Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • CFO of the Year
    • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Bioplastics Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • PFAS Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
    • Europe - Virgin
    • Europe - Recycled
    • Europe - Feedstock
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
July 25, 2018 02:00 AM

Leneveu finds new possibilities in plastics

Jordan Vitick
Special Projects Editor
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Emilie Leneveu
    Leneveu

    The original plan was not for Emilie Leneveu to go into sales.

    The 20-year-old studied biotechnology at Loyalist College in Belleville, Ontario, and gave the valedictorian address at convocation. She calls herself a "huge chemistry girl."

    "When I started looking up roles and responsibilities that were associated with sales, I realized a lot of my personality traits matched sales a lot more than with things like teaching and scientific discovery and innovation and all these things. … I think it was really finding a job that was able to connect with my skills but was more able to connect with my personality, and I think that's how I kind of fell into sales," said the agricultural sales coordinator at Sigma Agriculture, Sigma Stretch Film.

    "The thing I love most about sales is the 'going after it' kind of aspect. … Having those measurable goals just really helps me and pushes me to strive to be the best sales coordinator I can be," she added.

    Leneveu considers her Loyalist College program coordinator and professor Karen Holder to be her mentor and prime influence in her professional career. She showed Leneveu a scrapbook from when Holder was younger that showed lists of potential jobs for boys and girls to check off for what they want to be when they grow up. Jobs for women were nurse, mother, teacher and baker, for example.

    "We had this conversation, Karen and I, and I was like, 'That's so sad. I'm so happy we have so much more equality in our time now.' And she was like, 'Well, have we, Emilie?' And when we reflect on it, realistically, it's kind of the same thing," she said.

    "Sure, it's not just nurses and mothers and bakers and homemakers … but in science and math and computers you might not see as many women, so the divide is still there. … I think from that moment forward our relationship took off and we worked on a lot of projects together."

    In addition to her work at Sigma, Leneveu is a program coordinator and volunteer for Let's Talk Science, and former francophone social media coordinator and alumni of Youth Science Canada. She is also in training to be a mental health speaker for Jack.org, a Canadian nonprofit organization focused on mental health and prevention of suicide.

    Leneveu said that although the industry has room for improvement in terms of equality, she feels that Sigma has provided her with ample opportunities to showcase her strengths and she hopes other companies will follow suit with their own employees.

    "I've been given great opportunities to utilize my strengths within the company but still see such inequality within the industry as a whole. I had a conversation with my supervisor, Patrick Gagnon, director of agricultural sales, domestic and exports, the other day and he, too, sees the divide between women and decision-making in our field of work," she said. "Both being curious in nature, we postulated over why this might be. I think that that reveals the true problem, as far as I am aware, we may understand the roots of inequality, but not fully why inequity continues to stem from them."

    What advice would she give to a woman who might have not considered plastics industry as a possible career path?

    "I would suggest to take every career possibility into consideration based on their personality," she said. "Just do what makes you happy and fits your personality. I think a role in the plastics industry is one that is super adaptable to any personality, and that is what is so great about the plastics industry."

    Read more about Women Breaking the Mold, and find links to other profiles.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Plastics Industry Association, Radoszewski file paperwork to settle legal battles
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Dow moving ahead with $6.5B Path2Zero project
    2
    A tale of two industries for compounders at close of 2023
    3
    TC Transcontinental closing flexible packaging plant
    4
    Kickstart: Quieter pickleball play
    5
    Numbers That Matter Live November 2023: Will plastics markets recover in 2024?
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Find more newsletters at plasticsnews.com/newsletters.

    You can unsubscribe at any time through links in these emails. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • CFO of the Year
        • Notable Leaders in Sustainability
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
      • Podcasts
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics Caps + Closures: A Global Online Event
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Bioplastics Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • PFAS Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
      • Europe - Virgin
      • Europe - Recycled
      • Europe - Feedstock
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified