The 2018 IMPACT 360 | Flourish committee is thrilled to have Jocelyne Legal join us as our Honorary Committee Chair. Although she is a new supporter of Dress for Success Vancouver, Jocelyne is a long standing believer in empowering women to succeed and grow in their careers. Her own career path has developed progressively driven by passion, chance and hard work.
“It was entirely unplanned,” laughs Legal. “I began my career when I was 20 years old, newly married and looking for office work. My only criteria is that I wanted something downtown, near transit. I took a job at what is now Bentall Kennedy as a receptionist and that was my first real estate job. From there, I fell in love with the business, the company and the people I worked with.”
Legal’s now been working in the commercial real estate industry for 30 years. “I’ve gone from reception to marketing, coordinating to administrative work. I’ve moved from Bentall to some of brokerage firms and have ended up at Triovest. At one point, after I divorced and became a single Mom of two children, I realized I was on my own,” she shares. “It was then I decided I really needed to elevate my profile and focus on my income potential as a single earner. I decided to get my real estate license not really knowing where that would take me. It was a true turning point getting into the transaction side of real estate, transitioning out of an admin role into a sales role and for 17 years now I’ve been on the leasing side.”
Being a woman in a male dominated industry comes with challenges, Legal knows this all too well and credits professional work ethic, strong relationships and confidence for giving her the strength to sit, as a peer, across the negotiating table from the same colleagues she had once typed offers for.
“I also can’t say enough about image. It is imperative, for both men and women for your confidence and your self-esteem. Looking the part is important, especially in a front line role,” says Legal with conviction. “One of the things that resonates for me with Dress for Success is that image is just the first step. For women to be well prepared to take that first step can make a huge change in their life. Dress for Success offers that.”
In addition to giving her time to Dress for Success, Legal is on the Board at Family Services of Greater Vancouver. “Family Services was my entry into not-for-profit and social causes. I discovered an incredible world of people helping people and at this point in my life there’s nothing I want to do more than help others grow and succeed, build confidence and independence.”
IMPACT 360 | Flourish will be the first Dress for Success event she’s attended and Legal has already planned to bring a purse full of Kleenex. “I expect the stories are going to be hugely inspiring. You go into these things thinking you’re going to help the cause and it seems the cause always does so much more for you. I want to hear the stories and meet the faces behind the stories. It’s pretty exciting.”
Join Jocelyne Legal and other Dress for Success Vancouver supporters May 9 at the 19thannual IMPACT 360 fundraiser. Tickets available now: http://dfsvancouver.org/impact/