As a child in France, Davina Boulineau remembers going with her parents to their job cleaning office buildings in the middle of the night.
Boulineau and her family lived in Seine-Saint-Denis, a poor and crowded suburb in northeast Paris that struggled with crime.
"I remember sitting in these offices and picking up a phone hand receiver and pretending I was an executive," she said.
"I did it every day for a couple of years. But I always thought being an executive was never going to happen for me. It just wasn't my story."
Boulineau has a phrase she uses to describe this feeling: the dream gap.
"It wasn't my parents who couldn't help get me there," she said. "It was my environment that held me back, which is why my parents made the decision to come to Canada."
Boulineau never stopped dreaming.
Today, she works in an office building. But she isn't pretending to be an executive. She's the Vice President of Private Client Advice at TD Insurance, a business line at TD Insurance that she helped build from the ground up.
From entry level to executive
Boulineau arrived in Canada at age 18 from France not speaking a word of English. Her parents had moved the family to Toronto because they had big dreams for their children.
“My dad refused to go to Montréal because he wanted us to learn a new language, so we moved to Toronto. The struggle was real,” Boulineau said.
She started looking for work – an uphill battle with no English language skills. Boulineau took the first job she could get in a warehouse packing surgical tools from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. for $6 an hour.
But she was eager to break into the corporate world, so she started accepting two-week contracts in different offices from an employment agency.
"I learned English doing that. But also, by watching the soap opera The Young and the Restless," Boulineau said.
Feeling more confident in her language skills, she started applying for permanent jobs.
"I applied the way I was taught in France," said Boulineau, who added her picture, nationality, and marital status to her resume.
"Of course, I learned that was all wrong."
Nevertheless, Boulineau caught the attention of several organizations and landed an interview with an insurance company for a receptionist role. She brought her mother along to wait in the lobby. She was nervous and the interview didn't go well, she recalls.
Still, the hiring manager saw her potential and decided to give her a chance.
“I will never forget that. I believe the hiring manager is the reason why I am able to stand in front of you as a vice president at one of the top insurance companies in Canada, and I’m very proud of that. I’m really living the Canadian dream,” Boulineau said.
Boulineau steadily climbed the career ladder, becoming a typist, a call centre representative, and then a manager, as she chased opportunities at different Canadian insurance companies.
“After I entered the workforce, I was always very grateful for all the jobs I had. People noticed the joy that I was putting into my work, so I always got tapped on the shoulder to take on more opportunities.”
Eventually, she began specializing in high-net-worth clients, which is when TD Insurance came knocking.
Building an insurance practice from the ground up
Boulineau joined TD Insurance in 2016 with a mandate to build TD Insurance Private Client Advice, Canada’s first comprehensive direct-to-consumer insurance service designed to help meet the needs of affluent Canadians and their families.
The “white glove” experience of this service includes proactive advice, coverage customization, home appraisal services, differentiated claims solutions, and relationship management.
“We’ve really disrupted the market with our Private Client Advice offering, and it means a lot to me because of where I started,” Boulineau said.
“I didn't go to school for this — it’s just the passion that I have for customer service and personalizing our approach to do things better for the clientele that has driven me forward.”
Boulineau said her 25-year career has taught her that insurance is a people business. As an executive, she likes to work closely with the frontline team to improve processes for both TD Insurance colleagues and clients.
She understands what it’s like to build her career and her own success. She harnesses her empathy and personal experiences to better understand her customers and colleagues – and strives to give them what they need.
Helping other dreamers reach their potential
As a leader at TD Insurance, Boulineau’s experiences have shaped her values around building a culture where colleagues can tap into their full potential.
Since 2018, Boulineau has co-led the TD Insurance Multicultural Network, an employee resource group that aims to promote a diverse workplace where TD Insurance colleagues feel connected, accepted, and engaged at work.
“As an employee, when you feel seen and heard and you feel like you matter, it makes a big difference,” she said.
“You don’t feel like a number — you feel like your voice matters to the leaders around you. It’s a feeling I want to pay forward, and I want my TD Insurance colleagues and our clients to feel this way too.”
Boulineau also volunteers in her community with TD Insurance.
At ACCES Employment, a community-based organization that assists jobseekers from diverse backgrounds who are facing barriers to getting work, Boulineau uses her lived experience to teach women who are new to Canada how to negotiate. But not just about salary.
"It's also how to advocate for themselves with confidence and clarity," she said. "It's about changing the internal dialogue that says, "I can't" or "I'm not ready" and replacing it with "I deserve this, and I belong.""
Boulineau said she helps these women embrace their voices, love their stories, and recognize that their journey is a source of strength.
"It's not something to hide. It's something to celebrate," she said.
She recently spoke at York University in Toronto to a group of Gr. 9 and 10 students from lower-income backgrounds, most of whom had parents working as support staff at the school.
"I told them about their ability to dream and to never stop," she said. "Even if someone tells you not to, don't believe them."
For Boulineau, dreaming made her life possible. It pushed her to take control of her life by upskilling to advance in her career, build confidence, and surround herself with mentors and allies.
"A lot of people forget to dream — they don’t think they’re allowed to dream because they’re going to be criticized. But what got me to where I am today in my career is that I am a powerful dreamer," she said.