Building Your Dream Life
An interview with Jane Pascal, Rebecca Stasiuk and Luciana Gomez
Building your dream life – what does that really mean? Almost every adult I meet tells me that if you work hard enough now, you will have an easy and enjoyable life later on. A little hard work for a lot of payoff is another way to say it. However, I have always felt a bit skeptical about this statement. There is no direct path to success - everyone has their own way of getting there, and my belief is that balance is the key for any kind of success. I agree that hard work is important, but hard work does not just mean locking yourself in a room and studying for all hours of the day, rather, it includes doing activities that bring you happiness and finding a passion within yourself. In university, we often think that everything we participate in must serve a purpose. It gives us connections, helps us build a network, and it might be impressive on a resume. I often find myself explaining all my extra-curriculars in this way. But not everything you do has to have a motive behind it, you can also just do an activity for fun.
For this blog, we partnered with Marcus & Millichap’s (M&M) Jane Pascal, Luciana Gomez, and Rebecca Stasiuk. The values that we wanted to bring into this blog are perfectly represented by M&M. Community is one of Women in Business’ core values. We believe in building a community of strong and empowered leaders that are willing to put their best foot forward and be a support for those around them. Community is a strong part of M&M’s values as well. They make a community for people through real estate and find ways to connect so many individuals.
Jane was born and raised in Edmonton, AB. She went to the University of Alberta majoring in Linguistics, initially intending to go into a career in said field that involved kids. However, after doing an internship in her third year in that field, she realized it wasn’t the career for her. She then moved to Toronto for a little while, however, she missed Edmonton and decided she wanted to be a part of the new changes that Downtown Edmonton was going through. She got into real estate through a connection she had made earlier on and now she is Vice President of Investments at Institutional Property Advisors, a division of Marcus & Millichap.
Luciana was originally a law student in Switzerland, but after completing her degree she decided to move to Canada to pursue her passion in Arts by taking Sociology at the University of Alberta. During this period of adjustment and uncertainty, Luciana saw an opportunity to work with the City of Edmonton and went for it. Initially she worked with the city in trying to unite the Edmontonian French community, but eventually felt her passion for it lessen over time. While finishing her part-time studies, she ventured into Property Management and eventually found her niche in residential marketing. Present day, she works in commercial marketing at M&M and has returned to school to learn more about digital marketing.
Like Jane, Rebecca also grew up in Edmonton. She went to the University of Alberta for Product Design, originally wanting to become a jewelry designer. During her undergrad, she worked quite a bit with not-for-profit organizations and She became fascinated with learning how people interact in cities, eventually undertaking a social sciences minor. She then went on to graduate in 2019 and worked as a Marketing Coordinator for Institutional Property Advisors. She now works in the retail asset division at M&M.
Throughout this interview, I asked Jane, Luciana, and Rebecca questions that have been topics of discussion in conversations lately about building a career that you feel happy in.
What are some key moments that have led you to the career and way of life you have today?
A big factor for Jane was knowing what she did not like. During her internship she gained a better understanding of areas she had no interest in, which helped her narrow down what she eventually did want to do. Part of the reason why she ended up returning to Edmonton was that she realized that Toronto doesn’t have the sense of community her home city seems to have. Jane mentioned how the people in Edmonton are eager to help each other, want to see you succeed and are interested in what you have to say.
To add onto Jane's point, Rebecca mentioned her biggest priority was her family. It was important to her that her career be based in Edmonton so as to stay close to her loved ones. With this in mind, Rebecca found ways of pipelining her opportunities in Edmonton and built her work around her home city.
What impact has society had in shaping your goals and lifestyle?
Having completed a law degree from Switzerland, Luciana recalled there being a very direct path set out for post grads back home. In Switzerland, she said, you go to school for one field and you work in that field until you decide to go to school for a change in career. She found that Canada had more opportunities to change your career whenever you wanted, which wasn’t an option she had before. Here, she doesn’t feel stuck in a box and is free to explore other unconventional paths to success.
Rebecca added that there are many opportunities to explore your passions in Edmonton, specifically. At the University of Alberta alone we have the privilege of access to numerous networking events, allowing us to build connections to help ease us into whichever career path interests us. Rebecca noted that we are lucky to have everything connected in here in Edmonton, since it allows us the opportunity to build a promising network if we wish to.
What are some lessons that you have learned throughout your journey that you wish you would’ve known sooner?
Rebecca said she would not have been so fearful of the unknown. Knowing what to ask to build connections and a network is a critical skill. A truly impactful lesson she learned was that no one should be afraid to ask, since the worst answer you can get is a no. Once she took this to heart, she was able to come out of her shell and grow to her potential.
Jane added that she wishes she would’ve taken care of herself a lot more. At the end of the day, your health is a very important part of creating a journey.
What difficulties did you encounter in pursuit of your dream career and how did you overcome them?
Going into the Real Estate industry, Jane found that it was still very male dominated. She noted that finding your footing in that atmosphere is difficult, even if they are working towards more gender parity. She had some issues feeling fully confident and finding her voice. To this, she advised that it is important to find people who are in your corner and are there to support you and help you when difficulties in your career arise.
What resources and direction can you provide our readers to help them pursue their goals and build their dream life?
Luciana, Rebecca, and Jane left us with some tips and advice for our readers that helped them get to where they are today:
Taking people for coffee chats in the profession you’d like to go into.
We are lucky to live in a city where people want to see each other grow. It is very rare someone refuses to get coffee and tell you more about themselves and their career. A tip Luciana had was to make sure you talk a bit about their personal life as well. An important part of making those connections is connecting on a personal level as well!
Find organizations that correlate with your personality and your core values.
Women in Business is a great place to start. Your work is only one part of your life and being a part of organizations that align with you is an amazing way to keep learning and staying involved in your community.
Network, network, network.
This is one tip you will get from every person you talk to. Having connections and a promising network is key in succeeding in your field. Remember, “your network is your net worth”.
It’s okay to ask questions.
Whether it is in work or school, or even your personal life. The people around you, who care about you, want to see you succeed.
Have a work-life balance.
You are only being paid for a set amount of hours a day and again, work is just one part of your life. Something we talked about in depth in previous blogs was the paradox of how we work to live, yet work cultures are increasingly encouraging us to live to work. While these trends are changing, we need to make sure that taking care of ourselves is a priority
You are only being paid for a set amount of hours a day and again, work is just one part of your life. Something we talked about in depth in previous blogs was the paradox of how we work to live, yet work cultures are increasingly encouraging us to live to work. While these trends are changing, we need to make sure that taking care of ourselves is a priority.
So what does building your dream life actually mean? What I took away from this interview from our friends at M&M is that it means working hard to build a life you would be proud of and that would fully sustain you. Your dream life doesn’t have to look like a Pinterest board, but it does need to make you happy and proud.