Kate Wise is ‘Doing It’!
- TCA Admin
- 5 days ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
By Simon Capobianco
Director of Communications, Toronto Council on Aging
Welcome to Seniors Are Doing It!, a new Toronto Council on Aging storytelling series celebrating older adults who continue to learn, lead, create, volunteer, advocate, and make a difference in their communities. Through personal stories and conversations, we hope to highlight the many ways older adults contribute their talents, experience, and passion to the world around them while challenging outdated stereotypes about aging.
For our latest feature, we are proud to introduce Kate Wise. A business owner, marketing consultant, global traveller, mentor, educator and dedicated volunteer, Kate embodies the spirit of Seniors Are Doing It! As she approaches her 80th birthday, her remarkable journey reminds us that aging is not about slowing down; it is about staying curious, giving back and embracing every new adventure life has to offer.
Kate Wise has lived quite the life, and as she comes up on her 80 th birthday there is
no indication that she’s planning on slowing down. Kate – the founder and President of
Kate Wise Consulting Inc, a marketing firm she created in 2005 – has travelled to all
corners of the globe, helped war refugees learn English, and dined among the snakes
(more to come on that soon). She’s watched societies change and evolve, and
witnessed the spread of economic growth across continents. She’s overcome prejudice,
and triumphed in the world of bargaining and business deals. She’s created a career, a
business, and a family – touching countless lives along the way – and she’s far from
done. “I’m busier now than I’ve ever been” she says with a smile, as we begin what will
be a very memorable interview.
Born in London (the real London) in the North (because that matters in the real
London) Kate wasted little time diving straight into life after graduating from a
prestigious private school (what the UK calls a ‘public school’ – of course). She landed a
job as a management trainee in a department store, got married, and started a family. It
wasn’t long, however, before she and her husband decided that they would be better off
abroad – in Canada, specifically – and fled the UK as unofficial refugees from the UK
stagflation crisis in 1975.
Moving to Canada meant beginning her career from scratch. “I had to start again”
she explains, because you needed Canadian experience.” But this was little to do for
Kate. Armed with wit, gumption, and (I can attest to this part) a sophisticated British
accent that played well with North Americans, she was able to secure a sales job at a
clothing store in short order. “It’s helped me all my life” she admits, slightly sheepishly,
when ask if sounding like a member of the Royal Family has had benefits on this side of
‘the pond.’ “I’ve never had to interview for a job” she confesses “well, I’ve interviewed,
but I’ve never had to write a resume” – something I have little difficulty believing.
“Canadians got into it a bit” she recalls, when I press her for more on the accent – What
the name for it? ‘RP’? ‘Buckingham’? – she doesn’t know what to call it aside from
‘North London’ but offers an absolute gem in lieu of a classification: “When I go to the
[United] States, I put on an even stronger accent” she says with a wry smile “and I get
away with murder.”
(Kate wishes me to stipulate that she means that figuratively, and not literally, of
course.)
Once she had a year of Canadian sales experience under belt, Kate’s career began
in earnest. She switched from selling to buying, and began travelling the world for
Sentry Department Stores – selecting products for them to purchase abroad, and retail
in Canada. This work would take her to all corners of the globe, and allow her to
experience diverse societies and cultures. She was also able to witness the South
Asian economic development wave first-hand – and come away with more than a few
priceless anecdotes.
This stage of her career was as much about developing products as it was about
purchasing them for her employer. During her extensive travels, she would work with
manufacturers to create variants of their products (mainly housewares) that would be
more appealing to Canadian consumers – work that required her to have a keen eye for
both design, and current social tastes. This started in Japan, where she recalls that they
used to make beautiful ceramics. Then, as Japan grew more high-tech, her buying trips
shifted to Taiwan. As the Taiwanese economy began to focus more on computers, she
found herself going to Thailand to meet manufacturers. Then China. Then Vietnam.
Then Malaysia… Now, she tells me, India is very strong in ceramics. Kate’s career, and
travels, quite figuratively rode the ‘wave’ of South-East Asian technological development
as it swept across the pacific in the 80s and 90s – she lived through an historical sea
change that economics students read about today in textbooks. And, as I teased earlier,
she came away with many a tail to tell (pun intended, naturally).
“What was the craziest thing you saw on your travels?” I ask, knowing it’s going to be
good as her eyes light up at the question. “Taiwan” she says, without hesitation. “I loved
Taiwan – they had this area in Taipei called ‘Snake Alley’ and I remember the first time I
was taken there very vividly. You’re literally walking through a market full of snakes to
get to the restaurant – I’m assured it’s a very nice restaurant – and I’m sort of walking
with eyes straight ahead.” She continues, tensing slightly at the memory of the scaly
gauntlet she had to run in order to have dinner.
It would seem that ‘Snake Alley’ was crawling (or slithering) with snakes that were
both being sold at the medicinal kiosks that thronged it, as well as simply going about
their snakely business – under and around the feet of the people walking through, and
much to the chagrin of foreigners unused to this level of human-reptile comingling. “And
we finally get to the restaurant, and there are these white tablecloths and chandeliers
and Wedgewood China on the table. The food was fabulous.” Kate recalls fondly, “and
impeccable service – all in the middle of this god-awful place” she says with a shudder.
