Alumni: Interviews
Recently, we interviewed four Alexander Holburn alumni for our Alumni Newsletter. To see what your past coworkers and friends have been up to, read on.
Alumni: Interviews
Recently, we interviewed four Alexander Holburn alumni for our Alumni Newsletter. To see what your past coworkers and friends have been up to, read on.
Receptionist, Legal Administrative Assistant, 1982-1991
To be perfectly honest, Ann Kirsebom’s first dream was to become a sportscaster, not a famous chef.
But in the early 80s, “there just weren’t any women in sportscasting in Vancouver and I guess I was really too shy to pull it off,” she says. A family friend, who was an insurance client of Alexander Holburn, heard the firm was hiring for a receptionist position, so Ann applied for the job.
She stayed with the firm for almost ten years, working her way up to a legal secretary position. “The people I worked with–the lawyers but also the support staff–were fantastic. There are about six of them that I still meet with. Two of them work with me part-time in my catering company on the weekend”.
While at the firm, she began to explore her love for great food and wine by doing some catering on the side. She would often volunteer to help organize any firm events that involved catering, and was always surprised at how uninspiring, yet expensive, the food was. The experience made her even more determined to explore how to create a better catering business. The result is her amazingly successful catering company “The Toast of the Town Cuisine".
Ann left the firm in 1991 to follow her passion. By then she was assisting a cooking teacher on the North Shore with her classes. When the teacher’s parents became ill, she ask Ann if she would take over the classes for the remainder of the semester. Ann has been teaching ever since.
Ann began to produce her now famous and award-winning sauces while still at the firm, starting with her Tequi-Lime sauce. The internet really helped that side of the business take off. She now ships them worldwide (visit www.buyoursauce.com) and they are also available at Whole Foods and Costco.
Though self-taught, Ann always wanted to attend cooking school and eventually did (she is classically French trained). On reflection, she’s not sure it really taught her anything she didn’t already know, but feels that it did open some doors for her that might otherwise have remained closed. For example, she spent a memorable period as the chef of the Jade Garden Asian Restaurant aboard the luxury cruise ship The Crystal Symphony. She also led food and wine enthusiasts sailing through Europe and the Panama Canal, giving private cooking lessons in each region. With her history, it’s not hard to see why she prefers being her own boss rather than working in a restaurant. “I’m in a different venue every night, with different people each time and working on a different event” she explains. However, she recently cut back on the number of catering jobs she takes; as a couple of car accidents over the years have somewhat limited her energy.
What’s next? “A trip to the south of France…unless I leave town I just don’t seem to get a break.” Her hope is to use her membership in Les Dames d’Escoffier or the International Association of Culinary Professionals to get a cooking gig. With luck she will turn that into an annual, temporary respite from running so many successful businesses.
For information on Chef Kirsebom's gourmet sauces visit www.tequi-lime.com.
For an afternoon this January, the firm paused to wish a warm farewell to long-time legal secretary Norma Sheridan. Norma worked with Stuart Lang for twenty-five years.
Norma started with the firm, and with Stuart, on November 20, 1981. She remembers that date very clearly; the experience was so trying, she never wanted to return. "It was absolutely insanely busy," she explained. Those were the days of the traditional typewriter, so work requiring revision meant retyping the entire document. But in time, the job just seemed to fit. She and Stuart got along well from the start and Norma came to enjoy the work as she acclimated to the pace. In fact, those early days hold many fond memories for her now. "We were a small firm on half of the 18th floor, and we were more like a community or family. Each of us took turns for a week of kitchen duty…there was such a nice feel to the place."
Norma and her partner (Bill Work, also an alumnus and former partner at Alexander Holburn), decided to retire to Parksville for a number of reasons. She had spent eight years on the island in elementary school and had loved it. Bill had always holidayed at Qualicum Beach. They’ve bought a new home and are taking their time unpacking to ensure they enjoy some of the peace and tranquility they moved there for. Norma says there is no shortage of fun things to do: they golf, go for long walks on any of the many beaches, and travel around to see the local sites. There’s live jazz in Nanaimo, historic townships such as Cumberland to visit, and if Vancouver calls, the ferry terminal is only minutes away.
