Michelle Weisheit says she still occasionally misses South Africa, but loves living and working in Oliver as an Investors Group consultant. Photo by Trevor Nichols
The Women of Oliver for Women (WOW) held their annual “Mainly for Women” Trade Show Feb. 20, bringing together businesswomen (and men) for a day-long expo of some of Oliver’s finest products and services.
WOW is an informal, non-profit group dedicated to giving back to the community by working for the betterment of women and children. They draw their membership from a wide array of Oliver seniors and businesswomen, some of whom took part in last Saturday’s trade show.
Michelle Weisheit was one of those participants.
Weisheit works as a consultant for Investors Group, but came first to Canada 20 years ago. She says her success is an example of what a person can accomplish with a little support.
“If it hadn’t been for the support of my family when I got here, I probably wouldn’t have been as successful as I am now. Somebody was there to help me, and sometimes all you need is just somebody to give you a step up and some support,” she explained.
Weisheit left for Canada as a young twenty-something, amid violence and political strife in her native South Africa. She said she “didn’t see a future” in her home country, so she packed up and headed north, where she had aunts and cousins waiting to take care of her.
After couch surfing from relative to relative, she landed her first job as a rural mail delivery woman in Aldergrove. The job meant she was responsible for delivering mail from house to house along a rural route.
For Weisheit it was a huge learning experience. For starters, she had to learn to drive on the opposite side of the road, but she explained she also had to learn to drive perched on a cushion over the emergency brake.
In order to quickly get each person’s mail in their personal box without getting out of the car, she learned to drive with her left hand and foot, sitting on a big pillow plopped on the emergency brake, leaning out the right-hand window to deliver mail.
“Not only was I driving on the wrong side of the road, I was driving from the middle,” she recalled with a laugh, crediting her aunt with teaching her the driving technique.
After a while she left her mail delivery job for a job selling cameras to school districts. She eventually met her husband, and after they had their first child they decided to move to a more rural area.
It was by chance they settled on Oliver, but Weisheit said it worked out perfectly. For a while she worked part time at a winery as she raised her kids, but once they were in school she trained to become a financial planner, eventually landing a job at Investors Group.
Weisheit said that through it all she has held to the philosophy of helping people. She says her career as a financial consultant, and work with WOW, allow her to give others a leg up, just as she got one when she was first starting out.
“I don’t know where it comes from. It’s a big burden to carry,” she joked, breaking into a wide grin.
“My job at Investors Group really ties into a lot of my philosophies in life: just helping people to get to where they want to be,” she said. “Not just their finances, but preparing them for their future goals, whatever that happens to be.”
That work, she said, is very similar to WOW, where she and her colleagues ask people what they need, and “just try and find a way to make that happen.”
“The mandate is women of Oliver helping women. I like the idea of helping women and children [and] I like the idea of helping out local people, and keeping that all in the community,” she said.
“It’s nice to be in a position to be with like minded ladies who are helping out in the community, and when you’re able to help people it’s just so rewarding.”
By Trevor Nichols
