He got his dream job on a dare somewhere he never expected and found his way home with a business school education. Leon Picha is a member of the Kwantlen First Nation who lives in Vancouver after spending the last four years in Montreal getting his bachelor’s degree at McGill. Picha works as a business analyst at Deloitte on a team called Nation Building Advisories, bridging an old corporation and Indigenous realities. When he’s not working, he spends time with his sister who is an artist, helping her weave and watching her paint.

His career path to get to Deloitte has been winding. He started off at the front counter and then manager at McDonald’s. He went to university on scholarships and one of the scholarship requirements was to do an internship in a different category every summer: community development, community public policy and enterprise. The pandemic threw a wrench in his plans to work with a non profit in London but the next summer he applied to the Federal Student Work Experience Program where he worked with the Department of National Defence. Then, he applied to Deloitte’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion position when a friend dared him to and he went along with it and it turned out to be the best decision. He ended up getting hired to work with Deloitte Indigenous, and he wanted to continue on at the firm. A partner at the firm wanted him to join the team he’s on now after he graduated and that’s how he came to find his place doing exciting work he enjoys.

Neither of his parents had worked in the private sector and he didn’t have a business school mentor to look up to so he feels fortunate to end up where he has. He was reluctant at first about the extractive nature of business but he did manage to find a role that was a fit and people who believed in him along the way. “Having somebody who believes in you is honestly amazing, because it helps you take away those hard feelings that you have about yourself. Because somebody told me a little while ago that you're always your hardest critic, and I think that's so true, but then when you have other people countering that voice in your head, it just means that you're going to reach for the stars,” he explains.

Picha always enjoyed school and rising to a challenge. Attending a small elementary school in Richmond, he struggled with pronunciation and was in speech therapy. A strict but motivating grade five teacher was a key player in his educational journey. He enjoyed working in the cafeteria in high school and fun, describing himself as goofy. In university, he learned a range of topics in his first two years before he focused on his major. What he really enjoyed was a class called the art of narrative where he got to explore a range of stories. He loved pursuing his interests in university and thriving.

As a kid, he used to dream of travelling, building itineraries for trips online of all the places he wanted to go. Now, in his job, he’s getting to fulfil some of those dreams, flying all over the country to attend events and speak. Through his perseverance, he’s making his childhood dreams come true.

His advice for students thinking about leaving their community to learn abroad is that it’s a hard decision, in his experience. He didn’t intend to leave, but he won the Loran Scholarship, the largest undergraduate scholarship in Canada. His reference submitted hours before the deadline, he was invited to the semifinals, then the finals, and then he won and found that he had to redeem it outside his home province. His tuition would be waived up to $11,000 a year but he had to travel somewhere else, something that has since changed. He picked Montreal on a whim and he feels being away from home helped him figure out who he was.

He further advises, “you don't need to make the right decision. You just need to make the decision right. …You can move back. You can do anything you want. Nothing's holding you anywhere…. just know that every person I've talked to, by them moving away, they became so strong in who they are.” In moving away, Picha gained a lot of pride in his identity.

Along his path, Picha faced many obstacles as a child of divorce. He worked his job at McDonalds to have spending money and applied to university from Starbucks in his car because they didn’t have internet at home. His upbringing was hard and that’s why he loved school so much. There was a lot of division in his family but he and his sister found ways to find their own successes.

To keep his mental health in check, Picha finds ways to bring his whole self to work, speaking Spanish at the office and bringing fun lunches. He takes different routes to work to mix things up and  takes little trips or bigger trips so he has something to look forward to.  When it comes to inspiration, Picha looks to his friends from university, at work and others featured in fireside chats.

In university, Picha was told “your dream job either exists or you have to make it.” Currently, he feels like he’s in his dream job but he feels empowered to change his life down the road if he needs to.  “Flexibility and changing things is what makes us human,” he explains. What he hopes to inspire people with is the message, “if you really think you should do something. You might have to do it. It might be hard to do.” Coming home after being away was hard for him, worrying about losing all the growth he’d experienced, but it was the right thing… and he knows he can always make a different choice later.

A dare turned into a dream job bridging Indigenous realities and an old corporation and Leon Picha, who never had a business school mentor, found his way into a role that was nothing he expected…and found his way back home. After winning an important scholarship and finding people who believed in him, he’s living his childhood dreams of travel and feeling proud of who he’s become. 

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.