February 7, 2024 • 28 mins
When Sukhi Alberga stepped out of her comfort zone and into the world of law, she not only found a new career but a faith that would deeply root her approach to leadership and life. Our latest episode features this exceptional lawyer, who intertwines her professional expertise with her spiritual foundation, showing us that it's never too late to pivot toward your calling. Sukhi opens up about her transformative journey from the corporate and health sectors to the legal field, the challenges of being a mature student, and the joy of parenting spirited six-year-old twins. Her story is a testament to the resilience and enrichment that comes from harmonizing your work with your innermost beliefs.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome to the Leader Impact podcast.
We are a community of leaderswith a network in over 350
cities around the worlddedicated to optimizing our
personal, professional andspiritual lives to have impact.
This show is where we have achance to listen and engage with
leaders who are living this out.
We love talking with leaders,so if you have any questions,
comments or suggestions to makethe show even better, please let
(00:29):
us know.
Best way to stay connected inCanada is through our newsletter
at LeaderImpactca or on socialmedia at Leader Impact.
If you're viewing from outsideof Canada or listening to us,
check out our website atLeaderImpactcom.
I'm your host, Lisa Peters, andour guest today is Sukhi Alberga
.
Sukhi was called to the bar inOntario and New Brunswick and
(00:51):
soon after founded BridgingLegal Solutions, the first
multidisciplinary practiceoffering business law, health
law, human resources andaccounting services.
Sukhi is a member of theCanadian Bar Association and was
appointed member of the LegalFuture Subcommittee for the CBA.
In addition, she serves as anappointed member of the HR
Committee and the Law Society ofNew Brunswick.
(01:13):
She is also the chair of thefirst Atlantic Roundtable,
started in collaboration withthe Canadian Bar Association and
New Brunswick branch, whichmembers can get continuing
professional development hours.
Topics have included courtmodernization, cyber security,
disaster recovery and more.
Sukhi is the creator and hostof the BLS podcast, which hosts
(01:36):
entrepreneurs and professionalswho open up about the creativity
and innovation that inspiresthem to drive business forward.
Her guests have been featuredin Forbes and Time Magazine.
Love all that.
And, most importantly, Sukhihas six year old twins that keep
her sharp and moving.
Welcome to the show, Sukhi.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Thank you so much, lisa, for taking the time to
speak to me and to invite me onyour podcast.
I'm super excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I'm super excited to meet you, but I'm laughing at
the six year old twins that keepyou sharp and moving, Like as
if your bio doesn't keep yousharp and moving.
But six year old twins, how doyou do it all?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I don't know, but God's grace Pretty sure.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Oh, that is wonderful .
So I want to thank you forjoining us here on Leader Impact
.
It's going to be a fun halfhour.
I'm excited to hear what youhave to say and just jump right
in.
So if you're ready, let's begin.
How's that sound?
Yes, thank you for having meAll right, so we love to hear a
little bit about yourprofessional journey and how you
got to where you are today.
(02:42):
So can you give us a couple ofsnapshots that were pivotal
turning points in your journey?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
It's kind of interesting.
I first started out aprofessional career in both the
corporate world management andhealth sector so that gave me a
lot of exposure to how patientsand clients need to be managed,
(03:10):
you know, and how do you managepeople at the same time.
So there was a lot of it of alearning curve there and how to
handle privacy issues and thingslike that.
Employment, hr issues.
It all just kind of cametogether and I used to love
doing it and I found myselfgetting to the point where I was
like, well, I can take this onestep further.
(03:30):
And so then I got inspired togo to law school and I think I
was.
I was a matured student at thetime, and so I thought to myself
and I was single and I didn'thave a mortgage or anything like
that.
So I was like no kids tying medown or anything.
It's like okay, I think I'mgonna do this.
If I'm gonna do this, I betterdo this now, right?
(03:52):
And so I decided to go to lawschool and that was interesting
because I had a lot of studentsthat were younger than me but
they gravitated towards mebecause I guess I was, in a way,
really youthful and excited tobe there, had a lot to say and a
lot to learn and be an like asponge and absorb the
information.
So there was a lot of that andsimultaneously, while I was
(04:15):
doing that, I found Christ inall of that, while I was in law
school.
So it was pretty amazing,actually, when I got if I could
share, because I think it'sreally hand-in-hand as I, when I
became a Christian, it wassomething that was sort of not
something I really seeked out todo and I didn't quite fully
(04:38):
understand it and a couple offriends of mine who were like oh
, do you want to come to church?
There's a service, da-da-da.
I said, sure, no problem, wentthere and what?
Now?
I understand to be an altarcall.
At the time I didn't get it.
They had said that if you wantto have a personal relationship
and have Christ as your friend,raise your hand.
So I did.
(04:58):
And then the next thing, I knoweverybody after service is
coming around me andcongratulating me and I'm going
what just happened here?
Like you're a Christian now youaccepted Christ and I was like,
oh, I did.
Oh, my goodness, my family'sgonna be like what the heck?
You know, you got converted.
I didn't ask to be converted,so it was just really hilarious.
(05:21):
And once I discovered that, okay, you know I'm on this journey.
I need to understand more whatthis means to be a Christian.
And so, as I was studying tobecome a lawyer, at the same
time I was studying to what itmeans to be a Christian and what
does the Bible say and what'syour walk, and I think, just
hand in hand, doing thattogether and really reading
(05:43):
Proverbs was another importantbook for me, and I read Proverbs
every day.
I've been doing it for yearsand tying in what I learned in
Proverbs and what I do in themarketplace and how I manage
clients, how I practice law.
