2025 Star Women in Convenience winner: Marie-Pierre Côté

Marie-Pierre Côté        

National Account Manager   

Guru Organic Energy

How did you get into this business? 

I feel privileged to have been working in the food industry for more than 15 years. I was studying journalism when I discovered sales and marketing in university. This elective course, chosen at random, changed the course of my career. One day, perhaps I’ll teach a course to contribute to others discovering our industry and its many professional development possibilities.

What do you like most about your job?

The dynamic category and people that work within it. Canadians will never stop eating or drinking, but product innovation is the key to staying ahead of the pack. We must keep up with trends while promoting ourselves to current and future generations, and I appreciate observing our clients making choices in our stores. Interacting with them, understanding their motivation to buy or to convert them—this human rapport motivates me to push further every day. Working with agile, flexible teams where each employee has a role and feels they contribute to our success brings me joy, because this is how we keep growing.

What was the biggest challenge or your career?

Finding my place in a male-dominated world where interpersonal relationships develop while watching a hockey game.

What's the best advice you ever received? 

One night while finishing a file, I left the building at the same time as a senior director of a large food chain where I worked. Surprised to see me at such a late hour, this inspiring director said: “You know, Marie, we just sell cans of beans.” This simple sentence, coming from the mouth of a senior director, still influences me today by making me take a step back and keep things in perspective.

What's your career highlight/biggest achievement? 

Coming to work each day being able to focus on my family without it impacting my work performance. Making choices I’m comfortable with, and realizing my deliverables are top-notch.

While we’ve made enormous progress in the equality between two parents, a woman’s mental energy and time investment remain huge. I’m lucky that I’ve never missed my child’s hockey game or concert, that I can take the time to help with homework, have family dinners and connect with my kids. I’m proud of my career, but even prouder of the work-life balance I’ve successfully created.

How do you define yourself as a leader?

I believe there are no bad employees. Everything starts from management. I trust my team and delegate even if that means mistakes sometimes get made—that’s how learning happens: Through controlled risk, everyone wins. Using your emotional intelligence to control stress and listening to others is essential as a leader. So is keeping your door open to foster a climate of confidence and accessibility. I respect everyone’s personal time and avoid communication outside office hours. It’s important to keep time for deep work and I encourage my team to do so.

I also strongly believe in taking the time to recognize each individual—whether it’s part of an internal program, an email or a Teams message—and to promote recognition between peers. It’s easy to put aside 15 minutes a week to say thank you—it goes a long way!

Anything else to add?

How will we consume tomorrow? The rapid evolution of technology and its impact on marketing, sales and managing key accounts is overwhelming. The integration of AI and big data open new and passionate perspectives for our industry. Let’s embrace these tools that will facilitate certain tasks without being overwhelmed. But let’s also keep the humanity and our irreplaceable skills at the heart of everything we do.