In this keynote, Claire Hayek shares her personal narrative of growing up in war‑torn Beirut, fleeing to Montreal, and deliberately refusing to choose a single career path. She pursued metallurgical engineering while simultaneously studying at a music conservatory, embodying a "double‑agent" identity that later expanded to a "quadruple‑career" mindset. Claire recounts the cultural and professional shaming she faced when colleagues questioned the legitimacy of her dual passions, and how she transformed that tension into a broader, panoramic view of personal potential. Through vision quests, an executive MBA, and multiple entrepreneurial ventures, she illustrates a can‑do philosophy that merges seemingly disparate disciplines into a unified purpose of serving others. The talk culminates in an interactive positivity mantra, inviting the audience to close their eyes, feel the words, and internalize the belief that "today is gonna be an amazing day," reinforcing the message that embracing all facets of oneself unlocks true impact.
Chapters
Have you ever been asked that question, what do you want to do when you grow up?
Yes.
Right? Well, to some of us, the answer is crystal clear, but to many of us, it's like catching fog. The minute you think you got it, then it slips through your fingers, right? Well, I'm here to bring A whole different perspective, one that is far from traditional thinking and that will open new horizons. It all started in the city of Beirut, a city where beauty and chaos coexist. You see, ever since I was a child, I've been caught in a dilemma. On one hand, I was drawn to the spotlight, watching performers in our family, musicians, artists. And on the other, I was so interested in the world of logic, creation, design that was inspired by the engineers in our family. Growing up in war-torn Beirut, oh boy, we enjoyed the finest things in life. Great music, good food, top education, beautiful mountains and beaches. But at the same time, we witnessed the terror of the war, running from one shelter to another, not knowing at any time if a bomb was going to fall on our heads and end it all. A duality, life and death. Now, this duality became second nature to me. So when it was time for me to choose a career, I mean, I was torn between music and engineering. But here's the twist. I didn't want to choose. I wanted both. So what did I do? So I challenged the norm. I didn't choose one career or two careers. Heck, I didn't choose three careers. I chose everything. Now I see some of your faces and some of you are wondering, sure, choose everything but master nothing. I want you to keep an open mind. And imagine someone not being a double career agent, not even a triple career agent, perhaps a quadruple career agent. I want you to challenge the very notion of impossible and embrace the power of can-do. Can we do that?
Sure.
All right. Now, show of hands. How many of you here in your day-to-day identify as being a leader, a creator, a strategist, all of the above?
Sure.
All right. Now I want you to go from a tunnel vision and bring it a bit wider and take it to a panoramic view. This panoramic view is your life, where you see all your blind spots on the left and all the blind spots on the right and everything in between. A panoramic view of your full potential. Now hold that thought as I continue on with my story. At the age of 16, my family and I fled the war in Lebanon to start a new life in Montreal. I mean, Montreal, the land of hockey legends, the famous poutine, and a future that seemed boundless. At high school, I aced math and sciences, and I participated in every single artistic activity possible. Double agent. When it was time for me to choose a university major, I chose metallurgical engineering. Let me demystify that for you. So simply put, I was the engineer that designed the process that would transform a big giant rock into a metal form such as a gold ingot. But there was a twist. As I was studying engineering, I enrolled into the McGill University Music Conservatory to take on singing lessons, music theory, you know, Your training. I mean, imagine me rushing from a statistics class to a music conservatory. It's like going from black and white to Technicolor, from formulas to flowing melodies. I remember the first time I made that transition. Oh boy, it was -30 degrees Celsius outside as I ran into The warmth of sounds of trumpets, piano melodies, opera singers. It was just simply amazing. Double agent. And then it continues. What about friends? Well, I had 3 sets. I had the engineers, the musicians, and the ones I partied with. But let's skip the ones I partied with, and let's focus on the first 2. And that was, of course, the anomaly in both worlds. You see, to the engineers, I was the artistic dreamer, their skepticism in my engineering future as solid as the metals I studied. To the musicians, I was the left-brain analyst, way too structured to embrace the whole artistic creativity. There was even humor in their confusion. They would ask something like—
What's the difference?
Claire, can you even read music without analyzing its own frequency? Yeah. When I graduated in engineering, there I was at a crossroad that seemed more like a circus act than an actual career decision. So it was like Montreal, the mines, the office, the stage. Well, I chose Montreal's brightest city lights over the mine's glittering gold as I was balancing spreadsheets by day and harmonies by night. So again, imagine me rushing from an engineering operation to singing at the top of my lungs, switching from safety goggles to stage lights. Double agent. But if I'm really honest with you, It wasn't all jazz and joy. I faced moments of doubt and anxiety where I felt like a chameleon constantly changing colors, not quite fitting in one box. It was simply exhausting. And then there was the shaming.
