When Mary-Jane Lorette opened the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal one day back in 1996, she never imagined that a simple ad would change the course of her career.
“I remember it said Air Canada was opening a call centre in Saint John, and it immediately caught my attention,” said Lorette, who, at the time, was working as a high school history teacher. “I had only taken one flight in my entire life, but I was intrigued by the idea of working for a company that connected Canada to the world. So I took a chance, and it changed everything.”
And try she did, joining the Air Canada call centre team – and never looking back.
Now, nearly 30 years later, she has built an extensive career in the aviation industry, working her way up through revenue management, partnerships and now to her current role as Vice President International Affairs, Network & Partnerships for Air Canada.
Lorette and her team oversee a route network of nearly 50 international destinations, and work to expand the airline’s footprint, all while representing Canada on the global stage.
While it’s a journey she never foresaw for herself, it’s one she says she is endlessly grateful for.
“What keeps me passionate is the people and the relationships,” she said. “It may sound cliché, but no two days are ever the same. Aviation is simply an exhilarating industry to be a part of.”
Building a career
Having spent nearly three decades with Air Canada, Lorette has had a front-row seat to the airline’s many transformations – the restructurings, expansions, and challenges that shaped it into a global leader. Yet she credits the resilience that carried her through not to corporate strategy, but to her early life in northern New Brunswick.
“My career journey has been profoundly shaped by where I was raised,” she said. “I grew up in this small farming community, and it’s that humble beginning where I learned work ethic, grit, digging deep, and a sense of community.”
Those values proved essential as she moved through Air Canada’s dynamic environment. From the call centre, she advanced to revenue management, spending more than a decade optimizing revenue, interline contracts and international pricing strategies. She later became head of international pricing & tariffs, and also oversaw the revenue management integration into the A++ Joint Venture.
Her career continued with a director role in alliances, managing Star Alliance, codeshare, and joint venture partnerships, before taking on responsibility for the airline’s international network, regulatory affairs and facilitation teams. Along the way, she played a key role in forging international partnerships that more than doubled in number, significantly expanding Air Canada’s reach and positioning it among the most partnered airlines worldwide.
She also acknowledges that guidance from others was critical to her growth.
Mentors like Mark Galardo, Yves Dufresne and Lucie Guillemette recognized potential she hadn’t yet seen in herself and offered opportunities that pushed her beyond what she thought was possible.
“They believed in me before I believed in myself,” she said. “That changed everything.”
Making space at the table
Like many women who have carved out a place in male-dominated industries, Lorette admits she spent much of her early career quietly asking herself a recurring question: ‘Have I reached the point where I am truly ready?’
“There were so many moments when I would walk into a room and think, do I really belong here?” she said. “Instead, I took that self-doubt and turned it into a positive. It became the fuel that pushed me forward.”
That mindset became especially important as she navigated the isolating experience of often being the only woman in the room.
“Truthfully, I think that is one of the hardest challenges in the world,” she said. “It was crystal clear that I saw things through a different lens, one that did not always align with the majority. And that is a deeply isolating and intimidating feeling.”
It’s why today she is such a strong advocate for mentorship and ensuring women see themselves at the table. Since 2014, the number of senior women leaders at Air Canada has grown significantly – progress she’s proud of, but not content with.
“True equity isn’t achieved just by numbers, it’s by challenging and changing culture. It’s by making sure that women are represented at every table, and that voices are heard, and feel supported and included,” she said. “Progress is great, but it’s not the finish line.”
Work-life rhythm
Over 25 years of marriage and one daughter later, Lorette is candid about what has helped her sustain such a demanding career.
“Choose your partner wisely,” she said without hesitation. “And I don’t mean your employer – I mean your life partner. The people you surround yourself with either lift you up or hold you back. I’ve been fortunate to have a husband who’s always supported my ambition.”
She’s equally deliberate about how she works.
“Many women pride themselves on being a multitasker, and I did for a number of years. Juggling 15 things at once, and you’re saying, ‘I can work a 16-hour day,’” she explained. “But I’ve learned the importance of pacing myself and choosing what I do with intention.”
She’s also learned to reject the idea of balance.
“I don’t believe in work-life balance,” she said. “It’s unattainable. What I strive for is work-life rhythm. There are periods of intensity and periods of recharge – and you have to manage both.”
Hope for the future
As she looks ahead to the future, Lorette doesn’t want to be remembered for the number of partnerships she built or routes she launched.
“I hope they’ll say it’s the culture I helped shape,” she said. “That I created an environment where people felt included and valued, and where women felt the path to leadership was accessible.
“I want the next generation of women to walk into a room and not feel as lonely as I did 30 years ago. I want them to feel a sense of normalcy when it comes to ambition – to be confident without apology. I want them to look in and say, ‘She did it – so can I. And maybe I can go even further than she did.’”
