2023 Communicator of the Year - What A Way to Start 2024!

I was at an appointment when I got the email: Congratulations, you've been chosen as the Communicator of the Year. I thought it was a joke or some sort of scam. I get my fair share of emails telling me I’m one of the The Most Visionary Women Leaders To Watch or Most Influential Black Corporate Leaders to Follow and for the nominal price of a couple grand USD, I would receive a cover story and other editorial perks. However, I read a little further down and the email said: Fennella, you’ve been selected as IABC/Toronto’s 2023 Communicator of the Year Award recipient because you have demonstrated leadership and communications excellence through your ongoing work boosting the voices of Black professionals in the media. You’ve used your insider’s knowledge of the media to connect it with professionals within your community. Giving Black professionals opportunities to share their stories and experience with a national audience is a powerful tool against anti-Black racism in Canada. IABC/Toronto applauds you for your continuous impactful efforts in such important work.

Wow! I couldn’t believe it. Now, it didn’t come as a complete surprise, just a forgotten nomination. In 2022, Jacqui Debique, who was on the Board of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), reached out to me about putting my name forward that year. I knew her from our time years ago with the Canadian Association of Black Journalists (CABJ). Unbeknown to me, she was closely following my posts about my company’s work on LinkedIN and Instagram. I was flattered that she wanted to nominate me and provided her with the information that was required. Well, that year the award was given to Jesse Wente, First Nations Canadian arts journalist and chairperson of the Canada Council for the Arts. I couldn’t argue with the decision. He was an excellent choice. So with that, I moved on and forgot about it, just happy to be nominated as they say.

So, when I finally processed the congratulatory IABC email, I immediately texted Jacqui, thanking her for persisting with the nomination in 2023. She was just as perplexed as me. She hadn’t put my name forth again. Jacqui called the VP of Programs, who had sent me the email, and found out that the nomination committee was so impressed with my work, they themselves submitted me again for 2023. I was floored.

It reminded me of when I won Businesswoman of the Year presented by the Women Empowerment Awards. You can read about that experience here. One of the things that I came to realize from that award is that a lot of people are watching what you are dong - even those outside your community circle. It’s both humbling and a little unnerving. You see, I’m just doing the work that needs to be done. I’m not doing it for awards or recognition. I’m doing it because it needs to be done and I can do it. Added bonus - I enjoy doing it. Why it needs to be done will be part of the discussion on March 1st when I publicly receive the 2023 Communicator of the Year Award.

I have put together a panel that includes: CBC Toronto TV anchor Dwight Drummond, CityLine host Tracy Moore, Wellness Expert Trudy Stone and Psychotherapist Roxanne Francis (the latter two are clients of mine). We will be exploring the impact media exposure can have for Black professionals and its role in sharing credibility and breaking media stereotypes. It’s going to be a great discussion and I would appreciate it if you could support me by tuning into the livestream presentation. Register HERE

2024 is off to an amazing start….the bar has been set high and I am up for the challenge!