Account Login
Don't have an account? Create One
From the stability of a government job to self-employment, Ann Divine has built a career of making space for others to be included
If you’ve done any amount of networking in Halifax, chances are that you’ve met Ann Divine. One of the most well-connected leaders in the city, Divine is chair of the Halifax Chamber of Commerce and founder of Ashanti Leadership & Professional Development Services Inc., a cultural and organizational change advisory firm.
It was a career trajectory she herself would never have predicted when she left the safety of a government job in 2014 to launch Ashanti Leadership as a one-woman enterprise. “My immigrant friends thought I was crazy… to have won the government lottery, to get a job in government, and to leave,” she said. “At the time, I had no money. I relied heavily on family and friends for support.”
Though she has never regretted her move into entrepreneurship, Divine’s time in government was crucial to her subsequent success. Her job as manager of race relations, equity and inclusion at the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission was created in the wake of the Royal Commission on the Donald Marshall, Jr., Inquiry, to serve the needs of African Nova Scotians and Indigenous people. “This position gave me a deep insight into the business and diverse community we serve in Nova Scotia,” she said.
When Divine first arrived in Canada, she said it was initially very difficult to find work in spite of the fact that she had several degrees including a master’s degree in human resources management. Unemployed for her first two years here, she eventually found work at the Nova Scotia Office of Immigration and spent a year there before she moved on to the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission.
Continue reading this story: click below to login/subscribe
Login or SubscribeComment policy
Comments are moderated to ensure thoughtful and respectful conversations. First and last names will appear with each submission; anonymous comments and pseudonyms will not be permitted.
By submitting a comment, you accept that Atlantic Business Magazine has the right to reproduce and publish that comment in whole or in part, in any manner it chooses. Publication of a comment does not constitute endorsement of that comment. We reserve the right to close comments at any time.