I try to bring it all together.
And it was just recently Ithink two years ago, when I read
(06:05):
Garth's book the Business thebusiness name card, I think it's
called where he talks aboutbeing able to share.
You know your faith and it'sokay to do so, and I think as
lawyers sometimes you know we'rekind of taught you stay out of
that political and religioussort of you know, discussion
(06:26):
kind of thing, but I found, themore I was open about it.
If someone asked me and I'm opento share my faith, then those
opportunities come up and andthey've happened to me quite a
number of times where I'll meetsomeone on LinkedIn and we're
having a conversation and all ofa sudden I may say something
(06:47):
and it triggers them to ask meare you Christian?
And I'll say yes, and it turnsout they're Christian too, and
then you make that connection.
So it's kind of awesome thatway.
So I know it's kind of really ahelp me to be really open.
And then sometimes when I'mspeaking to clients, I find them
say to me Suki, not only do youprovide us legal advice, but
you always give us a biggerpicture of other things that are
(07:10):
important in other angles thatwe haven't considered,
especially being like anentrepreneur as well, right, so
I'm able to bring that in and Ithink it's amazing how God and
the Holy Spirit can help you andprovide wisdom, right, and
people who don't know or don'tknow of the faith don't
recognize the value of that, butthey're drawn to it.
(07:31):
So that's kind of been myjourney professionally and I
continue to kind of walk thatway and recently I got inspired
me to do something reallyinnovative.
So I find myself now starting astartup as well, a second
business which will be launchingsoon, in January, and I find
(07:52):
myself in the tech world, whichwas something that I did not
know much about.
I was very green, I'll behonest about it, but I taught
myself in coding.
I was passionate, I wanted tomake a difference, I wanted to
increase access to justice forthe public and advance our
profession, so there's a littlebit of that going on as well at
(08:15):
the same time.
So I just I've just been reallyblessed to have amazing journey
that has a lot of ups and downs.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
For sure.
You know it's as I listened toyou, I think of.
I love proverbs, I like I justit's a leadership book on its
own.
It is fantastic to go to everyday.
I'm doing a devotional rightnow on dangerous prayers,
dangerous prayer, I don't know,but it's just praying boldly,
like any bold I think I've been.
(08:47):
Like I look back and think I'vejust been to you know, thanks
for my meal and so listening toyou and you know your journey
and there was a lot of pivotalmoments there, but I feel like
you, just you're a bold prayer.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Well, I wasn't always like that and you know, holy
Spirit has helped me to sort ofevolve into that.
I was very timid at one point.
I remember that especially camewhen it came to sharing my
faith, because I always feltlike I didn't.
I didn't know how much I like,learned it I was.
I mean, now I'm 17 years intobeing a Christian but I still
sometimes think of myself as ababy Christian still, because
(09:29):
there's so much to learn, right,like there's so much in the
Bible still right.
And recently I was listening toyou a sermon where the pastor
talked about and they weretalking about from chapter the
book of Luke and talking aboutJohn the Baptist and his
prophecy and things like that.
And he was talking about how weneed to sometimes make a shift
(09:51):
from expectations to expectexpectancy right, to be able to
expect what God wants for us andthere's and your own
expectations versus what Godwants for you, and to kind of be
able to line up with that.
And I think there's somethingreally huge to say about that.
When you go from that place andyou say, okay, lord, full
(10:12):
surrender, I'm at the end ofmyself.
I've done everything that I can.
You know, now you take over andyou kind of lead me and show me
the way.
There's some, there's a lot ofpower in that, I think, and I've
I've come on that journey whereI've learned, when I do that
God shows up and he does amazingthings and things I couldn't
(10:33):
possibly imagine, you know, andhe's faithful, he's really is
faithful, so it's it's reallyhumbling at times, right, how
faithful and good he really is,even when you're walking through
the storms of life as well,which I've walked through those
as well.
You know I recently am comingout of a divorce, so you know,
(10:55):
and just learning how to do thatand doing that with my you know
ex, and doing it in the mostloving and kind way, and God
helping me to say you know whatthis is your testimony now.
Your testimony is how do youdivorce the right way?
And and?
So that in itself has been, youknow, quite the journey as well
(11:18):
, and I'm just really gratefulhow the word of God can be so
powerful at a given moment intime, like he's so good to give
you that scripture that can liftyou up and give you that
encouragement that you needright.
And then those who comealongside you.
He's really good at connectingyou and bringing people into
your life.
When you pray and you ask himto do that for you, he does that
(11:41):
.
You know he really truly does.
And again, I'm really gratefulfor all the connections that
I've been able to make,including through Leader Impact,
being part of the group and youknow starting initiatives here
in Monkton as well.
It's been, it's been remarkable.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Oh, great answers, Great Great conversation so far.
I want to talk to you a littlebit about your best principle of
success and if you have one,and maybe a story to illustrate.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah for sure.
I think the best principle forsuccess is persistency and
consistency and gumption.
Honestly, as an entrepreneur,when you're doing something
innovative and different andyou're really kind of breaking
the glass ceiling and carvingyour own path and I know John
(12:35):
Maxwell talks about you know howimportant it is for leaders to
not only lead by example butalso to inspire.
And you can only do that whenyou've gone through a lot of
failures to get to your success.
But in order to go through thefailures and even to get to your
success, you have to bepersistent.
(12:56):
You have to have the know howand the resilience to keep
pushing forward and not givingup.
You know, and I think there'sscripture there too where Jesus
says to the apostles don't giveup.
