Monique Forsyth’s career as a business woman was decided early on. Growing up in Sudbury, the co-owner of Northern Voice & Data Inc. knew she wanted to contribute to the business community, and often spent time working alongside her father, a supervisor in the food industry who travelled for work.
“He had book work to do when he came home and I would do all his adding on the adding machine,” Forsyth laughed. “It’s just what I liked to do.”
That early prescience has followed Forsyth through her career, which began with part-time work as a receptionist and blossomed to part ownership in Northern Voice & Data Inc. The Sudbury-based business offers communications, networking and cabling services to local and national clients.
Forsyth and her company have been recognized for their contributions to the business community with a Northern Ontario Business Award, a Greater Sudbury Woman of Distinction Award and a Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Her career actually began thanks to her mother, who saw an advertisement in a local newspaper and encouraged her daughter to apply for the receptionist position at what sounded like an “up-and-coming company.” Forsyth knew nothing about phones, but had experience as an office worker and decided to give it a shot.
Moving quickly through the company, Forsyth’s four-hour-a-day work week only lasted two weeks before she was brought in full-time, and she worked in a variety of different departments, eventually landing at the head of the customer service department. In 1993, she and Gates Poulin, her current partner, along with two other partners, were given an opportunity to purchase the company.
Northern Voice & Data Inc. has gone through a number of changes, purchasing and selling divisions of the company, but Forsyth sees fluidity as a good thing. She believes staying positive, taking advantage of opportunities and being open to change have led her to where she is today.
“You have to always be open to opportunities—not just possibilities, but opportunities—and if you don’t have an open mind or you don’t see that, then that’s sometimes where you don’t move forward,” said Forsyth, who believes in conducting herself, in business and in life, with honesty and integrity.
The best compliment any business owner can receive, she said, is repeat business, testimonials and referrals.
A self-described organizer who loves people, Forsyth’s name has become synonymous with hard work and generosity, and she has given her time to a number of organizations throughout her career. She has been a member of the Business and Professional Women of Sudbury for 22 years, for which she is currently serving a two-year term as president. Since she came on as president, she has watched membership double over the last year.
She has additionally been a member of the Associated Canadian Travellers/United Commercial Travelers of America since 1989; she sat on the original 1994 board for Child Find; and she was a director of the Canadian Special Olympics in 1998.
Participating in the community has long held significance for Forsyth. Whether it was through school activities, her church, or through the influence of early business mentors, she has found personal satisfaction working with like-minded people who are eager to make the community a better place.
Being involved keeps abreast of what’s going on in the community, but she also sees giving back as a responsibility.
“The community has given me a lot in my business,” she said. “The community is who I deal with in my business, so therefore I look at it as a responsibility to give back to my community. Both my partner and I feel very strongly about that.”
A wife and mother of two, Forsyth said it’s been easier to make commitments later on in her career now that her sons are grown and on their own. But it can be difficult to say no when she’s asked for help and admits it’s something she’s still learning to master.
Yet, just as helping the community is important, finding balance and learning to take time for herself has been equally important.
An avid traveller; Australia, Portugal, France and Scotland are among the destinations she and her husband have explored. Travel has been her compensation for her hard work and contributions to the community.
“I know too many people who save until they retire and then never get a chance to enjoy it,” Forsyth said. “I’ve seen a lot of the world, and I plan to see a lot more. Life doesn’t wait for you.”
