By Alison DeLory

Dream-chaser and food truck owner, Natalie Chavarie, BA’96.

Advice: At some point we’ve all been told what to think, say or do. And while it’s sometimes predictable, occasionally a nugget rings so true that it resurfaces in our lives as we tackle problems, make decisions or manage situations. Here, Dalhousie alumni share the best advice they’ve received, from simple to surprising to sublime.

 1. It all adds up. “‘Don’t cut corners.’ This advice was given to me when I was a high performance athlete,” says Julia Rivard, BRec’99, who was a sprint canoeist on the national team and competed in the Sydney Olympics in 2000. “Keeping this little instruction in my head helped me always put in just a little bit of extra effort into the small things which compound over time leading to great improvements.” Today she’s a partner in Norex, a Halifax-based web development company. “I think that if we all just try to push a little bit harder on the small things every day, the ultimate result is a great gain.”

2. In and out. Janet MacEwen, who attended Dal’s Theatre program in the early 1980s, has breathed life into many roles, whether on Broadway playing Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast and The Bird Woman in Mary Poppins, as Grizabella in CATS at Halifax’s Neptune Theatre, and Marilla Cuthbert in Anne of Green Gables at The Charlottetown Festival. She’s also a teacher, producer and musician/singer-songwriter. While she’s received much invaluable advice from directors over the years, the most useful is the simplest: Don’t forget to breathe. “Breathing is life. Breathing is freedom to speak your mind and therefore tell the story. When actors and singers don’t breathe they are usually caught in that mind trap of fear and apprehension called stage fright,” says MacEwen. “A breath-supported voice is a confident voice that carries the story to the back of the house.”

3. Focus on what matters. Krista Connell, BSc (Physiotherapy)’82, is chief executive officer of the Nova Scotia Health Research Foundation. She says, “When I was in my first few years at Dalhousie University, my father would end his letters to me with ‘Study your lessons, say your prayers and keep away from the boys!'” At the time Connell thought this silly and old fashioned. “However, as I progressed in my career and in life I began to understand what he was really saying was that I should apply myself to my work, stay true to myself and my values, and avoid unnecessary distractions when pursuing my goals.”

4. Perspective helps. “One of my older patients told me years ago that if time or money can fix it, it is not really a problem. I have reminded myself of that several times over the years,” says Dr. Deb Schwartz, DDS’96, who now lives in Calgary.

5. Care. “The best piece of career advice I have ever received is to do work that interests me,” says Dr. Lihui Zhang, PhD (Economics)’10. Dr. Zhang is currently assistant professor of economics at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina. “When I was trying to decide on the topics for my PhD thesis, which consists of three different essays [on the determinants of criminal behaviour in children and youth], often I debated among several alternatives.” Dr. Zhang’s thesis committee challenged her to figure out where her interests lay, and in so doing her choices became clear.

6. Actually, really care. “Some good advice I received was to have hardcore perseverance and creativity,” says Natalie Chavarie, BA’06. She calls upon those attributes as owner of The Food Wolf, a Korean-Mexican food truck in Halifax. Perseverance helps her wade through the by-laws regulating the food truck market, while creativity helps her collaborate with her chef on products like Wolf’s K-Dog: a Korean-inspired hot dog served with kimchi and Korean garnishes. Realizing her dream of being an entrepreneur means Chavarie works a second job as a civil servant for income security. “Be ready to fund your own dreams,” is advice she’d give others.

7. Be fueled by love. Dr. Neil MacKinnon, BSc (Pharm)’93, a former Dalhousie professor (1999-2011), is currently dean of the James L. Winkle College of Pharmacy at the University of Cincinnati in Ohio. Dr. MacKinnon says the best advice he received was something he read: “Love God, and love others, in that order, is the practical advice that Christ gave.” Dr. MacKinnon says Thomas McCulloch, the first principal of Dalhousie College from 1838-1843, lived by this tenet. A passionate author, naturalist, ornithologist, teacher and advocate for accessible public education, McCulloch still inspires others like Dr. MacKinnon 200 years later.

8. Look to the horizon. Faten Alshazly, BSc (AdvancedCS)’99, both follows and offers this advice to others: Do something that you love. Having a job is different than building a career. She says people should see beyond the short term and instead focus on their five- to 10- year goals. “The long-term horizon provides for a much brighter future.” Alshazly has her own Halifax-based advertising and communications agency called WeUsThem Inc.

9. Slow down. Dr. Rick Raftus, DDS’86, is a dentist in Enfield, N.S. He’s been a part-time instructor in the Dalhousie Faculty of Dentistry for 26 years. Dr. Bob Hoar was his instructor in second year. “He would always remind me to take my time and learn to do a procedure well before trying to do it quickly,” Dr. Raftus says. Dr. Bill MacInnis, who later became dean and was known for his catchphrases, said something similar to Dr. Raftus: “‘You never have time to do it right but you always have time to do it over.’ I have always remembered these words.”

10. Focus. Dr. Rhonda Church, MD’87, got her best advice from her children’s swimming coach. “Heading into a big race there were always plenty of nerves about what lane they were in, the swimmer in the next lane or the temperature of the water. A former coach—and Dal grad—used to tell the kids, ‘The only thing you can control is how fast you swim.’” Dr. Church is a medical consultant at MSI (Nova Scotia’s Medical Services Insurance Programs). Her interpretation of this coach’s message? “Stay focused on the task at hand and ignore the background noise when faced with a difficult decision,” she says.

11. & 12. Be uncomfortable. Casey Binkley, BMgmt’10, and Mitchell Lesbirel, BMgmt’12, invented the FastRack beer-bottling system, a product to collect, store and dry empties—and made a deal on CBC’s Dragons’ Den to bring it to market. They both received advice that pushed them to go for it: “Don’t listen to people who say something is impossible. With a little hard work, some strategic thinking and a willingness to step outside the box, everything is possible,” says Binkley. “If you are not uncomfortable, you are not learning fast enough,” says Lesbirel.

13. Dream big. Gillian Yates, BScN’91, MN’05, is a nurse practitioner and adjunct professor at the Dalhousie School of Nursing. “Early in my career, a manager invited me to describe my professional goals. She advised me to dream big, and not to worry about the money or politics as that was her job. Many years and two degrees later, I now work as a nurse practitioner in cardiology. I continue to dream big and recently achieved one of my lifelong goals, volunteering in Haiti.”

14. Have purpose and passion. Pat Ryan, DEng’81, BEng(TUNS)’83, says his inspiration came from his grandfather and father (both Nova Scotians) who lamented the outmigration of young, educated and skilled workers. That didn’t sit right with Ryan either so he set out to create jobs and opportunity in N.S. He founded Neocon, a company designing unique automotive parts for companies including Ford, Toyota and Honda. His dad also told him to work with purpose—that it’s not what you do or how you do it, but why you do it that’s key. And one of his earliest bosses, another engineer, advised him to not only make presentations with facts and figures, but to deliver his ideas with passion.

15. Don’t dilly-dally. Candy Palmater, LLB’99, is a professional comic, actor and writer. She’s also an activist for women’s, gay and Native rights, an international speaker, and host of The Candy Show on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Palmater practised labour and Aboriginal law before entering show business. “The most important piece of advice I received came from my mother. When I was a teenager she said, ‘Candy, I’ll tell you one thing—it goes really fast. I was 17 and now I’m 70. Don’t dilly-dally.'” Palmater says it’s resonated throughout her life, from going to law school when she was 27, to then leaving law to go into comedy. “People thought I needed to be committed but I’ve never wasted my time. I’ve never worked where I didn’t want to work and I’ve never stayed in a relationship I didn’t want to be in.”