“Honestly, I’m not a big vacation taker,” says Geneviève Everell, the entrepreneur behind Sushi à la maison. Despite herself, this accomplished businesswoman will have to take a break this summer. The culprit: a breast cancer diagnosis in January that forced her to stop everything… even reading her emails.
“What’s paradoxical is that it’s the most beautiful and saddest forced leave I’ve ever experienced,” confides the 37-year-old woman, met on the terrace of the Heirloom Pizzeria on Promenade Ontario, a stone’s throw from her office.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Forced to rest, Geneviève Everell had to learn to slow down.
For the record, the one nicknamed Miss Sushi learned that she had breast cancer while she was carrying little Millie-Love, her second child. She quickly had to mentally prepare herself to cut two cords, the one that ties her to her baby, but also the one she has with her business.
“Initially, I was the one who went back to work and my partner was the one who took parental leave,” she says. Life decided otherwise. In March, the day she was supposed to walk through the doors of her Hochelaga-Maisonneuve office again, Geneviève Everell found herself undergoing chemotherapy instead.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Passionate, the entrepreneur has never seen her multifaceted professional life as work.
So I’m on forced leave, but I’m also on forced maternity leave with my lover, at home, to watch my baby grow. It’s like the ugly in the beautiful.
Genevieve Everell
Pick up and delegate
With 13 cookbooks to her name, a range of about forty grocery store products, eight branches of the Comptoir Sushi à la maison chain and a home sushi preparation service, she had to learn to disconnect from her work, from her passion. She also had to rely on her small team of five people, including her general manager who also wears the hat of best friend.
By her own admission, the idea of slowing down her work pace would never have crossed her mind before. It’s her passion. She never really felt like she was working. Did she find it difficult to switch off? “Unfortunately, in this context, it was very easy to switch off because I was inhabited by fear. I learned the hard way to switch off. Now, I know I can cut the cord.”
She is also less present than before on social networks. “I dare to believe that when I go on a trip with my lover, I will be able to not post on Instagram or not ask girls how things are going at the office.”
Although she treats herself to the pleasure of visiting them on days when she feels fit, the entrepreneur does not feel up to managing projects. Now, she plays more the role of a “ cheerleader ” than that of a boss, even if she is still the one who makes the decisions. But for the moment, she does not even venture to answer emails. “When I want to help, I do not help. I am like a clumsy child who wants to do the dishes,” she imagines, laughing.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
The one nicknamed Miss Sushi intends to enjoy her summer with her family… before getting back to work in September. “I can’t wait to go back to work.”
Every entrepreneur has to delegate. You can’t be everywhere and you can’t be good at everything.
Genevieve Everell
The next months
Summer will therefore pass slowly for Geneviève Everell, who is learning to live peacefully with her “coco”, this skull where the hair has almost disappeared. “My hair is my greatest loss of femininity”, she says. But although her head was covered when we met, she is gradually taming her new “look”. “I am always in coco. It doesn’t bother me.”
She will enjoy the holiday season with her boyfriend, her 7-year-old son Malcolm, and her baby. On the menu: little getaways to Quebec City, Lac-Mégantic and Saguenay. “My passions in life are eating, cooking, but also driving my vehicle, I like to go for a jog.”
“I’m going to take care of myself. I’m going to disconnect with my family… but I’m already looking forward to going back to work.”
If all goes according to plan, Miss Sushi will return in September. “I have to, for my mental health.”
Summer questionnaire
What does my ideal summer look like?
My ideal summer is really a summer where I can spend time with my immediate family, but also my extended family who are in Quebec: my father’s brothers, my cousins. I need them, that point of reference. So an ideal summer is a summer where I can settle down and feel good. I really like Quebec, I like staying here in the summer.
The people I would like to gather around the table, dead or alive?
I would bring my mother back – who passed away – and she would be the one cooking. She cooked like a goddess even though she never had a dime. She made great meals with church basement food. Now she would have an unlimited budget to cook anything she never ate. I would bring my grandmother Georgette back for the same reasons. They left when I was young and I really have a lot of unanswered questions, about life in general.
Who is Genevieve Everell?
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Genevieve Everell
- At the head of the Sushi at Home company
- Founder of the Comptoir Sushi à la maison chain, which has eight branches
- Author of 13 recipe books, including Salmon passion, Poke And Sushi at home
- Collaborated on the radio show Veronica and the Fantastics on the airwaves of Rouge FM.