5 Careers, 5 Women, 5 Questions...Julie Bedford

Julie Bedford: Lawyer, Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP

1) What is something you love about your current position and what is something you loathe?

My favourite aspect of my work is probably the intellectual challenge… I have always been motivated to engage in difficult mental tasks by the promise of the end result of deeper understanding and knowledge. This is something I love and I’m happy to strive for… I like to know things, and even more so, I like to figure things out. As child, I did logic puzzles all the time, finding them more fun than drawing or colouring books (not to mention much easier for me to succeed at)

I feel the most satisfaction when I’m working in the field of Cleantech (an umbrella term that encompasses renewable energy and fuels as well as a variety of clean/green technologies)… When I do this work I feel that I’m helping improve upon the world, rather than maintain the status quo, and ultimately, I think this is of the utmost importance.

I also love the people I work with, which I think is important always, but especially important at a job that is often twice the time commitment of a regular 9-5…. which segues nicely into my answer to part two of this question… I don’t love the hours, and sometimes I just may loathe them… I find that when I’m really busy at work, the little bit of time I spend not at the office, I feel physically and mentally exhausted and can be pretty irritable with those that I’m closest to as a result.

2) Where do you get your wonderful sense of style from, who inspires you?

First off, thanks for calling my sense of style “wonderful”… you’re too sweet ;)

I’m a bit of a chameleon and my taste changes constantly along with my environment. The fluidity of my style is easily evidenced when looking through old photos and seeing the entirely different looks I’ve embraced over the years, some of which are incredibly laughable. I was recently reminded of some of my earlier undergrad years, when my makeshift homemade outfits matched my three-foot long dreadlocked hair, and I would cut up, and attempt to refashion, random Value Village purchases, like pillowcases and tablecloths as clothing!! And I remember unpacking my suitcase, just a couple of years ago, the night I arrived home from a few month stay in East Africa, and, to my surprise, finding the African printed Moo Moos and tailored shirt and skirt outfits made much less sense to me in Calgary than they had only two short days earlier in Dar es Salaam…

These days, my style has certainly tamed. I take fashion cues from all around me, largely without my own recognition or knowledge. I note the clothing women are wearing in magazines (strangely perhaps, GQ is my fav), television and movies, and even walking through the +15’s in Calgary. Sarah Jessica Parker, Blake Lively, and Zooey Deschanel are the probably celebs that I model looks after the most.

Of course, my various lady friends’ impeccable senses of style influence me greatly, especially that of my sister, with whom I’m very close. Her and I live together and share most everything, which is a brilliant way to double one’s wardrobe.

I love accessories, necklaces especially. Lately, my favorite outfits are simple and flowing, with one stand out piece…. And when I dress myself, I often have in mind the idea of an antique broach… in hopes I end up resembling one in some way. 

3) What is your favorite weekend ritual, do you do anything outside of work during the week?

I exercise pretty regularly, switching it up among jogging, cycling, weights, yoga, and occasionally a game of squash with my boyfriend… I love being active outdoors, hiking especially, but admittedly, I don’t do much of this these days.

Socially, I have two favourite pastimes, dinner parties and dance parties. I live in a vegan household with my sister, her husband, and my 10-year-old nephew, and we love to entertain guests and feed people. If I weren’t a lawyer, I think my family and I would own and operate a delicious little vegan restaurant.

When I can steal away from work early on a Friday afternoon, I also try to volunteer at the Rescue and Sanctuary for Threatened Animals (R.A.S.T.A), spending a few hours outside, cleaning stalls, feeding and doing chores around this wonderful volunteer run farm. I also volunteer extensively with Fig Tree Foundation, which is an umbrella organization that services a number of international development agencies. I coordinate various initiatives for Fig Tree, within its mandate of fostering cooperation and collaboration between non-profits with a view to supporting sustainable development initiatives.

When I want to turn off my brain, I turn to Internet television and have a pretty serious love/hate relationship with America’s Next Top Model (as well as Canada’s, Britain’s, New Zealand’s, AND Australia’s… it’s a little embarrassing). I also love love love to watch nature shows, especially those narrated by David Attenborough.

4) Why did you choose the career you did; who would you love to meet one day (has that person indirectly influenced your career choices)?  

I’m not 100% convinced that I chose to be a lawyer; rather, I feel that a series of significant coincidences, accidentally developed skills and the aforementioned strange affiliation for logic chose my career for me. Although, when I was a child, I was often told, whilst incessantly arguing some senseless point as though it mattered, that I should be a lawyer when I “grow up” as at least then I would be paid to be so argumentative.

I’m really struggling to decide on an answer for a person that I would love to meet one day, and at first, I was assuming that I’m allowed to choose someone from any time in history. This was overwhelming. I’ve decided to limit myself to currently living people to narrow the choices and help me decide. With this, I’m going to go with Christopher Hitchens and Malcolm Gladwell, likely because these are the two thinkers I’ve been the most impressed with recently. I’m in awe of both of these men and their ability to articulate ideas in both writing and speech. Reasoning their way through complexities and presenting them clearly, concisely, and convincingly. And literally, I think Malcolm Gladwell could make ANY topic fascinating. Any one.

5) What is one piece of advice you would give to friends/readers who are struggling in their careers?

Cliché though it is, I think some of the best career advice I’ve ever received went something like this: Find what it is that you love to do then figure out how to get people to pay you to do that thing. I recognize both of these things can be pretty hard to do… but it’s certainly worth a shot. Life is so very short, and the more time we spend watching the clock, waiting for time to pass, wishing it would hurry by, the less we get of this gift we were given.

Finally, it’s important to me that at least some of the things I do are focused on making the world a better place… I consider this both a joy and a responsibility, having been born in arguably the best time and place in history. Our opportunities are endless, and with this comes a responsibility to do more than just soak in all the good around us… we need to be present and aware and devote some of our skills to giving back to our wonderful world.