Ceilings

Dr. Claudine Cousins always knew she wanted to be a voice for change. One of eight siblings, Claudine learned leadership as the oldest sister, taking on ...

Claudine also honoured the importance of continuously expressing gratitude and appreciation to her staff. She encourages others to use the obstacles they may face as fuel to push themselves forward into a future of their own making. While leading her team through the pandemic, she focused on figuring out how to make sure they could do their jobs, while still attending to their personal lives. “There are certain things we choose to do and certain things we must do,” she says. Claudine worked for Canada Trust (before it was acquired by TD) as a Customer Service Manager, and then moved to Edward Jones, where she worked as an Academic Training Leader, training investment representatives. “Community is at the core of who we are,” she says. As a single mother, Claudine acknowledges that her professional choices at the beginning of her career were motivated by her son and his needs. Although she was a straight-A student, not everyone believed in Claudine the way she believed in herself. In high school, Claudine wanted to take the academic courses that would help her get into university. Claudine went on to earn her Bachelor of Business Management with a focus in Human Relations from Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University). Claudine’s mother remembers that Claudine, who was only three-years-old at the time, would always tell her older brother that she was the driver or pilot, and he was the attendant. A childhood anecdote Claudine fondly recalls is when she and her older brother would pretend to drive a bus or train, or pilot an airplane.