AT THE BOARDROOM TABLE WITH
EVI MUSTEL
A Women’s Leadership Circle® Interview Series
By Gayle Hallgren-Rezac and Judy Thomson, CA
It’s a gorgeous autumn day in Vancouver. We are meeting with Evi Mustel at her office located at the entrance to Granville Island. Evi is the president and co-owner of the Mustel Group, a Women’s Leadership Circle (WLC) Advisory Council member and a long-standing director of The Vancouver Board of Trade. As she comes out to meet us, we all have a laugh over the fact that the three of us are dressed in the exact same colour scheme – black and burgundy. Great minds, and all that…
Evi is the second in our series of WLC Advisory Council interviews. She has been a very engaged member of the WLC since its inception. As she invites us into her office, we notice it overlooks a little lagoon on Granville Island and has a typical west coast accessory, her mountain bike!
After graduating from McMaster University, Evi chose to come to Vancouver because she loves the outdoors. She says she fell into her business when she applied for a job as a market researcher. While not her original career path, Evi was fascinated by the research part of market research. She was interviewed by the firm’s owner, Joan McIntyre (now an MLA in the Sea to Sky corridor.) They hit it off and thus began Evi’s career.
Now more than 25 years later, The Mustel Group is a leading marketing and public opinion research firm in western Canada. The Mustel Group covers everything from retail, to elections, public policy, and health care. Evi loves this part of her job, being able to get involved in such a wide variety of issues.
WLC: If you could give a key piece of advice to a 16-year old girl (and guarantee that it would ‘take’) what would it be?
Evi: “Well, I have a 22-year old daughter and I related it back to the advice I had given her as a young woman. First, start thinking now about what you want to do after high school. Don’t wait until the last year or after you graduate. When it comes to education, it’s a lot more than just marks. Universities, employers want to know how engaged you are in the community, in sports, in volunteering. Next, make sure you surround yourself by really positive people, supportive friends, your boyfriend, whatever.”
WLC: Do you think young people should take time off, travel the world first?
Evi: “I think you can do both. A lot of parents pressure their kids to continue school because they are afraid if they don’t they won’t go back. My daughter took three years off before she went back to school but by the end of those three years she knew what she wanted to do. She is now in interior design at BCIT and doing extremely well.”
WLC: What are you reading right now?
Evi: “I don’t read very much fiction at all, unless I am on holidays. I am a book club dropout. It’s too regimented for me: This is the book you have to read this month! On my bedside table I have everything from The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama to Robert’s Rules of Order. And, though I’m a non-fiction fan, a fiction book I loved and highly recommend is The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. It is written through the eyes of a dog! I haven’t really gotten into audio books, but do like them for a long road trip, especially British murder mysteries.”
WLC: Do you have a time-saving thing that you do (could be for work or home life)?
Evi: “The hardest thing is finding time for a workout so I bike to work whenever I can. It’s a perfect thirty minute ride from my home, downhill in the morning so I arrive refreshed and relaxed. Then it’s a workout going home!”
WLC: What do you do just for yourself?
Evi: “I love the outdoors. Biking, skiing, hiking, kayaking, camping. My mom loved the outdoors and I think I got that gene from her. I recently got back from a kayaking trip to the Broken Islands. And, this summer I hiked Diamond Head in Garibaldi Park.”
When we asked Evi if there was sport she wished she could do better, she immediately answered: “I wish I could dance. Though I know it is not actually a sport. I have taken dance lessons, but I am a complete klutz. I am not naturally athletic. I would love to be an accomplished dancer.” (Who knew?)
WLC: What time do you start your day?
Evi: “6:30 AM. I take that time to read the local newspapers—cover to cover, including the sports pages.”
WLC: Tea or coffee?
Evi: “Coffee, actually cappuccino. Then tea for the rest of the day. I’m a low-tech person when it comes to coffee. I use the classic Italian stove top espresso pot.”
WLC: What was your most rewarding business experience?
