in the 1990s and early 2000s as a “wall of condos.” Now, as senior urban design manager, planning and design, at Waterfront Toronto, Rei is passionate about her mission to continue transforming the Ontario capital into a world-class waterside city. (continued on page 26)
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(continued from page 24) Japanese-born Rei, whose CV includes an impressive roster of domestic and international projects, has contributed to—among other things—Waterfront Toronto’s redevelopment and design of the Central Waterfront and the Port Lands, both former industrial areas, with a focus on how to create what she calls “remarkable urban landscapes that welcome both residents and visitors.” Because she happens to reside in a condominium near the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal with her Norwegian-born husband, Rune, she is intimately familiar with what it’s like—and what it could be like—to live near the lake. Her job, says Rei, involves “how our waterfront is going to be envisioned in the future, both near and long term: What are these blocks and the density and the parks going to look like, and how do we manage the planning and design teams to create great public spaces and neighbourhoods? So, I work with design consultants and local developers, but also with municipal, provincial and federal agencies. The job has myriad complexities but also many, many rewards.”
REI IS PART OF a vast group engaged in one of the biggest engineering projects underway in North America: the Port Lands Flood Protection and Enabling Infrastructure Project, a $1.25billion endeavour that will revitalize 800 acres of flood-prone land. To be completed in 2025, it includes creation of the new, 54-acre Villiers Island right downtown, in a channel of Toronto’s landmark Don River. She leads the urban design work for the island, focusing, she notes, “on carving out a huge chunk of the current landfi ll called the Port Lands and renaturalizing the Don to the way it used to flow, and in the process creating an entirely new piece of land surrounded by parks, nature
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“I work with design consultants and local developers, but also with municipal, provincial and federal agencies. The job has myriad complexities but also many, many rewards.”
and art trails, a children’s playground, canoe and kayak launches, and, overall, a new community with places to live and work.” Chloe Catan, until recently the public art program manager for Waterfront Toronto, recalls working with Rei during Catan’s four and a half years at the agency. “I experienced first-hand her inspiring ability to see the big picture, create frameworks and lead a team of people to deliver a complex project,” says Catan. “She also has a knack for making work enjoyable, as she’s charismatic, collegial and very smart. The thing about her is that she’s so committed and delivers to such a high standard that everyone wants to work with her.” Rei says her love of art (especially the work of Marc Chagall and Edvard Munch) and, eventually, architecture and urban planning, were ignited during her time at Branksome. She started there in Grade 5—immediately after she, her mom, her late elder sister, Mai TASAKA’95, and her younger brother, Yu, moved to Toronto for her father’s work as an insurance executive. Before Grade 13, she took part in a one-month summer term to learn about art in Siena, Italy. It was a life changer, Rei says. “My focus then was actually more on fine arts, but I felt like I was Italian
in my past life—I was thrilled by the art and architecture, not to mention the food.” She considered a career as an artist—she loved drawing and painting people taking part in everyday activities—or as a set designer, having had some practice at Branksome. But a friend suggested she consider a career in architecture. Her focus shifted further beyond fine arts during her subsequent studies for bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture at the University of Waterloo, which attracted her in part because of its fourth-year undergrad program in Rome. It was in the Eternal City that she acquired a fascination with cities and waterfronts. She went on to do her master’s thesis on how to revive the riverside spaces in Tokyo. “The complexity of Tokyo’s urban waterways was truly my switch from architecture to urban design,” she recalls.
AFTER HER TIME at Waterloo, Rei devised several master plans for the Thames River in London. She also worked on resettlement projects in Tanzania and Albania, and on land development in Jordan. Back in Toronto, she created designs for city streets, such as the Six Points Interchange in Etobicoke, and for numerous new communities in formerly rural Ontario areas. As someone who loves teaching, Rei has also been a sessional course director at the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University for nearly a decade, working with young planning students on reimagining various sites in the city. Shahid Mahmood has been a friend since 2015, when, as head of the planning practice at Toronto’s Moriyama Teshima Architects, he hired her to be design manager for Education City, a 12-square-kilometre campus in Doha, Qatar, that would host multiple universities.
“We were required to stitch together some of the world’s leading educational institutions, including Cornell and Carnegie Mellon, as well as cultural sites, along a tram corridor, and with a soccer stadium being built to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup,” recalls Mahmood, now manager of corporate projects for the City of Brampton. “It was a demanding job that required a talented, resilient project manager— someone who could manage a team with over 80 subconsultants in multiple time zones.” Rei was that person, Mahmood says. “Places of beauty are made when memories, stories and personal perceptions converge. Rei, fuelled by her love of travel and experiencing new things, had the ability to bring all this together. Master planning is so much
more than blocking generic rectangles on a plan. It is about engaging with people to build an intersection of the physical world with that of the experiential.” Away from work, Rei and Rune, an investment professional whom she married in October, enjoy golf and more travel—they regularly visit her parents, now based in Tokyo, and his in his native Trondheim, another waterfront city. She also loves hosting dinners, her artistic impulses apparent in the attention she pays to the aesthetic presentation of what she’s serving, whether it’s a sashimi platter or eggplant with ginger. Eating good food and sharing it with others is something she acquired from her family— it’s equated with “home” and Japanese culture,
she says—and is a sort of tribute to her muchcherished sister, Mai, who enjoyed food and travel while working on building equity and economic strength in developing countries with a Japanese foundation. Mai died four years ago from sudden heart failure. Rei still does personal creative projects for friends or family. “I do want to start painting again,” she says. “It allows me to immerse myself both in memory and anticipation of something new.” When she’s not enjoying downtime, Rei is bolstered by the excitement of working on Toronto’s waterfront renaissance. After years of taking on numerous international projects, she says, “it’s such a privilege to be part of something this monumental in the city where I’ve spent most of my life.” R
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In n o v a to r s
A simple question led professional stage manager Giselle CLARKE-Trenaman’93 to create an education program chronicling the lives of Black Canadians
By Luisa Trisi Photography by Martin Dee
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ROLE MODEL IN THE WINGS
T’S JUST AFTER 12 noon when Giselle CLARKE-Trenaman’93 joins our Zoom call from her office at Presentation House Theatre in North Vancouver. She is a professional stage manager, a job she compares to being an air traffic controller. “Nothing lands or takes off without us knowing about it. We stage managers are the hub for information, whether it’s technical, a design element or an emotional piece from an actor.” As if on cue, Giselle turns away momentarily to give fi nal instructions to a contractor working in the theatre. Barely skipping a beat, she resumes our conversation, which is punctuated with her laughter and pithy aphorisms. One of only a handful of Black professional stage managers in Canada, Giselle is a role model for a generation of racialized people in theatre who are completing their studies or entering the professional field. Defining a crucial and often misunderstood function, she says: “For me, a stage manager is an artist. We need to have a true understanding of the artistic vision of the director and the designers. We carry the artistic intention of the show forward after opening night.” (continued on page 30)
