Company of Young Professionals Success Series – CYPx
Speakers:
Sean Baxter, Marine Operations & Dredging Coordinator, Port Metro Vancouver
Melissa Polak, Manager, Risk – Advisory Services, EY
April Yau, Account Manager, 6S Marketing
By Kyle Krystalowich
On an annual basis, The Vancouver Board of Trade’s Company of Young Professionals program hosts a TED-inspired event called CYPx, where members have the chance to hear the personal development stories, insights, and lessons of their peers.
This year, three CYP members — Sean Baxter, Melissa Polak, and April Yau — took center stage at Vancity Theatre to share their successes, failures, and lessons learned, along with some valuable advice.
First up was Baxter, a marine operations and dredging coordinator with Port Metro Vancouver, who talked about Vancouver’s longstanding identity as a port city. Baxter’s talk went as far back as the explorations of Simon Fraser and George Vancouver, who solidified Vancouver as a prime location for trade and port operations, to the current role of the city in global trade as one of the largest ports in North America.
Next was Polak, a risk manager with EY, who spoke about her career journey and the factors that can lead to your next big career move. She challenged the members in attendance to always ask themselves "Why not?" when looking at new opportunities in their lives. Members in attendance found Polak's journey to be both inspiring and relatable, as she left us with some simple lessons on making that next big move.
Last up was Yau, an account manager at 6S Marketing, who spoke about digital perfectionism and its impact on our lives. Yau shared deep insight into her life journey so far and how perfectionism has impacted her life. CYP members were given moments to reflect during her talk, pondering whether we are fueled by digital perfectionism every day.
A key takeaway from Yau’s presentation was that we are often very hard on ourselves, because we’re constantly aiming for perfection. Meanwhile, we would never be that hard on our friends or family when they are facing challenges. Self-compassion and gratitude are key to self happiness and living the life that you will be happy with, stressed Yau.
These are just a few highlights from the 2015 CYPx presentations. View event photo gallery and videos of the full talks can be found on The Vancouver Board of Trade’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/theboardoftrade.
About Sean Baxter
Sean Baxter is a licensed professional marine navigator with Captain and Chief Mate's level certificates; he has worked on vessels of all shapes and sizes while carrying cargoes unique to Canada's identity as a natural resource economy. More recently, Sean's focus has shifted towards local, Vancouver port operations like his father and grandfather before him. Hear the story of why Vancouver's identity as a port city brought Sean's family to Canada's west coast and why it will most likely keep them here in the future.
About Melissa Polak
Melissa Polak's normal day, as a Manager in EY's Advisory Services practice, consists of providing clients with advisory, auditing and evaluation services related to strategic planning, business management and operations, project management, and program and service delivery. Beyond this, Melissa has also had the pleasure of gaining experience in different areas within the firm, including community support, procurement, business development, brand development, and leadership and innovation. Melissa possesses her Certified Internal Auditor designation. Prior to working at EY, Melissa worked in both the public and private sector, and completed her Honours BA at the University of Ottawa. In her free time, Melissa loves to go jogging and hiking with her incredibly friendly yellow Labrador in Stanley Park.
April Yau
April Yau is an Account Manager at 6S Marketing, providing expertise in digital strategy; integrating paid search marketing, Google Analytics, search engine optimization and more. April's pathway to her career was unconventional; involving broken hearts, broken dreams and a move across the globe. April is a strong advocate of giving back to the community and believes that there needs to be heart in business. In her spare time, April enjoys practicing yoga, snowboarding and discovering new ways to eat bacon.