And he gave the example, thestory of the widow coming to the
(13:17):
judge and being persistent andsaying you know God, here's your
prayers.
You know he may not answer themin that time or he may not
answer that particular prayer,but he will have an answer for
you.
You know, and it may not looklike what you thought it would
look like, but it's usuallybetter than what you thought at
(13:39):
the end of the day.
That's kind of what I learnedright and just keep going, and I
think that principle of justmoving forward and pushing
forward with wisdom andencouraging others along the way
, even when you're going througha difficult time, I think is a
beautiful thing and it justallows us to evolve and grow
(14:02):
into who God's called us to be.
You know, and he meets you.
He meets you where you're at,if you ask him.
He'll meet you.
You know, and he'll give youthe courage that you know.
Sometimes when you feel likeyou just don't have it inside of
you to do it, the Holy Spiritwill come alongside and
(14:22):
encourage you and push youforward.
I mean, he's done it time andtime again when I'm just like
I'm done and then all of asudden, no, you're not done.
Here's an inspiration.
Oh, okay, cool, I could do this, you know, and off you go.
So it's, it's somethingremarkable to have a
relationship with the Lord likethat, right?
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, you mentioned you touched a little bit on
failures and mistakes and mynext question is a little bit
about that, and we learn morefrom our failures and mistakes
than our actual successes, and Idon't know if you can share a
greatest failure or a mistakeand what you learned from it.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Sure, there's so many .
The one I can think of rightnow the top of my head is and I
think it may be those who areentrepreneurs that are watching
might be beneficial to them iswhen I was starting out and I
wanted to get the firm off itsground, I was looking for like a
marketing team and I thought,okay, well, the ones that are
(15:26):
the bigger the better.
Sure, they might cost me alittle bit more, they're going
to do the best job.
Well, that's not always thecase, and I had to learn the
hard way where it was likesometimes you can communicate
your message of what you'retrying to get across out there
and those who are receiving andworking with you may not get it
because you're so innovative.
(15:47):
And what happened in my casewith my the particular marketing
firm that I ended up going withwas they kept putting me into a
pigeonhole of a traditional lawfirm and trying to market me
that way when I kept saying tothem well, no, we're different,
you got to market us different.
And so they didn't quite get themessage.
And yeah, it cost me a lot ofmoney, it was an expensive
(16:09):
mistake, but, having said that,it was a learning curve for me
to say, okay, you know whatgoing forward, I need to make
sure I asked the right questions.
I need to understand howmarketing works.
Who's my target?
I like I knew all of that, butit was just how do I communicate
(16:29):
it to someone that they can, inactual fact, communicate it
back to me and put it intopractice and action, and then I
could trust them to do that.
So my learning lesson has beento interview as many marketing
teams out there and then findingthe right fit for myself, and
(16:50):
then I think there also comes alevel of having confidence in
yourself and knowing what youwant and making sure you line
yourself up with individuals andteam members that align with
your messaging and are excitedto work with you and can follow
through.
So those are important keythings I think you need to learn
as you go forward and if thathelps anybody, save that lesson.
(17:15):
I'm happy to share that.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
So when you were experiencing that and you were
telling the marketing companythis is what I want, was there
that gut feeling like you're notlistening to me, yeah, and why
didn't you ever pull out?
Why didn't you go?
You know what we're done.
Were you too?
Did you just sell costs, or?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, I think for me it was like okay, well, I got to
give them time to deliver, youknow, and there's always that,
oh, we can't give you aguarantee and we've got to see
how this works and tested outand all that.
So you kind of give them thebenefit of the doubt, and I
think to myself.
You know, sometimes people sayChristians are too nice or we
(17:55):
we're not very quick.
But you know, reacting orwhatever, we give the person the
benefit of the doubt kind ofthing.
I think maybe that was a littlebit of a learning lesson to me
when I knew this wasn't workingI should have bowed out sooner.
So now I recognize that and Ithink it's also important in how
you deliver that message.
To this day, I'm very friendlywith the CEO and we just
(18:17):
understood that we just itwasn't working for us, you know,
and we agreed that it wasn'tgoing to work and but there was
no hard feelings about it, itjust didn't make sense to
continue and so it was done in agracious way.
At the same time and I thinkthere's always important not to
burn any of your bridges withanybody yeah, because you don't
(18:38):
know when you can use them againor how you can connect somebody
again, and that's just veryimportant on how you handle
ending certain relationship,business relationships, and how
do you keep fostering, likefostering them and continue to
have them grow.
I think those are reallyimportant relationships and
managing relationships are verykey, I think.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah, because that can be a greatest failure and
mistake if you don't managethose relationships throughout
your I mean it's not alwaysgoing to work, but when you
manage them because you may haveto.
You know, I just got a, I had acall today and someone's
retiring.
Well, they're retiring tosomething, so where are they
going?
Right, like everyone evolves,everyone changes positions.
(19:21):
Don't burn bridges.
That was a great lesson.
So at Leader Impact we want togrow.
I mean, you're involvedprofessionally, personally and
spiritually for increasingimpact.
So would you be willing toshare an example of how which I
think you kind of you talkedabout this earlier, but how the
spiritual makes a practicaldifference in your life as a
leader and you talked about thisright at the beginning just how
(19:43):
you, how you're integratingthem.
If you had more to share, sure.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I can give a recent example, a funny one.
So at our hillside church a fewmonths ago the pastor at the
time she was doing adiscipleship program and I was
sort of looking into how I canbe more of a leader at the
church and things to do.
