Page 69 - Edify-Nov-Dec-2023

STEVEN
BROCHU
OWNER, MILKCRATE>AGE 37
Steven Brochu realized he wanted to go to culinary school while working as a lifeguard at a resort
in British Columbia. Living and working with the cooks at the resort, hearing their passion for the ingredients and the food they made, he thought, these guys are like pirates. So he enrolled in culinary school at NAIT, and cut his teeth in Vancouver’s downtown restaurant scene as a sous chef.
It was when he was teaching English in Taiwan with his wife that Brochu decided to make the jump from sous chef to chef.
“Doing a different job, just cooking at home in our little apartment in Taiwan was incredible. It made me realize I didn’t want to cook someone else’s food anymore.”
The reputation around chefs is “super toxic,” Brochu says. Like most people in the hospitality industry, he’s seen his fair share of substance abuse, sexism, racism and bullying in the kitchen. It was this experience that inspired him to start MilkCrate Listens, an online mental health resource for the hospitality industry.
He knew he wanted to be a different kind of leader, although he cringes at being called one. Brochu is a servant leader — all about serving the guest, and, just as crucially, serving his team. – Caitlin Hart
Why she’s Top 40
SHE MAKES SPACE FOR DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS IN THE SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY
SAPREET BUTTAR FOUNDER AND CEO OF THE UNIVERSAL
RADIO NETWORK INC >AGE 34
Thanks to the encouragement of her dad, Sapreet Buttar has known her way around radio since the age of 12. He was one of the first South Asian journalists in Alberta and, at that time, only had 30 minutes of airtime each week.
He would often bring his daughter on to respectfully debate him. “Even now, some- times when I’m doing a very high-profile interview,” she explains, “he will be the phone call I make right before, as in, ‘Just need your reassurance that I got this.’”
From there, Buttar started to receive dozens of opportu- nities to host cultural events and interview members of the South Asian community. She founded The Universal Radio Network (TURN), which offers English programming for
second-generation South Asian Canadians and initiates difficult conversations on topics, such as mental health, that are still sensitive in those communities. TURN’s broad- casts are available online and across the world, but they have a healthy presence in the cultural communities in Edmonton. Buttar says being the only South Asian media outlet at this year’s Juno Awards “was a huge moment formetoseehowmuchasa community we’ve grown.”
She says, “I want to see more, not just South Asian, but more people of colour in those environments. I want
to see Edmonton more diverse, whether it’s in comedy, whether it’s in music — what- ever it is.”
– Matthew Stepanic
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Eric Beliveau; Cooper & O’Hara
Why he’s Top 40 HE ADVOCATES FOR MENTAL HEALTH IN EDMONTON’S HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY