My Favourite MAKR Story

NADINE PRETORIUS | Vice President, Finance and Administration

Being a new Canadian, with roots in South Africa, I couldn’t have landed in a better “home” than MAKR.  My favourite MAKR story is about quickly finding friendship and camaraderie amongst my colleagues.

I was in my first year with the company and I was offsite at a strategy planning session with my new colleagues. It was on this trip that I was truly inspired by how thoughtful my new teammates were. To ensure I felt at home they played music in my native language—a simple but powerful gesture that made me feel very welcome. 

After a day I started to understand that this company not only makes fun for communities around the world, but also lives and breathes a culture of fun everyday, even at strategic meetings! I decided to play a trick on my roommate at the planning session. Being a new MAKR also meant my conference coworkers were unaware of my love for physical endurance, any form of extra steps are the highlight of my day! On the last day I convinced my colleague to walk back with me to our hotel, after all it was only 800m away. Little did she know that I would sneakily be taking advantage of her lack of direction and steering her off course – I LOVE detours and I needed to get my steps in after a day of sitting! 

While we were walking and chatting my poor colleague was unaware that I was constantly changing directions and deviating from heading to the hotel. After a few kilometres (yes, I said kilometres), detours and confused looks, and a cheerful confession that I had made her my hiking partner for the evening, we eventually made it back to the hotel. Instead of being angry with me she happily told the rest of the group where she’d been. Fast forward to the week’s end and she thanked me for achieving her weekly steps! 

Outsiders don’t exist in this company. MAKR is a culture of family, fun, dedication, and support.