ABOUT ME

For some people, entrepreneurship is a calling. But for many of us, it simply unfolds one step at a time.

I never set out to build a multi-path career. Looking back, I can see how each chapter prepared me for the next, but at the time, I was simply following the opportunities that aligned with my values, my curiosity, and my sense of purpose.

In 2009, I was sixteen years into a stable corporate career with KPMG when one small but meaningful moment changed everything. My late brother’s childhood tricycle was sold at auction, and something about that experience stirred me deeply. It became the catalyst for creating Lonny’s Smile Foundation, a children’s charity established in his memory that has since sent 141 children with congenital heart disease to medically supported summer camp. (And yes, we got the tricycle back.)

That one decision opened doors I never could have imagined.

I invited Canadian musician Murray Foster to host one of our fundraising events. During our conversations, I discovered he was also writing and directing his first feature film. One opportunity led to another, and before long I found myself helping raise funds for The Cocksure Lads Movie, launching an unexpected chapter in the film industry.

Not long after, my director role at KPMG was eliminated during a corporate restructuring. What could have felt like an ending became the beginning of something entirely new.

Over the years, that journey has taken me in directions I never planned.

I helped launch and grow Crazy D’s, one of Canada’s first sparkling prebiotic beverage companies.I played a key role in launching Connectiv Innovation, helping entrepreneurs bring their ideas to market. Along the way, I discovered a love for coaching, helping people uncover their strengths, navigate change, and build careers and businesses that reflect who they truly are.

Today, my work brings together coaching, purpose, leadership, and wellness. As a Certified Career and Entrepreneur Coach and Meaning & Purpose Practitioner, I integrate practices such as meditation, yoga, Reiki, sound healing, and sylvotherapy to create space for people to slow down, reconnect with themselves, and move forward with greater clarity and intention.

I’m also building Rooted to Expand, where I’m creating retreats and experiences for women who are ready to stop playing small, reconnect with their purpose, and step into the life they know they’re meant to live. Alongside that, I co-host the Rooted in Purpose with Jess + Tamara podcast, where we have honest conversations about purpose, personal growth, and the beautifully imperfect journey of building a meaningful life.

Another part of my work that has become deeply meaningful is anti-human trafficking response and advocacy. I founded Uprooting Trafficking, a cross-sector initiative that brings together government, nonprofit organizations, survivor advocates, and community leaders to strengthen collaboration and advance coordinated responses to human trafficking and exploitation. It’s work that allows me to bring together so many of the things I care about most: building relationships, creating partnerships, influencing systems, and helping people work together toward a common purpose.

Looking back, none of these chapters seem disconnected anymore. Every experience, every relationship, and every unexpected opportunity has shaped the next. What once felt like a series of unrelated paths has become a life where each one strengthens the others.

I’ve come to believe we’re not meant to fit neatly into one box or follow just one path. We’re invited to keep growing, keep learning, and keep following what brings us alive.

If my journey encourages you to trust your own path a little more, to embrace the unexpected, or to believe that your experiences really can come together in meaningful ways, then I’m grateful our paths have crossed.

Tamara