English: Gary Chui + Deborah Lau-Yu | Chinese: 黃穎瑜

AS FEATURED IN EDITION NO. 7 OF FETE CHINOISE MAGAZINE: PERSPECTIVE 覺•渡

Venue: T&T Supermarket’s Headquarters, Canada Art Direction: Deborah Lau-Yu & Melissa Haggerty Photographer: Jackson Huang, Ikonica Assistant: Yumiko Miyamoto, Ikonica Stylist: Ashley Galang Make Up: Fiona Man Hair: Judy Lim Jewellery: Tiffany & Co., Chanel timepieces: Piaget Attire: Chanel, RVNG, Narces, Harry Rosen

This is a “we” story, not a “me” story.

Tina Lee’s pandemic experience has been all about people. From the thousands who are her work family, to the millions that her twenty-seven stores serve, to her own family at home; every one of these people was the reason Tina persevered and prevailed through the most challenging two years of her career. As CEO of T&T Supermarkets, Tina has faced many hurdles before, but nothing like when COVID-19 entered Canada.  Almost overnight, Tina and her grocery staff became frontline workers. And just like all first responders, her employees could not stay at home; instead, they showed up day after day, driven by an overriding sense of civic duty. Tina led the daily battle with compassion and courage. It was during this time that the T&T story and Tina’s story became inextricably intertwined and went from “me” to “we.”

On January 30, 2020, Tina sent out an unconventionally bold letter to her customers and staff, well before the national lock down. She took the initiative to shut down the fake rumours about COVID-19 appearing in T&T stores and to reassure the public with reason, firmness, warmth and confidence.  It was through this display of compassionate leadership that Tina became a steadfast role model for many other organizations dealing with the early fear and uncertainty of the virus. “My family and my team have supported our community and customers for decades through good and bad days. We know there is concern and we are ready to serve,” she wrote.

That was the public letter. But many don’t know about the private message she penned to her employees after she learned that many of them were hiding the fact they were still going to work from their own families. Thanks to the extensive protective measures Tina had put into place at the stores like double masks for employees and improved ventilation, her colleagues felt safe; some of their family members, however, were still fearful for them. Knowing the dedication and courage it took for her staff to come to work everyday at T&T, Tina was compelled to write thank you letters to their families. She wanted to thank the husbands, wives, parents and grandparents of colleagues for their families’ sacrifice to keep the community fed during these times, when certainty was absent, when routine was uprooted, when risk was aplenty. To thank them for helping forge their “we” story, and not “me” story. 

The letter came from the deepest part of her, mostly because she was experiencing exactly what her staff were going through at her own home. The unpredictability of the pandemic created challenges that affected her own family as well. She noticed that the ‘running hug’ – that hug you get when you come home at the end of a work day and your children come running to greet you at the door – had disappeared. Her first task upon entering her house now was to disinfect and shower, not hug her kids.  She quickly learned that by the time she was clean and ready for her hug, her kids were well into their evening programming. The sudden vanishing of that ‘running hug’ – the price to pay for her kids’ safety – was what Tina cites as the most painful aspect about being a working parent during the pandemic. 

「貨架米糧充足！」這是她在新冠疫情高峰期間，每天早上聽到的第一句說話。在她眼中，確保社區有充足糧食供應是一個使命。她就是大統華超市集團（T&T Supermarkets）的行政總裁李佩婷（Tina Lee）。

貴為加拿大最大亞裔連鎖超市集團的第二代掌舵人，Tina的工作任重而道遠。2014年受命接掌，在她的領導下，大統華全國分店在短短數年間增至27間、團隊亦雙倍增長達至員工人數過萬。她的功績同時備受主流政商界肯定，並委以多項重任，如加拿大商會組成的新冠疫情商業復甦委員會共同主席、加拿大聯邦公務及採購部Covid-19資源供應委員會成員等。她更在2017年獲加拿大總理杜魯多親自邀請加入美加女企業家和商業領袖促進委員會，此會是由五名加拿大和五名美國女高級行政管理人員組成，而Tina是會內唯一的華人。「有家才有國」，工作以外，這位成功的女企業家亦是一位賢妻及三個小孩的良母。

