Women\u2019s Entrepreneurship Day: Rhonda Massad<\/p>\n
by Lia Grimaudo<\/p>\n
In honour of Women\u2019s Entrepreneurship Day, we sat down with the West Island Blog\u2019s very own Rhonda Massad. This mom of 5 and jack-of-all-trades community blogger shed some light on her 10-year journey to getting to where she is now: a power source of information.<\/p>\n
So, what fueled her to bring her community closer than ever? Like most moms, her kids. By the time her 5 children were in school, she decided she needed to keep herself busy and somehow give back to her community. She started off by volunteering at her children\u2019s elementary school in the lunchroom, and quickly realized it wasn\u2019t enough for her. She needed more. With some encouragement from her friends and family, she ran for the Beaconsfield city council, where she sat on the board for 4 years. She says her biggest takeaway from working with the city was \u201cJust because you get elected, it doesn\u2019t mean you know your community.\u201d At first the voices were quiet, but as she paid more attention, she could hear her community loud and clear: they had no idea what the council members were deciding on and why. It started off as a simple email blast, informing her neighbours about the choices the council was making, where she eventually had over 500 email addresses receiving her monthly updates. After her career as a councilwoman, she continued updating her neighbours through a blog on what was happening around them and eventually began to write for The Suburban newspaper. Juggling both careers for a little while, she turned her focus to the West Island Blog, where she now has over a million readers a month. And while she is proud of her success, she is even more proud of her community by saying, \u201cthe West Island Blog doesn\u2019t belong to me, it belongs to all of us, it belongs to our community. It\u2019s nothing without all of its supporters.\u201d All the stories Rhonda reports on are because the community calls her. When she needs donations for specific charities, it\u2019s the community coming together and providing the goods that are needed. the West Island Blog has had enormous success in a short amount of time so we asked Rhonda where she sees herself in 10 years from now. Her immediate response was \u201cIn the arms of my grandchildren\u201d and realized the nature of the question and followed it up by saying, \u201cI see the blog as a template. I\u2019d love to see it branch out into other communities for them to use.\u201d We\u2019d love to see that too.<\/p>\n
These days, you can find Rhonda writing at home. With the current situation she finds herself less and less in the action of things and instead at home, writing. She feels the disconnect with her community, the same way we all do. She misses being on the job, like attending local festivities where families are smiling and kids are having their faces painted. She\u2019s missing the annual fundraiser she puts on for a local shelter, where 250 people attend, and once again, coming together as a community. Most importantly, she misses the people. \u201cPeople always ask me how I do it. This job keeps me busy 7 days a week. But it\u2019s the people that keep me going, the people feed my soul.\u201d<\/p>\n
On her off time, you can find her spending as much time as possible with her 5 grand-children and staying fit. \u201cI need to keep up with my grandkids. A big part of what I do is demanding, so I need to stay active. I have a workout regime that is tailored to my needs, at my age. And on November 18th, with the help of my coach Sherry Shaban, I just launched my very own workout program called \u201c50 Fit\u201d. I am offering women in my age group both free and paid options for workout programs.\u201d And this is just another way that Rhonda is saying she hears her community\u2019s needs and is giving them what they\u2019re asking for.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re so used to seeing Rhonda right in the action of things. If there is a big story or event in the community that needs to be covered, you can always assume that Rhonda will be there. And as much as she loves to be in the thick of the action, she\u2019s spending some of her time these days a little bit more behind the scenes. She\u2019s on the board for the West Island\u2019s very own homeless shelter that will be opening soon. And though she may not be front and center, she is definitely putting in the hours where it\u2019s needed. We\u2019re starting to wonder if she may be the modern-day Mother Theresa\u2026<\/p>\n
When we decided to feature Rhonda for Women\u2019s Entrepreneurship Day it all came together very quickly. The idea, the meeting, and the execution all happened within a week. And with Rhonda\u2019s schedule, she doesn\u2019t have too much free time. However, she graciously made time for us, where we spoke over the phone and she was an open book. During our conversation her dog, Tank, was barking in the background, a grandchild interrupted her to ask a question, and there was a mailman at the door that caught her off guard. And while she\u2019s always got a few things going on at once, we never once felt her attention was elsewhere. And because of that, we were able to get a quick glimpse in why Rhonda is successful at what she does.<\/p>\n
We wrapped up our conversation in the most perfect way. We wanted to know what she would say to all the young girls and women that admire her. Rhonda\u2019s response was the ideal motherly\/ grandmotherly advice any girl or woman would want to hear by saying, \u201cYou can be whatever you want to be. Don\u2019t let the voice inside of your head, the one that we all have, don\u2019t let it dictate your choices.\u201d We\u2019ll be sharing your words of advice with everyone we know.<\/p>\n
Thank you, Rhonda, for paving the way for women, for being a voice for your community, for being a pillar in your community, and for having a heart of gold.<\/p>\n