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Despite being a newcomer to Canada, Giselle made an immediate impression on “Each time I do her peers and teachers, as well as on the a presentation there Parents’ Association, which awarded her are one or two one of two prizes for Outstanding New Black children in Girl in the Senior School. As Branksome’s the classroom, and first-ever Arts Prefect, she spearheaded the I want those kids designation of the Allison Roach Theatre to know that they for Performing Arts in honour of the escome from greatness. teemed principal who retired in 1993. The planned new Innovation Centre and The recognition is Studio Theatre will carry on the Roach train their faces when dition while adding sophisticated theatrethey see me: you production teaching space. look like my mom, Recognizing the crucial difference a or, you look like supportive school environment can make, my aunt.” Giselle wanted the same for her daughter, Brianna. A single question Giselle posed to Brianna’s kindergarten teacher—“What are you doing for Black History Month?”— (continued from page 28) was the spark that prompted Giselle to IN 2014, GISELLE and her husband, Brad, a lighting designer, create Black History Matters (BHM) in 2018. Curated to complement relocated from Toronto to British Columbia, where they live with their the B.C. school curriculum, BHM is a thorough and grade-appropriate daughter. A 25-year veteran of Canada’s professional theatre scene K–7 program highlighting the history, lives and contributions of with an honours BFA from York University, Giselle has worked with Black Canadians like Jean Augustine, the first Black female member some of the top performing arts companies, including Canadian Stage, of Parliament. the National Arts Centre, Soulpepper, Volcano Theatre, Young People’s WHAT BEGAN AS Giselle’s solo labour of love is now administered Theatre, Goh Ballet and Opera Atelier. “A good stage manager is open. They’re tactful. They’re firm,” she year-round by Presentation House Theatre in order to meet growing says. “They are able to head problems off at the pass and hold a safe demand. Last February alone, Giselle and a colleague delivered 75 BHM space for the artists. On the technical side, they are able to call a light- presentations to schools across Vancouver. “It’s the most amazing thing to see,” says Giselle. “Each time I do a ing cue a breath before it actually has to happen, so that their words can presentation there are one or two Black children in the classroom, and I reach the lighting technician’s ear in time so it all flows seamlessly.” A childhood play at Charmandean School, about an hour away want those kids to know that they come from greatness. The recognition from London, U.K., where she was born and raised, ignited Giselle’s is in their faces when they see me: you look like my mom, or, you look passion for theatre. Though she performed the titular role in the chil- like my aunt. The responsibility that that entails I do not take lightly. dren’s classic Toad of Toad Hall, the 11-year-old was less interested in Because my words can often represent a whole race. And it takes the acting than in what was unfolding around her, mesmerized as she was pressure off them for being the entire representation of their race.” Giselle’s commitment to being a powerful role model for her daughby the shimmering lights, whimsical costumes and dramatic makeup. ter has come full circle as Brianna navigates adolescence. “I set out to AFTER MOVING TO Toronto with her family at age 16, Giselle make her proud of the skin that she’s in and I would say I’ve accomfound her niche at Branksome Hall in the drama class taught by the plished that. She’s heading into Grade 7 knowing that she’s a strong legendary Judith FRIEND’75. “She was the best teacher ever,” says Black woman. I can’t even begin to say how awesome that feels. There Giselle. “I had a super thick English accent and asked somebody for is an innate strength, pride and joy in being a Black woman that no one a rubber—that was an eraser in my world—and everybody burst out can ever take away. It comes from the fact that no matter how many laughing. Miss Friend stopped them and said, ‘No, we don’t laugh. times people have tried, they cannot hold us down.” Giselle is from England, where a rubber means an eraser. We don’t Giselle’s advice to Branksome students considering a career in thelaugh at new people, we help them.’ And I immediately felt at home. atre? “Listen with your ears, eyes and heart. Keep yourself open to any My drama classes were the place where I was accepted for being me. opportunity that comes by. Learn when to say no, but don’t forget to And Branksome was the place where I was able to make true friends, push yourself. Because you never know where you’ll reach.” which I still have to this day.” And for Giselle, that is already far, with further yet to go. R
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AlumLife
ALUMNAE ASSOCIATION MISSION STATEMENT To unite, engage and grow Branksome Hall’s alumnae community of globally minded learners and leaders.
ALUMNAE EXECUTIVE 2023–24
Allison ROACH’51 Honorary President
A Welcome from Our New President
Farewell from Our Past President
By Alex MORTON’09
By Melanie ARGIROS Breder’08
Hello, fellow Branksome alums! I am very excited to be the next President of the Alumnae Association. After years on the Alumnae Executive, I look forward to continuing the work we have done to connect alums to the school and with each other, and to strengthen our bursary. As the school experiences change, I look forward to celebrating Karen Jurjevich’s leadership and to welcoming Grace McCallum to the Branksome Hall community. Many exciting milestones are in store for Branksome in the coming years, and I look forward to experiencing them with you. If you would like to get involved in the Alumnae Association, or share your ideas or experiences, I am happy to connect with you. Keep Well the Road!
It has been such a pleasure serving as your President for the past three years. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet many of you and to work alongside the Alumnae Executive team, which is passionate about continuing to strengthen the community. The last three years challenged us to think differently and explore new ways to connect, learn and interact with each other. Whether you attended an event, reconnected with a classmate or learned something new, I hope that you’ve engaged with the Branksome community in a way that’s meaningful. While I’ll miss being as connected to the Branksome community in the role of President, I am thrilled to be passing the torch to Alex Morton, who brings passion and a high level of commitment to furthering the mission of the Alumnae Association.
Officers Alex MORTON’09 President
Melanie ARGIROS Breder’08 Past President
Sara AKBARI’09 Vice-President, Engagement
Lisa Simone RICHARDS’02 Vice-President, Communications
Jacqui CARL Greenfield’10 Nominating Officer
Alexandra BEHAL’12 Treasurer
Nicole THORNBURROW Bryant’10 Secretary
Members at Large Camille CLYNE’99 Priyanka DOGRA’16 Kendra FITZRANDOLPH’03 Hannah LO’05 Co-Chair, Young Alum Committee
Isabel RUBY-HILL’15 Lindsay STRANSMAN’08 Patricia SU’13 Co-Chair, Young Alum Committee
Hubie YU’08 Maya ZUZEK’10 Ex-Officio Cristina Coraggio Teia Guttman Advancement Student Rep
Our Evolving Board Two New Student Reps…
Three New Members…
Alexandra BEHAL’12 Treasurer
Priyanka DOGRA’16 Member at Large
Maya ZUZEK’10 Member at Large
Teia Guttman
Leah Moore
With Thanks to Retiring Members…
Karen Jurjevich Andrea McAnally Leah Moore Advancement Student Rep
Neetu White
Sarita SAMAROO’99 Alumnae Executive 2018–23 Alum Awards Committee 2019–20 Nominating Officer 2021–22 Catlin SEIBEL-KAMEL’10 Alumnae Executive 2019–23 Alum Awards Chair 2020–22
Let’s Stay in Touch! L Sign up for The ROAD Alum Newsletter S D Don’t miss out on monthly Branksome Hall updates just for alums! The ROAD e email newsletter focuses on the alum community and shares the details of u upcoming alum events around the world. Sign up or provide feedback on recent issues by emailing Neetu White at nwhite@branksome.on.ca.