So I attended that and Iremember we were talking about
(20:09):
the influx of newcomers cominginto our community and I just
remember the Holy Spirit inspireme in saying go talk to her.
There's a gap and you have tohelp fill in that gap and and
the game is is the communicationand the ability to connect with
newcomers, with existingmembers and how we can bring
(20:30):
them together.
And so I went to her.
I spoke to her fast for a fewmonths later.
Now we have a newcomerscommittee at the church and
we're starting a programinitiative.
We're also getting mentorsexisting members to become
mentors and helping newcomers.
We're teaching them certainetiquettes cultural etiquettes
(20:50):
from different communities ofhow to be able to break those
barriers and the ice break theice between people that are
coming from differentbackgrounds and different
cultures and understanding howthings are done in our community
and bridging that gap there aswell.
So, yeah, that's like that waskind of an example of you know,
being inspired and then how doyou, how do you begin to lead
(21:11):
that?
And then our lead pastor is nowinvolved in and tender one of
our committee meetings and hewas just saying how remarkable
it is that God places us in aposition when newcomers are
coming.
And he was just saying to meand I say this very humbly and I
told him, I said it wasn't me,it was the Holy Spirit but he
was like thank you for coming upand speaking and seeing the gap
and starting this initiative.
(21:32):
So, again, like you know, onceyou get inspired, I think one
thing that sometimes weChristians can do is we think we
hear from the Holy Spirit, butthen we don't like what we hear
and then we're kind ofuncomfortable, and then we kind
of take a step back and then wejust kind of you know, mull over
it and know, like, like I'vecome to learn now after so many
(21:52):
years, that once I hear and Iknow it's the Holy Spirit, you
know it's the Holy Spirit, it'sjust go for it, you just kind of
go and do and he'll take careof the rest.
Like there's a level ofobedience and following.
That, I think, is that's reallyimportant and it leads you into
new spaces and new things thatGod wants you to do.
And I think what's important isthat he's always with you,
(22:14):
right, and that's, and when he'swith you, like he empowers you.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
I think too many times we ask ourselves why me or
I don't know enough, I'm notsmart enough, and I mean I look
at you doing this and I mean youare, your multi disciplinary
practice offers HR.
You, you are bringing your,you're about people.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
So I listen to this, but a lot of times we, some of
us women, may say why me, Ican't do this, I'm not qualified
, you know but the most iscomplex, right, like it's sort
of like you know, and then God'ssaying well, what are you
talking about?
Speaker 2 (22:52):
I'm listening, you know, I can speak for you when
you can't speak, you know, andit's so true like I was doing
this other podcast the other dayand that was more in the tech
world, which was veryuncomfortable for me, but I just
remember praying and asking Godto be with me and then when I
was listening back to it, I waslaughing with.
A friend of mine was aChristian prayer warrior and I
(23:14):
said to her, when I'm listeningand I'm listening back, I'm
going oh, wow, I said thatthat's so cool, that came out of
me.
I found myself like, wow, thatwas a cool thing to say.
Thank you, holy Spirit.
That was not me, but, like youknow, you have those moments
right when I think it's allabout surrender, you know it's
(23:36):
all about surrender and havingfaith that God can work in you,
through you, you know, and it'sa remarkable and humbling
journey to be on when you kindof live that way right.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Yeah, and it is a journey oh yeah.
Yes, we never master it.
We're never perfect.
No, not at all.
So I have two more questionsfor you.
So leader impact is dedicatedto leaders having a lasting
impact.
So, as you continue to movethrough your own journey and
it's an amazing journey have youconsidered what you want your
(24:09):
faith legacy to be when youleave this world?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Oh wow, that's a powerful, powerful question.
That's an excellent question.
I think that's a question thatwe all need to ask at some point
or another, and it's a profoundone.
I think for me would be that Ilived in what the best I could
out the principles of the Bibleand had a relationship and
(24:36):
impacted many that either theycame to know the Lord or that
really moved them to change,make positive changes in their
life.
So I think that that would bemy answer to that question.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
That's a great answer , and our last one is what
brings you the greatest joy?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
The greatest joy is empowering other women to do
things that they didn't thinkthey could do, and I think to me
that is, and I've had thosemoments recently which again are
so moving and to be told.
You know, thank you for prayingfor me or thank you for
encouraging me.
I did this Like I had oneindividual like she's so gifted,
(25:22):
so talented and unfortunatelyshe was in a domestic violence
relationship that we do not knowabout and finally had the
courage to share that and nowshe took the steps to come out
of that relationship and you canjust see now her walk with
Christ is completely different,she's full on and her life is
(25:44):
changing.
She's like woman thou loosekind of thing you know.
And just to see her evolve andchange and grow and to have that
courage to do that, and for herto say I just you being my
friend and you encouraging me to, you know, find that
entrepreneurial voice inside ofme that you saw it within me and
(26:06):
I didn't even know her personalbackground, what was happening,
but that really shifted her andchanged.
And for her to share that withme and to say that I somehow
encouraged her to do that, likethat's just that speaks volumes,
like it's so worth it.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Yeah, it is.
Oh, thank you for sharing thestories.
So this ends our podcast.
I want to thank you just fortaking the last half hour with
us.
If anyone is listening to youand you know they want to engage
with you, just ask you some.
Whatever they want to followyou find you.
How can they best do that?
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Oh, they can look me up on LinkedIn or they can visit
our website at BLSMDPcom.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
BLS.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
BLS.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
MDP, mdp, awesome.
Well, I want to thank you, suki, for joining us.
You were a delight.
It was fabulous to meet you andhear your stories.
Thank you for sharing.
