Cara Baudin

Cara Baudin’s diligent, structured and organized, but she can roll with the punches, too—and her natural attunement to the needs of others makes her a dream for supporting our Practice Leads as they walk leaders along the path toward mentorship. Cara Baudin comes to us from the education and leadership development spheres, and brings a focus on quality and collaboration. Born and raised on Vancouver Island, community is stitched into the fabric of her being. Given Cara’s psych degree and penchant for horror movies, we’re prepared for things to get a little weird around here. She does bake great bread, though, so we’re up for all of it.

You have a psych degree and a background in leadership development. How does this foundation set you up for being our Practice Coordinator?

I grew up so curious about the world and the way humans interact with it. I wanted to know the ‘why’ behind the way people think and behave. My education helped me develop a greater understanding of humans and what we need to thrive. With this greater understanding comes deeper empathy, and an ability to anticipate others’ needs.

What drew me into the leadership space is the idea of creating community and building people to be their best. Unlocking their potential. I’ve been immersed in the non-profit world, and seeing how much influence a really good leader can have—both on their staff but also on the people their organization serves—literally magnetized me to it. Continuous learning and growth are just inherent to good leadership.

You bring a strong focus on caring. What are some of the things you took away from your work in crisis intervention?

I spent three years working on a crisis line for youth across Canada, having hundreds of crisis conversations with folks navigating their darkest moments. The isolation people are facing… Because they’re disconnected, they feel like they don’t matter. These conversations were raw and vulnerable, and showed me how essential it is to have a sense of community in order to stay connected to our purpose. Everybody needs somebody.

I definitely operate my best within an ecosystem and within relationships. My philosophy in life is it’s always better with friends. The work on the crisis lines was tough, because I knew that support isn’t there for everyone.

You’re a great baker. Robert Henderson would be proud. Tell us how sourdough serves as a metaphor for handling life’s ups and downs.

Most people avoid making sourdough because they think it’s too much work and they’ll fail. They’re not wrong! This is what makes success so gratifying. Sourdough gives us lessons in patience, perseverance and finding the right balance between instruction and intuition to reach mastery.

Sourdough is a living thing with a mind of its own. You have to pay attention to it, pay attention to your environment, pay attention to how everything’s interacting. Your first few loaves may not work out. But over time, your starter gets stronger, you get better at figuring out how to do it, you reflect on your process and try something else. It’s the feedback model in real time! I started learning with a time-stamped schedule and a thermometer. Now, I pay attention to what good dough should feel like.

A good loaf of bread reminds us that the small things in life matter too, like how we show up in everyday moments: focus on your practice and greatness will follow. Robert Henderson said it well with his epic line, “Great bakers bake great bread.”

It is indeed all in how you show up. On that topic, how do you see Gen Z redefining what matters in a rapidly changing world?

Chiz captures it well in Quiet Champions: the next generation of leaders is inheriting a different world, with its own unique set of leadership challenges like climate change, AI, social media, a loneliness epidemic, political polarization and violent conflict across the globe. Gen Z leaders are challenging traditional leadership practices out of necessity, and looking for great mentors who can help them shape the future. Many leaders in my generation are closely connected to a purpose. There’s a focus on authenticity and social justice—showing up as the human you are and voicing what matters to you. We’re redefining work by prioritizing transparency, inclusivity and work-life balance.

Talk a bit about your love of travel. How did it change the way you see the world?

At 20, I did a semester abroad in the Netherlands. It changed everything! I spent four months gallivanting across Europe making international friends and consuming a lot of wine and cheese. In the past few years, I’ve been lucky to have many adventures: snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef, finding evidence of ancient Mayan rituals in Belizean caves, hitchhiking to beaches on Greek islands and dancing to fiddle music in Irish pubs. I have a long list of places I still dream to visit. It’s on my bucket list to see penguins!

What grounds you?

Nature. I take every opportunity to be outside. Hiking, paddling, camping under a sky full of stars—Vancouver Island is an amazing part of the world to live in. A perfect summer evening to me is playing a game of cards as the sun goes down and sleeping in a tent.

OK, we’re curious about the half-marathons. That’s pretty fierce. How did these come about?

My partner is a runner, and after I saw him do his first race I knew I wanted to be a part of it. It was just a great energy. I was watching everybody and seeing how hard it was, but they were pushing through it. I was so moved by their emotions at the finish line—that overwhelming feeling of celebration and pride. There were all these friends and family out watching and I was like, This is awesome. I used to play sports growing up but hadn’t been in a competitive space in a long time, and I thought this would be a fun thing to do. Just competing against myself, but trying to accomplish something physical.

I trained all through the summer of 2024 and ran my first race that fall. I cried proud tears when I crossed the finish line. What was so moving about that experience was challenging a limiting belief I had about myself: I was genuinely surprised that I could do it. I wasn’t the most athletic person growing up, and I wasn’t even sure I could handle a 10k, let alone a half. But it’s led to other amazing things, like building a community around running; now you’ll find me most weekends going for a run and hitting up a café with my running buds. I do a few races a year now, and am slowly building up the courage for a full marathon.

There’s that Roy Group vitality. So great. What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I love horror movies—especially the supernatural kind! Horror movies nowadays are getting so good; they have really good actors and writing, and they’re becoming much scarier, which I love.