Victoria LaBillois, a very determined Mi'kmaq entrepreneur, has come a long way from her first entrepreneurial venture – a t-shirt printing business. She built a construction company, invested in other ventures and is now a mentor to Indigenous women across Turtle Island.

"We came from a land of abundance to a postage stamp-sized reserve, a place of poverty. I'm working my way out of it. I'm not asking permission, and I'm taking my whole family, the whole community, the whole nation."

A Mi’gmaq entrepreneur from Listuguj, Quebec, Victoria owns Wejipeg Excavation; owns rental properties; co-owns Wejuseg Construction, and is an active partner in other joint ventures.

Victoria served the Indigenous public service, working at the Band, regional and national levels. She holds both a BA and MBA from the University of New Brunswick at Fredericton. Coach to many, Victoria serves as mentor for the Coady International Institute’s Indigenous Women in Community Leadership and New Brunswick’s JEDI Aboriginal Business Accelerator Program.

Victoria is bilingual and actively learning Mi’gmaq. Victoria is the go-to MC for community events. She belongs to a woman’s hand drum group, sharing ancestral songs. Giving back is important to Victoria; she recently served as co-chair for a national Steering Committee with the Canadian Construction Association, overseeing development of an Aboriginal Engagement Guide for SMEs.

Victoria is a proud alumnus of the 2017 Governor General’s Canadian Leadership Conference; with time spent examining Northern Ontario issues through a local lens and exploring relationships between leadership and community.

(My apologies for the occasional Internet audio gremlins, but the content is SO worth it.)