Stay Connected, Get Involved It’s all about Community, Networking, Volunteerism, Friendship, Traditions and Giving Back Please contact: Neetu White nwhite@branksome.on.ca
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AlumLife
Steph and Robin celebrating at the finish line of race number 10 at Barrelman in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Outpacing Alzheimer’s Stephanie FAUQUIER’07 is turning her distinguished mother’s devastating diagnosis into an ambitious Canada-wide triathlon campaign, Race with Steph By Carolyn Morris
S
oon after learning her mother had Alzheimer’s, Stephanie FAUQUIER’07 wanted to do something significant to honour her and raise awareness of the disease. She set out to swim, cycle and run over 500 kilometres in 10 triathlons across Canada this year between May and September, in support of research at the University of Toronto’s Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases. While she didn’t expect to break her toe coming out of the water in her first Race with Steph triathlon—a Half Ironman in Victoria, B.C., which she finished despite the injury—it was a symbolic start to the campaign. “It was just a setback, and part of endurance sports,” says Stephanie, who continued
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working in her role as director of strategy at TELUS Health while training and competing in every Canadian province throughout the summer. She shifted her scheduled New Brunswick race from June to August to give her toe time to heal. “It’s also reflective of life. I wasn’t expecting my mom to get Alzheimer’s. When she was diagnosed, I was devastated. But that doesn’t mean it’s the end.” Stephanie hopes to turn a negative into a positive through Race with Steph—by sparking conversation, building community and uniting Canadians in the fight against Alzheimer’s. “We don’t talk about it enough, and I think it’s because it’s a terminal illness—we like comeback stories a lot more,” she says. “I wanted to celebrate her and other Canadians, and put a face to this terrible disease. I decided this wasn’t going to be my mom’s last chapter, but her next one.” When not cheering at Stephanie’s races, her mother, Robin McLeod, finds joy in art classes and spending time with Stephanie, her sister Claire and their father and Robin’s husband John Fauquier, while receiving family care. “You can see how sweet she is at her core,” says Stephanie. “I think we need to give lots of love, kindness and support to people who have dementia and Alzheimer’s, because it must be terrifying to have your faculties betraying you.” Stephanie has long been inspired by her mother’s career. A world-renowned surgeon, Robin served as professor of surgery as well as of health policy management and evaluation at the University of Toronto, and as senior investigator at Mount Sinai Hospital. She was also president of the Canadian Association of General Surgeons and the American Surgical Association, and vice-president of clinical programs and quality initiatives at Cancer Care Ontario. She was made an
Officer of the Order of Canada for her pioneering work in medicine and education. “She was so loving,” Stephanie remembers. “Even though she had this demanding career, she did these amazing things. She made my lunch every day. She made every Halloween costume.” Robin also taught Stephanie to set high expectations and go after big goals—skills her Branksome Hall experience helped solidify. “Branksome gave me the support structure to be myself and figure out what I wanted,” says Stephanie. “Then it helped me build a strong foundation to excel in everything going forward.” Race with Steph is a prime example. After completing all 10 triathlons, Stephanie surpassed her original fundraising goal of $250,000 to support Alzheimer’s research at the Tanz Centre. At last count, blessed with a matching donation, the fund creating the Dr. Robin McLeod Research Scholarships stood at $610,000 and rising. The money
Stephanie’s Race with Steph racing suit features maple leaves and icons from every Canadian province. She had two photos of her mom printed on the inner pockets: one where she is receiving the Order of Canada, the other of her giving Stephanie a hug as a child.
will fund one to four graduate students each year at the Tanz Centre, known for its world-leading work on new diagnostic approaches, drug therapies and research into the genetic origins of the disease. (To learn more, go to racewithsteph.com.) As Alzheimer’s disproportionately
affects women, another important aspect of Race with Steph is to encourage women across the country to embrace a healthy and active lifestyle. While Stephanie’s mother was athletic and ate well, unhealthy eating and fitness habits are major risk factors in developing dementia—with brain changes thought to begin up to decades before symptoms appear. “If you think about that,” says Stephanie, “this is a disease of your forties and fift ies. And there are things you can do to reduce your risk, like being active and eating well.” As she’s been swimming, cycling and running, Stephanie has also tapped into the power of endurance sport—intimately feeling how every small step, cycle or stroke is strengthening her connection to her country. And with every race, every shared story and every conversation about the isolation and shame those with Alzheimer’s often feel, Stephanie has channelled her grief into a powerful next chapter for both mother and daughter. R
GREG GREENING PHOTOGRAPHY
Stephanie races in the St. John’s Triathlon in August 2023.
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WinningWomen
To nominate a fellow alum for the 2024 Allison Roach and Young Alum Awards, please send a detailed description of why you think the nominee should be recognized to alum@branksome.on.ca.
Dr. Gillian CHRISTIE’08 2023 Young Alum Achievement Award
Dedicated to Public Health By Melanie CHANDLER Jackson’74
I
T’S IN THE NEWS—and in our lives: the increasing presdefined as “the development of a product or service in a low- or sure on health services. For Dr. Gillian CHRISTIE’08, it’s a middle-income country and the subsequent commercializachallenge that raises game-changing possibilities. tion of that product or service to a high-income country, ideally As director of operations at Boston’s Pearl Health, Gillian works resulting in economic benefits for the country of origin.” to improve health-care access via the intersection of business and After completing her master’s at the University of Cambridge, technology. Along with Pearl Health’s team of Gillian worked in New York City at the physicians, technologists and health plan leadVitality Institute, a global research organizaers, Gillian believes that primary care providers tion dedicated to health innovation. One of “Don’t be shy are the key to America’s health. her first initiatives was convening 25 leaders about pursuing a “COVID-19 demonstrated how the public focused on supporting Vitality’s Commission path that doesn’t and private sectors could work together to on Health Promotion and the Prevention of develop creative solutions very quickly,” Gillian Chronic Disease in Working-Age Americans. fit the mould, explains. “Without the ingenuity and investWith Microsoft and the Qualcomm Institute, that involves ment in research over many decades, the vacGillian and her colleagues came up with ‘colouring outside cines would not have been available so rapidly.” guidelines, as she explains, “for the responsithe lines.’ The For Gillian, it was Branksome that nurtured ble development and deployment of personaldevelopment of her passion for expanding access to health care. ized health technologies. This demonstrated new technologies It began, as innovation often does, with an that the private sector can indeed be a force eagerness to find out more about the world. to improve health using technology.” and approaches Entering Branksome in Grade 7, she imIn addition to her role at Pearl Health, often demands mediately found co-curricular activities to Gillian is an adjunct lecturer in health non-conformity.” join. Darragh KELLAM recalls Gillian “being policy and management at Harvard’s inclusive, making friends with everyone.” The T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where two of them enjoyed badminton, including she earned her multidisciplinary doctor competitions with other schools, as well as art and choir. of public health degree in 2020. Gillian is impressed by her With the encouragement of her Clan advisor, Gillian’s costudents’ commitment “to create the world they want to see.” curricular involvements widened. “Rosemary Evans fostered For Branksome students similarly interested in tackling today’s my growth leading to such formative experiences at the World health challenges, she advises: “Don’t be shy about pursuing a Affairs Conference with Upper Canada College and teaching at path that doesn’t fit the mould, that involves ‘colouring outside the Queenstown Get Ahead Project in South Africa.” the lines.’ The development of new technologies and approaches Gillian wanted to keep helping the underserved. But could often demands non-conformity.” that be a career? Dr. Peter Singer, then the CEO of Grand And, if they seek to emulate Gillian, Branksome alums will Challenges Canada (GCC) and a former Branksome Board chair, want to remain—as she has despite her accomplishments—“still helped her put a name to her interests: global public health. humble!” exclaims Darragh. As an undergrad at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, Gillian is confident that, whatever field they choose, Branksome Gillian worked at GCC for several summers. “GCC exposed me students will be empowered by the values she acquired: to many areas of public health, and how technology can improve “Developing a sense of independence, and being able to find the health of people in lower-income countries,” she says. “It inyour own voice and interests, so that if you see a challenge stilled in me the importance of supporting people with so much in the world, you can go and solve it.” R less than I have. This became a central theme in my career.” See page 20 for our profile of Carol COWAN’64, winner of At St Andrews she wrote her dissertation on reverse innothe 2023 Allison Roach Alumna Award. vation. Also known as “trickle-up innovation,” this has been
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CHRISTIAN PETERSON
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AlumLife
2018 1968 19
1963
REUNION 2023
W welcomed We l d over 300 alums l back to campus for a weekend of laughter, celebration and reconnection. From the Decades Lunch on a beautiful sunny day to an eventful Alum Reception and Reunion Dinner, our alums left with great stories and new memories.
