Articles Chantal Milloy

Chantal started Levvel with her husband Brian Milloy 5 years ago. A pair who has built this business together as a couple and business partners and know how to conquer and divide and run the business as a team, despite the naysayers – that you can’t work with your spouse. Brian is a fierce supporter of women in business, diversity and inclusion and was raised by a single mother who held two jobs while continuing her education. Chantal was a trailblazer for women in tech owning a web development company 17 years ago but after her business partner left the country with funds, Chantal found herself as a single parent in bankruptcy. Resilience, tenacity, and continuous learning are at her core and she’s been affectionally called a leader with a big brain and equally big heart.
Together they have charted a new course in all of Levvel’s lines of business based on instincts, solid relationships, and treating people with respect and dignity. Persevering when they’d been told by many that their methods or choices were unconventional or not the right ones. Those non-conventional methods stem from a value system of doing things right for others. Built as a work from home model before it was a standard business practice, it’s always been important to understand the needs of each one of Levvel’s team members. Setting a WFH model and designing work around people’s family life is a business practice that brings harmony and trust to everyone. Whether team members can contribute 20 hours/ week as a consultant because they have young families at home or live on an acreage, Levvel makes it work for people. This is bringing the credo ‘Business in Balance’ to life for all ‘Levvelers’ who share the same values.
Levvel’s business model and name were created from the co-founder’s values of trust, integrity, balance, and a desire to put people first, with a strong belief that when you do put people first, success will follow, and the rest will take care of itself.
A large part of the company mission is tied to the communities Chantal serves. She is passionate about our community and Distress Centre Calgary is her and Levvel’s charity of choice. Chantal spent over 14 months as a Crisis Volunteer dealing with suicide and distress calls at the DCC. She now sits on the board, as co-chair, and transitioning to Chair of the HRAC committee. Levvel raises money for DCC at all Levvel sponsored events as well as supporting all DCC hosted events.
Leading by example, Chantal is a board member with the Black North Initiative, serving as co-chair for the small business and entrepreneur committee. Stiving to ‘level the playing field’ in diversity and inclusion, and openly engages in dialogue with all employees about building an organization that is balanced in both, is extremely important. Gender equality is in our DNA by the very nature of the tone set by both co-founders with an equal number of men and women at every level.
Chantal actively works to recognize any signs of unconscious bias that may exist within employees and partners and will coach accordingly to create a safe space for further education and discussion. Overt bias or any signs of racism would not be tolerated, and Levvel’s hiring practices ensure that only those who share the values of humanity, inclusiveness, and diversity join the Levvel team.
Where our employee base is small, we employ a large sub-contractor workforce that is very diverse in race and culture. It proves to us that our standard hiring practices truly recognize talent without unconscious bias that may inadvertently rule out talent of different cultures or backgrounds. We are intentional about which organizations we partner with. Our work in Rwanda to foster a safe environment for women in tech is at the heart of our passion for diversity and equal opportunity.
Levvel’s sister company Muraho Technology is in Kigali, Rwanda and Chantal was instrumental in the training of nearly 100 Rwandan women in ISTQB certification. After three years of blood, sweat, and tears the Software QA testing business line was born. Educating, empowering, and employing Women in Tech was the goal and the Milloy’s passion for global equality with their philanthropic involvement in Rwanda has been an investment spend of $100K in the past 3 years and a significant portion of their personal time has been devoted to this.
Chantal leads by example, is willing to have the hard and honest conversations when needed through tough times (with employees and clients) and leans in wherever the team needs.
Truly a Woman of Inspiration!