Oh, thank you so much, lisa.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I really enjoyed being on the podcast with you.
Thank you so much, all right.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Thank you.
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(27:26):
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check out our website atLeaderImpactcom.
I'm your host, Lisa Peters, andour guest today is Sukhi Alberga
.
Sukhi was called to the bar inOntario and New Brunswick and
(00:51):
soon after founded BridgingLegal Solutions, the first
multidisciplinary practiceoffering business law, health
law, human resources andaccounting services.
Sukhi is a member of theCanadian Bar Association and was
appointed member of the LegalFuture Subcommittee for the CBA.
In addition, she serves as anappointed member of the HR
Committee and the Law Society ofNew Brunswick.
(01:13):
She is also the chair of thefirst Atlantic Roundtable,
started in collaboration withthe Canadian Bar Association and
New Brunswick branch, whichmembers can get continuing
professional development hours.
Topics have included courtmodernization, cyber security,
disaster recovery and more.
Sukhi is the creator and hostof the BLS podcast, which hosts
(01:36):
entrepreneurs and professionalswho open up about the creativity
and innovation that inspiresthem to drive business forward.
Her guests have been featuredin Forbes and Time Magazine.
Love all that.
And, most importantly, Sukhihas six year old twins that keep
her sharp and moving.
Welcome to the show, Sukhi.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Thank you so much, lisa, for taking the time to
speak to me and to invite me onyour podcast.
I'm super excited to be here.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I'm super excited to meet you, but I'm laughing at
the six year old twins that keepyou sharp and moving, Like as
if your bio doesn't keep yousharp and moving.
But six year old twins, how doyou do it all?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
I don't know, but God's grace Pretty sure.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
Oh, that is wonderful .
So I want to thank you forjoining us here on Leader Impact
.
It's going to be a fun halfhour.
I'm excited to hear what youhave to say and just jump right
in.
So if you're ready, let's begin.
How's that sound?
Yes, thank you for having meAll right, so we love to hear a
little bit about yourprofessional journey and how you
got to where you are today.
(02:42):
So can you give us a couple ofsnapshots that were pivotal
turning points in your journey?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
It's kind of interesting.
I first started out aprofessional career in both the
corporate world management andhealth sector so that gave me a
lot of exposure to how patientsand clients need to be managed,
(03:10):
you know, and how do you managepeople at the same time.
So there was a lot of it of alearning curve there and how to
handle privacy issues and thingslike that.
Employment, hr issues.
It all just kind of cametogether and I used to love
doing it and I found myselfgetting to the point where I was
like, well, I can take this onestep further.
(03:30):
And so then I got inspired togo to law school and I think I
was.
I was a matured student at thetime, and so I thought to myself
and I was single and I didn'thave a mortgage or anything like
that.
So I was like no kids tying medown or anything.
It's like okay, I think I'mgonna do this.
If I'm gonna do this, I betterdo this now, right?
(03:52):
And so I decided to go to lawschool and that was interesting
because I had a lot of studentsthat were younger than me but
they gravitated towards mebecause I guess I was, in a way,
really youthful and excited tobe there, had a lot to say and a
lot to learn and be an like asponge and absorb the
information.
So there was a lot of that andsimultaneously, while I was
(04:15):
doing that, I found Christ inall of that, while I was in law
school.
So it was pretty amazing,actually, when I got if I could
share, because I think it'sreally hand-in-hand as I, when I
became a Christian, it wassomething that was sort of not
something I really seeked out todo and I didn't quite fully
(04:38):
understand it and a couple offriends of mine who were like oh
, do you want to come to church?
There's a service, da-da-da.
I said, sure, no problem, wentthere and what?
Now?
I understand to be an altarcall.
At the time I didn't get it.
They had said that if you wantto have a personal relationship
and have Christ as your friend,raise your hand.
So I did.
(04:58):
And then the next thing, I knoweverybody after service is
coming around me andcongratulating me and I'm going
what just happened here?
Like you're a Christian now youaccepted Christ and I was like,
oh, I did.
Oh, my goodness, my family'sgonna be like what the heck?
You know, you got converted.
I didn't ask to be converted,so it was just really hilarious.
(05:21):
And once I discovered that, okay, you know I'm on this journey.
I need to understand more whatthis means to be a Christian.
And so, as I was studying tobecome a lawyer, at the same
time I was studying to what itmeans to be a Christian and what
does the Bible say and what'syour walk, and I think, just
hand in hand, doing thattogether and really reading
(05:43):
Proverbs was another importantbook for me, and I read Proverbs
every day.
I've been doing it for yearsand tying in what I learned in
Proverbs and what I do in themarketplace and how I manage
clients, how I practice law.
I try to bring it all together.
And it was just recently Ithink two years ago, when I read
(06:05):
Garth's book the Business thebusiness name card, I think it's
called where he talks aboutbeing able to share.
You know your faith and it'sokay to do so, and I think as
lawyers sometimes you know we'rekind of taught you stay out of
that political and religioussort of you know, discussion
(06:26):
kind of thing, but I found, themore I was open about it.
If someone asked me and I'm opento share my faith, then those
opportunities come up and andthey've happened to me quite a
number of times where I'll meetsomeone on LinkedIn and we're
having a conversation and all ofa sudden I may say something
(06:47):
and it triggers them to ask meare you Christian?
And I'll say yes, and it turnsout they're Christian too, and
then you make that connection.
So it's kind of awesome thatway.
So I know it's kind of really ahelp me to be really open.
