Helen Barron - Executive Director at Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce

I'd like to introduce Helen Barron. She's the Executive Director of the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce.

How has the outbreak of Covid-19 affected your daily operation at the Chamber of Commerce, and what have you been doing to adapt and keep moving forward?

At first, we were working remotely, like many other people in Cranbrook. That was challenging for us because we are a close team that gets a lot of energy from each other. We are an organization that holds a lot of events throughout the year, and we recognized early on that we would have to learn quickly to put our energies elsewhere to make sure that we were still creating meaningful ways for our members to connect to us and to each other. We did a lot of calling and checking in, and Thoughtexchange surveys to understand what businesses felt they needed from us. Once we began to have a clearer picture of the best ways that we could provide support, we began to pivot our own offerings. This prompted us to build a much more user-friendly website and make sure that we were keeping people up to date about anything that had a direct impact on our business community.

What positive or uplifting things have you seen or experienced through this pandemic situation?

I am constantly blown away by Cranbrook’s kindness and resilience. It is so humbling to experience how people in this community always come together to support one another, even in the most uncertain times. The Entrepreneurial spirit is beyond what I have experienced before. The businesses in our community have been able to adapt quickly to every circumstance that has come up, while maintaining the kind and giving spirit that is a part of Cranbrook’s culture.

Have you been doing anything in particular to create some joy or find some happiness during this uncertain time?

We are very playful in our office. We make sure to take time to have a lot of fun and laugh with each other. That can mean anything form supporting our local restaurants by sharing a socially distanced meal together as a team, to having a random nerf gun war in the middle of the day. Our team is incredible and just working with such an amazing group of people gives me joy even on the most stressful of days.

Is there anything specific you’d like to share, or wish people were aware of right now?

I want people to know that they Chamber is working hard for all businesses in Cranbrook. We are advocating for supports, we are providing virtual education opportunities for our members and the broader business community, we are here for our community and we will continue to work behind the scenes to do everything we can to help us all get through this.