CHESTERMERE – The Women’s Resource Centre, based out of the University of Calgary, has recently named the recipients of the annual WRC Awards.
The WRC selects one distinguished student and one distinguished alumna, and this year, the latter title was given to a resident of Chestermere.
Jenny Gulamani-Abdulla, who has lived in Chestermere for the past nine years, is the president of her own immigration consulting firm. She was nominated for the award by her sister, who she has worked closely with for the past 18 years, as well as by members of the Business & Professional Women’s Club of Calgary where she is the first vice-president.
Gulamani-Abdulla is a member of the International Bar Association, has a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from The University of Calgary as well as a Juris Doctor degree in Law from California.
The WRC awards are presented to outstanding women who show wisdom – having achieved professional and/or academic excellence, resilience – having overcome barriers and who trailblaze for women, and compassion – having made an outstanding contribution to the community and shown a demonstrated commitment to advancing women’s issues.
Gulamani-Abdulla said that she is passionate about what she does, and felt honored to have it recognized.
She said that immigration was the furthest thing from her mind when she was actually in law school, but once she got out into the working world, she felt drawn to it.
“It wasn’t something I planned, but when I graduated I was offered a position at an immigration law firm, and I just saw it as something very different and something interesting to be a part of,” she said. “Eventually I realized that it was something I could do on my own, so I decided to set up my own firm in my second year.
“Around the same time, my sister was graduating from her paralegal program, so I decided to lure her into working with me, and we have been doing so ever since.”
Jenny said that ceremony, which took place on March 7, was amazing and that she felt honored to have been a part of it.
“I looked at the previous recipients of the award and they all have very impressive bios, so I felt very honored to receive it,” she said. “It was also an honor just to be there and be named a recipient among all of the other women who have done so much work in their fields as well.”
For more info about the WRC and the award, visit www.ucalgary.ca/women.
