When Marie-Ève D’Amours set up her company “La deMOIs’aile” six years ago, she found herself face to face with the need to develop her entrepreneurial skills. Her feeling of isolation at the time prompted her to set off in search of resources to help her project grow.
With a program targeting teenage girls aged 12 to 17 in Quebec high schools, she was thinking outside the box. Indeed, getting a project accepted that would encourage young students to freely express their emotions and foster self-esteem through a blog platform was a bold challenge that didn’t conform to the school environment. “When I had the idea, I’d already had my own blog for 2 years. I was writing and I knew it felt good to write,” says Marie-Ève, who worked in schools as a special education technician before setting up her own business.
But it’s not enough to have an idea, you also have to set it in motion… the right way! That’s where the SADC des Laurentides entrepreneurial mentoring service came in: once she discovered this service, she could count on the support of a mentor for her project. This mentoring dyad lasted about four years; her mentor was the first person to play an important role in her entrepreneurial life.
Determined to advance her entrepreneurial career and grow her business, Marie-Ève has been an active mentee since 2018. At the heart of a fourth dyad since the start of 2024, mentoring enables her to move forward, overcome obstacles, meet challenges and broaden her horizons. She says that each mentor brings something different to the table, depending on where she is in her development. Marie-Eve takes the time to reflect and question herself before each meeting with her mentor. In this way, she can see how far she’s come since the previous meeting, when she set herself some objectives.
Finally, through her mentoring experience, Marie-Ève D’Amours has not only expanded her knowledge, but has increased her level of expertise, a winning combination for success!
By Dyane Bouthillette