2003 1978
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2008
1973
1998
2013 1983
1993
1988
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AlumLife
Global Connections A look back on memorable visits to London, U.K., and New York City
UPCOMING EVENTS YOUNG ALUM HOLIDAY LUNCH December 21, 2023 Those who graduated between 2019 and 2023 are invited back to campus for a special holiday lunch followed by the final Assembly of 2023. Your former teachers are looking forward to seeing you!
LONDON, U.K. We welcomed over 60 alums to our reception at the Royal Automobile Club at Pall Mall and can’t wait to be back in April 2024!
REUNION WEEKEND May 31 – June 1, 2024
DECADES LUNCH May 31, 2024 Branksome’s celebration of alums who graduated more than 40 years ago. Tours will be hosted and an intimate lunch will be served on campus.
NEW YORK CITY It was a pleasure to connect with more than 50 alums at our reception at Ennead Architects. We are looking forward to being back in the Big Apple in April 2024.
REUNION DINNER June 1, 2024 Celebrating the Class of ’99 (25th reunion) and Class of ’74 (50th reunion), as well as all classes celebrating a milestone year ending in 4 or 9.
Keep your contact information with us up-to-date to ensure you receive event invitations. Send your contact information and mailing address to alum@branksome.on.ca.
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ClassNotes
FOLLOW US ON OUR SOCIAL CHANNELS AND READ THE LATEST NEWS OF INTEREST TO ALUMS Some updates have been edited from emails, letters and social media posts.
1951
She hopes the Branksome community had a happy celebration.
1968
Former Principal, Allison ROACH, pictured with our Prefects, joined us as we officially launched the The Centre for Strategic Leadership in September 2023.
1953 Susan WALLACE Diefenbach was sorry to
miss the 70th Reunion. She was, however, with the Branksome community in spirit! Susan is living in Nashville, Tennessee, where she moved in 2018 to be near her two daughters. In 2022, upon the death of her husband, Phil, she moved to a retirement facility, where she continues to be active and reasonably healthy.
1951 Friends from the Class of ’51 gathered for lunch earlier this year, keeping the connection alive. Left to right: Diana KING Hore, Mary Lue FARMER Hinds, Mary BAWDEN Wood, (former Principal) Allison ROACH, Margaret Tuer (a former Branksome teacher) and Mary TWIBLE Armstrong.
CALEY TAYLOR
Marnie McKENZIE Bracht
is loving the freedom of retirement. When she and her husband, Bob, aren’t travelling the world (so far they’ve visited 202 of the 343 countries on the Travelers’ Century Club list, and 123 of 193 on the United Nations member list), they call Pickering, Ontario, home. She finds great joy in being a grandmother—in March, her son and his wife had baby Jack. She sees them all often, as well as her daughter, Andrea. Marnie keeps active, continuing to deliver Meals on Wheels, volunteering on her condo’s welcome committee, attending weekly Zumba and Latin dance classes, and singing in a community choir. As well, she joins two hiking groups weekly, chasing (continued on page 40)
Fast Friends Two 1943 alums marked their 80th Reunion at the Decades Lunch By Donna MacMullin Brenda CRUIKSHANK Reid’43 (left) and Francesca “Frankie” HARRISON Fullerton’43 (right) became fast friends
when they met at Branksome Hall in the early 1940s. This year they celebrated their 80th Reunion, meeting once again at Branksome Hall’s Decades Lunch. It was the first time they’d seen each other since before the COVID-19 pandemic. At school, the pair first got to know each other while eating lunch at the tennis courts—their favourite place to hang out back then—and soon found they had a lot in common. “Brenda and I are both doctors’ daughters,” Frankie says, and they were both born outside of Canada— Frankie in India and Brenda in Lebanon, where her Canadian father worked in the faculty of medicine at the American University of Beirut. Both women entered Branksome after fleeing the violence happening overseas during the Second World War. At 16, Brenda came with her family to Toronto, where she and her two sisters were welcomed at Branksome. Frankie, aged 15, and her 12-year-old brother left their older sister and parents for evacuation to Canada along with 7,500 English children. They were war guests of Lady
Gooderham in 1939–40. Frankie’s subsequent host, Lucile ROBINSON Pratt’26, sent her to Branksome, where Lucile and her sister had been Boarding students. Frankie recalls playing lacrosse to entertain the soldiers at Toronto’s waterfront, while Brenda enlisted as a Wren in the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service immediately following her graduation in 1943. She trained as an electrical technician and was posted to an isolated long-range navigation station in Nova Scotia, run entirely by women. The two have stayed in touch over the years, including at Reunions. Being back at Branksome “is amazing! It’s so impressive to see what the girls are doing,” Frankie says. “I’m floored by how much they know,” adds Brenda. While being on campus stirs up fond memories, both women say they carry the Branksome school spirit with them every day. Frankie still wears her tartan school scarf with pride during the winter months as a reminder of her time at the school. And Brenda says: “I still live in the area, and whenever I drive past I always feel like I’m still a part of Branksome Hall and always will be.” R
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ClassNotes
(continued from page 39) waterfalls all over Ontario while also botanizing. Life is good! She frequently sees
Left to right: Lauren BROWNE Morash, Tiffany RAMSUBICK Plange, Jennifer MORDEN, Jordana LONGO, Tessa PAULY and Lauren TESLIA Ortved.
Marywinn MILNE, Patty PARKER Ward and Susan DEACON Potter, and keeps in touch with Margot HAIR Sayer and Judith BEDFORD-JONES.
1977 Laureen NEWMAN Fisher
1999
recently made a permanent move to Thornbury, Ontario, with her husband. They love the outdoor activities and new friends made, as well as the social events held by the large Branksome contingency there. She hopes that Class of ’77 alums who venture to Collingwood or Thornbury will connect with her.
Jurjevich and fellow alum Yujin LEE’15 at the Millbrook Winery jazz and foodtrucks night in New York.
1980
1991
A thank-you to Dana POSTROZNY Mitchell for spending her morning at Branksome Hall in April. Dana participated in the Math Speaker Series, sharing her insights with our Middle School students and answering many questions about the insurance industry in Canada.
Caroline RAYFIELD lives
in Toronto with her three daughters. She’s currently working with children but plans to write full time in the fall. Her first children’s book, The Adventures of Milo Chow, about a specialneeds rescue pup named
Milo, was published in September 2022. Caroline is now working on her second book, due at her publisher next spring. She’s hoping to have come up with a title for it by then!
1993
Friends from 2004 Tessa PAULY recently travelled to Tulum, Mexico, with five
other Class of ’04 alums, four of whom met in Grade 7, the other two arriving at the school in Grade 9. They have all been best friends ever since.
