Our amazing leader and CEO, Lisa Browne, is celebrating a milestone birthday this week and we want to take a moment to celebrate not only her, but also just some of the accomplishments and progress at Stella’s Circle since her leadership tenure began four years ago. Her successes are our successes and help Stella’s Circle continue to make a difference in the lives of the participants that we serve every day. We are highlighting just a few successes today! And just so you know, she does not know we’re posting this! Fingers crossed she’s good with us bragging about her!

Stella’s Circle is an award-winning organization and during Lisa’s four years she has added to the accolades and acknowledgements. Stella’s Circle has been honoured with a Canada Volunteers Award, the Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Ethics, NL Employer’s Council Path To Distinction Award, Music NL Community Impact Award and an  Excellence and Flanker Award from the Memorial University School of Social Work. She is also pretty award-winning herself – she has been named in the Top 50 CEO’s in Atlantic Canada for the last two years!

All those accolades are not just lip service, they are backed by wisdom, courage, innovation and hard work. Lisa has guided the organization to develop important policies and guidelines that take our governance to the next level. Under her leadership, our social enterprises are continuing to grow and thrive. Lisa has led the entire organization through a strategic planning process which has been propelling us forward so we can continue to be a leading-edge organization and meet the needs of our participants. There are also research projects in the works that are incredibly innovative! We are partnering with an organization to develop digital technology to help our participants improve labour market attachment. Another research project currently underway, is helping us determine how to best serve seniors in our community who need both mental & physical health support. These advancements will not only help our Stella’s Circle participants but also our entire community as a whole!

Now, Lisa would be the first to say that none of these accomplishments would be possible without our incredible team of dedicated Stella’s Circle staff! Did you know that Lisa personally writes each employee a card for the holidays? Lisa not only values employees, but also includes them in decision making, whether it is through strategic planning or through regular brainstorming sessions. Stella’s Circle is a pretty amazing place to work and our dedicated employees are proud to be part of the work that happens at this socially conscious, community organization. We know they are proud to work here, because, in an internal survey completed in November 2018, 100% of survey respondents somewhat or strongly agreed with the statement: “I am proud of the work I do”. Wow. 100%.

Overall Lisa is committed to making a difference in the lives of our 1000 participants through housing counselling and employment programs and services. A hand up, not a handout, is a basic philosophy of the organization and we believe in recovery and the individual’s ability to change their lives with support and guidance.

Thank you Lisa for continuing to be our fearless leader and helping us make our community a better place for all. Happy Birthday!