A long time ago, I bought a laminated place mat of the Prime Ministers of Canada, figuring that it might be more fun for my kids to pick up bits of Canadian history over breakfast than learning them by rote at school.

My older daughter ignored it until Justin Trudeau made it cool to be a Prime Minister. Then she noted that the place mat isn’t up to date – it ends at Jean Chretien – and she ignored it once again. 

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however, started to study the thing and quiz my husband (Mark) and me to see what we know.

“When was Alexander Mackenzie born?” No clue.

“Do you know that there has only been one girl Prime Minister? Do you know her name?”

Yes, we know her name. It’s Kim Campbell.

Mark is a political junkie who collects encounters with politicians courtesy of his business-travel habit. When Justin Trudeau was trotting across the country looking to become Prime Minister for the first time, Mark crossed paths with him while waiting to check into his hotel. They chatted for a couple of minutes.

Some time later, he bumped into Bob Rae at the airport. More chit chat.

This morning, while getting the kids ready for school, the phone rang. It was Mark. “Did you see my email? I met Kim Campbell at the airport. Very interesting lady.”

C was beside herself with excitement. After relaying a few details to C, he asked to speak with me again.

“I spoke with Kim about your work with women. She wants to know more. She gave me her business card and asked that you send her a link to something that describes your work.”

I’ve been writing and speaking about women’s financial literacy for years, yet there isn’t a single article that gives an overview of what I do and why I do it.

So, instead of making Ms. Campbell dig through years’ worth of blog posts, I decided to distill my work and my mission here, in the form of a letter.

*Dear Kim Campbell (aka the only female Prime Minister of Canada to date),

*I’m a former academic who, in 1992, was on track to become a Professor of Neurolinguistics. I never made it. Part way through my studies, the bottom fell out of my world.