And then sometimes when I'mspeaking to clients, I find them
say to me Suki, not only do youprovide us legal advice, but
you always give us a biggerpicture of other things that are
(07:10):
important in other angles thatwe haven't considered,
especially being like anentrepreneur as well, right, so
I'm able to bring that in and Ithink it's amazing how God and
the Holy Spirit can help you andprovide wisdom, right, and
people who don't know or don'tknow of the faith don't
recognize the value of that, butthey're drawn to it.
(07:31):
So that's kind of been myjourney professionally and I
continue to kind of walk thatway and recently I got inspired
me to do something reallyinnovative.
So I find myself now starting astartup as well, a second
business which will be launchingsoon, in January, and I find
(07:52):
myself in the tech world, whichwas something that I did not
know much about.
I was very green, I'll behonest about it, but I taught
myself in coding.
I was passionate, I wanted tomake a difference, I wanted to
increase access to justice forthe public and advance our
profession, so there's a littlebit of that going on as well at
(08:15):
the same time.
So I just I've just been reallyblessed to have amazing journey
that has a lot of ups and downs.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
For sure.
You know it's as I listened toyou, I think of.
I love proverbs, I like I justit's a leadership book on its
own.
It is fantastic to go to everyday.
I'm doing a devotional rightnow on dangerous prayers,
dangerous prayer, I don't know,but it's just praying boldly,
like any bold I think I've been.
(08:47):
Like I look back and think I'vejust been to you know, thanks
for my meal and so listening toyou and you know your journey
and there was a lot of pivotalmoments there, but I feel like
you, just you're a bold prayer.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Well, I wasn't always like that and you know, holy
Spirit has helped me to sort ofevolve into that.
I was very timid at one point.
I remember that especially camewhen it came to sharing my
faith, because I always feltlike I didn't.
I didn't know how much I like,learned it I was.
I mean, now I'm 17 years intobeing a Christian but I still
sometimes think of myself as ababy Christian still, because
(09:29):
there's so much to learn, right,like there's so much in the
Bible still right.
And recently I was listening toyou a sermon where the pastor
talked about and they weretalking about from chapter the
book of Luke and talking aboutJohn the Baptist and his
prophecy and things like that.
And he was talking about how weneed to sometimes make a shift
(09:51):
from expectations to expectexpectancy right, to be able to
expect what God wants for us andthere's and your own
expectations versus what Godwants for you, and to kind of be
able to line up with that.
And I think there's somethingreally huge to say about that.
When you go from that place andyou say, okay, lord, full
(10:12):
surrender, I'm at the end ofmyself.
I've done everything that I can.
You know, now you take over andyou kind of lead me and show me
the way.
There's some, there's a lot ofpower in that, I think, and I've
I've come on that journey whereI've learned, when I do that
God shows up and he does amazingthings and things I couldn't
(10:33):
possibly imagine, you know, andhe's faithful, he's really is
faithful, so it's it's reallyhumbling at times, right, how
faithful and good he really is,even when you're walking through
the storms of life as well,which I've walked through those
as well.
You know I recently am comingout of a divorce, so you know,
(10:55):
and just learning how to do thatand doing that with my you know
ex, and doing it in the mostloving and kind way, and God
helping me to say you know whatthis is your testimony now.
Your testimony is how do youdivorce the right way?
And and?
So that in itself has been, youknow, quite the journey as well
(11:18):
, and I'm just really gratefulhow the word of God can be so
powerful at a given moment intime, like he's so good to give
you that scripture that can liftyou up and give you that
encouragement that you needright.
And then those who comealongside you.
He's really good at connectingyou and bringing people into
your life.
When you pray and you ask himto do that for you, he does that
(11:41):
.
You know he really truly does.
And again, I'm really gratefulfor all the connections that
I've been able to make,including through Leader Impact,
being part of the group and youknow starting initiatives here
in Monkton as well.
It's been, it's been remarkable.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Oh, great answers, Great Great conversation so far.
I want to talk to you a littlebit about your best principle of
success and if you have one,and maybe a story to illustrate.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah for sure.
I think the best principle forsuccess is persistency and
consistency and gumption.
Honestly, as an entrepreneur,when you're doing something
innovative and different andyou're really kind of breaking
the glass ceiling and carvingyour own path and I know John
(12:35):
Maxwell talks about you know howimportant it is for leaders to
not only lead by example butalso to inspire.
And you can only do that whenyou've gone through a lot of
failures to get to your success.
But in order to go through thefailures and even to get to your
success, you have to bepersistent.
(12:56):
You have to have the know howand the resilience to keep
pushing forward and not givingup.
You know, and I think there'sscripture there too where Jesus
says to the apostles don't giveup.
And he gave the example, thestory of the widow coming to the
(13:17):
judge and being persistent andsaying you know God, here's your
prayers.
You know he may not answer themin that time or he may not
answer that particular prayer,but he will have an answer for
you.
You know, and it may not looklike what you thought it would
look like, but it's usuallybetter than what you thought at
(13:39):
the end of the day.
That's kind of what I learnedright and just keep going, and I
think that principle of justmoving forward and pushing
forward with wisdom andencouraging others along the way
, even when you're going througha difficult time, I think is a
beautiful thing and it justallows us to evolve and grow
(14:02):
into who God's called us to be.
You know, and he meets you.
He meets you where you're at,if you ask him.
He'll meet you.
You know, and he'll give youthe courage that you know.
Sometimes when you feel likeyou just don't have it inside of
you to do it, the Holy Spiritwill come alongside and
(14:22):
encourage you and push youforward.
I mean, he's done it time andtime again when I'm just like
I'm done and then all of asudden, no, you're not done.