師承母親．以人為本

大統華超市服務社區廿多載，時刻以滿足顧客為經營理念。Tina憶述當年她母親李羅昌鈺給她交棒的時候，那清空了的行政總裁辦公室，只留下兩樣東西： 公司的使命宣言及一張全家幅。母親語重心長地囑付她: 「好好照顧我們的團隊。」從此「以人為本」成為了Tina的經營之道及面對難關時的座右銘。

2020年1月， 新冠肺炎尚未在加拿大肆虐，大眾對這個病毒的了解仍然非常有限時，大統華突然被造謠者於網上惡意中傷。這個堪稱「公關災難」的抹黑，很快就傳遍加拿大，令民眾人心惶惶，對大統華造了極負面的影響。Tina作為決策人，比起營業額，她更關心的是員工們的心理及身體的健康狀況。

顧全大局．走得更遠

Tina 決定以保障生命為大前提，作為解決這個危機的對策，並加強溝通及透明度：「開始的時候，我們對於新冠肺炎的認知及數據欠奉。作為領導者，當掌握的資訊有限時，只能做好危機管理。

防護、消毒、清潔功夫絕對不能馬虎。我必須令到員工及顧客安心。」對於這個前所未有的考驗，Tina馬上以行政總裁身份發表了一封公開信，以闢謠及穩定大眾情緒。疫情初期，主流社區一直認為只有染疫病人才需要戴口罩。當時適逢Tina與管理團隊，要到加西參與由Loblaws母公司主持的研討會，她預料佩戴口罩或會引起在場人仕的不安，甚至令自己團隊遭受歧視。為了減少焦慮，她決定給研討會的所有參與者發一封電郵，讓大家明白她團隊佩戴口罩是互相保護的行為。

As a wife and mother of three young children, Tina was distraught when she realized at her youngest’s second birthday that she wasn’t in half of the family photos from the previous year. Her work during the pandemic had consumed most of her days; a sacrifice she made in order to do her job and help to make sure hundreds of thousands of other families' needs were met.

Thankfully, Tina had a champion at home: her husband, Akira. “He embodied the word ‘dependable.’ I wouldn’t have made it through without him.” When the kids got stuck in their online learning, when homework needed to be printed out, or even when the new dishwasher needed to be installed, Akira was there. “We’re great partners.” Emotionally reliable and physically available, Akira took care of the kids and was a steadfast sounding board for Tina, thanks to his financial background and his position as a board member of T&T. Through his daily actions he quietly reinforced that their home life was very much a “we” story too.

Just as her kids’ safety was paramount to Tina, she understood that her customers put their families’ safety first too. So Tina did what no other grocer wanted to: she publicly announced T&T’s COVID-19 cases if, when and where they occurred. To her, this was common decency: “We expect our schools to be transparent to parents if there’s a case in the classrooms, so it’s only logical that we would expect businesses to be transparent to their customers.” At the time of writing this article, in the push for vaccinations, each T&T storefront displays daily staff vaccination rates for customers to see – providing consumers with information to take safety into their own hands. 

以生命保護生命

不得不承認，疫情由始至今，大統華在執行防疫工作及措施非常完善，極緻得連購物車，也消毒得

乾乾淨淨。 但是，再小心也不敵這個世紀病毒的傳播速度。2020年3月，卡加里的大統華分店有首名員工染疫。雖然只得一宗確診，Tina毫不猶疑，決定將店舖關閉兩星期進行徹底消毒，並下令

分店全體員工帶薪放假。她只有一目的，就是以生命保護生命。Tina說：「如果我沒有能力去

保護團隊，他們怎可能安心地服務客人？」她這個賠上過百萬加元的決定，曾被衛生局及同業的管理層一度質疑是否過份嚴苛。但此刻回望，她當時的果斷，卻凝聚了今天更強大的團隊。

