Peggy Gizen
Peggy Gizen is a pragmatic, reality-based facilitator that connects and engages her audience immediately. She “lives what she speaks and speaks what she lives”, impacting individuals on a human level. Peggy’s natural ability to connect with people stems from her colourful past. At the age of 15, she left home because “she knew it all” and now at 50-something years young, she has realized that she knows nothing! She recalls the wisdom of an elderly mentor who once said, “too old, too fast; too wise, too late!” Through the School of Hard Knocks, Peggy understands the true magnitude of this statement and weaves humble and humorous examples of her shortcomings into all of her workshops and events.
Peggy’s professional career began over 20 years ago in the hospitality industry, where she started as a front line worker and then evolved into a successful entrepreneur, voted one of Medicine Hat’s Top 50 Under 50 entrepreneur’s in 2014. Her passion for excellence in customer service, creative problem-solving, genuine desire to work with people and five years of formal education at Medicine Hat College led Peggy into the field of human services and employment. Since graduating from Medicine Hat College Peggy has become a Qualified Instructor for Myers-Briggs, a Certified Personality Dimensions Trainer, a Certified Life-Coach Skills Trainer and Member of the Speaker’ Bureau of Alberta. She has also taken an emotional smarts course, a facilitators’ training course and a course in family and divorce mediation.
Past and present colleagues say that as a facilitator, Peggy plays a major role in creating life-changing experiences for clients. She has the uncanny ability to perceive people’s attitudes and motivations and skillfully relates to people exactly where they are. As an “in the moment” speaker, she has the ability to adjust her presentation style to meet the needs of the immediate situation. She inspires and empowers her audiences to become masters of their own destiny by easily picking up on non-verbal cues from the audience members and anticipating the actions and reactions of others, thus winning their confidence. Peggy thrives on the excitement and challenge of creating new concepts and designs, negotiating, arbitrating and, in general, achieving the impossible. She values action and the freedom to use all of the resources at hand to get the desired outcomes.
Peggy has a passion for the community and shows it by being involved. She is currently on the Street Art Works non-profit organization committee, is a member of the Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce, hosts the Pam and Peggy Show on Shaw, is part owner of Being Human Services non-profit organization, recently spoke at the 2015 Women in Business Empowerment Day, and she LOVES to purchase old buildings and restore them back to their glory!