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• 6pm-7pm: Networking/Cocktail Hour
• 7pm: Julie Chaisson, Executive Director,
Halifax Seaport Farmers Market, Welcome
to the Market
• 7.15pm: Seating for dinner
• 7.20pm: Welcome Message by Ifeanyi
Emesih (Founder, The Halifax Experience)
• 7.25pm: Dinner is served
• 7.28pm: Message from the Mayor of
Halifax by Deputy Mayor Lorelei Nicoll
• 7.33pm: Special Performance by the
Sackville concert band
• 7.44pm: Opening speaker: Karen Oldfield,
CEO and President, Port of Halifax
• 8.pm: Keynote speaker: Mrs. Anne Divine,
CEO Ashanti Leadership
• 8.10pm: Entertainment
• 8.20pm: Closing speaker: Gail Adams,
Marketing Manager, Halifax Chamber of
Commerce
• 8.30pm: Interactive session with the
audience
• 8.50pm: Final Performance
• 9.15pm: Note of thanks
Welcome.
Although not a large word, it does encompass the entire message of
The Halifax Experience event. It also speaks to the ongoing mission
of My Halifax Experience Magazine, the prototype of which you now
hold in your hands.
I want to thank all the great people in Halifax who made both this
night and this publication possible. My goal in creating The Halifax
Experience was to showcase what makes this city a great place for im-
migrants to flourish, and without each and every one of you it wouldn’t
be possible.
Halifax has so much to offer; the various cultures, opportunities and
lifestyles available here provide a unique opportunity to attract and re-
tain immigrants, foreign students and young adults who can enrich our
city. Going forward after tonight, My Halifax Experience Magazine will
provide a place where they can share their own experiences in making
Halifax their home.
I am a proud immigrant to this city who has found its entrepre-
neurial spirit, which has allowed me to tap into my potential and find
success. The launch of this magazine will allow those like me to tell
their own stories of finding success here in Halifax and — by sharing
— encourage others to stay in Halifax and take advantage of all the
great opportunities this beautiful city has to offer.
So I extend my heart-felt thanks to all my partners and everyone who
has been part of the journey to tonight’s event. And to everyone here
tonight, I say again: Welcome.
Ifeanyi Emesih
Founder, The Halifax Experience
My Halifax Experience
Welcome Message
As Mayor of Halifax and on
behalf of Regional Council, it is
my distinct pleasure to extend best
wishes to all attending The Halifax
Experience.
Events, like this, play a vital role in setting the foundation and offer
a framework to make connections and share opportunities. Halifax
is home to the largest number of immigrants in Atlantic Canada and
our ability to maintain and increase our immigrant population is fun-
damental to our entire region’s economic, social and cultural success.
Connections often lead to new business opportunities and sharing
our efforts makes all of us stronger. We need to exemplify inclusion
and equity as well as embrace the heritage, culture and pride of our
diverse communities.
The Halifax Experience contributes to shaping our many commu-
nities and we encourage your participation in making our municipality
a great place to live, work and play.
Kindest Regards
Mayor
Mike Savage
Meet the Sackville Concert Band

3. If Ann Divine has one message she wants
to share with every immigrant that comes to
Halifax, it's this: you need to be uncomfort-
able.
Divine's experience, both here and growing
up in her adopted home in England, is that im-
migrants too often tend to only reach out to
their fellow countrymen or other immigrants.
This limits their network and
costs them connections that could
mean the difference between suc-
cess and failure in their new life.
“As immigrants we may find
we’re relying on a small pool of
immigrants [to connect with] and
just might be serving that com-
munity,” she says. “We, as immi-
grants, have to open ourselves
to different experiences. We may
not feel comfortable, but I think
it’s important for us to be com-
fortable with the uncomfortable.”
Divine says immigrants need
to make sure they interact and
connect with all kinds of peo-
ple; by doing so, they’ll be able
to open themselves to different
and possibly better experiences
in order to be more successful.
Divine knows what she’s
speaking about. Born in Guyana,
South America and raised in En-
gland, Divine says upon arriving
in Halifax one of her challenges
was making connections with
others in the community and learning about
her new home.
“It was a new country and I had to adapt
to my new environment,” she says, noting
she took a step back, didn’t work for a couple
years and took part in programs offered by
such places as the Keshen Goodman Library.
But it isn’t just immigrants that need to be
open minded. Haligonians, and Nova Scotians
in general, also have to understand there needs
to be ways for immigrants to succeed without
losing their sense of self or their cultural
identity.
