Extraordinary journey
By Valerie Gibson

The upward climb of Canada's No. 1 female entrepreneur

LUAN-MITCHELL-HALTER crosses the lobby of the upscale hotel dressed in a bright fuchsia pantsuit with matching fuchsia stetson. It's trimmed with colourful, fake jewels.

It's a starting look for black and grey Toronto, and heads turn. But with her model figure and long blond hair, she looks fresh and stunning.

She could so easily be a "lady who lunches" or perhaps a "paper doll" - those women who are defined by the clothes they wear. But make no mistake, this is no decorative "doll".

Mitchell-Halter is Canada's No. 1 female entrepreneur, chosen by Chatelaine and Profit magazines for three years running and recently featured on the cover of Macleans magazine.

She's also a corporate executive, philanthropist, author, motivational speaker, mentor, wife, mother of three teenagers and, yes, a multi-millionaire who owns three fabulous homes and drives a Rolls-Royce.

It wasn't always that way.

An unwed mother at 16, a Canadian beauty queen (Miss Saskatoon), who once appeared on the front of the Calgary Sun wearing their logoed T-shirt, Mitchell-Halter was later to find herself broke and reduced to living in a Chevy van with three small children, three dogs and a terminally ill husband.

It happened during an unpleasant and public legal dispute with her husband's family over the family's pork-processing company, Intercontinental Packers, a company she and her husband finally gained control of and renamed Mitchell's Gourmet Foods.

However, despire undergoing a successful heart and double lung transplant, Michell-Halter's husband died of cystic fibrosis suddenly when Mitchell-Halter was 37.

What's more, the company was foundering and in "soft receivership," with banks calling in the loans.

Life looked bleak. It was, she says, her "lowest moment."

In her best-selling book, Paper Doll: Lessons Learned From A Life Lived In The Headlines, Mitchell-Halter tells how the "vultures" circled the company expecting the "little widow" to give up and go away.

Instead, despite her lack of experience, she fought back and became chair of the board. By sheer guts and determination, she then proceeded to take the company to new heights with it finally becoming one of the leading suppliers of meat products and processed foods in North America. Mitchell's Gourmet Foods is now a division of Schneider's Foods.

In the process, she also became an inspirational success for millions of aspiring women entrepreneurs, speaking across the U.S. and Canada on how to succeed as a businesswoman, wife and mother, no matter how difficult the circumstances.

In Toronto to appear at the Canadian Marketing Association's 2005 convention as a member of a team of internationally-recognized business visionaries, Mitchell-Halter took time over lunch to talk about her philosophies of life and how she copes.

Accompanied by her sister Judy, her executive assistant, she's charming, sincere and even prettier up close than her photos.

She talks a lot during the lunch about being a "true survivor," but believes deeply that everyone, no matter how down and out they find themselves, has the ability to get up and realize their dreams.

"A lot of it is fear," she says, "they're afraid of the risks, that they'll lose control of their lives." But she points out that while fears are always there, they don't have to paralyze us and we can learn to move forward.

She says a teacher in school once said to her "sometimes you have to accept your lot in life" and says she didn't believe that then and still doesn't believe it now.

"You have to have a vision for yourself - see yourself where you want to be. Be specific but also make it realistic so it can be done."

A deep believer in the strength of a loving, unified family, Mitchell-Halter now shares her life with a new husband, Dr. Reese Halter, a conservation biologist and research scientist and, she adds delightedly, four years younger.

Her latest projects are an audio series, Eye of the Tiger, 10 Surefire Strategies for the Hunt for Excellence and a new book The Woman MVP Who Set You Free: Quarterback with the Big Boys and Win.

Take it from a woman who knows!

LUAN'S ADVICE Inspirational quotes to help women soar in life: Make a realistic plan that will get you closer to your dream. Follow the seed for good. The winners in life are those who dare to dream - and they dare to dream big dreams. Think about what you're working toward and what you're will to gamble - even sacrifice - in your life. Seek alliances to support your dream. By recognizing how a man's take on a workplace issue may be different from mine, I can understand where they're coming from. Often appearances mean nothing - always look beyond and be wise! We must be there for each other, even against all odds, in the ever-so-scary, eat 'em up and spit 'em out business world. Don't be afraid to be upfront. Respect yourself and people will respect you for it.