Brenna Farmer is an environmental professional in the water resources industry with experience in both operations and compliance. Previously, Brenna served as a business development and sales professional for a water resources organization, where she collaborated with industrial, municipal and corporate clients. Brenna also has a dual role and serves as a business development consultant to Westgate Executive Branding and Career Consulting. That's my firm. Brenna holds a Diploma in Environmental Engineering Technology from Nova Scotia Community College and a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia, and an executive certification in conflict management from St. Mary's University—also in Halifax. Brenna holds a certified engineering technologist designation from Tech Nova. An avid traveler, Brenna once toured SouthEast Asia for two months by herself playing with the elephants and she even backflipped off the top of a mountain in Thailand, much to her mother's chagrin.

Welcome to the Get Hired Up podcast. Today I have the pleasure of interviewing my daughter, Brenna Christina Farmer.

Brenna, welcome to the Get Hired Up podcast.

Brenna Farmer

Thank you for having me!

Maureen Farmer

It's my pleasure. So we've been trying to have this podcast for a really long time. We've talked about it many, many times. The reason that I wanted to present this information to you the listener is to help you potentially help a friend or a son or a daughter with leveraging their university experience in the labor market. Now, many university students struggle with focus on direction with, you know, where am I going to take my degree from here. The reason I wanted to interview Brenna, who happens to be my daughter, is that she took an innovative approach to leveraging her university experience in a way that positioned her very well for an entry level position in her field. The reason this is of such interest to me, I'm deeply passionate about helping young people make career decisions. And not just young people, but especially young people, because I find that it's such a challenge while in high school to make a decision that's going to impact the rest of your life.

And so today, Brenna and I are going to talk about an opportunity she saw when she was in university to leverage her contacts and networks to implement a project for an organization, which then positioned herself as a candidate for an entry level role. So Brenna, welcome, and why don't you tell us a little bit about your background.

Brenna Farmer

So, I guess where I began my journey in the water resources industry was at the Nova Scotia Community College where I decided to take a Diploma in Environmental Engineering Technology, specializing in water resources. And what I was doing at the time was not only gaining the technical skills and the applied skills that I needed to work in the water resources industry, that is really when I started building the relationships that I was going to leverage.

In order to get into my career in the industry, I worked really hard, I learned a lot. And I developed very good relationships with not only my classmates, but my instructors as well. And towards the end of my diploma, when we had to find a work term, I was talking with one of my favorite instructors. And he encouraged me to reach out to this local organization who was actually hiring an entry level position. And he suggested that I ask them if I could do my work term with them. And that could potentially lead to employment after I graduate. And that's exactly what happened. I reached out to the organization, I pitched them the idea. And I started work the next week, I think, and this was a sales role with a local company in the water resources industry. And I unknowingly jumped into this job, not really knowing anything about sales or anything about relationship building, other than what I had learned, you know, through my schooling and my education.

Maureen Farmer

It was a technical sales role, and business development, and you got to work with a lot of really interesting customers industrial, municipal corporates in the water resources industry, right?

Brenna Farmer

Yes. What I want to talk about is how I developed my relationships throughout that role. Because I had the technical acumen, I was able to gain the trust of many of my customers, they would come to me with problems, I might not have had the the solutions, but I was willing to take the time to find the solutions for them. So in that way, you you gain their trust. And exactly I was able to not only gain their trust, but to build that rapport that allowed us to have not just a one sided relationship, I really fostered those relationships, and maybe not knowing at the time that I was going to use those relationships later in my career to help leverage my way into the next phase of my career in the water resources industry in the water resources.

Maureen Farmer

And in this organization, a lot of the customers that you were serving were twice and sometimes more your age. And so tell us a little bit what that experience was like. 

Brenna Farmer

It was an interesting experience, because I had to learn how different generations liked to be engaged. So, for example, I would have customers that wouldn't send an email wouldn't respond to an email, but they would answer the phone on that would be somebody of my generation, like when you're older. Exactly right. And I have no problem being on the phone. I enjoy conversing with people. So that wasn't an issue. But when I was dealing with the younger generation, it was emails and it also depended on what type of person I was talking to, were they a linear thinker? Were they an abstract thinker? Were they somebody who needed to have the T's dotted and the I's crossed? Or was it somebody who...you can tell I'm not an I dotter and a T crosser...

But yeah, you basically have to learn what your customer wants, and kind of how they want it, and how they want it, how you can adjust the way that you approach it to make sure that they receive that information. And all while ensuring, you know, you're also protecting yourself, you know, like, I had to make sure that, you know, if I, if I didn't have a paper trail of something that I was suggesting to somebody that I would write down what I suggested to them. Because if anything were to happen, and that equipment wasn't wasn't working, or what I had offered, the solution that I offered didn't work, I wanted to ensure that I protected myself as well.

Maureen Farmer

Of course, and talk a little bit about the solutions that you were offering, because some of the some of these pieces of equipment and systems were pretty sophisticated from what I remember.