Here's an inspiration.
Oh, okay, cool, I could do this, you know, and off you go.
So it's, it's somethingremarkable to have a
relationship with the Lord likethat, right?
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah, you mentioned you touched a little bit on
failures and mistakes and mynext question is a little bit
about that, and we learn morefrom our failures and mistakes
than our actual successes, and Idon't know if you can share a
greatest failure or a mistakeand what you learned from it.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Sure, there's so many .
The one I can think of rightnow the top of my head is and I
think it may be those who areentrepreneurs that are watching
might be beneficial to them iswhen I was starting out and I
wanted to get the firm off itsground, I was looking for like a
marketing team and I thought,okay, well, the ones that are
(15:26):
the bigger the better.
Sure, they might cost me alittle bit more, they're going
to do the best job.
Well, that's not always thecase, and I had to learn the
hard way where it was likesometimes you can communicate
your message of what you'retrying to get across out there
and those who are receiving andworking with you may not get it
because you're so innovative.
(15:47):
And what happened in my casewith my the particular marketing
firm that I ended up going withwas they kept putting me into a
pigeonhole of a traditional lawfirm and trying to market me
that way when I kept saying tothem well, no, we're different,
you got to market us different.
And so they didn't quite get themessage.
And yeah, it cost me a lot ofmoney, it was an expensive
(16:09):
mistake, but, having said that,it was a learning curve for me
to say, okay, you know whatgoing forward, I need to make
sure I asked the right questions.
I need to understand howmarketing works.
Who's my target?
I like I knew all of that, butit was just how do I communicate
(16:29):
it to someone that they can, inactual fact, communicate it
back to me and put it intopractice and action, and then I
could trust them to do that.
So my learning lesson has beento interview as many marketing
teams out there and then findingthe right fit for myself, and
(16:50):
then I think there also comes alevel of having confidence in
yourself and knowing what youwant and making sure you line
yourself up with individuals andteam members that align with
your messaging and are excitedto work with you and can follow
through.
So those are important keythings I think you need to learn
as you go forward and if thathelps anybody, save that lesson.
(17:15):
I'm happy to share that.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
So when you were experiencing that and you were
telling the marketing companythis is what I want, was there
that gut feeling like you're notlistening to me, yeah, and why
didn't you ever pull out?
Why didn't you go?
You know what we're done.
Were you too?
Did you just sell costs, or?
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, I think for me it was like okay, well, I got to
give them time to deliver, youknow, and there's always that,
oh, we can't give you aguarantee and we've got to see
how this works and tested outand all that.
So you kind of give them thebenefit of the doubt, and I
think to myself.
You know, sometimes people sayChristians are too nice or we
(17:55):
we're not very quick.
But you know, reacting orwhatever, we give the person the
benefit of the doubt kind ofthing.
I think maybe that was a littlebit of a learning lesson to me
when I knew this wasn't workingI should have bowed out sooner.
So now I recognize that and Ithink it's also important in how
you deliver that message.
To this day, I'm very friendlywith the CEO and we just
(18:17):
understood that we just itwasn't working for us, you know,
and we agreed that it wasn'tgoing to work and but there was
no hard feelings about it, itjust didn't make sense to
continue and so it was done in agracious way.
At the same time and I thinkthere's always important not to
burn any of your bridges withanybody yeah, because you don't
(18:38):
know when you can use them againor how you can connect somebody
again, and that's just veryimportant on how you handle
ending certain relationship,business relationships, and how
do you keep fostering, likefostering them and continue to
have them grow.
I think those are reallyimportant relationships and
managing relationships are verykey, I think.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Yeah, because that can be a greatest failure and
mistake if you don't managethose relationships throughout
your I mean it's not alwaysgoing to work, but when you
manage them because you may haveto.
You know, I just got a, I had acall today and someone's
retiring.
Well, they're retiring tosomething, so where are they
going?
Right, like everyone evolves,everyone changes positions.
(19:21):
Don't burn bridges.
That was a great lesson.
So at Leader Impact we want togrow.
I mean, you're involvedprofessionally, personally and
spiritually for increasingimpact.
So would you be willing toshare an example of how which I
think you kind of you talkedabout this earlier, but how the
spiritual makes a practicaldifference in your life as a
leader and you talked about thisright at the beginning just how
(19:43):
you, how you're integratingthem.
If you had more to share, sure.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
I can give a recent example, a funny one.
So at our hillside church a fewmonths ago the pastor at the
time she was doing adiscipleship program and I was
sort of looking into how I canbe more of a leader at the
church and things to do.
So I attended that and Iremember we were talking about
(20:09):
the influx of newcomers cominginto our community and I just
remember the Holy Spirit inspireme in saying go talk to her.
There's a gap and you have tohelp fill in that gap and and
the game is is the communicationand the ability to connect with
newcomers, with existingmembers and how we can bring
(20:30):
them together.
And so I went to her.
I spoke to her fast for a fewmonths later.
Now we have a newcomerscommittee at the church and
we're starting a programinitiative.
We're also getting mentorsexisting members to become
mentors and helping newcomers.
We're teaching them certainetiquettes cultural etiquettes
(20:50):
from different communities ofhow to be able to break those
barriers and the ice break theice between people that are
coming from differentbackgrounds and different
cultures and understanding howthings are done in our community
and bridging that gap there aswell.
So, yeah, that's like that waskind of an example of you know,
being inspired and then how doyou, how do you begin to lead
(21:11):
that?
