The mornings aren’t so hard when you can huddle with your colleagues over a cup of coffee. Brian Canivet, Enterprise Architect, can attest to that: “While one may think it’s the free coffee, it’s the wonderful morning friendships that really wake me up.” 

It’s also a great way to catch up with people from different departments, although sometimes it’s just about appreciating the people who you surround yourself with. "The only thing sweeter than these bowls of sugar are the people that I work with,” said Craig Langford, Technical Product Specialist.

It’s all about the balance between work hard and play hard at Trapeze. And maybe it’s going back to the basic at the end of the day: a good cup of coffee. “Good ideas start with teamwork, great ideas start with coffee,” said Peter Garmider, Technical Product Specialist.

Michelle has been with Trapeze for over 6 years, serving as the Marketing Operations Manager for Trapeze North America. Michelle completed her BBA at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, ON where she specialized in Marketing & Brand Communications and recently purchased her first home in Burlington, ON.  

At Trapeze, some of her recent projects include an internal marketing hub to help enable the sales teams, and establishing reporting best practices to better identify marketing successes. Currently, she is helping to develop Trapeze’s Account Based Marketing (ABM) strategy.

As a self-described “business & tech nerd”, Michelle has found herself travelling near and far (usually with Fast Company in hand) in her quest for marketing knowledge. She most recently attended Marketo’s 2016 Marketing Nation Summit, to learn the best practices of ABM.

She learned several key takeaways from the summit, including the importance of a balanced inbound and outbound ABM approach which includes tactics across multiple channels. She also discovered that Will Smith is still the Freshest Prince of Bel-Air, and was treated to a guest appearance from Will Smith rapping some of his classics. Just some of the perks to being a Marketer at Trapeze! Taking what she learned at the summit, Michelle is now hard at work helping to implement strategies to keep Trapeze marketing on the cutting edge, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Birthdays are serious fun at Trapeze, and for Bruna, our graphic designer, hers was no exception. On her special day, her colleagues came in early to spruce up her desk with streamers, balloons, and even gift-wrapped her phone, pens, and other desk supplies! Bruna’s desk was truly birthday-ready. On top of the festive decorations, Bruna’s supervisors brought in delicious vanilla, chocolate, lemon, and even red velvet cupcakes for the celebration!

When Bruna came into the office, her team sang her ‘Happy Birthday’ as they walked her to her colorfully decorated desk. Bruna with a big birthday smile on her face said, “Being a part of the Trapeze Marketing team makes every day an exciting day. And my birthday wasn’t any different. I had a great day.”

What do roller coasters, sports, and bagels have in common? They were all part of the Trapeze May Munch and Mingle! Staff from the Mississauga office came dressed in their favorite sport team’s jersey for a chance to win tickets to Canada’s Wonderland! Baseball, basketball, hockey, and soccer fans came together to chat, especially about their teams and favorite players. Everyone enjoyed the large assortment of bagels, only matched by the variety of cream cheeses, as well as fresh fruit trays, and topped off with apple, orange, and cranberry juice.

After everyone had enjoyed their breakfast, a name was drawn. Jessica Allum, HR Analyst, was the raffle winner. She shoots she scores! In her post-game interview after her big win, Jessica had this to say, “I haven’t been to Wonderland in a really long time so it should be fun! I was reppin’ the Toronto Marlies that day.”

It’s amazing what one cup of coffee can do. Just ask our customer care team who brought in coffee for the whole office, in order to raise money for the Tim Hortons Camp Day initiative. The Mississauga office came together to buy a hot pick-me up, while enjoy each other’s company and catching up on familiar conversations. The best part, all proceeds from the day went straight to sending low-income kids to camp. With the help from all the coffee-lovers here at Trapeze, the customer care team was able to raise over $160. Good job team!

The Academy, hosted by Trapeze’s parent company Volaris, is a yearly four-day targeted training program designed to provide leaders and up-and-comers from across Volaris an opportunity to “Measure. Share. Learn.” The program is crafted to provide interaction and discussion among and across functional areas and geographies, as well as, looks to build upon the leadership skills and managerial skills of those participating. Focus on core performance and organic growth initiatives are the focus. 

This year’s Academy is hosted in Orlando, Florida where we will be sharing ideas on growth initiatives, acquisitions and, our most valuable asset, human resources. To drill down a bit more, we’ll be focusing on talent management and recruiting and employee value propositions. The Academy provides our talent an opportunity to collaborate and share key learnings across all functional areas to allow continued growth.

Sumer Haj Ali, Business Analyst here at Trapeze, recently returned from an exciting trip to Africa. For two and a half weeks, Sumer traveled and volunteered throughout Africa from Katutura, Nambia down to Cape Town, South Africa. Sumer painted local daycares and kindergartens, worked with children in afterschool centers through the Bernard Nordkamp Center, and assisted at the Children’s Holiday Camp where around 50 children were given the opportunity to camp for three nights.

Sumer had this to say about his trip, “I first chose to go on the trip mainly to see the landscape and wildlife that Southern Africa has to offer, but that quickly changed when I got the chance to volunteer with the children at the BNC. I’m thankful that my managers at Trapeze allowed me to take the time off work to make the trip possible.”

Happy to give you the time Sumer! We’re proud to have employees, like Sumer, going out of their way to make the world a better place.

We want to extend our congratulations to Saqib Jamil, who recently married the love of his life, Sara. Friends and family came from all over the world to offer their support and make his wedding day special. We, at Trapeze, also wanted to show our support for Saqib. So the entire Mississauga office came together and had a post-wedding celebration for Saqib, with a card full of well wishes from his colleagues and a cake for everyone.

“The manner in which my workplace responded to a really memorable event in my life is truly special and means a lot to me. Marriage is a beginning of a whole new journey and I really appreciated that my co-workers celebrated that with me and gave me their best wishes,” Saqib said. We wish you all the best Saqib as you embark on your new life!