(It should be noted that the TCA has nothing against snakes per se, but, like Kate, we
prefer them to be well out of biting range.) “So, the dining experience was worth walking through all those snakes?” I ask. “No” she says with a laugh, and no need for
deliberation, “it was terrifying.”
This is the kind of experience Kate had during her decades-long, globe-trotting
career – the kind you can’t get by staying home, or by working in an office. Not all of
them are as humorous, of course (she recalls being treated very poorly in countries
where societal views towards women lagged behind the ‘second wave’ of feminism that
washed over much of the world in the 60’s and 70’s) or had such happy endings (she
was served local ‘delicacies’ which she found it difficult to be delicate in describing
– although we’ve chosen to omit the details out of consideration for the chefs). Such is
the world, however, and Kate has seen more of it than most people alive – or, indeed,
most who have ever lived.
So what’s she doing with her time now that she isn’t jetting off to some exotic locale
every other month? “To be honest” she says with a chuckle “I’m busier than now I’ve
ever been.” I’m hardly surprised – Kate doesn’t seem like the type to really ‘retire’ in the
traditional sense of the word – but I’m eager to hear the details. “I can’t sit at home, so
I’ve gotten involved with lots of different kinds of volunteer work” she tells me, “I help in
a school during the term – usually grades three and four – helping with reading and
math and things like that. And I also help out at a lovely little not-for-profit called the
Children’s Book Bank – I go in and read to the children once or twice a week.”
Through her work teaching children to read, Kate encountered another opportunity to
help others – something she always jumps at. “They had an ESL class, and I met two
Ukrainian ladies, and that’s how it started” she tells me of her work with Ukrainian
refugees, whom she helps to develop their conversational English. “It’s all well and good
if they know the past perfect case or whatever” she intones, as we discuss the (formal,
but not very functional) language instruction given to refugees when they arrive in
Canada, “but if you can’t put a sentence together, or talk to someone who speaks
English, then all this [grammatical instruction] has been a bit of a waste, hasn’t it?” This
is where Kate stepped in – volunteering with the Ukraine National Federation (the Toronto
branch, in Etobicoke) to help refugees develop conversation skills by, of all things, chatting
with them – rather than giving them verb tables to memorize. I can’t help but muse aloud
that, had Kate been my French teacher in middle school, I might today be able to say
something other than “Je suis, tu es, il est, elle est, nous sommes, vous etes, ils sont, els
sont.”
When she’s not teaching children to read, or helping refugees rebuild their lives in
Canada after escaping war, Kate stays active with a regular exercise regimen – even as she enters the ninth decade of her astounding life. “I work with a trainer online, three times a week” she tells me, as I realize (but don’t mention) that she works out more than I do. “We do intense half-hour sessions: strength training, aerobic conditioning, a variety of things – she [the trainer] is absolutely wonderful!” She also maintains a fairly busy social life (given how much she has going on), frequenting the theatre, and taking in films regularly – she recommends The Invite very highly, if you’re looking for something to watch. And of course she still makes time for her lifelong passion – travel – spending every March in Spain, and hopping back across ‘the pond’ to England twice a year to visit her brother and sister. She’s even got a trip to Mexico planned for next January – and doesn’t mind missing out on a bit of the Canadian winter. And as if that weren’t enough, still putting her well-honed corporate hacks to good use – mentoring young entrepreneurs through her business consulting firm, Kate Wise Consulting Inc.
Above everything, however – all the career success and international travel, all the lives
touched and lessons learned, all the teaching, mentorship, and close-encounters of the
scaly kind – what Kate values most is her connection to the children. “My grandchildren
grew up in Montreal” she tells me, a bit wistfully, “and I didn’t get to see them very often.”
“So I think the fact that I started working in the school system with the kids gave me them – gave me the grand children that I never had time with” she says, her voice simultaneously glowing and wavering.
With this, Kate holds up for the camera – one by one, so that I can take screen shots of
them for the article – card after card, with darling little hand-drawn pictures, and messages of appreciation from the children to whom she reads, week after week. Little Nayra, it seems, thinks that ‘Ms. Wise is the best’ – and I quite agree. Kate Wise is really ‘doing it’ – not just showing how much seniors have to give to their communities, and to the world, but also changing lives, and leaving her mark on the hearts of the next generation of little readers and card-makers. “Will they grow up with posh accents?” I have to ask, thinking of the children learning to read from her, “a cohort of little Canadian kids who sound like the Queen?” “Oh gosh, I hope not!” she chuckles, musing that she should read to them with a Canadian accent. “Oh, don’t!” I chuckle back, “those accents will serve them well their entire lives.”
And that is where we leave it.
The TCA thanks to Kate Wise for allowing us to profile her for Seniors are Doing It!, and
wishes her very a happy (by now belated) 80 th birthday.
If you, like the children she reads to, want to be like Kate, you can view volunteer
opportunities with The Children’s Book Bank and the Toronto branch of the Ukrainian
National Foundation by clicking the links below.
Comments