Evi: “It’s on-going. It’s my involvement in the community. About five years ago, our company went through a branding exercise and one of the points that came out was that, though our company was known, there wasn’t really a face to the company. They told me, you need to get out more and get involved in the community rather than sitting at your desk writing reports. So, the first thing I did was join The Vancouver Board of Trade. Then, I looked at the committees and joined the communications committee as I thought that was one that actually used market research. And everything just sort of spiraled from there.
That action has made the biggest difference to my personal development as it has exposed me to a wide range of people. All the Board of Trade directors and the people on the WLC Advisory. It really has enlarged my network of people. I often tell people, if you do one thing join The Vancouver Board of Trade and get on committees. I became chair of the communications committee and now have a seat on the board. I think this is ultimately what led me to be involved with the Whitecaps Foundation and the YMCA.” (Evi has been on the board for three years).
WLC: What woman leader (dead or alive) do you admire and why?
Evi: “I think most people try to think globally, but the women leaders I admire the most work in this community: Sue Paish, Nancy McKinstry, Carole Taylor, Janet Austin and many more. There are some real powerhouse women here. They embody Margaret Mead’s quote: A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
WLC: What male leader (dead or alive) do you admire?
Evi: “It’s those quiet leaders who are out there in our community, contributing in big and small ways. People like Bob Elton (BC Hydro president and CEO), Greg Kerfoot (Whitecaps owner) and Lorne Segal. Bob Elton, for example, runs a very large organization but still has the time for not-for-profits. He volunteered to be on the Whitecaps Foundation, recently chaired a SFU communications committee and on and on. When people say they don’t have time to get involved I look to these people and say, if they can do it, you can too.”
WLC: If you could take a sabbatical (a year away, doing anything you want) what would it be and what would you do? Do nothing is not an option!
Evi: “I love dreaming about that question. I would have an Eat, Pray, Love kind of year. I’d start off in Europe, exploring it by bike. I had a taste of it when I went with 21 women from Vancouver this year. We stayed at a bike hotel outside Bologna, and each day we had a choice of a variety of daily bike tours with guides. It was fabulous. Bologna is the secret gem that tourists sometimes miss. I would love to go to South America, and I love New Zealand. It’s magical, a combination of beautiful South Pacific scenery and European culture. For example, Christchurch is modeled after Christchurch, England.” We reminded Evi that in last month’s interview, Ida Goodreau also told us how much she loved New Zealand when she was working there as the managing director of Tasman Pulp and Paper.
WLC: If you were starting your university education over today (assuming you could get into any university and cost was not an issue) where would you go and what would you take?
Evi: “Kinesiology or something in the sports medicine field. I come from a family of nurses.”
WLC: How do you follow up with the people you meet?
Evi: “I try and connect as quickly as possible. I try and keep people in mind when I read interesting articles or want to share information.”
WLC: Do you have any particular system for keep up with contacts?
Evi: “I have a card scanner to help organize all my business cards.”
WLC: What book do you wish you had written?
Evi: “I don’t have a book in particular, but I used to write a column for Vancouver magazine and I really enjoyed it. It made me realize how fun creative writing is and how rewarding it can be. With the research I have access to, it’s a fun way to connect the dots.”
WLC: What company do you most admire?
Evi: “I sit on the board of the YMCA and I am impressed with how Bill Stewart and his team run this not-for-profit organization. They generate over $27 million in revenue a year, some of it through fundraising, but most of it through their gyms, pools and other programs. They call it Mission and Margin. It’s the idea that you create a sustainable business model, so you aren’t relying on government funding, to support families and children that don’t have the resources to go to camp, pay for child care or take part in other Y programs. The YMCA is the largest provider of daycare in the Lower Mainland. The new YMCA facility being built at Burrard and Nelson is also an example of this model. It struck a very good partnership with David Podmore of Concert Properties and the new YMCA is going to be a fabulous state-of-the-art recreational and family facility.”
WLC: What is something about yourself that people may not know, which may surprise them?
Evi: “That I am such a jock, and that I am a Super Fan of the Canucks—season’s ticket holder for years.”
WLC: What’s your guilty pleasure?
Evi: “I love to cook and lasagna is my signature dish!”
“The Women’s Leadership Circle provides a new and relevant forum for women to become engaged with the business community,”
Henry Lee,
Chairman, The Vancouver Board of Trade
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