Interview with Entrepreneur Mélody Roussy-Parent of „Mélody’s Canada“
Long time DKG member, Mélody Roussy-Parent is a multi-talented, self-made Canadian business woman who has been living in Munich for over twenty years. Not only does Mélody run three businesses but she also finds time to be the President of the Quebec Association in Germany (Association québécoise en Allemagne) as well as giving time for the DKG. To our great pleasure, the very sympathetic „Rimouskoise“ whom we know best under „Mélody’s Canada“, accepted to tell us about her life’s journey.
Mélody was born and grew up in Rimouski, a city in the Lower St-Laurence area in Quebec, Canada. Daughter of a painter and a business woman, she became both very creative and very organized. Mélody’s father first studied at the University Angelicum of Rom and travelled to many European countries. Then he taught theology and history of art at the University of Quebec in Rimouski and built his own painting studio which later became his gallery. Mélody’s mother who was a teacher and then the regional director of SUCO (Service Universitaire Canadien outre-mer) travelled many times to West Africa and helped developing countries by providing and coordinating the resources and expertise needed. When she met her husband and founded a family, she took care of the gallery and also promoted other artists. It is no wonder that Mélody became so hard working and skilled in many areas.
As a child, Mélody learned to read notes of music before she could read books. She studied piano at the conservatory of music from the age of five up to her 20th year and participated to the Canadian Music Competition which brought her to Vancouver in 1986. She might have liked to pursue but she could not handle the stress of playing in front of people. The pressure to perform became too much. She would have preferred to play another instrument to disappear inside an orchestra and not being the center of attention. Mélody was pushing herself already at a young age, studying music at the conservatory, and sciences at the „Cégep“ at the same time.
After college Mélody wanted to study medicine at the University but as she wasn’t accepted in the program, she opted for geological engineering at „Polytechnique“ in Montreal.
As she was also attracted to languages and traveling, she participated in the Canadian Summer language program throughout her teenage-years, spending time subsequently in Lennoxville, Quebec, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Charlottetown, Prince-Edward-Island and London, England.
Later on, Mélody spent a summer in Spain where she learned Spanish at the Universidad de Salamanca. The next summer, she decided to learn German and came to Munich.
She liked it so much that she decided to stay. She appreciated the feeling of traditional village flair while being in a major city. In 1998 she made her decision and came to Germany for good, studying the German language in Munich for six months. Afterwards she started linguistics at the University of Munich. That is how she came about to develop online language courses partnering with the University and has been a tutor since.
Being the hard worker and creative person that she is, Mélody decided one day to import Canadian products to sell in Germany. To be able to import the products and start a business, she went on a quest to gather the needed information and launched Mélody’s Canada in 2006. At the beginning, she offered various products in a physical shop in Munich. After a while she found her niche with art, spirits, wine and maple products. All of those are carefully handpicked by Mélody; she has visited every producer herself and has inspected the production process and tested the final product.
In 2017, she decided to do her MBA (Master Business Administration) at the Oxford Brookes University. That is where she developed the idea for her latest business: „RethinkPath Creative Culture Consulting„. Mélody believes in the fact that new ways create new solutions and encourages businesses to explore international opportunities and create the adapted strategy to it. She offers her services and creative thinking training to international businesses, writes academic publications and gives presentations.
Curious and adventurous, Mélody has taken over the presidency of the „Association québécoise en Allemagne“ a couple of years ago. She is also involved in the DKG, participating in the Canadian Pub Night series and the organization to the next one in May. In the past, she also presented her products in various activities with the DKG Oberbayern in Munich as well as with the DKG Rhein-Main.
Mélody is just as versatile as the products she offers: intelligent, unique, creative, strong, resourceful, beautiful, nice and sweet.