Christina FUNG Stennett,
the new Global Head of Artificial Intelligence at IT consultants CGI, inspired a room of future leaders at Branksome’s Junior School
Jacqueline FITZGIBBON Moss (left) and Deputy
Principal Amanda Kennedy were delighted to attend the 2023 Juno Awards ceremony, held in March in Edmonton, Alberta.
1987
Karrie Weinstock and 1983 Alums Karrie Weinstock, head of Branksome’s Centre for Strategic Leadership, caught up with a few of her Class of ’83 English students over a lovely lunch at Café Boulud in Toronto this summer.
Bridget HORNE Colman
1997
caught up in August 2023 with Principal Karen
Veronica LIU gave birth to
Left to right: Sarah TESKEY McLean, Janice LOUDON, Sandra JARVIS, Karrie Weinstock and Judith JASPERSON.
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Installation in September 2023. Christina shared her learnings from her career and urged our students to lead with kindness.
a daughter, Velouria, last November. Velouria adores everything her seven-yearold brother, Lester, does! Veronica was featured in “A Day in the Life” in the Winter 2023 issue of The READ. In July, the bookstore she founded, Word
Up Community Bookshop/ Librería Comunitaria, celebrated 10 years at its permanent Manhattan storefront—after two years as a pop-up. Because of her Word Up work in the community, Veronica received a commendation earlier this year from New York State Senator Robert Jackson, and was honoured as an Adopted Dominican last year by the National Dominican Day Parade and the Manhattan Borough President’s Office. She is still with Seven Stories Press, where she worked before opening Word Up, as an editor-at-large—in part because there were some authors she didn’t want to stop working with!
Left to right: Nicole STAVRO-LEANOFF, Tierney SMITH, Valery BROSSEAU, Lauren KORZINSTONE, Celine BELL, Gaylen LINDAL, Cristyn EDWARDS, Kristin MCKINNON and Katie REDINGTON.
2006 Megan HODGES was surrounded by family and close Branksome friends
at her wedding to Varoujan Arman on June 11, 2022, in Tuscany, Italy. Left to right: Laya BAIL, Victoria LORD, Gillian PRYOR, Liz CLARK, Chanelle RAMSUBICK, Megan HODGES, Kelly McDOWELL, Blair McGREGOR, Mercedes MIMRAN, Samantha SZIRMAK and Kaleigh ZIMMERMAN.
2005 Flashback This group photo is from the wedding of Gaylen LINDAL and David Kelusky on August 10, 2013. Over the past 10 years, these Class of ’05 alums, along with Hannah LO and Emily MCDONOUGH, have enjoyed getting together for celebrations, getaways, dinners and “playdates,” and look forward to their annual “Branksome Brunch” each holiday season.
1998
2010 Hillary BALL has been
Maria DIAMANDIS Pasic
had her fourth daughter, Tara, in August 2021. She enjoys taking family trips, especially road trips to Florida and Mont Tremblant, with husband, Ivan, and daughters Anastasia, 11, Katarina, 9, Sava, 7, and Tara. This summer they are visiting her and Ivan’s homelands of Greece and Serbia respectively, so that their girls can immerse themselves in the amazing sights and cultures of the Balkans. Katie SISAM (left) and Katherine STAPLES Fitzgibbons’85, Branksome
alums and friends, are now teaching partners at Rose Avenue Junior Public
School in St. James Town, Toronto. Through the JUMP Math and Reading Buddies after-school programs, Branksome students are paired with Rose Avenue students, providing them with math and literacy assistance.
2005
selected as one of Forbes’ 30 under 30 in Europe in the Finance category this year. After attending Cambridge University in the U.K., she worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs in London. In 2017, Hillary joined Atomico, a venture capital fund, in 2021 becoming its youngest person ever to be promoted to principal. She is currently focusing on growth-stage investing.
2014
focuses on improving methods for developing, implementing and utilizing rare-disease patient registries. She is also a recipient of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral Award. Through the foundation’s three-year leadership program, Catherine will, among other things, be mentored by leaders from academia to help her put her ideas into impactful action.
2016
CALDWELL’01, Missy MAHONEY’98 and Anna Lisa LOWENSTEIN’17 were
also part of the celebration on video.
2018
Alexa LAENGERT enjoys
community swim time at Branksome’s Athletics and Wellness Centre with her twin nieces, Maggie and Ella.
2023
Julia PALIARE, Arielle DOMB’11 and Karrie
Weinstock were happy to reconnect in New York City in December 2022.
Catherine STRATTON was
named one of 14 scholars by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, selected from some 500 applicants. Catherine is an epidemiology PhD student at the University of Toronto, where her research
Priyanka DOGRA and Astrid LING’18 joined Branksome
as alums and past Head Prefects at Installation in September 2023, delivering a touching introduction to Principal Karen Jurjevich’s keynote speech. Sarah PSUTKA’99, Ashley
Sharing her creativity, Luisa Caroline NEDEL’23 upcycled old Branksome uniforms to create a beautiful sweatshirt and sweatpants.
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Passages Retirements & Departures Edited excerpts are from speeches at the employee end-of-year celebration in June 2023 Elliott Brodkin (2019–23) Executive Director, Finance & Administration
Megan Snape, Director, Branksome Hall Day Camps, remarked: “Elliott has been our tireless, fearless and comedic leader the past three and a half years. Despite his short time at the school, his contributions have been significant. From finance to food services, to camps, swimming and facilities…you couldn’t get a more varied team! Elliott made sure that each person and team member felt included in our collective mission.” Reflecting on his time at the school, Elliott said: “It has truly been my honour to have worked at Branksome Hall. I want to thank you for providing me with the opportunity to lead wonderful groups in the Business Office, Facilities and Business Operations, including our third-party partners, Aramark, ACML, Nustadia and Securitas. Please know how privileged I feel to have worked with all of you. “Thank you for entrusting this position to me. I am closing out a very satisfying career with pride and gratitude.”
Kate Hebdon (1998–2023) Over the years: Social Science Teacher; Department Head, Individuals and Society; Advisor Program Coordinator; IB Diploma Coordinator & Elite Athlete / Artist Coordinator; Director of Academics (Grades 7–12); Assistant Head, Senior & Middle School, Academics; Assistant Head, Student Experience (Grades 11–12)
Aparna Singhal, Assistant Head, Student Experience, Grades 7–8, paid tribute to Kate, saying: “A lifelong learner herself, Kate has been a role model for
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students, employees and even parents and guardians about the importance of being open to new experiences and opportunities to learn and grow. Kate, equally energizing is how you value and centre student voice, agency and leadership, while motivating others to do the same.” Siamak Boroomand, Assistant Head, Student Experience, Grades 9–10, remarked, “I was considering what word best exemplifies you. Of course, there are so many, from ‘friend,’ to ‘colleague,’ to ‘leader.’ But I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say the word that kept coming to mind, was ‘coach.’” Reflecting on her time at Branksome, Kate said: “It is safe to say that Branksome Hall changed my life. Twenty-five years of basically growing up and growing into many different roles that really stretched me to become a better person, a better teacher and leader, and even a better partner and mother. Branksome gave me opportunities and taught me to consider all the angles of a situation, how to be curious, how to find the good and how to always enter with kindness. “Coming from a background in camps and youth work, I am proud that I never lost sight of the fact that if you are going to get up and work with kids every day, you better want to have fun. You better believe that they are their own agents of change and we are merely here to offer perspective, accountability, shared laughter and a soft spot to land.” Kate left Branksome Hall, after 25 years, to take on the role of Deputy Head, Trafalgar Castle School in Whitby, Ontario.
