Being laid off from the oil and gas sector turned out to be a fortuitous event for Calgary’s Bobbie Racette because it set her on the path to high-tech success and allowed her to follow her “north star” of providing work for others.
Many of the workers Racette thinks about are from underrepresented groups. Employees include single parents, veterans, Indigenous and 2SLGBTQIA+. Some work the equivalent of full-time while others are part-time. She is the majority owner of a company she said is worth $70 million, and is now pursing another round of funding.“My dream was to be a music instructor for deaf children.” She learned sign language at a school in Vancouver.
Racette was living in Calgary and working as a safety technician foreman in the oil and gas sector when she lost her job due to an economic slump in 2016. During the subsequent job hunt, she spotted a gap in the market. She realized that online administrative services were supplied offshore and so, with just $300 and a lot of bootstrapping, Racette set up her own company and hired her first virtual assistant in 2017. By 2018, revenue had reached $265,000 and she had several virtual assistants.
“We listen to our Virtual Gurus stories, and everyone is unique. I am proud of the opportunities we provide for underrepresented folks by growing and scaling Virtual Gurus without losing focus of our north star,” she said.When Racette was starting up, 170 venture capitalists turned her down. She recently closed on an $8.4-million funding round, becoming the first Indigenous woman in Canada to do so, UVic said.