“One moment you’re having a cocktail on the balcony overlooking Paris, and the next thing you know, you’re collecting garbage in the basement.” – Wendy, Senior Project Manager at Tiree, on the diversity of her project experiences.
Ask Wendy Abdallah her favourite part of being a project manager, and she’ll tell you: “traveling to the four corners of the globe.”
Over the past 10 years, Wendy has supported Global Affairs Canada (GAC) on Tiree’s project management team—working everywhere from Morocco and Mali to Paris and Tokyo.
In this blog, she shares some of her most memorable moments from the field, including a few that highlight the less glamorous (but equally important) side of international project work.
In 2011, Wendy and her family moved to Morocco for her husband’s new job opportunity. Shortly after arriving, Wendy noticed that plans were underway to build a new Canadian Embassy in Rabat.
Wendy reached out to the project team to offer her expertise and was hired as a project manager on a 90-day contract. Little did Wendy know—this contract would end up lasting four years. During this time, she built relationships with the Global Affairs Canada team back in Ottawa, then already supported by Tiree.
After returning to Canada, she was able to leverage her existing relationship with Tiree into a new opportunity to support the team’s ongoing work with GAC.
After joining Tiree, Wendy’s first Global Affairs Canada project was in Mali. This proved to be a new experience for her, as the site had a much higher-level of security than she was used to in Morocco.
But after returning from Mali, she was assigned to the Canadian Embassy relocation project in Paris. This was a “cool project” for Wendy, as it involved building a brand-new embassy—something she had never done before.
The new Canadian Embassy in Paris was established at 130 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in the 8th arrondissement, which involved restoring the front façade, as well as adding two additional floors below the ground level.
She remarked, “It was something else to go from building fences in Mali to a brand-new Canadian Embassy in Paris with integrated art, mosaics, and secure spaces.”
After finishing the project in Paris, Wendy also had the opportunity to travel to Japan and Mexico to support Global Affairs Canada in creating business cases for embassy redevelopment and construction.
One thing Wendy loves about working with GAC is that “nothing’s ever the same.” Each project brings a new set of requirements, challenges, and rewards, giving her the chance to grow as a project manager with every assignment.
Wendy has so many memorable moments that it’s hard to choose her favourite! But “walking through the little market [in Mali] and seeing how other people live” really drove home how lucky she was to work with GAC.
She also remembers that before the project handover on the Canadian Embassy in Paris, the Project Director invited them to a gathering on the embassy’s balcony, overlooking the Eiffel Tower. For Wendy, it was “a chance to gather and celebrate that we’d gotten to that point.”
“Not all project management work is glamorous,” she jokes, recalling the time she and her team collected garbage ahead of the embassy’s inauguration.
And although this was outside of the scope of her responsibilities, she felt a strong sense of ownership for the project and its outcomes.
This sense of ownership isn’t just personal—it’s the kind of commitment Tiree brings to every project, helping ensure scope, schedule, and quality are never compromised in the face of challenges.
Working on Canadian Embassies in more than five countries gave Wendy a new appreciation “for the role of embassies overseas.” She was struck by the fact that “everybody has the best interests of Canadians at heart, and everything they’re doing is trying to better the embassy for its people and visitors.”
Her time in Paris gave her a firsthand look at how Canadian embassies are “spreading the word and the vision of Canada beyond our borders.”
Because of this, Wendy strongly believes that her work in support of GAC is in “service to Canadians.”
“The biggest thing you learn working internationally is how to communicate,” says Wendy.
She recalls a moment when four French speakers from different regions couldn’t understand each other due to dialect differences. “Eventually, I had to explain in English that the project would be done in August—and suddenly, everyone was relieved.”
In quite a few situations, Wendy also realized that international teams often don’t have access to the same tools that we do in Canada. But for Wendy, the lesson is to “question all assumptions.”
She advises, “You have to clarify absolutely everything, because if you don’t start there, everything you talk about afterwards will be based on faulty information.”
As a project manager, Wendy loves the “sense of ownership and pride” that comes from supporting GAC projects as part of the Tiree team.
From building new embassies to supporting diplomatic infrastructure, she’s proud to contribute to the successful delivery of infrastructure that supports Canada’s work abroad.
If you’re a project manager looking for meaningful work, Tiree offers unique opportunities to grow your career.
Interested in joining the team? Explore current opportunities at Tiree.
Need project management support? Wendy’s story offers a glimpse into the adaptability and ownership that Tiree brings to every project—learn more about our services.