Brenna Farmer

They were because we were in so many different industries. Water is used in electricity production, it's used, obviously, for drinking, it's used for cooling, it's used across many industries, you know, we sold a lot of pumps. So like pumping fluids, there's so many industries that that can that can reach into, I would have, you know, small municipal customers who just needed basic water testing equipment, but I would also have big plants who required sophisticated water analysis in order to perform their functions. So I had to learn. I had to learn many industries, many customers and many applications. And that was one thing that I prided myself on is I might not have had the answer to those questions that they had, I didn't have the experience that I could just recall off the top of my head. But I, I knew a lot of people in the industry and I was able to call them up, I was able to ask those questions, I was able to research. One thing that I learned throughout my education at NSCC. And my degree through Cape Breton University was how to properly research and ensure that I'm giving the right information to the people.

Maureen Farmer

That's great. And so you did the Nova Scotia Community College program, and then you went on to do your degree. In the meantime, you have been working in the water resources, industry and business development and sales, building these massive networks. And you also had the opportunity to present to industry as well. So tell us a little bit about presenting to industry.

Brenna Farmer

Yeah, so there is many opportunities as a sales rep to attend conferences. And I was also asked to speak, I would do demonstrations using our equipment. And I would speak to industry professionals and large audiences as well. Yeah, you know, anywhere from a small group of five to 10, up to groups of 250 people.

Maureen Farmer

And so that's when you were that was in between your diploma and your degree, you were working full time in business development and sales. And then you moved on to a, a degree program at Cape Breton University. And that was a several year program and you did that remotely, which must have been a challenge. Well, I remember it was a challenge, doing the coursework and achieving all of these credits and results towards your degree. Tell us a little bit about the program. And then about your project, which is kind of the hallmark of our conversation today. 

Brenna Farmer

So I had entered into a Bachelor of Engineering Technology and Environmental Studies degree through Cape Breton University, some of which was already the requirements were already completed through my education at Nova Scotia community college through the articulation agreement that these two organizations have. And it was a big challenge. This was before online education really kicked off, like especially during COVID. One thing I struggled with as I didn't have the same relationships to lean on as I did when I was at NSCC. My instructors were a four or five hour drive away. And I didn't really get to know any of my classmates because I wasn't on campus. So that was probably one of the biggest challenges of that degree. But I pursued through because I knew that that education was going to help me get to where I wanted to go specifically. I'm very proud of my senior research project I did, which is the project you're referring to. Right. So essentially, we had to come up with a topic on something in the environmental world. It was very broad topic, but because my diploma was in water resources, I wanted to stick with that kind of overarching theme. And I remember...mom and I were taking a walk out at Shubie Park as we did almost every morning with my dog at the time. And we were talking not only about her business, but about my education, and specifically how I was going to figure out what topic I was going to use for this project and how we were going to leverage it to use later on in my career.

Maureen Farmer

And I think so many students face this conundrum, don't they? I remember back in when I was in university as well, trying to choose a topic, and trying to figure out, you know, what's relevant, what is interesting?

Brenna Farmer

Well, and I didn't want to pick a topic that was just, you know, something random, that wasn't going to be used for anything that was just going to sit in the back of my portfolio indefinitely. I wanted my research to have a purpose. And that's when Mum suggested I reach out to some of my old customers that I had had good relationships with good rapport with and see if they had an industry problem that they needed a solution for. So I believe it was that day I sat down, I reached out to five or six different customers who I thought would be a good fit for this. And one topic came back. And it was with an organization that I had had an eye on for a while that I potentially wanted to work for once I was done my degree. And I decided to go with it, I had the opportunity to work with a very intelligent person who was able to offer me not only a lot of industry insight, but a lot of technical insight that I would not have been given if I didn't collaborate with the with someone on this project. So there was I don't know, I believe 20 years, almost 20 years worth of data that needed to be analyzed, the data I was using was sensitive information, I had to disclose to the organization and to Cape Breton university that I was undertaking this project, and that I would keep it confidential between the two organizations to ensure the safety of that of the data.

Maureen Farmer

And I remember it was a long project, it was about four months. So once you got the agreement, you work with the supervisor to get the parameters of the project. You did the analysis, you presented the final product. Tell us a little bit about how that was used?

