Career lessons from women leaders at Longo’s, Metro, Loblaw and more
There’s no secret to success. But at Canadian Grocer’s 2026 Star Women in Grocery event, leaders credited their career growth to a mindset grounded in humility, courage and collaboration.
At the International Centre in Toronto on Thursday (Sept. 24), attendees heard from keynote speaker Deb Craven, president of Longo’s and 2021 Star Women in Grocery winner, and Sandra Sanderson, former chief marketing officer of Empire Company Ltd. and 2026 Star Women in Grocery Icon Award winner.
The event also included a panel discussion with 2026 winners Sarah Boyles, director of customer sales planning, Kraft Heinz Canada; Rishma Hudda, head of human resources, General Mills; Rebecca Lu, senior director, capital and merchandise planning, Loblaw Companies Ltd.; and Annie St-Laurent, vice-president, private label, Metro Inc.
Read on to hear what they had to say about leadership.
The following quotes have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Find the shared goal
Annie St-Laurent: “One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced was helping people see private brands differently. In the past, private brands were seen as a low-price alternative to other products. Making my vision a reality required support from everyone in the organization, as well as vendors and colleagues. Everyone has different priorities, so that was difficult to combine. What I've learned is that people don’t just rally behind the idea because it's yours. They rally behind the idea when there's a shared goal.”
Lean into the uncomfortable
Rishma Hudda: “Getting to that stage where you feel comfortable voicing your thoughts comes with time, experience, credibility and confidence. Early on in your career, especially in HR, you’re trying to build relationships. You don't want to rock the boat with anyone or have someone think that you're challenging them too much. What I realized early on is that your role is not necessarily to agree with leaders all the time, but to challenge them and to help them better their decision making. Those tough questions, the uncomfortableness—that's where the best dialog happens and where most of the best decisions come from.”
Ask for help
Rebecca Lu: “I have experienced many moments of insecurity in my career. Sometimes it's about the work I'm doing and whether I've taken the right approach. Other times, I leave a meeting and wonder if I said the right thing or if I said too much or too little. And other times, the implications are larger; I wonder if I made the right decision for my career. Early on in my career, I was an overthinker. I went through every scenario over and over until I was confident in my decision. As you can imagine, that becomes more difficult the more work you have and the more decisions you have to make. So I started relying on other people, turning to others for their perspective, for their advice. And over time, I recognized that asking for help is not a sign of weakness—it's how you accumulate knowledge.”
Embrace change
Sarah Boyles: “I started my career in traditional sales, where the path was really clear, the expectations were really clear and, frankly, it aligned with my skill sets. So when I was presented with an opportunity to move from an external role to an internal role, it was met with apprehension. It felt like I was starting all over again. But then I remembered two things. The first one is that I have survived 100% of the change I've ever experienced in my life. That's a pretty compelling statistic. Number two, I genuinely love to learn.
“Was it perfect? No. Was it uncomfortable? Yes. Did I make a lot of mistakes? Absolutely. But I'm always falling forward, and it's always in service of growth. The biggest discovery about myself through that process was that I could figure out just about anything—not instantly, not perfectly, but through a willingness to ask uncomfortable questions. What I do know is that another transition will happen. It'll be another opportunity for a change and a new challenge. And this time it will be met with an eagerness to grow and to adapt and grow.”
Be the person who steps up
Deb Craven: “Jump in. Take on those messy projects that nobody else wants to take on, make the changes happen, dive into it. It is such an incredible journey, and also make sure you've got really, really good people around you to help you with it. That's how you're going to be successful. Be comfortable with not knowing everything, and leave things better than you found them.”
Believe in yourself
Sandra Sanderson: “Embrace the power of ‘yet.’ Throughout my career, I have been asked to lead things that I had no experience in. I walked into so many rooms where I felt completely out of my depth, and whenever my inner voice would say, ‘I don't know how to do this,’ I learned to add one small but powerful word to that sentence: ‘yet.’ I don't know how to do that yet. That single word reframes every challenge. It's the difference between seeing a wall ahead of you and seeing a doorway ahead of you. It's the belief that your talents can continue to develop and to expand, whether you're just starting out in your career or you're a seasoned executive, give yourself the opportunity to learn and the courage to grow.”