“It goes both ways; it’s about more than the
immigrant integrating into Canadian society,”
Divine says, noting the two groups have to
work together. “It’s about meeting half way…
we shouldn’t ask anyone to leave their culture
behind, but we should look at ways where we
can build on each other’s success.”
In doing this, Divine believes it will help
make Nova Scotia and Halifax more appeal-
ing to newcomers and make the area a more
inclusive, diverse and better society.
“We’re all contributing to the sustainability
of our economy, of our community, and that
diversity and those differences are what’s go-
ing to drive us and help us grow,” she says.
After all, for immigrants to contribute to
this growth they need to have a good expe-
rience in Halifax or another area of Nova
Scotia.
“If my experience is a good one, I can give
that message to my family and then they might
like to come here, but if as an immigrant my
experience isn’t good, I can’t share it with my
family,” she says.
The immigrant experience in Halifax may
vary, but for Divine the best part about com-
ing to the city was finding a community that
made her and her family feel at home.
Divine immigrated to Canada in 2004 after
her husband accepted the James R. Johnston
Chair in Black Studies at Dalhousie Univer-
sity. However, a few years into their stay her
husband was involved in an accident. Without
asking, her neighbours and other community
members would often help Divine and her
family out during the time whenever they
needed it.
“There’s a sense of humanity where [for
example] coming home and finding food on
your doorstep from one of your neighbours,”
she says. “They did what they did from the
heart; that’s the best Halifax experience I’ve
had.”
While Divine has a good experience living
in Halifax, she knows the decision to come to
a new country isn’t without its challenges and
that not every immigrant experience is entirely
positive. In the 1960s her parents moved their
family from Guyana to the United Kingdom
during a time when there was a lot of racism
and dislike of newcomers.
“Even though a lot of people, like our
parents, were highly educated, they were given
mediocre jobs; they’d do the jobs English
people wouldn’t do, like being a bus driver,”
says Divine, whose parents were a nurse and
an engineer. “They [her parents]
didn’t allow it to stop them
because they wanted a better life
for their children.”
This better life included giving
their children a quality education
and a vast range of opportuni-
ties.
“They wanted us to
accomplish far more than they
ever accomplished, so a lot of
sacrifice was made on their part
so we were able to do that,”
Divine says. “Education is the
foundation; we were always told
education is the key to the world
and that’s how you’re going to
succeed.”
Divine adds that her family
was fortunate to live in a diverse
and inclusive neighbourhood
when they moved to England,
which is a trend she has contin-
ued in her adult life. She worked
as senior probation office for the
North East London Probation
Service — the largest bail and
probation hostel in Europe — from 1997 to
2000, and as the chief aid officer to the chief
probation officer at the London Probation
Trust from 2001 to 2004. She also worked as
an education social worker and was the vice
chair of the Association of Black Probation
Officers.
It was in these roles Divine not only learned
different skills, but was encouraged to interact
with different types of people.
“I was encouraged to take on a diversity of
work; I was encouraged to take on responsi-
bilities and to work with different groups of
people,” she explains.
Due to this work ethic and abilities, Divine
often received reassurance and praise from
peers.
“One person I worked with recognized I
had leadership skills and wanted to nurture
those,” she says. “Therefore there were people
who were mentoring me even before knowing
what the word mentoring meant.”
After two years in Halifax, Divine decid-
ed to go back to work. Knowing how much
it meant to her to have good mentors and
teachers, she decided to take on a similar
role and help other immigrants’ transition to
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Break out of the
comfort zone
Ann Divine helps fellow
immigrants discover it’s
okay to be uncomfortable
By KATIE INGRAM
a new country. From 2006 to 2007 she was
the planning and development officer for the
Nova Scotia Office of Immigration and from
2007 to 2014 she was manager of Race Rela-
tions, Equity and Inclusion at the Nova Scotia
Human Rights Commission. Currently, she’s
the CEO and founder of her own business,
Ashanti Leadership and Professional Develop-
ment Services, which was founded in 2011.
Ashanti is a consulting service that’s de-
signed to provide extensive career and profes-
sional guidance for its clients. Divine’s current
goals are to help women of all backgrounds
and races, especially immigrants and women
of colour, be successful in their own business
endeavours.
As someone who has been in Halifax and
subsequently Nova Scotia for more than a de-
cade, Divine acknowledges there are overarch-
ing issues that need to be addressed, no matter
if a person is immigrant or domestic resident.
This is one of the reasons why the Halifax
Experience has asked Divine to be one of its
keynote speakers. Halifax Experience orga-
nizer and fellow immigrant Ifeanyi Emesih
says the event will help others tap into local
resources they might not know are available
to newcomers. This will also help them grow
their own business or build upon a pre-ex-
isting career and hopefully encourage other
immigrants to stay in Halifax.
