Hardship, love and a full life: LuAn Mitchell-Halter
By Beth Rose

The rooftop lounge atop the Park Hyatt at Bloor and Avenue Road in Toronto was the perfect setting for meeting LuAn Mitchell, former chair of Mitchell's Gourmet Foods. Its polished wood and elegant surroundings, as well as the height and view, reflect what LuAn Mitchell-Halter has strived for, and achieved, in life.

LuAn greeted me with a warm smile. She was dressed in a cowl-neck sweater and slacks, her hair was pulled back and her make-up was perfect; it was easy to see why she represented the city of Saskatoon in the Miss Canada pageant in 1984.

LuAn spoke about her life and the challenges she faced as a young woman. Attractive at first glance, once LuAn starts speaking, her strength and passion take over, and that, I discovered is when her true beauty comes out. She became a mother at the very young age of 16 after sharing a few beers with an insistent boyfriend, who left the picture shortly after LuAn decided to have her baby.

Although her family attempted to support her, they couldn't handle the financial strain and she was forced to work three jobs. She become exhausted and began having problems coping. She thought of suicide but nobody recognized the signs of postpartum depression.

LuAn realized she was in trouble. She called social services, who came the very next day and took her child away, no interview or assistance. "I sat on my parents' front porch, watching through tears as the woman's car drove away with my baby in it." Giving her little girl up for adoption was obviously one of the hardest challenges she faced. Angry and depressed, LuAn moved out of her childhood home, determined never to fall down without a safety net again. She vowed to listen to her instincts and not the opinions of other people.

LuAn found odd jobs. She took courses in aesthetics, hairstyling and literature. Her sister encouraged her to run in the Miss Saskatoon pageant and in 1984 she won. "I figured beauty pageants were a way to be recognized, have a voice and see the world beyond the city limits."

When she proceeded to the Miss Canada pageant she realized she would need to demonstrate some sort of talent. She couldn't play an instrument, sing or dance. But by then she had her own talk show in Saskatoon and figured her talent lay in public speaking. So she decided to focus her talent segment on f the competition on a speech dedicated to successful women in society. "I dressed in a business suit, wore pumps and pinned my hair up in a French roll. It went over like a lead balloon." She didn't win Miss Canada but she did learn that she had a lot more going for her than her figure.

Success didn't come easy for LuAn. In her early twenties she worked days at a beauty salon, while her nights were given to being a hostess at a night club. She was also filming her television show in between. At 23 she decided to open her own spa and modeling school called Chez LA. At the nightclub she worked in she met her future husband, Fred Mitchell, and after a lengthy chase finally agreed to date and then marry him.

Fred was the president of Intercontinental Packers, one of the biggest businesses in Western Canada. But all did not end happily ever after. Shortly before the wedding they learned that Fred was suffering from cystic fibrosis. Children were unlikely. They were married and together struggled through hospitals, transplant operations and company politics. Giving up everything to fight for Fred's rights in the company, at one point living out of their van, they survived their losses and worked to build Mitchell's Gourmet Foods out of a bankrupt business.

Despite the odds, LuAn gave birth to two children and in between they adopted a third. If you haven't noticed, nothing could stop her from living life to the fullest. Their work together in the company paid off, they were able to turn it around and make it into a profitable enterprise.

With the business a success and their children growing, Fred went in for a routine check-up at Stanford Medical Centre. Complications occurred and he died suddenly, leaving LuAn on her own with three children and a company to run.

After Fred's death, LuAn stepped into an active role with Mitchell's as chair of the board. She oversaw a strategic alliance that allowed the company to expand, opened a new state-of-the-art facility and the company grew to become one of the leading suppliers of meat products and processed foods in the country.

A woman of persistent strength, LuAn has taken all life has thrown at her, shaped it and created an expansive life for herself despite the odds. LuAn was recognized as Canada's Number One Female Entrepreneur three years in a row. She has since been remarried to Dr. Reese Halter and they are living with their three children in her dream home in Banff, Alberta.

LuAn is an entrepreneur, corporate executive, author, motivational speaker, philanthropist and mother. She's a woman who fought the odds and won.

Her motivational memoir, Paper Doll, has just been released. Her web site is www.paperdoll.net.