Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc. This podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.

With her new book "PREP, PUSH, PIVOT": Essential Career Strategies for Underrepresented Women" and her LA-based consulting company  Twenty Ten Agency, Octavia Goredema" is denting the universe with practical and far-reaching strategies focussed on careers and the workplace. 

As a highly sought after career coach and advisor to companies helping them retain the diverse workplace they are all working so hard to build, Octavia tells us why she wrote her book and who she had in mind, and shares key insights and lessons for both individuals looking to be more successful in the workplace, and organizations that need them to thrive.

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 Octavia

Octavia Goredema is a career coach and the founder of Twenty Ten Agency, where she has coached leaders at renowned companies including Google, American Airlines, Tinder, General Motors, Nike, and Dow Jones. She is committed to helping underrepresented professionals advance their careers whether they are looking for a new job, dealing with job loss, pivoting to a new career, or returning to work after an extended absence. 

She shares her insights in her new book, PREP, PUSH, PIVOT: Essential Career Strategies for Underrepresented Women. An acclaimed career expert, Goredema’s insights have been featured in leading media outlets including NBC News, Yahoo, Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Grazia, and Black Enterprise, among others. Octavia co-hosted HBR Now, Harvard Business Review’s weekly show about leadership. 

Goredema is a frequent speaker on the topic of career advancement at conferences, corporations, and academic institutions. She has led speaking engagements for UN Women’s National Student Committee, the Royal Society of Arts, University of California, Los Angeles, Clark Atlanta University, the University of Oxford, and the British government’s Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. 2 She is an Ambassador of the Pankhurst Centre, the birthplace of the suffragette movement in Manchester, England. In 2018, Goredema was featured in Women Who Dared, a major exhibition at the University of Oxford celebrating women who have made an impactful contribution to education, business, science, politics, and the arts. 

A dual U.S. and U.K. citizen, Goredema was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen (MBE) in recognition of her work. Octavia is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, where she leads the Gender Equity Network in the United States. Originally from England, Octavia lives in Los Angeles, California

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.

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 fourth year in a row, 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.