“Talk to people. Be kind. Get out of your comfort zone. It will bring you many places in life. Just use the golden rule: treat others how you would like to be treated.” That’s advice Human Resource professional Meghan Slade has to encourage Indigenous youth. She is Métis and Indigenous to the Northwest Territories and she was born and raised in Hay River, Northwest Territories.

Slade got her start in HR working at the food service company at Rexall Place. It was an exciting time to be with the company, just after the Oilers went to the Stanley Cup final, but working until 3 am after a hockey game got to be challenging so she went to work with the government of Alberta in search of better work-life balance and more regular hours. After that, she moved onto NAIT where she works as an HR Operations Advisor Team Lead.

Her current role is a great fit because she loves working with the Human Resources system, working on everything from hiring, moving between positions, pay increases, transfers, and any changes that an employee experiences. Slade is tasked with ensuring collective agreements, rules and regulations are followed and she processes employee terminations. That last part sounds scary, but it doesn’t always involve people being fired.

At first, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do for work, excelling in high school math and sciences. Slade thought about the medical field but didn’t want to do that. Her mom encouraged her to attend Northern Alberta Institute of Technology like her uncle who had a business diploma. She decided to do so and get a finance diploma. It seemed like a good fit since she had worked as a bank teller on school breaks and enjoyed it.

Becoming a banker appeared to be a good plan but in the end, she realized it wasn’t what she wanted to do. Slade returned to NAIT to complete another diploma in management, specializing in HR. She even registered for a third diploma in marketing but before she could get started, she got an HR job and was happy with her new career path.

Her advice for Indigenous students leaving home to pursue their education is to reach out to anyone they know who lives where they are going to be attending school or who is going to be going to school in the same city. “Don't be afraid to talk to people and to ask questions. People are willing to help you, and also, you'll make great friends along the way doing this as well. My best friend from year one is still one of my really good friends today, and it's almost 20 years later,” Slade counsels.

When it comes to obstacles she’s faced in life, moving from a town of 3,000 people to a city of a million was a big challenge. Not knowing her way around and never having used public transit was intimidating. Asking questions helped her until she got the hang of city life, with helpful bus drivers advising her on routes.

If Slade could give a message to her younger self it would be, “Get out of your comfort zone. Check things out. There's an indigenous Center at almost every post secondary join clubs, sports, anything that you're interested in, you'll meet like minded people, and you'll probably make friends for life doing this as well.”

To balance her mental health and wellbeing, Slade likes to stay active, attending workout classes. She has tried a lot of different classes to figure out what she likes and meet new people. That’s how she made friends who shared her values and got great workouts in, even when she didn’t really feel like going.

“Sometimes you don't need to overthink things or make things harder than they need to be”

As far as inspiration goes, Slade looks to her parents. Growing up, she learned the value of kindness from her parents and their lessons taught her to help others whenever possible. “I know it's always nice when people are kind to you, so I try to put that out there to everyone that I meet,” she explains.

Talking to people, being kind, getting out of her comfort zone and following the golden rule has helped Meghan Slade in life and in her career in human resources. Moving from a small town to a big city had its challenges but it was ultimately the path to her biggest dreams come true. She might not have known what she wanted to do from the start, but she found her way to do her dream job, like she found her way on the buses, and she ended up exactly where she needed to be.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.