Shelley-Anne Vidal, the President and Founder of ACT by Vidal, is passionate about helping newcomers reach their full career potential. Shelley believes that ACT by Vidal’s training sessions assists newcomers with integrating into the local community and enhancing their communication skills. In addition, ACT by Vidal allows Shelley to marry her passions for teaching, communication, and helping newcomers. Shelley comes from a family of entrepreneurs, so she is happy to follow in the footsteps of her late grandfather, Julian Vidal. 

Although Shelley was born and raised in British Columbia, her parents are from the Caribbean, so she grew up hearing various accents. Therefore, Shelley has always had sincere compassion and respect for the journey that new immigrants face; and she is excited to help newcomers settle into BC’s workforce. Shelley’s career path has given her over a decade of combined experience as a Business Professional, Communication Specialist, Career Practitioner, Educator, Facilitator, and Curriculum Developer. Shelley began working as a Career Practitioner in 2009. She has extensive experience assisting internationally-born professionals and post-secondary students secure employment by facilitating interactive and engaging workshops. However, while working as an Employment Counsellor, Shelley noticed a common theme among some clients who had difficulty obtaining suitable employment. Although many of the newcomers were highly educated professionals with years of practical experience, they all had strong foreign accents and often found difficulty landing employment that was commensurate with their qualifications. Many of the highly educated internationally trained professionals were working in entry-level positions and were extremely frustrated. 

The underemployed newcomers had an exceptionally difficult time advancing in their careers, which only added to their frustration. Shelley quickly recognized that poor oral communication (often caused by a strong foreign accent) was a common employment barrier. As a result, Ms. Vidal has identified a serious need for accent addition and Canadian workplace communication training. ACT by Vidal recognizes the beauty of various accents. Instead of focusing on accent reduction to eliminate our participants’ native accents, ACT by Vidal concentrates on adding Canadian accents to our participants’ repertoire through “Accent Addition” training. Our Goal at ACT by Vidal is to equip newcomers with the tools to:

1. Enter into BC’s workforce at a level closer to their pre-landing occupation
2. Retain employment within BC’s local economy
3. Advance within their career