Erna Relle (1994–2023) Junior School French Teacher
Carol Dugas, retired Junior School teacher, remarked: “On many a day, one could pop into Erna’s French class and, at first glance, be unable to see her. Some students would be sprawled on the floor rehearsing lines for a play, others attached to headphones editing work on their Chromebooks, and many destined to discover the final gem in a Word Search. “To locate Erna, you simply had to wade through the rising waters of this enriching environment—she would be sitting crosslegged (well, not “sitting”—Erna never really “sits”—it’s more of a contained perpetual motion)—on the carpet with a handful of students, providing them with animated feedback. Erna never lost grip of the baton—time and time again, she orchestrated this scene seamlessly. “Erna rewarded her students every day with her sheer energy and her deeply genuine delight in their achievements—any kind, any size! “Erna, you are in a place today so familiar…and now off to create new familiar places. The love you have been so clearly given, in abundance, by your own family was reflected every day here at Branksome Hall.” Reflecting on her time at Branksome, Erna said: “Branksome, you pushed me year after year to grow emotionally, mentally and professionally. “My goals were simple and twofold: (1) Instill a love of and appreciation for the French language in my students, which would hopefully lead them to pursue other languages down the road. (2) Make sure my students knew that I was more than their French teacher—that I was there for them whenever they needed me. I was fi lled with gratitude each day that I drove through the gates and never took a day for granted.”
Marriages
Births
Deaths
1980 Grace BOLTON, daughter of the late Pamela HILL BOLTON’55, to Kevin Arthur Beasley, in Etobicoke, Ontario, in March 2022.
2003
Notices and In Memoriams have been edited from emails and published obituaries.
1936
2010
Jackie NIXON Gowdy, a daughter, on November 2, 2022. Caroline is the happy baby sister of Audrey and Elizabeth.
Anne VOORHEIS Watts, a first daughter, Lane Watts, on August 14, 2022. Anne hopes that Lane is a future Branksome alum!
2008 2005 Jacqueline CARL to Peter Greenfield, on June 25, 2022.
2011
Stephanie EDMISON, a son, Powell William Edmison, on May 9, 2022. Margaret POWELL Biggin’71 is the proud grandmother. Zeenia FRAMROZE to Ben Thorne in June 2023. After almost three years of wedding cancellations and postponements, they celebrated their marriage with friends and family from around the world during a weekend spent in the San Francisco Bay Area.
2006
Lauren HANSON XUEREB Austin, a second daughter, Piper Jane Austin, on November 16, 2022, in Toronto.
Melanie ARGIROS Breder, a first daughter, Scarlett Freya Breder, on January 17, 2023.
Barbara CAULFIELD Robson, on February 10, 2023, in Toronto. Barbara was Branksome’s oldest living alum. She lived independently in her condo until the age of 103, when she moved into a retirement home in Aurora, Ontario. She had worked in fashion retail until the age of 80, and was a dedicated volunteer for Big Sisters, hospital fundraisers and children’s programs. In her spare time, she enjoyed playing euchre and bridge. 1941 Shirley WELLS Allen, on November 18, 2022. Dora SMITH Halpenny, on June 21, 2023. 1943 Nancy WIGLE Harrison, on June 11, 2023. 1944 Mary Joyce PHELAN Russell, on July 1, 2023, at Chartwell Allandale Station in Barrie, Ontario. She was on the Branksome Hall Alumnae Executive and was mother to Karen RUSSELL Phillips’72. Graduating from the University of Toronto with a bachelor of arts degree, Mary Joyce was a lifelong Toronto Maple Leafs fan and an enthusiastic sailor, skier and horseback rider.
1945 Joyce FINDLAY Donald, on April 5, 2023, at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. After Branksome, Joyce attended Guelph Collegiate and Vocational Institute, then the University of Toronto. After marrying her husband, Graham, in 1955, she was kept busy raising her five children, along with knitting, doing needlepoint, playing bridge, golfing, skiing, gardening, flower arranging and volunteering at Wellesley Hospital. In later years, she was an avid acrylic and watercolour painter. 1946 Gina BAKER Lamb, on July 6, 2023. She is survived by her daughter, Alex, and her three grandsons. She studied voice at the Juilliard School in New York City and received her degree from the University of Toronto. Later in life she achieved her ARCT (Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Music) in voice from the from the Royal Academy of Music. Joan MYRDEN Smith, on February 9, 2023, with family by her side. Upon graduating from Branksome, Joan attended Dalhousie University, where she played on the women’s field hockey team. An avid athlete, she also later enjoyed skiing and golfing with her husband and three sons. Joan was a talented artist, painting oil landscapes and doing quilting and complex needlepoint. One of her (continued on page 44)
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(continued from page 43) responsibilities during her 30 years of volunteering at North York General, in Ontario, was selecting and directing the placement of the artwork throughout the hospital. 1947 Beverley RUSH Reichert, on August 15, 2022 in Bracebridge, Muskoka. She was “93 years young,” her daughter, Heidi REICHERT Westfall’74, notes. Beverely was proud to go back to school when she was in her fifties to earn her PhD—a lifelong ambition of hers and an inspiration to us all. She went on to teach at the University of Guelph and the then Ryerson University. She always felt connected to Branksome, including in spirit when not attending Reunions in her later years, and always read The READ thoroughly! 1950 Alice Anne RUSSELL Train, on May 15, 2023, in Shelburne, Ontario. A former ballet dancer, Alice Anne kept active by skiing, swimming and canoeing, at one point canoeing in the Arctic with her husband. She also taught yoga, co-founding a yoga teacher-training program in Brampton, Ontario. She was most proud of the classes she designed for the needs of people with multiple sclerosis. As well, Alice Anne worked with
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disadvantaged communities, was a social director at a seniors’ home and raised funds to save heritage homes. Ever the consummate hostess, she also enjoyed cooking. 1951 Audrey BUDGEON Cheadle, on February 22, 2023, at Gateway Haven retirement home in Wiarton, Ontario. After graduating from Branksome, Audrey studied at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. In her fifties, she pursued her love of theatre, completing her bachelor’s degree at Guelph University. Reader, writer, knitter, art collector, actor, director, community volunteer and teacher (at both Owen Sound Collegiate and Vocational Institute and Georgian College), Audrey throughout her life embraced new interests, sharing her enthusiasm, talents and knowledge with family and the community at large.
1956 Mary Lou BARRON Foster, on March 5, 2022, in Markham, Ontario.
1961 Nancy MARTIN Tranter, on November 17, 2022, in Strathroy, Ontario.
Barbara CLARK Hiscox, on May 12, 2022, at her home in Ontario.
1962 Gail CORBETT Bothwell, on April 18, 2023, at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. Attending Branksome Hall from Kindergarten to Grade 13, Gail was a Branksome Boarding student and Prefect, a Board member, an Alum Year rep, and on both the Branksome Hall Alumnae Executive and the Plaid Tidings committee. Gail received her degree in library science from the University of Toronto, going on to work in libraries in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. She later worked in publicity and extension learning at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto; at CTV’s current affairs program W5; in real estate; and at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. In 1999, she returned to Ontario, creating the home of her dreams in an old stone farmhouse north of Port Hope.