And then our lead pastor is nowinvolved in and tender one of
our committee meetings and hewas just saying how remarkable
it is that God places us in aposition when newcomers are
coming.
And he was just saying to meand I say this very humbly and I
told him, I said it wasn't me,it was the Holy Spirit but he
was like thank you for coming upand speaking and seeing the gap
and starting this initiative.
(21:32):
So, again, like you know, onceyou get inspired, I think one
thing that sometimes weChristians can do is we think we
hear from the Holy Spirit, butthen we don't like what we hear
and then we're kind ofuncomfortable, and then we kind
of take a step back and then wejust kind of you know, mull over
it and know, like, like I'vecome to learn now after so many
(21:52):
years, that once I hear and Iknow it's the Holy Spirit, you
know it's the Holy Spirit, it'sjust go for it, you just kind of
go and do and he'll take careof the rest.
Like there's a level ofobedience and following.
That, I think, is that's reallyimportant and it leads you into
new spaces and new things thatGod wants you to do.
And I think what's important isthat he's always with you,
(22:14):
right, and that's, and when he'swith you, like he empowers you.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
I think too many times we ask ourselves why me or
I don't know enough, I'm notsmart enough, and I mean I look
at you doing this and I mean youare, your multi disciplinary
practice offers HR.
You, you are bringing your,you're about people.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
So I listen to this, but a lot of times we, some of
us women, may say why me, Ican't do this, I'm not qualified
, you know but the most iscomplex, right, like it's sort
of like you know, and then God'ssaying well, what are you
talking about?
Speaker 2 (22:52):
I'm listening, you know, I can speak for you when
you can't speak, you know, andit's so true like I was doing
this other podcast the other dayand that was more in the tech
world, which was veryuncomfortable for me, but I just
remember praying and asking Godto be with me and then when I
was listening back to it, I waslaughing with.
A friend of mine was aChristian prayer warrior and I
(23:14):
said to her, when I'm listeningand I'm listening back, I'm
going oh, wow, I said thatthat's so cool, that came out of
me.
I found myself like, wow, thatwas a cool thing to say.
Thank you, holy Spirit.
That was not me, but, like youknow, you have those moments
right when I think it's allabout surrender, you know it's
(23:36):
all about surrender and havingfaith that God can work in you,
through you, you know, and it'sa remarkable and humbling
journey to be on when you kindof live that way right.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Yeah, and it is a journey oh yeah.
Yes, we never master it.
We're never perfect.
No, not at all.
So I have two more questionsfor you.
So leader impact is dedicatedto leaders having a lasting
impact.
So, as you continue to movethrough your own journey and
it's an amazing journey have youconsidered what you want your
(24:09):
faith legacy to be when youleave this world?
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Oh wow, that's a powerful, powerful question.
That's an excellent question.
I think that's a question thatwe all need to ask at some point
or another, and it's a profoundone.
I think for me would be that Ilived in what the best I could
out the principles of the Bibleand had a relationship and
(24:36):
impacted many that either theycame to know the Lord or that
really moved them to change,make positive changes in their
life.
So I think that that would bemy answer to that question.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
That's a great answer , and our last one is what
brings you the greatest joy?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
The greatest joy is empowering other women to do
things that they didn't thinkthey could do, and I think to me
that is, and I've had thosemoments recently which again are
so moving and to be told.
You know, thank you for prayingfor me or thank you for
encouraging me.
I did this Like I had oneindividual like she's so gifted,
(25:22):
so talented and unfortunatelyshe was in a domestic violence
relationship that we do not knowabout and finally had the
courage to share that and nowshe took the steps to come out
of that relationship and you canjust see now her walk with
Christ is completely different,she's full on and her life is
(25:44):
changing.
She's like woman thou loosekind of thing you know.
And just to see her evolve andchange and grow and to have that
courage to do that, and for herto say I just you being my
friend and you encouraging me to, you know, find that
entrepreneurial voice inside ofme that you saw it within me and
(26:06):
I didn't even know her personalbackground, what was happening,
but that really shifted her andchanged.
And for her to share that withme and to say that I somehow
encouraged her to do that, likethat's just that speaks volumes,
like it's so worth it.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Yeah, it is.
Oh, thank you for sharing thestories.
So this ends our podcast.
I want to thank you just fortaking the last half hour with
us.
If anyone is listening to youand you know they want to engage
with you, just ask you some.
Whatever they want to followyou find you.
How can they best do that?
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Oh, they can look me up on LinkedIn or they can visit
our website at BLSMDPcom.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
BLS.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
BLS.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
MDP, mdp, awesome.
Well, I want to thank you, suki, for joining us.
You were a delight.
It was fabulous to meet you andhear your stories.
Thank you for sharing.
Oh, thank you so much, lisa.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
I really enjoyed being on the podcast with you.
Thank you so much, all right.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Thank you.
Well, that brings us to the end.
If you're part of Leader Impact, you can always discuss or
share this podcast with yourgroup.
If you are not yet part ofLeader Impact and would like to
find out more and grow yourleadership, find our podcast
page on our website atleaderimpactca and check out our
free leadership assessment.
You will also find on ourwebpage chapter one of Braden
(27:26):
Douglas's book Becoming a Leaderof Impact.
You can also check out groupsavailable in Canada at
leaderimpactca.
If you're listening fromanywhere else in the world,
check out leaderimpactcom.
We're getting in touch with usby email, info at leaderimpactca
and we will connect you.
And if you like this podcast,please leave us a comment, give
us a rating or review.
(27:47):
This will help other globalleaders find our podcast.
Thank you for engaging with usand remember Impact starts with
you.
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