In honour of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, we met with West Island Blog’s very own Rhonda Massad. 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.
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’s elementary school in the lunchroom, and quickly realized it wasn’t 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 “Just because you get elected, it doesn’t mean you know your community.” 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, “the West Island Blog doesn’t belong to me, it belongs to all of us, it belongs to our community. It’s nothing without all of its supporters.” All the stories Rhonda reports on are because the community calls her. When she needs donations for specific charities, it’s 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 “In the arms of my grandchildren” and realized the nature of the question and followed it up by saying, “I see the blog as a template. I’d love to see it branch out into other communities for them to use.” We’d love to see that too.
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’s 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. “People always ask me how I do it. This job keeps me busy 7 days a week. But it’s the people that keep me going, the people feed my soul.”
On her off time, you can find her spending as much time as possible with her 5 grand-children and staying fit. “I 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 “50 Fit”. I am offering women in my age group both free and paid options for workout programs.” And this is just another way that Rhonda is saying she hears her community’s needs and is giving them what they’re asking for.
We’re 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’s spending some of her time these days a little bit more behind the scenes. She’s on the board for the West Island’s 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’s needed. We’re starting to wonder if she may be the modern-day Mother Theresa…
When we decided to feature Rhonda for Women’s Entrepreneurship Day it all came together very quickly. The idea, the meeting, and the execution all happened within a week. And with Rhonda’s schedule, she doesn’t 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’s 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.
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’s response was the ideal motherly/ grandmotherly advice any girl or woman would want to hear by saying, “You can be whatever you want to be. Don’t let the voice inside of your head, the one that we all have, don’t let it dictate your choices.” We’ll be sharing your words of advice with everyone we know.
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.
Lia Grimaudo