One could say it was mix of talent and kismet that brought Senior Project Manager Brenda Ferreira to Media Experts. Just as she was finishing her Project Management certificate, a first step in a major career trajectory change, she came across the posting for the position she now holds. Previously working Client Operations at Dentsu, she was pleasantly surprised that a PM role such as this one existed within an agency.

A few months after the “perfect timing” that allowed her to join the team, she attests that feeling valued and having her opinions heard are in large part why she feels at home here. “I like that there are a lot of long tenured people here. It shows that they care about the company and that that is reciprocated”.

In her role, where she works primarily with the Bell team, she is grateful for the trust and support provided by her manager and the opportunities she has been afforded in terms of setting up structures to streamline the team’s work. This sense of purpose, she says, motivates her to continuously aim high, looking for improvements and efficiencies wherever she can.

Brenda is the newest member of Media Experts’ DEI committee, which is dedicated to making real actionable change within the agency and through the work that we do. She is looking forward to collaborating with this team and is proud to work in a place that prioritizes such issues, which she says places Media Experts ahead of the curve in that regard.

This is not her first foray into this type of activism. During her time at Dentsu, she was the co-lead for Pride BRG and has participated in several community events in Montreal’s Gay Village, where she lives part time with her girlfriend.

Having been a Montrealer for now more than a decade, she describes her life here as the happiest she has ever been. She spends her free time outdoors, hiking, biking, or more recently kayaking and has a plan to hit as many SEPAQ parks as possible this summer.

While she has a great many happy childhood memories, such as spending summers visiting her grandmother in Orlando, Florida with her cousins, hitting beaches and Disney parks, she did experience some struggles coming to terms with her own identity within a strict and conservative Latin community. She says taking in the diversity of Montreal and learning about other cultures and ways of life opened her eyes, making her journey to her true self that much easier.

Her tight knit group of friends were also a tremendous support for her, through the ups and downs of her coming out experience. “My friends stuck with me through the tough times and opened my eyes to different worlds. Having them there to share, talk to, learn from has been so significant for me.”

Describing herself as hardworking, she links this quality to an important value she learned from her mother: persistence. “My mother fought cancer, and to see the passion she had for life and her determination to keep going was definitely an inspiration to me.”

She hopes that these qualities will allow her to continue to be part of the change she’d like to see in the world for the LGBTQ2+ community. While we’ve come a long way, there is still a long way to go in her opinion in terms of normalization and acceptance. “This starts with education. I would like to see school programs take on these types of topics, so that it’s always part of kids and students’ learnings. I’ve already seen a change in my own son and his classmates, but it has to continue on.”

This summer, when she’s not enjoying the outdoors, she’ll be salsa dancing in Emilie Gamelin Park, taking in some shows and capping off the season in Italy. Positano, Sorrento, Capri…sounds like a well-deserved break for this hardworking Media Expert.