But the peace and quiet of Parksville is all they need at the moment. "I went out the other day in what should have been rush hour and it was quiet as can be," says Norma. The only disruption to this peace may be the dog they plan to get once their landscaping is completed. "But there’s no rush for anything at the moment. I haven’t had a second of boredom since we’ve arrived and I expect to be enjoying this for a long time to come."
Office services, reception, legal secretary, 1990-1995.
Through a very circuitous route, Karen Buder went from mailroom clerk to jewellery designer to the stars.
Karen began at Alexander Holburn in the mailroom in 1990, but was quickly dual-trained as a receptionist. In time, members of the firm suggested she consider becoming a legal secretary and the firm actually put her through a legal secretary training program, part time, at BCIT.
Karen’s next few years were spent as a legal secretary within several different departments of the firm. By 1995, however, Karen and her husband (then boyfriend) were bitten by the travel bug and they decided to move to Japan for a year. They lived in Japan, making ends meet by teaching English and grabbing occasional acting jobs.
Believing the bug to be out of their system, the two returned to Vancouver and Karen took on a position with the public affairs office of the Children’s Hospital, where her previous legal secretary training came in handy. But before long, it was off to Asia again. This time they lived in Tokyo for a year, and then went backpacking through Vietnam, China, Thailand and Laos. "That did it for us," explains Karen. "After that, we realized that we wanted to come back and be our own bosses and start something of our own." Specifically, they wanted to find a business venture that would somehow incorporate fashion and travelling. The obvious choice seemed to be importing but when the two got married and Karen made the jewellery for her own wedding, they realized that they might be able to take their dreams in a slightly different direction.
"I got the name "Sugarlime" [the name of their jewellery company] from a non-alcoholic drink I used to enjoy in Vietnam. I just really like the sound of it." explains Karen. Their first show was put on for a total of 15 people in their 500 square foot apartment.
Today, most of their sales come through invitation-only wine and cheese events held in select venues around town. Through these shows, and through their involvement as contributors to the presenter gift bags at the Emmys (and soon, the Leos), Sugarlime jewellery is now worn by the likes of Susan Sarandon, Sarah McLachlan, Tori Spelling, and Rosie Perez. Sugarlime also serves as the exclusive jeweller for eTalk Daily’s west coast fashion correspondent, Suzie Wall.
"Really, most of all of this has happened within the past two years of full-time effort" says an amazed Buder. She doesn’t appear to be slowing down any time soon. Sugarlime currently has four staff members and office space downtown, but the company is considering opening retail space in the near future. First, however, Karen and her husband are off to Asia again on a buying trip to source supplies and manufacturers.
For more information or to check out some beautiful and very original jewellery, visit their website at www.sugarlime.com.
Summer student, articled student, associate, 2000 – 2005.
When most of us are tired of the winter rain in Vancouver, we seek out temporary respite in places like Hawaii or Mexico. For Anoop Desai and his wife, Neeta, however, bigger plans were in order.
Last January, Anoop left his job as an associate in our corporate department to travel the world. A combination of watching The Motorcycle Diaries and speaking with a cousin who had just returned from extensive travelling forced them to consider the possibilities. Then one day, Anoop came home with a world map. The couple headed to the beach for a picnic, spread out the map and considered possible destinations.
"We were lucky because we both wanted to do and see the same things" explains Anoop. Their trip included Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South East Asia, Turkey, Egypt, and a 70-day trip across Africa (from Nairobi to Cape Town), Brazil, and then home again. They left Vancouver on January 10, 2006 and returned home January 9, 2007.
"This isn’t an inexpensive thing to do" warns Anoop, "but it’s also not as expensive as you might think". The couple planned wisely. They purchased Star Alliance around the world tickets that allowed for various stopping points; they camped in Australia and Africa, stayed in inexpensive hotels in other countries, and rented a camper van to travel across New Zealand. Anoop figures that, transportation aside, they generally got by on $120 a day.
