Articles Stephanie Leheta

Community leadership – Following the untimely passing of her sister and brother in law within the same year, Stephanie took on their 3 children, in addition to her own. Two of her sister’s children were in their mid teens and her eldest was in her early twenties with a newborn baby. At 30 years old, Stephanie had responsibility for my own young family and a new family. At the time I worked full time and my husband ran a new business several hours away from home which meant he only came home on the weekends. During all of this, Stephanie was also working on my International MBA.

She was particularly worried for my young nephews in their teens who were at a very impressionable age & needed something to call their own, a safe place to share and open up. She was introduced to Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Once she discovered more about their mentoring programs for at risk youth, she immediately decided to get more involved with BBBS. This has resulted in a 15 year relationship of leadership with BBBS starting at the local level, evolving to the regional level and ultimately with National and Board of Trustee for BBBS of Canada. Some of her accomplishments include:
• Developing a fundraising event “Sisterhood of Style” in support of the BBBS Go Girls program which engages 8-14 year old girls in 12 week session focused on developing leadership, self-esteem, collaboration skills
• Facilitated 2 Strategic Planning events, collaborated on the merger of 2 agencies, ran the operations for BBBSofSN for several months while recruiting for a new Executive Director, oversaw a new house build between 5 agencies (similar to a habitat for humanity)
• Held the role of Vice-Chair of Strategy & Vision for BBBS of Canada were they launched a review strategy & branding model following our 100th anniversary in Canada.

Change leadership & lifelong learning
Her personal challenges taught her the power of being vulnerable, asking for help, and the power of sharing. In her pursuit of lifelong learning and continuous improvement, Stephanie became one of the first 1,000 people globally to achieve my CCMP – Certified Change Management Professional.

DIB
Stephanie’s family is of mixed race and religion and they have experienced racism and cultural insensitivity.

Her commitment to the evolution to DIB led her to participate in the ACMP Global Diversity Council, collaborating with peers across the globe to develop a DIB mission that was meaningful in any language and within any culture.