Anne McShane champions wellness for all in her Saint John community
Ever since Anne McShane opened The Feel Good Store in 2001, she has been bringing her wellness message to the Saint John , N.B. community in more ways than one.
This year, McShane was recognized by the BMO Celebrating Women Program in the Community and Charitable Giving category. The nationwide program is dedicated to honouring remarkable women for their contributions to their communities.
Other Saint John honourees were Erika Jones, owner of Team Jones Royal LePage Atlantic, in the Expansion and Growth in Small Business category; and Wendy Southworth, CEO of Priority Personnel Inc. in the same category.
As the owner of a wellness store, supporting the community is something that comes naturally to McShane. “I’m immersed in an area where people from different socioeconomic groups come into the store with concerns about their health,” she says. “You can’t help but be involved.”
She confesses to always having a bit of an activist streak. She had a huge wake-up call when she and her high school friend travelled to Quebec City for the Summit of the Americas in 2001 to accompany another student who was protesting. “We were just going to visit the cafés while she protested, but everywhere we went we were getting gassed. I was so mad I came back and wrote a commentary that I sent out to the media, and CBC asked me to go on the air and read it. It turned out to be really exciting.”
Since then, McShane’s involvement in important community issues has gone well beyond putting her thoughts in writing, and she has become a non-politician fixture in the Saint John municipal scene.
While serving on the Uptown Saint John board, for example, she created an environment committee called Green Feet that brought the city’s first bike lane linking the University of New Brunswick campus and the uptown area. She was also involved with the citizen advisory committee for the city’s municipal plan, which won a national award for municipal innovation. The important part of that exercise, she says, was restoring people’s trust in the process.
“It wasn’t easy to get citizens to buy in on a new plan or new report. From that, a lot of ambassadors emerged for different pieces, which I found gratifying. We started to connect them all, and I’ve seen it continue ever since.”
During her time on the city’s planning advisory committee, she worked on a new municipal planning initiative. “Embedding the proposed changes into the community was definitely a learning curve,” she says.
As a business owner, McShane feels she brings a unique perspective to the table. “In my first meeting sitting with lawyers, HR people and accountants, I remember thinking, ‘What does a little girl from a brickand-mortar store have to offer?’ ”
She quickly realized it was the ability to speak to community issues from both a business and a personal perspective.
“I work in the store and talk to people very day,” she says. “I could tell them, ‘Here’s what things look like on the ground,’ and help bridge an important gap.”
While she has been approached to enter politics, McShane says she is happier working for her community at a grassroots level. “Livability in the community is my goal,” she explains. “How do we maintain our infrastructure while making it livable for everyone? I think that’s an important conversation to have. We can’t just get caught up in the economics.”
She feels her involvement has also helped her get more in touch with her community and its issues. “It’s all about building a good community. That is vital to wellness.”
For anyone in the community involvement process, McShane offers an important piece of advice. “I still remember the first board table I sat at, with my pottery mug and a lot of men in suits,” she recalls. “What I appreciated was that they gave me space to have my first conversation. For anyone doing it for a while, make sure you give some space for someone else to get there.”
LIVABILITY IN THE COMMUNITY IS MY GOAL. HOW DO WE MAINTAIN OUR INFRASTRUCTURE WHILE MAKING IT LIVABLE FOR EVERYONE? I THINK THAT’S AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION TO HAVE. WE CAN’T JUST GET CAUGHT UP IN THE ECONOMICS.
— ANNE MCSHANE, BMO CELEBRATING WOMEN HONOUREE