Asked to describe their scariest moments, he suggested that walking through Phnom Phen in Cambodia felt risky, and New Year’s Eve in a crowd of three million people on the beaches of Copa Cabaña and Epanema Beach was terrifying until they waded out into the water and walked to less densely populated areas. But neither got sick the entire time, and Anoop has mostly wonderful memories of the trip.
As for highlights, there are many to choose from. Anoop described cave-diving in New Zealand (80 metres straight down to see glow worms); getting certified to scuba dive in Malaysia; sky diving in Namibia; and bungee jumping in Zimbabwe. Then there was the tiger refuge in Chang Mai, Northern Thailand; and the opportunity to watch about 16 cheetahs being fed in the wild (only several metres from their open air truck) in Namibia.
Another highlight was meeting and interacting with people. On their return to Canada, the couple’s e-mail box was filled with messages from individuals they had met during their travels. One was from a young student in Turkey who invited them to join him at a friend’s wedding in a small nearby village.
So what could possibly be next for this couple? While Neeta returned to her profession as a pharmacist, Anoop is still pondering his next steps. He would like to continue to use his legal skills, but can’t see himself contained from 9 to 5 within the walls of an office. One thing travelling this extensively has taught him is to broaden his horizons. "When I left here," advises Anoop, "I thought there was no place I’d rather be and work than in Vancouver. But now, any opportunity that was the right opportunity - anywhere in the world - I think we would just pick up and go." And if a job doesn’t take them there, more travel for pleasure will. They already have a long list of places they want to return to, and new places they want to see. Definitely on that list is the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010!
Associate, partner, 1989-2005.
Frmer Alexander Holburn partner Sharleen Dumont is not afraid of making changes. For example, last year she packed up her family and all of their belongings and moved up to Whitehorse. "As far as I’m concerned," explains Sharleen, "if you are going to leave Vancouver for the winter zone, you might as well do it right!"
The move was even more extraordinary as a year earlier, Sharleen had left Alexander Holburn as a partner in order to spend more time with her two sons. Her full "retirement" didn’t last for long, however. Alexander Holburn partner David Wende, who sits on the board of a large engineering firm, suggested Sharleen for a part time in-house counsel position with that firm. Sharleen agreed to the post and continued as a part-time lawyer for the next year. Then last summer, the family went up north on a canoeing trip and fell in love with the territory. Back in Vancouver some time later, her husband jested in a locker room conversation that the family would find a way to move up north permanently, only to learn that a law firm was looking for a litigator in their Whitehorse office. Several weeks later, Sharleen was interviewing with a partner from Davis & Co. and was offered the position.
"My kids love it up here" says Sharleen. "The boys are 10 and 12 and at the perfect age for an adventure. They love the snow - it’s much more fun to play in the snow than it is to play in the rain. They are both on the rep hockey teams up here. Hockey is less stressful up here because everyone knows each other and the parents and families are all incredibly supportive of one another." The downside? "Overnight bus trips to tournaments in Grand Prairie and Dawson Creek." Luckily, her husband has decided to be a full-time dad and he’s the one making those trips...so far.
Sharleen is one of three lawyers in her office, although the only litigator. It’s been a steep learning curve for her. "In Vancouver, my practice was focused on construction and the defence of design professionals. Here, I practise general litigation. And getting used to a small town practice has been a challenge. People just show up in the office and expect to be able to chat with you immediately...it’s very different than I’m used to, but then I knew to expect this. It’s part of the small community feeling up here." In addition to the many people she’s met in Whitehorse, she loves the diversity and the challenge of her practice.
She also loves being able to snowshoe right from her back porch. From there, she can literally walk right into the bush and go as far as she wants without seeing another soul. Has she even been lost? "Not irreparably" was her reply.
The family’s free time is spent enjoying the outdoors and touring around this remarkable part of the world. What’s next? "We want to cross the Artic Circle around the summer solstice; we have a few more rivers to canoe and a few more mountains to hike."
If you are interested in being interviewed for our publication and website, please contact Priscilla Wyrzykowski, Marketing and Communications Manager at pwyrzykowski@ahbl.ca
