Alumna Glain Roberts-McCabe nominated for RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award

Posted on Monday, November 19th, 2018

Glain Roberts-McCabeAlumna Glain Roberts-McCabe began her entrepreneurial journey 11 years ago when she started The Roundtable, a leadership coaching company specializing in group and team coaching.

The 1989 Creative Advertising program graduate (1989) is nominated for an RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award, and is currently a regional finalist.

In honour of Women’s Entrepreneur Day (Nov. 19) and RBC Awards gala (Nov. 21), we talked to Roberts-McCabe about her career and the lessons she took with her from Algonquin.

Q: What motivates you?
A: Many things! As it relates to life in general, what motivates me is to be continuously learning. I’m a very curious person. For me, innovating a space, or doing something differently when I see a gap in an area or services, is motivating.

Q: What do you consider your biggest accomplishments in your career?
A: I think the biggest accomplishment was walking away from full-time employment to start my own business. We went from a very healthy income to literally nothing overnight when I quit. I think for me, being persistent, staying focused, staying determined, and being able to build a business despite having a lot of financial pressure. Most people start businesses from the side of their desk, but I did it cold turkey. I walked out on my 39th birthday from full-time employment into the unknown of self-employment.

Q: What did your experience at Algonquin College teach you?
A: It taught me a lot of things! I remember one of the professors would say, “I can look at a door and I can see another way to design it.” She was always talking about constant and continuous improvement, and that resonated with me! The other piece for me, was the concept of collaboration and teamwork. It was so real, you were working real industry problems, and that taught me a lot about working with others, and having to get along with people, which are the things that really matter in work. Everything was so designed around real life, which I’m totally grateful for.

Q: What was most memorable to you about your time at Algonquin College?
A: I met a lot of really great people, in fact I’m still in touch with a lot of my graduating class. I think for me, the greatest thing personally was the opportunity to do a co-op work term. To actually go and work. I had the opportunity to work at the Ottawa Citizen, and they hired me after that. It was a great opportunity to put the theory into direct practice. A number of Algonquin grads were also at the Citizen when I was there, so it was also an extended network of support that I was able to tap into.

Q: How did your experience at Algonquin College prepare you to become an entrepreneur?
A: Looking back now, there was much that I took away. I felt personally that there are so many aspects of the program that were very entrepreneurial. There was a lot of choice in terms of how you wanted to approach certain projects (and that) really built an entrepreneurial culture. I think of my experience at Algonquin as being very ahead of the curve. They brought in people who were real entrepreneurs. It planted the seed of entrepreneurship — even though I probably didn’t recognize it at the time.

Q: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced throughout your career?
A: I think finding what I really truly love to do. Originally when I was in the program Algonquin, I thought I was going to be the creative director at an ad agency. I think for many of us, we go into things because we are interested in them, but in life you get exposed to things you don’t even know about. I think it is that unknown piece that can often create new interests. When I was younger, I think my impatience about wanting to have it all figured out, caused a lot of frustration because I felt like I had to know, and I should have things figured out by now. You have to be your own career manager today. It’s more about paying attention to what you love, your strengths, and the things that ‘give you juice,’ and when you follow those things, it may lead to surprises.

Q: What does this award nomination mean to you?
A: When I started my business, I can remember seeing the RBC awards nominees when they were announced, and I remember thinking, wouldn’t it be amazing if one day, The Roundtable could be nominated for something like that. It was a big dream, so to actually be a regional finalist, that’s winning for me. The acknowledgement out of 7,400 applicants is validation of hard work, and a lot of sacrifice. It has forced me to pause and reflect, and see how far the business has come, and how much the team I work with has done to build The Roundtable into the business it is today. Seeing the number of people we have worked with, and helped over the years is humbling, and also rewarding. It’s really rewarding and it makes you feel like you made a difference, and had an impact on people’s lives.

Q: What piece of advice would you give any woman who wants to become an entrepreneur?
A: I think for women specifically, I would say trust yourself. As women, we think that we have to have things all figured out. You’ll figure it out as you go along, and things don’t need to be perfect. Don’t underestimate the amount of expertise that you are bringing to the table!


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