In early March, we had the opportunity to meet the 2022-2023 recipient of the Joanna Duong Chang Memorial Award. Again, big thank you to Lauren and her team at the University of Waterloo for their assistance in selecting this year’s recipient and facilitating the opportunity to meet Rachel.
From an early age, Rachel has demonstrated a passion for entrepreneurship with the focus of making a difference. After having the opportunity to meet with her, it is evident that she lives and breathes the spirit and I have no doubt she will do some amazing things in her lifetime! I am honoured that Jo’s award could contribute to her bright future. Congratulations Rachel!
Please take a moment to read through Rachel’s own words on receiving the award.
I wanted to say thank you for your generosity in awarding me this scholarship. I am so grateful that the foundation chose to help support me in my dreams of becoming an entrepreneur like Joanna. Joanna is inspiring to me, both because she accomplished such amazing things and comes from a background and education similar to mine. I hope to follow in her successful footsteps and make you guys proud.
I started the jewelry business – the one I mentioned in my essay. I officially launched in November, and so far the journey has been confusing, exciting, and a huge learning experience in understanding both myself as a business and what my people want as customers. I think the path to entrepreneurship is hard because there is a lot of flexibility in it and no ‘one size fits all’ method to learn. But that is also the beauty in it, seeing where you can use your personal talents and vision to shape the way you run your business. It helps to know that I have someone in my corner thanks to the support of the Joanna Duong Chang foundation, and I am excited to see where this journey takes me.
As a reminder: Henkaa donates 1% of sales to the foundation. Along with supporting Canadian small business, you will also be contributing to the foundation and its goal to support girls and women to reach their fullest potentials.
You can make a donation directly here. Donations over $25 receive a tax receipt.
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With love and light,
Stan, Jolène and Dylan