Brenna Farmer

Yes. So I did really well on that project. And like I said, I developed that relationship with the with this person in the organization. And a couple months down the road, I was back in a sales role. And I felt a little bit of impostor syndrome, I felt like I needed to get my hands dirty, before I was able to advise these industry leaders on equipment that I was trying to sell them. I found, if I didn't, I wouldn't be authentic. That's kind of how I felt. And I think it's really important, especially when you're in sales to have that authenticity. So I decided to apply to this organization, there was a posting and entry level posting. This is the same organization I did the project for. And luckily, I had built a good rapport with that organization, not only through the project, but through my sales at my previous job. So when I was in the interview, I actually knew three out of the four people interviewing me at all of who could speak to my technical acumen, my professionalism. Yeah, exactly. So at the end of that interview, my education at NSCC prepared me perfectly for the technical aspects of that interview, I actually reviewed my school notes before I went into that interview, and kind of as a keepsake. At the end of my interview, I left a copy of my paper. And because I was interviewing with the organization that I had wrote the paper for, there was no issues with sharing that data with them. And I believe that was what helped me get the position, get the offer a couple days later, because not only was able to do well, on the interview, I was able to show that I had a vested interest in this company, I was I would be a solutions oriented employee, which I think is something that, you know, you're always looking for in an employee, right? You want somebody who's not only going to do what they're told, but they're going to think outside the box and find answers to the solutions.

Maureen Farmer

Yeah, that's excellent. What would your recommendation be to an early professional just starting out if they're in university, and they're unsure of where do I go from here, if they're in that kind of a situation, like you were relating to the project, for example.

Brenna Farmer

I would say, to leverage your relationships, get to know your instructors is very important, but also listening to your intuition and doing the thing that you might be afraid to do because even though I had relationships with the people that I reached out to, it was still scary. It felt like I was asking for something that I might not have been entitled to maybe a little bit of impostor syndrome again. But you don't grow unless you put yourself outside of your comfort zone. And by putting myself outside of the comfort zone, I was able to create this unique product that allowed me to demonstrate the skills that I knew I had to an industry leader.

Maureen Farmer

I think it's an excellent example of building relationships and creating solutions for organizations when maybe they don't even realize there's a need for that even. I think it's it's an innovative way of doing it. So I'm really excited also to announce that Brenna is going to be leveraging some of her leadership skills with Westgate. Yes. And so we're heading off to New York shortly for a conference. It's a Women's Leadership Conference. And so Brenna is accompanying me as a business development consultant. And we're looking forward to having that experience together.

So you've got nine years of technical experience, you've done the sales, sales and the business business development. Now they seem to have kind of coalesced into a value proposition that you're now able to offer. So what other areas of people leadership are you interested in?

Brenna Farmer

I've always been interested in mediation and conflict resolution. And that came from, you know, the leadership conferences that I used to plan...

Maureen Farmer

I think the camp director experience, from what I remember was pivotal for you, because you were really thrown into the deep end of the pool. In many respects. That's what I remember. 

Brenna Farmer

The only reason that I had the skills to manage that many people was because of the experience I got through NSSSA, I had a committee that I had to ensure was, you know, on deadlines that they were on point with our value propositions and whatnot. So I do really see those as like intertwined because without one I couldn't have been successful.

Maureen Farmer

That is the Nova Scotia Secondary School Students Association.

Brenna Farmer

Yes, it's high school students putting on leadership conferences for other high school students. And that was really when I learned about, you know, the importance of communication and business, never personal, and really listening to the people that are going to set you up for success. Because in any leadership role, as I learned when I was working at the summer camp as the camp director, if, if any role that you're responsible for if they don't feel supported, if they don't feel heard, and if you're not communicating effectively, then you're not going to have a good outcome.

Maureen Farmer

So Brenna, I know you're really interested in conflict management and mediation, you took an executive program at St. Mary's University...what was of interest to you there?

Brenna Farmer

It's hard, because like, half of it is just like a gut feeling that, you know, I feel like I would be good at this. And I don't know if I'm gonna like it unless I pursue it. But I also really enjoy helping people come to realizations, help them resolve conflict, help them see their potential. And I feel like the mediation aspect and conflict resolution aspect is a really important part of every job that you could ever have. Regardless of it away doesn't matter what industry you're in, there's always going to be conflict. And being able to come to a resolution is a very important aspect. And empowering and empowering conflict isn't inherently bad. But the way that we've been taught in society to view conflict is that it is bad. You know, it's not the status quo. But a lot of positive change can happen from conflict. So not only is it important to, to ensure that you're viewing the conflict from a neutral lens, but also being able to sit back and help people resolve these complex is very empowering, and it feels important.

Maureen Farmer

That's wonderful. So thank you so much for for joining the podcast today. Brenna before I have two questions for you. One, we're compiling a list of restaurants as you know, that's released every year at Christmas time. I'd love to know what your favorite one or two restaurants are. And then how can people get in touch with you?

Brenna Farmer

Sure. I love food. So it's really hard to pick one or two of my favorite restaurants but I would say Side Hustle in downtown Dartmouth is one of my favorite restaurants. I love to support local and probably Cha Baa Thai restaurant. They have locations all over HRM and they have some very good Thai food.

Maureen Farmer

HRM for those who don't know, is Halifax Regional Municipality. And how can people get in touch with you Brenna?

Brenna Farmer

They can find me on LinkedIn or they can email me at Brenna@westgatebranding.com.

Maureen Farmer

Thank you for joining us today.

Brenna Farmer

Thank you!