1957 Wendy LOCKHART Fletcher, on March 6, 2023, in Toronto. 1958 Annabelle McINTOSH Garrow, on July 24, 2023, at Collingwood General and Marine Hospital in Ontario, with family by her side. An avid sports fan and talented rug-hooker, Annabelle was a long-time volunteer at Brampton’s charity gift shop, Perpetual Bazaar, as well as at Tullamore Nursing Home and the public schools her children attended. Leslie ROLPH Harmes, on November 13, 2022, in Brantford, Ontario. 1959
1955 Nancy FOGGO Gardner, on February 22, 2023, in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Heather FRASER Winterburn, on November 12, 2022, in St. Catharines, Ontario.
Barbara (Bonnie) KREUTZER Bean, on February 21, 2023. Bonnie loved her family, her wonderful friends, summers at the family cottage, her work in sexual health and giving back to the community. A Branksome Prefect, many of Bonnie’s friends attended her service in September.
1967 Beverley BOWEN, on February 25, 2023, in Toronto. Beverley played on Branksome’s basketball, tennis and badminton teams and starred in the annual drama production, often in the lead role thanks to her singing and acting talents. After graduating, she stayed connected to the Branksome community by volunteering countless hours for the alum office, supporting the Plaid Tidings events and doing fundraising.
Linda SECCOMBE Sommerville, on May 8, 2023, at her home in Toronto. Linda maintained strong friendships from her time at Branksome. She was active within the community of her Florida home in Boca Grande and was a devoted member of the Junior League; a former board president of New Directions, a charity supporting divorced and widowed women; and a staff member and then volunteer at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. A gifted athlete, Linda adored golf, tennis and squash. She was also an avid traveller—for her, the bigger the adventure, the better. 1996 Kristen KIZOFF, on May 1, 2023. During her many years at Branksome Hall, Kristen excelled in academic and extracurricular pursuits. She was an Ontario Scholar in Grade 12 and won the University of Toronto Book Award, the Ontario Arts Council’s English Award, the Latin prize and the Extended French Award. Kristen was president of the Stage Band and a talented French horn player. She was on Branksome’s soccer team and played at the provincial level for Ontario. Kristen was a gifted writer and her frequent contributions to the school paper were warmly received for their
In Memoriam enlightening and humorous content. A proud Branksome girl, Kristen was a tour guide for prospective students for several years, and consistently went out of her way to ensure new students felt at home and quickly became part of the school culture. After graduation, Kristen attended McMaster University, and then University of Ottawa, graduating from its Faculty of Law. For many years, Kristen was counsel with Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General, where she was known for both her excellent legal advice and her mentorship of junior counsel. She remained connected to Branksome as a Reunion Rep, Career Day speaker and debating judge. Kristen’s mother, Josie, is also a cherished member of the Branksome community, having taught at the school for over 30 years before retiring as head of Guidance.
Wendy WILSON Lawson’52 June 5, 1934 – January 24, 2023
C
hanging schools is notoriously unsettling. Even more so when, due to the demands of a parent’s career, the moves are frequent—as Wendy WILSON Lawson’52 could attest. When Wendy finally enrolled at Branksome, she found the school transformative, providing the stability and support she’d been missing. “A breath of fresh air,” she declared it. Recalls Wendy’s son, Brian Lawson: “Mom felt strongly that Branksome played an important role in making her the vibrant person she was—knowledgeable, competent, determined, independent and curious.” A Prefect at Branksome, Wendy went on as an alum to volunteer in such roles as Class Reunion Rep and a member of the Parents’ Association and Alumnae Executive. Reflecting her love of history, she also served as the school’s Head Archivist. With her experience in business and management, including with the Toronto branch of a U.S. insurance company, Wendy was a natural to be hired as Branksome’s first Head of Development. Working with fellow alum and then-Principal Allison ROACH’51, she founded the Annual Appeal. She also oversaw the installation of the school’s first mainframe computer. Branksome is in the family’s DNA. Five generations have attended so far. The first: Alice Eastmure, in 1903 when the school started. The most recent: Alice’s great-greatgrand-niece and Wendy’s granddaughter, Gillian LAWSON’22. Like Wendy, Gillian found Branksome nurturing and empowering. As dad Brian explains, “With the support of faculty and
Wendy LAWSON’52 (right) pictured with her granddaughter, Gillian LAWSON’22 (left)
staff, Gillian discovered her passion and talent for art and creativity. Branksome gave her the foundation and confidence to go on to a top design and arts school, where she is thriving.” Inspired by Wendy and Gillian, the Lawson family donated $1 million to establish the Wendy WILSON Lawson’52 and Gillian LAWSON’22 Scholarship. “We saw how their experiences were enhanced by the diversity of their peer groups,” says Brian. “We know this is an important priority for Branksome Hall and it aligns with our family’s values. “We see the endowment as enabling Branksome to continue to attract remarkable individuals who would otherwise not have the opportunity to benefit from, and contribute to, the school community and everything Branksome has to offer.” R
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The Happy Team Player Remembering Stephanie WAIT Little’88, who ‘united all of us’ By Melanie CHANDLER Jackson’74
S
tephanie WAIT Little’s favourite song at Branksome was like her: lively, infectious and caring. That was “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers, and in the case of Steph, an ’88 grad who died at age 52 in 2022, the ideas of being a friend and helping carry on fit perfectly. Recalls Rachel FOX’88: “Steph united all of us, regardless of our insecurities as young girls, empowering us as we matured to be the very best that we could be. She encouraged us to lean on her, as she understood us and would somehow manage to carry our problems away every time.” Indeed, whenever you needed a hand, all you needed to do was call on Steph. Though, since Branksome had so many Stephanies at the time, you’d have to holler “StephWait!” —no break between first and last names—to ensure you got the right one. Head Prefect Stephanie GARROW’88 remembers calling on fellow Prefect Steph a lot. “She was the head of Beta Kappa, the social club in charge of organizing school dances like The Rout and The Formal. The club made sure posters were made, people had tickets and there was lots of hype beforehand, like skits in prayers/Assembly. Th is was the perfect role for Steph. She was very social and inclusive, wanting everyone to feel happy and enjoy themselves.” Besides being fun and approachable, Steph was highly organized—foretelling the combined enthusiasm and problemsolving efficiency she brought to later roles in the MBA program at Western University’s then Richard Ivey School of Business, as mom to Matthew and twins
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James and Gregory, and as project manager at Travelers Canada. Stephanie Garrow believes “Steph took on other activities through the Beta Kappa Club, I’m sure because she could execute them like no one else! No job was beneath her: decorations, posters, cleanup. Steph was the consummate team player.”
