Welcome to a special RCC STORE 22 bonus episode of The Voice of Retail podcast! In these STORE bonus episodes, we'll be meeting the keynote speakers that will be joining us to share their insights and wisdom with the Canadian retail industry. We talk about their background, business, and a preview of the knowledge they will be sharing at Canada's most significant in-person retail event of the year.

My guest on this episode is Jacquelyn Kankam, Senior Director of Sustainability & Social Impact for Toronto-based global beauty brand and retailer Deciem.

Jacquelyn started her career in Sustainability, Social Impact, and DE&I over 14 years ago. From the natural resources industry to beauty, she is helping Deciem be the change agent and joins us on day one on the Driving the Sustainability Opportunity panel.

Thanks for tuning into this special episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven’t already, be sure and click subscribe on your favourite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically twice a week, and check out my other retail industry media properties; the Remarkable Retail podcast, the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, and the Food Professor podcast. Last but not least, if you are into BBQ, check out my all new YouTube barbecue show, Last Request Barbeque, with new episodes each and every week!

I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company & Maven Media, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co! Have a safe week everyone!

About Jackie

Jacquelyn started her career in Sustainability, Social Impact, and DE&I over 14 years ago, after gaining a degree from the University of Toronto in Environmental Resource Management, a degree Jacquelyn chose to explore after studying the environmental aspect of International Relations.

Inspired by her surroundings – living by the old Imperial Oil office building in Toronto – Jacquelyn was driven to make an impact in an industry that arguably needed it most, and began managing large-scale oil projects. This path could have been deemed ‘untraditional’ for someone in Environmental Studies where many would opt for non-profit, for Kankam the company was right, the impact would be greater. Starting out as a project coordinator, working alongside teams detailing the optimum environmental impact of various oil sands projects, named Environmental Impact assessments, she set out to make the meaningful change the industry so desperately needed.

Driven for not only a curiosity of the environment but a yearning to do better for a lasting planet, Kankam set her sights on real estate, addressing ecological and social issues, whilst building future-proofing strategies in commercial and residential builds.

As Jacquelyn continued to set out on a mission to do better within many industries she changed focus to aviation joining Air Canada, to manage environmental sustainability. Here Jacquelyn looked into ways to engage customers and industry on aviation’s sustainable journey while focusing on many topics including plastic and reporting.

Growing a team of emerging professionals and mentoring the younger generation on preserving our future, Jackie saw a huge opportunity to create a powerful and good impact within an industry ready to overhaul preconceptions of its sustainability practices.

That brings us to today, where Jackie holds the position of Director, Sustainability and Social Impact at DECIEM. Jackie leads the overarching company initiatives towards doing good to our people, planet, and animals. Kankam’s role develops, communicates, and executes the sustainability strategy across internal departments and external stakeholders, collaborating on all facets of the business and needs. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, mental health and mentors young emerging professionals. In addition, Jacquelyn co-chairs the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy alongside the VP of People. Together they set out to be an impactful voice and counsel, on behalf of the whole DECIEM family. Pushing to create a workplace environment idolised and considered by other companies around the world to do even better. Their work has been recognised by industry leaders, winning The Best Ethical Initiative for the Community and Family Funds, as well as the voting and protesting days available to the DECIEM family in the Marie Claire Sustainability Awards 2021.

About Michael

Michael is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions with C-level executives and participated on thought leadership panels worldwide. Michael was recently added to ReThink Retail’s prestigious Top 100 Global Retail Influencers for a second year in 2022.

Michael is also the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts, including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus the Remarkable Retail with author Steve Dennis, Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. Most recently, Michael launched Conversations with CommerceNext, a podcast focussed on retail eCommerce, digital marketing and retail careers - all available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music and all major podcast platforms. Michael is also the producer and host of the “Last Request Barbeque” channel on YouTube where he cooks meals to die for and influencer riches.

The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fifth year in a row, the National Retail Federation has designated Michael as on their Top Retail Voices for 2025, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.

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