Shaming?
Yeah, shaming. I recall once at the office, Somebody came back, came up to me and whispered. They're like, Claire, you know, you might not want to mention your music in engineering setting, you know, and your social media, maybe keep it engineering, strictly engineering. You see, you don't want to confuse people and undermine your credibility as an engineer. Ouch. Did that ever hurt. It felt like a slap in the face. Like, I knew that colleague of mine meant well, But I couldn't help but ask myself that question. Is my passion for music a professional liability? I mean, really? I mean, even when I was doing music full-time, I was regarded as the artist with a safety net, kind of making my struggle less authentic. I don't know if you see what was happening here, right? Like being a musician undermining my credibility as an engineer, being an engineer undermining my credibility as a musician. And then I asked myself the ultimate horrific question. Was I destined to be Jane of all trades? Master of none. Every spreadsheet I aced, every note I hit was clouded by the anxiety of me not being good enough in either world and left me kind of second-guessing all my career choices until one moment. That moment when I dared to go from a wide view into a panoramic one. And I asked myself the question, why juggle music and engineering? Why not merge them into one? Merge them into one? Okay, come on, right? Engineering and music, merge them into one. How impossible does that sound, right? Well, I told myself, you know, you wouldn't know if you didn't try. So it took every single ounce of courage in my being to take that first step into this uncharted territory of mine. But I needed help, and I did get the help. Personal growth seminars, business training, leadership training. I did 4 vision quests where I would fast 4 days with no water, no food in the woods for 4 years. I started multiple ventures. I did an executive MBA. I went from double career agent to quadruple career agent to somewhere in between until aha moment. That moment when I realized, oh my God, it was never about engineering and music. It was never about Montreal or the mines. It was about how I can be more so I can give more. It wasn't about my life. Oh no, it wasn't about my life. It was about how many lives I can truly touch. You see, I chose everything. And in the process, I found myself and my why. So if I narrow this down to one takeaway, it's this: all of our experiences, they're not separate from one another. They can all come together, and in that lies our true potential. I mean, pause and think of all your hidden talents, the things, the passions that get you going. How can you bring them forward in your day-to-day? As I share my story today, I hope, I truly hope it inspires you to give yourself permission to explore all the endless possibilities in this view. Explore every single star in every single planet in your own personal galaxy. So I ask you this. What galaxies within you are waiting to be discovered? What dreams have you set aside? What hidden passion that you've underestimated that could be your defining strength? How will you explore them all? You know, as Mark Twain famously wrote, the two Most important days of our life is the day we are born and the day we find out why. When the world feels overwhelming, when all you want to do is give up, our why is that basically that driving force that moves us forward. It's the lighthouse in the darkest storm. It helps us focus and see the big picture. When you are out there exploring this whole new view, think of your why as the thing that's going to turn all the challenges into opportunities and all your failures into stepping stones to success. And I want to just challenge all of you to try and find what really moves you and drives you at your core, what makes you uniquely you, so you can use that and make a difference in, in your world, make a difference in the lives of those around you. And I want to leave you with a special gift. It's a positivity mantra. It was actually given to me at A-Fest, at an entrepreneurship conference. But I'm not going to share it the way it was given to me. I'm going to share it with you the way it transformed. So I took this mantra that really helped me in very tough times. And it came to me in my dreams as a melody. And I can connect better with the words that way. I think music really moves all of us and makes sense. So I'm going to ask something out of you. I don't know how much courage is in this room, but I have, I think, an idea that there's a lot of courage here. So can you trust the process?
Yes.
All right.
Are we good? Yeah.
OK. So I'm going to share this mantra with you. I'm going to start it, and I would like you to join in. But I would going to ask you to close your eyes. You can put your hand on your heart or not. Just feel comfortable. This mantra is gold. It's gold.
Gold.
It turns the ordinary into magic. And I hope it serves you as well as it served me. So let's close our eyes. And it goes like this.
Today is gonna be an amazing day. Today is gonna be an amazing day together. Today is gonna be an amazing day. Today is gonna be an amazing day.
Like you mean it.
Today is gonna be an amazing day. Today is gonna be an amazing day. One more time. Today is gonna be an amazing day. Today is gonna be an amazing day.
