Chris Bergeron: the power to assert yourself
Chris Bergeron in 2012 then in 2022
In ten years, Chris Bergeron has broken several codes. From editor-in-chief of See to vice-president at Cossette, portrait of a committed woman who is no longer afraid to take responsibility.
Even in a videoconference call, the confidence and charisma of Chris Bergeron pierce the screen.
But it has not always been so for her: during the last decade, Chris has begun a feminine transition then that she was over 40.
“People are aware that trans women are women, whereas ten years ago this was not the case at all, explains the author and speaker. I was seen much more as an impostor than a woman.” Whether we like it or not, society actually did not understand (or less) what a gender transition meant.
The “#10YearsChallenge special women in mind” series aims to celebrate the meteoric rise of inspiring female personalities in Quebec over the past ten years.
Chris says she had to sacrifice her journalism career when she started dressing more feminine. She was only perceived as an eccentric person, even though she had been editor-in-chief of See and had studied at La Presse and Radio-Canada.
“I was trying to get jobs in the daily newspapers, but it didn't work,” she says. Back then, we were before diversity hiring programs.”
It was not until she joined the Cossette advertising firm in 2014 that she finally asserted herself as a woman in a professional context, while the president of the agency presented her as her true gender.
She then begins hormonal therapy and uses psychological support to begin her transition.
But with the acceptance of her femininity also comes the loss of old male privileges. “I realized that in very masculine meetings, people listened to me less. I had less opportunity to speak. I wasn't used to it,” she recalls.
At the service of inclusion
This awareness accompanies her today in her functions as vice-president of inclusive creativity.
She offers as much advice on inclusive writing to her clientele as she ensures that the distribution of commercial shoots is diversified.
That is to say, things are changing. Chris is also delighted that advertising is becoming more and more feminist and inclusive.
“We are very careful. We are no longer in the notion of femininity that makes you laugh, she says. Me, when I was young, I saw Mr. B, but who was dressed as a woman to make people laugh. Today, we wouldn't do that anymore.”
She emphasizes that female leadership brings different reflections and a very particular sensitivity to the issues of diversity.
Why? Because women tend to face more professional challenges and are often less advantaged than their male colleagues, she believes. women… headaches.
“It shouldn't be one person with the weight of the world on their shoulders,” she said. The life of leading women should be lighter: a leading woman is a woman who has enough head to do what she wants and not who has to fight or blow glass ceilings at all costs .”
“Right now I'd say I'm a headache woman,” she continues, “but eventually I hope I'll be seen as a head woman.”  ;
In any case, there's no doubt that Chris has the profile for the job and that's why we wanted her to join our #10yearschallenge special female leaders.