“I didn’t have those resources,” Emesih
says, “but I kept on believing, I kept on work-
ing and I kept on asking questions… so I want
to put everyone in one room where we can
network, encourage each other and encourage
people to stay in Halifax and help it grow.”
He also hopes Divine shows other attend-
ees, through her experiences and community
involvement, how far hard work, dedication
and networking can take a person.
“Ann is able to look back and encourage
people to believe in themselves, especially
women,” he says. “She’s empowering women
to be leaders [and] so her story is an inspira-
tion to immigrant women and the immigrant
community coming to Halifax.”
Overall, Divine says she’s looking forward
to being a part of the Halifax Experience and
connecting with other immigrants who may
need advice or encouragement.
“Its great idea,” Divine says. “It’s like having
an object in a shop; you have to display it in
a way that’s inviting. So when we have the
Halifax Experience, you see individuals — like
the organizers — demonstrating what Halifax
is about and our experiences.”
Alongside her work experience in both the
U.K. and Canada, Divine has volunteered
and participated in organizations and events
designed to help immigrants and women.
These include helping to organize Halifax’s
International Women’s Day in 2014 and 2015,
founding the Black and Immigrant Women
Network, being a member of International
Women’s Forum Canada, being a board mem-
ber for Dress for Success Halifax and leading
the first Business Cohort for Women Lead-
ership in partnership with the Black Business
Initiative and the Department of Labour and
Advanced Education.
In 2014, Divine was recognized by Diana
Whalen, deputy premier and Attorney General
of Nova Scotia, at the provincial legislature
for “demonstrating extraordinary leadership
and determination in her efforts to empower
black and immigrant women to have success-
ful and fulfilling careers.” In 2011 she received
the Correctional Services Employee Recog-
nition Award for her work with Nova Scotia
Correctional Services.

4. Event Speakers
Karen Oldfield
As President and CEO of the Halifax Port
Authority, Karen Oldfield has overseen an era of
transformation at the Port of Halifax. This includes
significant marine infrastructure investment to
facilitate large vessels, the refinement of the cruise
industry in Halifax and the strategic development
of real estate assets including the Halifax Seaport,
which is now a premier destination for culture,
events and entertainment. Karen has been
instrumental in positioning the Port of Halifax as a
strategic national asset, one that annually generates
more than $1.6 billion in economic impact and
11,800 port-related jobs.
Nationally, Karen is a member of the Public
Policy Forum. She serves as the National Chair of
the International Women’s Forum of Canada and
has served as a member of the Advisory Council on
National Security which provided advice through the
National Advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada.
Locally, Karen serves as the Vice-Chair of the Board
of Governors for Saint Mary’s University. She is also
an avid golfer who lives in Halifax with her husband
and their daughter.
Julie Chaisson
Julie is the Executive Director of the Halifax
Seaport Farmers’ Market. As a part of the
Halifax Port Authority, Julie has led the market
with her team since 2012. The Halifax Farm-
ers' Market is the oldest continuously operating
Farmers' Market in North America and has
more than 250 farmers, secondary producers,
artisans and musicians that call the market
home. The Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market is
a Halifax institution, welcoming thousands of
dedicated customers each week.
Julie has more than 30 years of retail and
operational experience in senior management
throughout a diverse group of industries,
including the energy, transportation, large retail
and construction sectors. Julie has gained this
experience through leading companies,
including Superior Propane, The Shaw Group
and Toys R Us. Julie is a specialist in business
change management with recognized strengths
in team leadership, strategic planning and
implementation.
Julie is proud to call Halifax home, where she
lives with her husband Mike and their 10-year
old daughter Emily. Julie also has two grown
sons.
Paul MacKinnon
Paul MacKinnon has spent his
career as a champion for Halifax’s historic,
cultural and economic heart. He has been the
Executive Director of the Downtown Halifax
Business Commission for the past 13 years.
Following a brief stint in England, he began
his career with downtown revitalization with
the Spring Garden Area Business Association
in 1996. He has been involved with numer-
ous committees over the years, with the aim
of making this city a great place to live, in-
cluding as the Vice-Chair of the city’s Urban
Design Task Force, which created the new
downtown plan, HRM by Design, in 2009.
Paul is the past Chair of Downtowns
Canada and has been an active participant
in championing the ideas put forth in the
One Nova Scotia report, including a greater
emphasis on immigration.
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Unit #203, Dartmouth, NS B3A-4N3
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287 Lacewood Dr., Unit 103
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T: 902-445-5050
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