The Vancouver Board of Trade
Dr. Farah Remtulla – Dentist at Dr Terry Mah Inc.
Nominator: Amy Hwang
Farah is a staunch advocate of promoting women into decision-making roles, and leads by example through her board work. She is also passionate about improving access to dental care. Farah has provided dental care to troubled youth at the Burnaby Youth Custody Centre in Burnaby, and in 2009 was awarded the Dental Undergraduate Society Award in recognition of her commitment to volunteer dentistry in the Bronx, New York. Most recently, Farah volunteered three months of her time with Aga Khan Health Services in Tanzania , where she set up a dental clinic which now offers the highest standard of dental care in the country.. In this short period of time, Farah overcame what she initially felt were insurmountable challenges: finding her voice as a young female leader in a male dominated workplace, creating a social movement to motivate complacent staff members to strive towards excellence, mentoring a local dentist whose skill level was
overwhelmingly sub-par on North American standards, equipping an empty clinic to be fully operational and teaching herself Swahili in order to be more effective as a leader.
Q: What advice would you give to young women looking to establish and grow their career?
Find as many sources of inspiration as you can in books, podcasts, and people: when you live in awe, growth is inevitable.
Q: What is the most daunting challenge you have faced in your career? Trying to get a start-up dental clinic in Tanzania fully operational in a three-month period. As a young female foreigner it was very challenging to find my voice as a leader, to incentivize the staff to work, and to bring my mentee’s dental skills up to North American standards.
Q: How do you define success?
I prefer to think of success in terms of the journey: immense, all-permeating joy, characterized by days on which I feel compelled to dance while brushing my teeth. I feel successful when my activities reflect my values to the highest degree.
via The Wendy McDonald Awards and The Vancouver Board of Trades Programs
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