Employee profiles

Cheryl Nowosad remembers her first vacation – an exotic escape to Barbados at age 19 – like it was yesterday. For a girl who grew up in rural Meaford, Ontario, during a time when travel was primarily reserved for the wealthy, the thrill of boarding an airplane for the first time was unforgettable.

Travel is what Cheryl lives and breathes every day as one of five Supervisors in Transat Tours Canada’s Toronto YYZ Customer Care Centre. She and her team of almost 100 are responsible for helping support Transat customers on a daily basis, and, according to Cheryl, “ensuring our customer expectations are met by upholding the company brand and by minimizing our call escalations through effective coaching and management.” Occasionally, this can mean helping customers cope with highly unusual circumstances, as was the case in spring 2010 when she and her team helped Transat travellers stranded around the globe by flight cancellations caused by volcanic ash. It was the first challenge on such a scale that she had encountered during her 23 years with the company, and she is proud of the fact that the quality of her team’s response earned it recognition from company management.

Excitement aside, what Cheryl enjoys most about Transat are its people, and the opportunities the company gives them to develop. She praises the company’s “open-door policies, learning and development initiatives, including the Transat training program, and the countless other benefits available to Transat employees.”

Outside of work, Cheryl enjoys spending time with her husband, Randy, and two children. She lists her favourite hobbies as hosting and attending dinner parties with her many long-time friends, along with organizing her numerous photos in albums, listening to music of all kinds while reading and enjoying an occasional glass of red wine.

And, since that first trip to Barbados so many years ago, Cheryl has gone on to discover most of the Caribbean, plus many parts of Europe and Asia. Her favourite vacation destination? Greece, where she and Randy spent their 25th wedding anniversary, and where she would return “in a heartbeat.” Next stop? Portugal and Italy again!