Roxanne Sarrazin

Roxanne Sarrazin says the Sobey EMBA experience helped her realize that community and support networks are essential to success. The combination of a challenging program and an unexpected pandemic led to difficult circumstances, but she says her colleagues were understanding, and recognized the need to balance child care and home life with EMBA obligations. 

Roxanne says she is proud that she managed to finish the EMBA despite the difficult circumstances. “People often ask how you manage,” she says. “How do you go back to school for your EMBA during a pandemic with three children at home? The answer is you just do it. It’s the resiliency you don’t realize you have that comes into play.”  

Were it not for the support of her cohort, Roxanne doesn’t think she would have been able to complete the EMBA. Owing to her background in education, she took on a leadership role when it came to organizing study sessions with her EMBA colleagues, bringing people together and strengthening their sense of community. Members of her team were located in Halifax, Maine, New Brunswick, and Pictou County, but they adapted to the remote environment, shifting meetings to Zoom to ensure they could continue to work together.  

Roxanne pursued the EMBA to change sectors after several years as a teacher, and looks forward to the next steps in her journey. What’s next now that she has completed her EMBA? “Running the world,” she jokes. With a deep background in education and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), she is considering starting an EDI-focused consulting company with some of her EMBA colleagues, or pursuing computer science-related opportunities.