“You must never give up,” says a former dropout turned entrepreneur

After returning to school and several years of hard work in the restaurant industry, a former dropout launched her own bistro-catering business.

“I had memory problems, and it caused me great difficulty in learning. I was behind in math, in French… everywhere. So I decided to drop out of school at 16,” recalls Carol-Ann Duchesne, 29, a resident of Quebec.

Carol-Ann Duchesne launches her bistro-catering business in Quebec.

Photo GABRIEL CÔTÉ

The young woman was not yet at the end of her troubles. Struggling with health problems, she was “unfit to work” for a few years.

“At 18, I was on welfare. It lasted a little over three years. But since I had my own apartment, I still learned to manage a budget, which was very important,” says the woman who is now the mother of a little boy.

Give yourself a goal

Over time, Carol-Ann’s health eventually stabilized, making a return to school possible. “I was able to obtain my secondary school equivalence, then I registered for the DEP in cooking in September 2016,” she relates.

After her course, the Beauport resident worked for several years in restaurants, always with the goal of eventually becoming self-employed.

“It took me 11 years in total, but it was my dream,” she says, with enthusiasm in her voice. “I wandered around quite a bit, both in restaurants and in production. It was the goal I set for myself that gave me the courage to continue in difficult times.”

Undertake

Today, it is clear that the young woman’s patience and efforts have borne fruit: her business, which offers catering services, Un chef dans ta cuisine, has been in service for several months, and the opening of A store is planned for the month of November.


“I have my premises and two employees,” rejoices the entrepreneur, who benefited from the help of the Futurpreneur organization to make her project a reality.

Carol-Ann’s story is a living testimony that a future is possible even for young people who struggle to succeed in school. But this path is not clearly traced, observes the ex-dropout.

“You must never give up, and do everything to find the motivation to continue,” she explains. “When you have a goal, you have a reason to do the studies necessary to achieve it.”

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