Businesswoman tops awards

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This article was published 09/05/2019 (2353 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Michelle Budiwski overcame a cocaine addiction and survived numerous suicide attempts to become a successful businesswoman and motivational speaker.

On Wednesday, Budiwski, who is Métis, received the entrepreneur award at the Interprovincial Association on Native Employment (IANE) Westman Champions of Aboriginal Employment Awards luncheon at the Victoria Inn.

Awards were also presented to Winmar Brandon and Assiniboine Community College president Mark Frison.

“It’s an honour to be recognized, but more importantly I see it as a way of giving other people hope,” Budiwski, who lives in Rivers, said in an interview on Tuesday. “That it doesn’t matter where you’ve come from, or it doesn’t matter what’s happened to you. None of that matters. All that matters is where you want to go, and anything is possible.”

Budiwski, 44, has been free of drugs for 18 years, after waking up in hospital following her most recent suicide attempt.

“This award is proof positive that if I can do it, anyone can do it, and I’m hoping that others will see it and know that they can do it, too,” she said.

Now married with four children, Budiwski owns Escape: The Final Countdown on Princess Avenue, a Brandon escape room she opened in August 2016.

She started a portable version of the escape room in the summer of 2017, where she brought the game directly to clients, from community and corporate events to fairs and Christmas parties, in some cases travelling as far as Winnipeg and Saskatchewan.

While the Brandon business is now for sale, Budiwski is also the owner of Butterfly Consultations, a bookkeeping and small-business management company and teaches aerobics three times a week at a fitness studio she owns in Rivers.

She also runs the website Real Westman and founded the publishing company Chrysalis Publications, which recently released her first book of poetry, “Butterfly Dreams.” The book chronicles her journey and past recovery from drug addiction.

“It’s important to not only remember where you’ve come from, but to use your story to help others who are going through it,” she said.

“I figure I’m still around for some reason, and it’s kind of my mission to use what I have now to help others,” said Budiwski, who speaks at numerous venues.

Budiwski was only 19 when she was first introduced to the world of business ownership after purchasing a restaurant in The Pas where she had worked since she was 13. She was born in Thompson but grew up in The Pas.

“I’ve always seen business as a way of making a difference in my life,” she said. “I didn’t see a big future working for somebody else. I needed to get out of the north, and I needed to get out of where I was in my life and I thought having my own business would do that.”

Scott Rose and Bryan Dudek opened their first Winmar franchise in Winnipeg in 2011 before opening the Brandon operation in 2014 as a 100 per cent Aboriginally owned franchise. Winmar is a national property-restoration company.

Rose, who was born in Fort Frances, Ont., is a member of Couchiching First Nation.

He sits on the board of the Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce, as well as on the executive board of the Honourable Order of the Blue Goose, Manitoba Pond.

In accepting the business award on behalf of Winmar, Dudek noted the company offers a training program to northern Manitoba First Nations, where students learn how to restore homes that are damaged by mould or fire.

“It was very well-received,” he told the audience, adding that having trained people in the community is far less expensive than being in a restoration company from outside.

Frison, who received the individual award, said there is a need in Canada to break the prosperity gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, and ACC has a role to play in that.

While 23 per cent of ACC’s graduates are Indigenous, he said, “we know we need to do a lot more.”

The nomination noted ACC employs Indigenous people and seeks input from the Indigenous community. It is also involved in Indigenous education initiatives and has an Indigenous resource guide and staff to support students as well as a visiting Elders program.

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