Mélanie La Couture has never feared taking on new challenges. This year, in May, it was a homecoming for Mélanie when she was named chief executive officer of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, succeeding Madeleine Careau. Previously, for 11 years, she held various positions within the OSM, including that of Chief Operating Officer from 2007 to 2013.
In 2013, Mélanie became the CEO of the Montreal Heart Institute Foundation and subsequently, in 2017, she was appointed CEO of the ICM. At both the OSM and the ICM, she considers herself fortunate to have worked alongside people who were passionate and whose goal was excellence in their field.
On September 11, 2001, in New York, she experienced the terrorist attack that killed nearly 3,000 people and injured more than 6,000 others.
You experienced the terrorist attack in New York.
I was a strategic advisor for Deloitte in Boston, but on September 11, 2001, work called me to New York, across the street from the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
How did you react ?
My office was at the World Financial Center facing the opposite side of the Twin Towers. Our building started to shake, but we had no idea that a first plane had crashed into one of the towers.
You didn’t evacuate the building!
NO. The leaders told us that our safety was not in danger. Suddenly, the terrifying sound of the second plane crashing into the second tower bursts into my ears. Quickly, I left the building.
What is the terrible scene that awaited you in front of the two towers?
Smoke, people jumping out of windows to escape and crowds of people running in the streets to take refuge. The sky was a beautiful blue that I had never seen before and have never seen since.
The worst was yet to come.
I quickly turn around seeing the crushing of the two towers. I am very moved by sharing this horrible vision that I had before my eyes.
Three days to return to Montreal.
I slept at a friend’s house before taking the train the next day to Boston. Afterwards, I rented a car to return to Montreal.
You cried in your father’s arm.
Once in Montreal, I quickly went to my father’s office. When I opened the door to his office, for the first time since those tragic days began, I cried. Yes, in my father’s arms.
Let’s go back to your youth and tell me about your parents.
My father, Jean, and my mother, Francine, are celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary this year. They have allowed my brother, Jean-Philippe, and me to live in a safe environment filled with love. My father supported me, guided me and advised me in my career as a businesswoman. While my mother has always been there to build my confidence without forgetting her precious words of love to help me better understand my love life.
You grew up in the Duvernay area of Laval.
I lived in Duvernay until the end of my primary school. I still remember playing roller hockey and baseball in the streets of Duvernay with the guys or playing tennis, swimming and playing field hockey at the park.
You attended the Michelet school located in Montreal North.
Maths and French classes dominated at this school, which allowed me to break through in my choice of studies and work. Fridays were ballet classes, but even today, my brother likes to tease me by pointing out that I wasn’t too elegant.
From Laval to Outremont, a change of culture.
Here is the girl who is used to playing sports with the boys in the street who now has to adapt to taking the bus to go for a walk on Sainte-Catherine Street, which my mother did not approve of.
Pensionnat du Saint-Nom-de-Marie is a private French-speaking secondary school for girls.
Once you finish primary school, there will be a change in your life. Today I realize that going to that school was the best thing that happened to me as a teenager.
You were close to your maternal grandmother.
I went to her house on weekends in Laval. We played cards and I tasted chocolate. I had so many wonderful times, until the day I saw my father walking past the school, it wasn’t his habit. He was waiting for me at home to tell me that my grandmother had died.
Your chemistry teacher left his mark on your life.
She taught me the importance of life sciences, which allowed me to become an engineer after my short stint questioning my life at Brébeuf CEGEP.
You have a degree in industrial engineering from Polytechnique Montréal and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario.
It opened doors for me in my career as a businesswoman. I had to advise men on the operation of machinery as part of their work. Oddly enough, I thought I was more important than I was in their eyes.
You changed the interior decorations of a trailer.
I was working for a construction contractor. The men greeted me the first day, not knowing it was for being a woman. The walls of the trailer were covered in somewhat racy pictures of women. The next day, there were no pictures on the wall. I still laugh about it today.
Your daughter is your reason for living.
Last week she graduated from the Saint-Nom-de-Marie Boarding School, just like I did in my youth. She is without a doubt the most important person in my life.
