Vol. 2 - ISSUE 1 - JANUARY 2013
FOR SASKATCHEWAN WOMEN
magazine
Karen Wallace Expressive Therapy
SpotlIght
Mindy Sjogren by Lee Parent
While living in Australia a few years ago, Mindy Sjogren saw an IMAX movie called Born to be Wild, featuring elephants and orangutans in the rain forest; the film documents orphaned orangutans and elephants and the extraordinary people who rescue and raise them, saving endangered species one life at a time. Entranced with the orangutans in the film, Mindy began to research Orangutan Foundation International (OFI). Through their website, she discovered that an internship position in Indonesia was available; she applied online, participated in two telephone interviews and was approved for the position within a month. From October 2011 until April 2012, Mindy volunteered as a ‘daily release intern’, one of three people to pioneer the program. “Every day I took orangutans out to the forest to forage and play,” Mindy explained. “They live in small sleeping enclosures and need toBrenda get out often Gelowitz to maintain their physical abilities and to learn how to forage.”
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF By: Lee Parent
In the twenty-first century, it’s not unusual for a woman’s business card to feature the designation CA (BAdmin) behind her name; gone are the days when men dominated the accounting and business management field. However, some industries are still inherently masculine, mostly due to the nature of their business; the automotive field is one of those. Automotive sales, service, parts and assembly businesses are dominated by men, and often overlooked by women establishing a career. In that respect, Brenda Gelowitz is a rarity, as the Controller and Vice President of Auto Electric Service Ltd, a well-respected Saskatchewan company established almost seventy years ago.
helped with enrichment for the orangutans that are too big to be released daily.”
During her stay in Indonesia, Mindy saw extensive forest destruction. Hundreds of square kilometers of former rainforest have been cultivated as palm oil plantations or destroyed by illegal logging. “Since my return to Canada, I’ve given presentations about my experience to raise awareness about our consumption of palm oil,” Mindy told me. “My hope is to educate people on the importance of the rainforest, not only for the orangutans and other wildlife, but for all the oxygen and rain it gives us! It takes a hundred and twenty years to grow back a rainforest habitat. I believe the only way to stop palm oil production is to educate people. If the demand is lessened, perhaps we have a chance to save the remaining tropical rainforests.”
Mindy’s goal is to return to the rain forest and help improve the living conditions of orangutans that may never get the chance to be re-released into the wild. Although she didn’t set out on a fundraising campaign, many people seem to be connecting with the cause when they hear her presentations. Donations
into an agreement to purchase all common shares; she became Vice President.
Of course work isn’t the only facet of Brenda’s life; she speaks fondly of her patient spouse, Wes, who supported her educational and career goals. Together for ten years before they married sixteen years ago, they have raised two children. Having a family definitely influenced Brenda’s decision to join a private company. She learned, as do all women, that a mother needs flexibility and fulfillment at work rather than a job that entails countless hours of overtime like an accountant must put in with a large firm.
track sales, inventory and payroll.
“I approve all of the invoices for the company,” Brenda mentioned. “We produce over three thousand cheques a year and have about twenty drawers of invoices for our main location alone, so that’s a lot to look at and to sign.” Shop work orders must also be scrutinized and tracked. Payroll information is constantly updated; benefit plan changes are distributed and explained to employees. New customers must be set up and trained to use the online ordering system. Auto Electric Service Ltd operates branches in Regina, Weyburn, Estevan and Yorkton, plus a paint/autobody supply warehouse and Mainline Fleet Service in Regina, where the focus is on industrial and agricultural parts and service. “For the most part, the branch managers run each of their stores independently, but I am available for consultation on non-recurring issues they might have with customers or staff,” Gelowitz told me. “I also work with our president and main business partner, Bob Jaworski, to consult on overall corporate decisions.”
For a month, Mindy focused on learning the Indonesian language and observing the care center employees doing daily release. DAYextensive IN THEtime LIFE SheAspent withOF the orangutans in their cages,IN THE SPOTLIGHT patiently building relationships with them before taking any ofMINDY SJOGREN BRENDA GELOWITZ them out alone. “I worked consistently with seven adolescent females and males,” she described. “And with ten babies. I also “My days are never really typical,” Gelowitz explains. ”I do have ‘routine duties’ performed every day, month and year, but the non-routine issues consume the majority of my time.” Most of those non-routine issues involve IT matters. If staff or management has any questions on how to produce a report from the system or how to get the computer to perform a certain task, Gelowitz is asked for advice or direction. “I’ve been responsible for setting up most of our computer software applications, so I know how to get them to work (or know what they can’t do),” she explains. In this computerised era, a business relies endlessly on the systems that so many people take for granted; AES is no different. There’s a system for automotive parts sales and inventory, a general ledger / accounts payable program, a dispatch-delivery system, bar-code receiving equipment, three different online ordering programs and over fifty personal computers company-wide. Then, too, there are endless reports to
“I attended the Aftermarket Auto Parts Alliance meeting last week and it’s overwhelmingly obvious that this is a man’s industry,” Gelowitz told me. “When I give my suggestions at the information technology meetings, the guys always seem fascinated by my ideas. I think it’s because women certainly don’t think like men, so they certainly wouldn’t think of the same solutions!”
As for her choice of accounting as a career, the decision was an evolutionary process. Growing up on a farm outside Yorkton, she didn’t have the preparation for school that children do today - no options such as preschool or kindergarten; even watching Sesame Street on television was considered frivolous by her hard-working parents. “I actually struggled in Grades One and Two,” Brenda admits. “Then in Grade Three I had a great teacher who was able to explain things so I understood.” Her academic success accelerated quickly from that point on. “I think having someone early on to believe in your potential and convince you of your intelligence can make a big difference in your life. After that year, school became much easier because I was convinced that I could figure anything out if I kept at it and kept asking questions. That became my truth.”
“
Should the deforestation of the rain forest continue at the present rate, the habitat of the orangutans may be wiped out in as few as eight years.
It’s very clear that Brenda Gelowitz has mastered her somewhat traditional role as a female in a rather untraditional industry. One of her many favorite quotes and acronyms is TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More). “I’m so very proud of our business and the people who work here,” she says. “Together, we really are achieving more.”
have come in at a rate. Audience m admire Mindy’s p listeners want to
Sadly, orangutan and sold as pets they get too big them over to a animals are no lo in a home enviro such circumstan the crucial skills the wild. Furthermore, it’s very difficu re-release all of the orangutans curren suitable areas to do so. Many remainin existing population of wild orangutans; their food supply is not an option.
”
Should the deforestation of the rain present rate, the habitat of the orangut as few as eight years. Mindy Sjogren i she can to prevent that dreadful situat can learn more about her quest at ht magicmindy. As for information about t to love and the foundation trying to sa of information on the website of the International at http://www.orangutan.o - some of them endearing and all of the
EVERYDAY HERO Danielle & Jessica PART ||
Fashion column by Riley Lawson | beauty column by Sara Lindsay | Hair column BY Joy Amistad Like many young women in rural areas at the time, Brenda Gelowitz assumed that she’d marry her high school boyfriend and
Gelowitz decided to complete a Bachelor of Administration with a major in accounting; she was quite surprised to learn she would have to take even more classes after university to actually be considered a professional accountant. Research convinced her that Chartered Accountant was “the” designation to have and that Ernst & Young Chartered Accountants was the best firm in town. Rather than participate in the usual recruiting processes, she asked her professor for the name of the person to talk to at Ernst &Young and called him directly to ask for a sepa-