The Ontario native has worked in Japan, across the U.S. and Canada but Saint John is where she and her family have chosen to call home. Ayisha first lived and worked in Saint John briefly as a teacher.

“I used to say, ‘home is wherever I am.’ As soon as I left Saint John, I knew I was wrong,” she said. “Saint John was home. The place I wanted to come back to. It’s the sense of community. Even today within the company, it feels like I’ve joined a family. It’s been so wonderful as a newcomer."

Ayisha’s most recent move from a resource-based company in Alberta to Saint John was accelerated by the Fort McMurray wild fires. “We had to evacuate. My sons, who are five and three, tried to make sense of the fires as we were driving out. They concluded it must have been the work of a fire-breathing dragon. When we arrived in Saint John, my youngest said, ‘Mommy I like Saint John… but are there dragons?’ I told him ‘no, there’s a big ocean, but no dragons.’"

Ayisha is excited by her career with RST Sunbury. “Challenge. I’ve met with tons of companies who say they believe in continuous improvement,” she said, “but there is a huge difference between those who say it and those who live it."

Ayisha said she clicked right away with the focused and collaborative culture of improvement at RST/Sunbury.

“I never want to reach the bar. I want to work with a company where the expectation is to raise the bar up. The culture here is really about continuous improvement.” Concluded Ayisha:  “That’s the foundation if you’re going to make positive change, deliver the best to your customers.”