#APOIinternationalGuest: meet Nathalie Bureau, from Canada

After a full eleven years, my term as International Relations Manager for APOI comes to an end. I have carried on this assignment with great enthusiasm and am happy to end this wonderful adventure with a brilliant international webinar with Nathalie Bureau, originally from Quebec, French Canada.

This meeting is part of the project #APOIinternazionalGuest designed by me in 2020.

Once again we approached a different culture, thanks to the unquestionable professionalism of Nathalie, who, in addition to being a professional organizer, is a globally recognized coach, speaker and trainer.

Listening to Nathalie was a very motivating experience: well she was able to take advantage of her bilingualism by making it the workhorse of her profession so that she could reach her targets in both Anglo-Saxon and French Canada.

Two mindsets and two cultures that are close but at the same time different, even though they coexist in the same country. This diversity is reflected not only in language, but also in lifestyle: the Canadian territory is characterized by geographical distances that by their very nature define different habits and attitudes than any other country. Recall that Canada, after Russia, is the second largest country in the world.

From her earliest steps in the world of organization, Nathalie represents courage, intuition, international vision and a strong entrepreneurial spirit. In addition, her great passion for travel and languages (she speaks French, English, Spanish, and is studying Portuguese) make her a true citizen of the world.

Starting with a book to become a Professional Organizer and self-employed entrepreneur.

Nathalie, born in French Canada, outgoing president of POC (Professional Organizers in Canada), is an extremely eclectic woman who has built her career working on multiple levels, combining her personal and professional gifts. The roots of her career, however, are special; I believe, in fact, she is the only professional organizer in the world who, before practicing her profession, wrote a book on organizing, "L'Art del l'organisation."

Her desire to write started from a long time ago; ever since she was a child, her dream in the drawer was to write a book! Having attended the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, writing was akin to her, and when she asked herself what topics she could cover, she simply chose the topic in which she felt spontaneously prepared: organization.

Those who know me know that I think it is very important to practice the profession to the best of my ability to start from one's strengths, and so did Nathalie.

Her work experiences prior to professional organizing were as an air hostess and a teacher, two fields in which organizing is extremely important, so writing a book on theArt of Organizing seemed natural to her. At the time, she could not have imagined that that would be the vehicle that would land her in the Profession.

It was precisely from the success of her book that Nathalie realized that that was the way to go, quickly becoming her own entrepreneur. Her well-deserved success is the result of hard work, discipline, and focus!

Like many P.O.'s, Nathalie started out in housekeeping, but being allergic to dust and animals, this work environment brought her no small amount of discomfort. In looking for new ways to express her professionalism, she tried to take care of the "elderly," but being an extremely active and fast-moving woman, the natural slowness of elderly people also challenged her.

Thus, through this slow but steady search for her own market niche, she landed in the area of time management and productivity in business, and here she hit the jackpot!

During her presentation to APOI Nathalie presented a slide on the duration of consultations with her clients; this is an important aspect of understanding how much a P.O. can enter people's lives for both a short and a long time. In her work experience, Nathalie has provided half-day, one-year, up to five-year consultations, demonstrating how the relationship with the client was built over time with shared growth. This aspect is very interesting in illustrating to Italian P.O.s the kind of relationship one can build with their clients.

Significant milestones for well-deserved success

After identifying the right avenue where she can best express herself, our Canadian P.O. founded "Nathalie Bureau" and offered herself as a professional specializing in time management, speaker at events and conferences, to also support her clients with coaching paths. Her business brings her into companies, helping her clients to operate in a functional environment with the right working methods with the goal of reducing stress.

Nathalie holds a degree in "teaching and training" from Quebec and travels around the world to offer her coaching services, give inspiring lectures and provide sought-after training, in French, English and Spanish. In more than 30 years of experience, she has delivered more than 25,000 hours of interactive training. She is naturally inclined to public speaking, has great communication skills and knows how to convey her messages, keeping the level of attention high in her interlocutor, and those in this profession know how important empathy is to build a solid and productive relationship with those who follow us!

From 2007 to the present, she has been interviewed for numerous magazines, periodicals, and websites such as The Toronto Sun, Coup de Pouce, Le Soleil, Investment Executive, TD Bank Group, and Châtelaine. She has been a regular guest on various radio and television programs, and herself the host, for over three years, of her own television program, called The Art of Organizing.

The Online Courses

Nathalie has spent time and effort in creating a long series of online courses, which have responded to market needs and become a profitable source of income. Very interesting is the range of titles offered, which provide organizational answers but also the development of one's entrepreneurial skills to tackle P.O. as a freelancer.

• The art of networking
• Powerpoint: reach your goals
• Since you cannot control the weather
• Efficient Networking
• Managing time and priorities efficiently
• The key to delegating efficiently
• Becoming a professional organizer
• Efficient work-life balance
• Public speaking: unleash your potential
• Powerpoint: learn the techniques
• Optimize your customer service

Nathalie has devoted valuable time to the Canadian POC Association,
convinced of the profound value of association life.

Collaborate with your Association

Nathalie's contribution in the Professional Organizers in Canada link ( POC ) Association has been remarkable and has developed over the years, making significant changes.

He strongly wanted the logo of the Canadian association to be bilingual, English and French; by pursuing this idea, he has enabled thePOC Association to grow significantly by expanding its catchment area.

It was:

• Member of the National Conference Committee for two years
• Leader of one of the chapters (the Association is divided into several chapters) for three years
• Vice president for two years
• President for two years
• Outgoing president for one year
• Awards Committee for two years
• Ethics committee for two years
• 25th Anniversary Committee for one year

He also received two prestigious awards from POC in recognition of his work: the Ambassador Award and the Harold Taylor Award.

But her volunteering has gone beyond the Association's boundary; Nathalie is also a member of: Women's Networking RFCM - Regroupement des femmes de carrière de la Maurice (link https://lerfcm.com/)- and CAPS - Association de conférenciers & formateurs du Canada (link https://www.canadianspeakers.org/fr/).

Nathalie, like her other international colleagues, have made their mark in the growth of the Profession, not only as entrepreneurs, but also generously as members of important associations around the world.

I like to end the articles devoted to our international guests with words that represent them for Nathalie I would choose:
brave, eclectic, imaginative

I leave #APOIinternationalGuest with this beautiful webinar, thanking my colleague Nathalie from the bottom of my heart for making this moment so special!