將心比心．愛屋及烏

Tina亦親自寫了一封電郵給員工親屬。她設身處地考慮到，在疫情下，除了員工會擔心自己的工作環境是否安全外，家屬們也一定很憂慮。故此，她發出這電郵答謝各員工的努力，亦向家屬們承諾他們至親的安全是她的優先考慮。為了保護員工，在政府還沒有硬性規定公共場所必須佩戴口罩之時，Tina已立令所有員工必須戴上口罩。更未雨綢繆地，預先大量採購防護用品以備所需。到後期

「一罩難求」的時候，Tina亦將存貨先供應給員工，餘貨才作銷售。與此同時，Tina還成立了

「體恤團聚基金」，資助因疫情而和親人分隔兩地的員工或其親屬的機票回加。她的一連串政策，

不僅觸動人心，還真正實踐了「以人為本」這座右銘。

Tina’s compassionate leadership also extended to helping those in need. Some of their small shop sub-tenants were not able to apply for the federal rent subsidy. Her team swung into action to offer rent relief to help business owners keep afloat during the multiple lockdowns. And for T&T colleagues who were abruptly separated from their overseas families due to air travel restrictions, Tina created a special fund where T&T would subsidize up to 75% of an airline ticket for the colleague to eventually reunite with their family. 

When Tina reflects on what guided her decision-making throughout this time, she says her north star has always been to embrace her roots and celebrate her cultural identity. “We should be feeling proud to be Canadian and proud to be Chinese. Parents came here to give us a better life, as it is super hard to be a kid in Asia. Let’s not waste away their sacrifice. Be the best we can be professionally, personally and education-wise. This is the biggest gift you can give to your parents and grandparents – to make them proud.” Tina’s leadership journey and the compassion she showed along the way is certainly a story to be proud of as fellow Canadians. And we thank her and the entire T&T family for ensuring we never had to worry about a shortage of rice at the dinner table. 

他是她的最強後盾

在養育小孩方面，Tina傾向從細微入手， 她會額外騰出時間陪伴孩子成長。她認為身教是最佳的教育方法。Tina眼泛淚光的說：「在疫情期間，我不是一個稱職的母親！」由於工作性質，所有員工都不能在家工作，與員工並肩作戰的她也不例外，每天仍舊如常上班。

令Tina最難受的，是她下班回家時，不能一進屋內就和兒女擁抱親吻，只能在清洗一番後才敢與孩子接觸。但每當她清潔完畢後，孩子們已經打消了靠近媽媽的念頭。這段時間，小朋友都在家網上上課，留守家中看管孩子的責任就落在丈夫Akira身上。Akira作為私人財務基金管理人，除了在家打理自己的投資公司外，是大統華董事會成員。

每當孩子們網上學習出現難題或Tina 在工作上遇到壓力甚至困難，他總會在身邊，幫助每位家庭成員排難解紛。Tina甜絲絲地說: 「在一起經歷的十多個年頭，他讓我們的愛和信念變得更強大！感恩沿途有他，成就了完整的我。」

快樂就是這麼簡單

糧食是基本的生存條件和快樂的根源。Tina有著一份使命感 ，就是除了確保基本的柴、米、油、鹽、醬、醋、茶不能缺貨之外，她更希望顧客能在遠方尋找到家鄉的味道。近年她積極促使團隊到亞洲各地採購及努力研發自家品牌的食品，希望顧客能一解思鄉之情。她認為快樂就是這麼簡單。據2021年版聯合國「世界快樂報告」指出，新冠對民眾身心健康的影響深具挑戰，Tina也希望提升顧客的快樂指數。她正在密謀為每一位顧客在購物之旅上注入更多快樂體驗。不久將來，如果你到訪大統華購物時，發現有現場鋼琴演奏，別要太驚訝，這是李姵婷為你安排的！

Related Articles