Woman runs business with the heart and spirit

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'I do my best work under pressure.'

This is a phrase most people have heard, but when it comes from a vibrant Metis woman sitting in a wheelchair, the phrase means just what it implies.

Brenda Belhomme-Giesbrecht is planning on giving it her all in the volunteer management sector with her new company. The Aboriginal Development Network Enhancement Recruitment Business, or ADNERB, is her dream job come true.

"Ask a disabled person how they get through a day because their answer may change your life," said Giesbrecht. She firmly believes the disabled have much to offer and they need a unique opportunity to express themselves.

Giesbrecht's goal is to bring the Aboriginal and the non-Aboriginal communities together by involving disabled Aboriginal people. After facing many challenges herself, Giesbrecht knew she could develop programs for the disabled that would give them direction.

Geisbrecht was inspired after she graduated from Grant MacEwan Community College in 1998 with a diploma in Management of Volunteers. While she attended the program, Geisbrecht said she had to deal with stereotypes and racism. She was the only disabled Aboriginal woman in the program that year. The experience only made her work harder to overcome what some might perceive as barriers.

A successful work practicum with the Provincial Museum of Alberta, where she developed a volunteer program, encouraged her further.

"I don't believe every disabled person should only be working, but there is a way for us to contribute," stated Giesbrecht. The Metis woman is also working on a program that incorporates creative expression through art and dance for disabled people in wheelchairs. The dance group will be called Brave Flight, but Giesbrecht said she is not intending to give all her ideas away just yet.

"I don't want to feel like I'm part of an oppressed race as an Aboriginal woman and because I'm disabled. I'm not oppressed and I'm not dying. I love life," said Giesbrecht. She believes life is not one long even road. Instead, she sees it as journey where people continue their struggles to find balance in their lives.

"I've been given an awful lot of blessings and it's time to give back," she said. Her son and husband inspire and encourage her in the work she has chosen, she said.

Geisbrecht's office for ADNERB is set up in her home and she is currently in the process of garnering some contracts for volunteer management.

While keeping busy working on her business, the determined Metis woman is also a board member for the Capital Health Authority, north central region. Her term on the health board is for two years.

Geisbrecht is excited about being able to contribute to the board on matters that affect Aboriginal health. At one time in her life Geisbrecht was on a totally different level than her fellow board members.

"These were people that I was trying to get a bedpan or a wheelchair from. Now I'm sitting at the same table," said Geisbrecht.

Geisbrecht is the role model poster woman for EmployAbilities, a public education campaign that promotes ability rather than disability. Last fall her photograph was plastered on billboards around Edmonton. The caption on the billboard read 'Hired for my ability - not disability.'

Geisbrecht worked for EmployAbilities for several months, but left to follow her dream of developing ADNERB.

"The issue for me is helping heal the disabled Aboriginal people. It's about checking out options," said Giesbrecht.