Manorma Keela

Project Manager, Stantec

m.rathi86@gmail.com

780-566-1077

Manorma Keela is a Project Manager at Stantec and holds a master's degree in Telecommunications Engineering. After immigrating to Canada in 2011 from Pakistan, Keela pursued an education in NAIT, studying business analysis. Keela lives in Edmonton with her husband and two children and has recently earned her PMP certification in 2020.

Keela started applying for jobs in Canada as soon as she landed but realized that the non-recognition of foreign credentials was a significant employment barrier. Keela also found that the technology she had learned back home was already obsolete in Canada, and with no Canadian industry experience, she struggled to find a job. Keela switched her focus from technical to communications and decided to upgrade her education from NAIT. While studying at NAIT, she got an opportunity to connect with professionals from the industry, and landed her first job as a service desk analyst at Stantec. Manorma used the entry-level position to get her foot in the door, and she used it to her advantage to network with the project managers and hiring managers in the company.

"After working at the service desk for a couple of years, I started talking to a lot of project managers and told them I wanted to be a business analyst, but I didn't know how to be one as I lacked the industry experience. I talked to many people in my organization during this time and did a lot of networking, but soon I learned that nobody wanted a flimsy business analyst when there were deserving candidates available. However, as luck would have it, one Project Manager (PM) offered me to work on his team when the hired PM walked out on him. I did not have the official PM position, and I worked two different positions splitting the work in half every day. It was tough to work on two different projects every day, but this phase was my biggest learning curve, and I realized my potential, but I had to put in a lot of effort and learn more and more. I did not get a salary raise, but I decided to take up the offer as it was essential for my career growth."

Keela believes that it is crucial to have a positive attitude and work through difficulties and challenges, but it is equally essential to understand your shortcomings.

"I got a chance to work on multiple acquisitions projects, a lot of data migration, infrastructure upgrade projects which required me to talk to different senior managers and project managers. This was when I realized I had to work on my self-image and confidence to point out the project's loopholes and provide valuable feedback. Initially, I was too afraid to speak and share my thoughts with senior managers as English is not my first language, and I would often feel I was not articulating properly and feared making mistakes while speaking. It was a rough journey, but I had to encourage myself and work on my drawbacks. I would not understand the jokes, or the fun talks the team would indulge in, and I could not gel with them. Language is what connects us to others and builds rapport; it is vital to talk other than work-related stuff with our coworkers. I started reading multiple personality building, success stories, and leadership books to grow myself inside out. I learned the power of spoken words and dreaming big. After 19 months of working on multiple projects, I was formally offered the project manager position. The hiring manager told me that he was impressed by my attitude, and I felt like I was on top of the world. I came across a lot of challenges as I was an amateur in the field of project management, but I dealt with them with courage and accepted my failures as learning experiences."

Keela believes that staying positive has helped her achieve success in all walks of her life, and she says that she puts extra effort to mingle and network with others and observes which helps her bond and build relationships. Keela mentions that she doesn't mind working hard to be well received because she understands that she works with people who have formed bonds with each other over the years due to shared interests and cultural similarities. Furthermore, she struggled to achieve a work-life balance as she had no extended family or friends in Canada.

"Obstacles that come with not having an extended family in Canada was a big challenge I had to overcome. I did not know the available resources to me, and I was responsible for nurturing a new generation while working on my dreams with full dedication. Being an immigrant and having a young family presents an enormous challenge. However, I believe that women naturally tend to have leadership qualities, and we can multitask if we use our full potential. It is important to be fearless to achieve your goals, and you can only become fearless when you have confidence and self-esteem. Confidence can be developed purely based on our attitude and urge to learn; hence, my advice to other women would be to come out of your comfort zone and try something new. Do not be afraid of making mistakes and look at failures as opportunities to learn and grow."

Favorite quote: "We are what we think therefore think right."