No surprise then that Steph went on to become a Class Reunion Rep. Paying tribute to her at Branksome’s June 2023 Reunion, Brigitte KOPAS’88 said: “Stephanie was the Class of ’88 memory bank. She never forgot any details—what we did when, who dated who, the colour
of someone’s Formal dress, interschool competitions scores, etc. Steph continued to embody Branksome’s current values of sense of community, inclusiveness, connections. She was always leading-edge Branksome!” Besides her alma mater, Steph’s passions included tennis, choir, power-walking, hiking with husband Chris, skiing, happily munching and sharing méli-mélo snacks, travelling, mixing gourmet margaritas— and you wouldn’t even think about trying to beat her at Pac-Man. Pauline WAIT Ferguson’89 remembers the outpouring of love on her sister’s passing. “Steph’s Branksome friends were the fi rst ones at our family’s doorsteps, arranging her celebration of life and extending such love and kindness to our whole family when we were going through the most painful time. What a gift and silver lining her Branksome friends have been.” Pauline says she, her sister Andrea WAIT’85, parents John and Tessie Wait, and Chris and the boys will be “forever grateful for that.” No memorial for Steph would be complete without mentioning her love for the colour pink. Original as always, Steph wore a pink wedding dress at her and Chris’s 2003 Cape Breton marriage—and made the cover of the Toronto Star fashion section. Pauline, a.k.a. Pline, will always remember Steph at Branksome “in the hallways, at Assembly, at Clan gatherings—and how it allowed her and me to forge a stronger bond and an amazing overlap with our friends.” Put another way, to know Steph Wait was defi nitely to be in the pink. R
A Math Nurturer In life, Branksome’s Edwina Baker was beloved for her teaching skills. Now two awards help students and faculty continue to develop. By Melanie CHANDLER Jackson’74
W
hen Barbara SHYKOFF’74 attended Branksome, math anxiety was rife among students. A seminal 1970s book, Overcoming Math Anxiety, painted a rather sexist picture of a typical mother passing fear of math on to her daughter, with dad joking how mom never could balance a chequebook. But Barbara and her classmates had the advantage over math anxiety. They had Edwina Baker. From 1957 to 1988, Edwina taught math at Branksome, later becoming Math Department Head and Vice-Principal. Edwina, who died in 2021 at age 95, inspired Barbara not only to—gasp!—enjoy math, but to continue with it throughout university and her career. Now a senior research scientist at the Naval Aerospace Medical Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, Barbara recalls: “Edwina was possibly my all-time favourite teacher. She managed to be softspoken, gentle and in control.” Thanks to two bequests from her estate, Edwina continues to inspire both Branksome students and staff. The Edwina J. Baker Prize for Mathematics Analysis and Approaches is a subject prize given at graduation. The award winners for 2023 are Cindy HAN’23, Katharine O’FLAHERTY’23 and Fiona BIAN’23. The Edwina Baker Fund for Faculty Development supports professional development opportunities. Decisions on allocation are made by the Head, Academics and Professional Learning (or designate). Priority is given to learning opportunities in the area of science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM). It was Edwina’s nephews who, on inheriting her estate after her death, honoured
her intention to give Branksome $25,000, enabling the school to establish the two awards. Born in the London, U.K., suburb of Croydon, Edwina knew fi rst-hand the motivational benefits of having excellence recognized. At Oxford, she won the Pure and Applied Mathematics Award. Graduating in 1945, she worked as a research statistician—and was honoured by being named a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society. Further distinction awaited when Edwina, with a teaching degree from the University of London, emigrated to Canada in 1955. She became North Toronto Collegiate’s fi rst female math teacher. Edwina stayed constant in her approach of making math nurturing as opposed to nerve-wracking. Jennifer FITZGERALD Hansen’84 recalls that when Edwina “spoke of beginning to teach us something new, she referred to it as ‘germinating a seed.’” As Barbara relates, “In class, Edwina’s encouragement of quiet collaboration during seat work was as friendly as it was efficient. She would run her ‘pass the chalk’
practice problems, where she could see who might have difficulty and where—but without embarrassment for those students, since the rest of the class was solving problems.” For Jacqueline Shaver, who taught math at Branksome from 1977 to 2001, Edwina was a mentor. “She wanted students to be both comfortable and successful. Every test and exam would start with an easy question and then one that was a little harder, building to the tougher questions.” A key part of Edwina’s encouragement, Jacqueline says, was meeting with students. “We were always meeting with them, before and after school and in our spares. Th is stuck with me for my entire 32 years of teaching: that extra help is important and, for some girls, makes the difference between success and failure.” Bay RYLEY’89 recalls former Branksome Principal, now Alumnae Association Honorary President, Allison ROACH’51, telling her that “an Ontario schools inspector thought Branksome had one of the best math departments in Ontario. Miss Roach told me it was because of Miss Baker.” Nothing fazed unflappable Miss Baker. Carolyn DENNIS’89 remembers: “On hot days, she would keep the door and windows open. When there was a breeze, the door would slam shut. In the middle of explaining an equation Miss Baker would say, ‘Door’s about to slam, door’s about to slam,’ so we wouldn’t be startled by it. Then she would just go on teaching.” And now, through the two awards in Edwina’s name, students and staff continue to appreciate her positive approach to learning math—to, as she did, keep calm and carry on. R
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A Day in the Life
Making a Stretch Starting our own physiotherapy clinic was a big step but it has allowed us to do things our way—and find the life balance we need By Candice WONG’00
JAMIE DAY FLECK’00
I
was 13 when I was first introduced to the world of physiotherapy. I had no idea what it would entail, but my parents insisted I volunteer at a local hospital to avoid going through another summer “without doing anything productive.” I came home after the first day and asked them why anybody would want to be a physiotherapist! Fast-forward 12 years: I had graduated from physiotherapy school and had started my career. I was working the typical 40-hour week but was encouraged to see way too many patients a day. I’d treat briefly, prescribe a few exercises, slap on a machine, then have my assistant end my patient’s treatment. I absolutely loved my profession but after doing the same thing over and over again for a few years, first in Chicago and then in Toronto, I was completely burnt out. Physically exhausted, mentally drained, I just couldn’t see doing this for the rest of my career. One day in 2012, I had coffee with my colleague Nicole Sullivan. Like me, she was
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burnt out and exhausted, spreading herself thin working two jobs. Neither of us knew the change we were looking for, least of all starting our own clinic. We had only ever joked about the idea. But somehow that conversation led to us signing a lease, and before we knew it, [mend]physio was born! One of my very first patients at [mend] physio, Olivia (her name has been changed), came to me after she was hit by a car. She broke several bones in her body, including multiple vertebrae. Doctors said she was lucky to be alive. We worked together for months, initially working on things as basic as her lift ing her leg. Two years after her accident, she completed her first-ever Ironman competition. To this day, she is still one of the most memorable and impactful patients of my career. I questioned myself several times in the early days if going against the grain was the right thing to do. It felt foreign. But patients like Olivia made me hold true to doing what we thought would set us apart, not just for our patients but for our staff. No factory lines. No assistants. No machines. People do better when they feel truly supported. Our goal was to deliver a patient-first experience, to listen to them and to empower them to get back to what they loved doing. We created a space where our clinicians came together to work collaboratively, grow as a team and have a life outside of work. I take great satisfaction in knowing that I was a part of this. Currently, I love being able to treat patients three days a week. I would never give up that part of my job. Developing relationships with my patients, seeing them progress, helping them get back to things they didn’t think they could ever do again— that is the reason I got into this profession. But through this journey, my patients and the pandemic have also taught me one of my most valuable life lessons—that work will always be there. There will always be people in need of help. There will always be more that can be done behind the scenes at the clinic. And so I feel fortunate to find myself in a place now, post-pandemic and with a toddler, where I feel as though I have achieved a good work-life balance. R Candice Wong’s [mend]physio clinic is located in Leslieville, Toronto.
2024
REUNION Watch out for updates at branksome.on.ca/our-community/alum/reunion, by scanning the QR code, or contact Alum Relations at 416-920-6265, ext. 424
SAVE THE DATE
MAY 31 Decades Lunch JUNE 1 Reunion Dinner Celebrating classes ending in 4 & 9