Phoenix from the Ashes - By Amy Singh
The more I talk to women, the more amazed I am by their inner strength, resilience, and indomitable spirit to not only survive, but succeed and help others do the same. Take Lorraine Leslie as a case in point.
In 1988, Lorraine fled a 25-year marriage for reasons of personal safety due to a series of tragic events. With only $152 to her name and the clothes she wore, she started putting her life together again.
But what has risen from those events is an inspiration "to meet people and learn who they are-their authentic selves," says Lorraine. "Everyone has their own story and I want to help them move their lives forward."
Having moved out on her own after leaving her devastated life behind, Lorraine was driving home to Collingwood one night from Owen Sound. She was reflecting on her chance meeting with a minister in a quiet, little cafe there. "It was there, while I was driving home, that I had an epiphany. I realized everything I had done in my life up to that point was to help other women," she recalls.
Serving as a Metropolitan Toronto police officer in 1966, Lorraine started off her career as an advocate for change. She fought on behalf of other members of the force to change outdated rules. "When I met my husband to be, there was a rule, made back during the Depression, that members of the police force, hospital employees, school boards, and financial institutions couldn't marry. The purpose was for those organizations to avoid having to pay a double income to any one family," explains Lorraine.
Well, she married her husband in 1968. "Since I got that rule changed for the police, it opened the doors of opportunity everywhere else," says Lorraine.
Over the next few years, Lorraine had three sons. Then, her husband left the force and went to work for a car finance company that frequently transferred them to different locations. One such move was to St. John's, Newfoundland. By this time, having become a certified fitness professional and personal trainer, Lorraine exercised her entrepreneurial abilities and built a fitness empire there. "That's where my fitness business took off," she says.
Did it ever. After four years, and at the age of 40, Lorraine had 32 fitness rental locations, trained 24 instructors, 6,000 students, a cable TV show, and a newspaper column. She had also opened up a chain of Lorraine Leslie Dans'n Aerobics fitness classes across all the Maritime provinces. "Doing all of that taught me the grass roots skills in sales and marketing," she says.
Before Lorraine and her family moved back to Ontario, her husband suffered an almost fatal car accident. Over time, and perhaps as a result of injuries he suffered he became more and more estranged until one day, for Lorraine, it became an issue of personal safely. "I ran from my home with nothing except the clothes on my back, my car keys, and my fitness tapes and recorder. With no family to turn to, I had to leave my boys behind and live in my car for three months. What I have now, I built from nothing," says Leslie.
Trying to piece her life together, Lorraine rebuilt her fitness business in Ontario. In 1992, she decided to return to school and attend Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario for their Gerontology-Working with the Aged program. "I attended my college classes between fitness classes. I got strange looks from the other students because I'd show up in my leotards and track suit," Lorraine reminisces. "I was determined to make a new life for myself so I completed the three-year program in 18 months." She graduated with honours.
From there, we'll fast forward a couple of years to the night Lorraine was driving home from her meeting with the minister. "I was selling advertising for hotel directories to keep a roof over my head, but knew I was destined for more," she says. "By the time I got home, I decided to give my notice the next day."
Lorraine spent the next five years building Women with Vision! "At my very first conference in 1999, I had eight speakers and 142 attendees. After the event, I called 18 friends in business to attend a networking luncheon event. It developed into what Women with Vision! is today," says Lorraine.
There are now numerous Vision! Networking Luncheon locations throught central Ontario. The monthly networking event is complemented by a bi-monthly, full-colour magazine that has a distribution of more than 20,000. The Women with Vision! mission statement reads: Women with Vision! provides networking events and a magazine designed to educate, promote and inspire women in business and daily living.
The annual conferences and networking events have seen such speakers as Dini Petty, Linda Lundstrom, Linda Leatherdale, Isabelle Bassett, and Grace Cirocoo. "Women With Vision has featured Silken Laumann, Linda Lundstrom, Amy Sky, Erin Davis, Louise Petry, Diane Dupuy and Dini Petty all well known Canadian celebrities."
Today,
The Women with Vision magazine continues to grow throughout
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