Marie-Cecil Nottaway would lie in bed, rubbing smudged mascara and eyeliner off her face after a night of crying herself to sleep.
She’s no stranger to the struggles of building a company from the ground up.
“I cried a lot,” said Nottaway. “I thought to myself ‘how can I get through this? But now I get to do what I love every day.”
But after years of ups and downs, Nottaway finally found her place in the business world, making traditional food using the skills she learned at Algonquin. Her catering business, Wawatay, is named after her father.
“Success for me is getting up after being knocked down over and over again,” said Nottaway.
Nottaway was among the guest speakers on March 5, when Algonquin hosted a career expo for Indigenous students to get the chance to speak with indigenous graduates, entrepreneurs and employers specifically looking to hire aboriginal students.
Also speaking were David Acco and Algonquin graduate Alice Beaudoin from photography. They spoke to the crowd of indigenous students at the Mamidosewin Aboriginal Centre about the process of creating their own businesses and becoming their own bosses.
Acco, CEO of Acosys Consulting Services Inc., was one of the aboriginal entrepreneurs who attended the round table.
“There was always an inkling eating at me inside of myself,” said Acco. “There was something in me that said I could do my manager’s job, but better.”
“So I took the risk and started up my own company.”
And that business is Acosys.
“We made a lot of mistakes,” said Acco. “I’m not afraid to admit that. But we grew. We learned.”