An American magazine editor once asked LuAn Mitchell-Halter if she’d like to spend four days in the desert with three other women.

“I thought: ‘Are you crazy?’ ” recalls Mitchell-Halter, giggling. “They weren’t offering a million bucks or anything. But it was right up my alley.”

Mitchell-Halter leaped at the challenge, but it was more than a survival game. In a sense, it was also an imitation of her own life.

To the feisty and outspoken Banff entrepreneur, a trek in the Utah desert must have seemed like a stroll in the park compared to her real-life version of survival in the face of personal tragedy and business crises.

The mother of three young children is revered as a profile of courage for gamely fighting against the longest odds.

LuAn Mitchell-Halter and her late husband Fred Mitchell steered their gourmet meat company to success despite tremendous odds.

She persevered after losing Fred Mitchell – her husband, mentor and business partner – in 1998, 12 years after Fred had been diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and given five years to live (he had a rare double lung and heart transplant).

She battled to retain control of Fred Mitchell’s company, Mitchell’s Gourmet Foods, resisted takeover attempts and ultimately steered the food processing company to success that garnered her the honour of Canada’s top woman entrepreneur for the past three years. Mitchell-Halter, who married children’s book author Reese Halter in November, sold her interest in Mitchell’s to Schneiders last year, but remains the chair of the company while pursuing other passions such as writing, motivational speaking, philanthropy and promoting the Save The Planet board game she invented.

And who knows what else may be on the horizon?

Perhaps, there’s another tortuous trek through the desert on her to-do list.

1. What was your childhood dream?

“It starts out as being peachy. You think of the person you’ll love and get married to and the white picket fence and the kids and things. And then it moved into being quite entrepreneurial by the time I was in junior high school. I started working as a host of a television show and I started writing a beauty column and hosting a beauty talk show on the radio. I eventually enrolled in cosmetology classes and opened a spa/hair shop/modelling school (in Saskatoon, Sask.). It was a pretty funky place called Chez L.A.”

2. How did you meet Fred Mitchell?

“I didn’t even know who he was in Saskatoon. But I was doing a modelling promo for the Calgary Sun where you had to guess the score of the game between the Flames and Edmonton Oilers and then you’d win the T-shirt I was wearing on the front page of the Sun. But I was not a Sunshine Girl, I’d like to emphasize. They handed out that paper on a flight that Fred was on to L.A. and he called me for lunch from Los Angeles. I wasn’t into dating at the time, but the story took a turn and I went for lunch with Fred. It evolved from there and 2 1/2 years later we got married.”

3. Just before you were married, Fred was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. How did that affect your perspective on life?

“Before that, if I had a hangnail, I’d bitch and complain about it for two weeks. But here was a guy who was given sort of a death sentence and told that, optimistically, he might live five years and, further to that, probably would never father a child (he fathered two children). He looked at the doctor and said: ‘I’ll not only be here in five years, but I’ll race you up the 10 flights of stairs to your office and beat you.’ Then, he had a rare double lung and heart transplant. His health problems really hit me hard and helped me to become, I believe, part of the person I’ve become today.”

4. How did you cope through the difficult times when Fred’s health was failing and the business, Intercontinental Packers, was in crisis?

“I have a way of leaning on myself, I think, as opposed to finger pointing. And leaning on myself has been a great asset for me because, by doing that, it causes me to investigate some of the idealisms that may be pulling me down. And that way I can take a new perspective with an aerial view. When I found out I was pregnant after the doctors said there was less than a three per cent chance that Fred could father a child, I was so excited because it was like a miracle. But then Fred’s health almost immediately slid down, like it was on a slide in the schoolyard. One day in 1989, when he wasn’t feeling well, I went into the sauna and cranked it up full blast. I thought of inventing this game (Save The Planet) and I came upstairs and wrote it out. We played the game and had it patented. And it helped Fred keep his mind off his health.”

5. At one point, with the business in crisis over a family dispute, your family lived in a van. What was that like?

“It was an interesting time, living in the van with three children and our two Rottweilers, Bonnie and Clyde, but it brought Fred and I closer together. We fire-saled everything – our Porsche and our property – and our entire nest egg got locked up to finance this lawsuit (over control of the company). Even though Fred was a brilliant guy, nobody would hire him and they didn’t see any value in me. But we probably laughed more during that time, probably because we were on the verge of insanity. They say that genius and insanity teeter on the edge of the same cliff. But we found beauty in the eyes of our children and in each other. And it was at that time that Fred started to talk to me about his business aspirations and his dreams for the company. When we married, I had signed a prenuptial agreement and didn’t have anything to do with the business. But then we were able to get the business back working together and that was a day I’ll never forget.”

6. What sort of mentor was Fred?

“He was a brilliant businessman and I don’t think I could have picked up an MBA any finer than what I got from Fred’s mentoring and leadership. Alberta Report did an interview with Fred about the business where he said: ‘My wife is a brilliant business woman and if it wasn’t for her guidance and leadership on several decisions I’ve made, I don’t know that we’d be here.’ That was a pretty special thing for him to say.”

7. Was Fred trying to prepare you to run the business as you’ve done?

“I don’t know. He wasn’t banking on exiting out of this world so soon. He had this affinity for the number seven and he’d always say: ‘I’ll live to 107 and then I’ll get another transplant.’ Fred went in to get a very simple ultrasound test (in hospital in Palo Alto, Calif.). They told me not to go in to see him, but I went back anyway and saw he was in obvious crisis. I fell flat on my face and I literally screamed. I lost it. I went into the ladies’ room and threw up. There was a pastor with a Bible saying: ‘Let me read to you.’ I said: ‘This isn’t real.’ Because we’d beaten the odds so many times. I said: ‘What kind of a cruel joke is this?’ I was holding his hand when his breath stopped at 7 a.m. I literally kissed the shell of this man and I closed my eyes and went to this phenomenal place filled with butterflies. There was a kaleidoscope of colours. Fred loved butterflies and planted all this flora and fauna for butterflies. This big monarch butterfly landed on my shoulder, fluttered its wings and I got a rush of peace.”

8. How did you get through that time?

“I had to go home and tell three little kids that their daddy died. I had to plan a funeral and think about the corporate moves that had to be made. And you can bet the vultures (corporate raiders) were circling. I had a meeting with my children (then aged 10, 7 and 6) and we decided we were going to continue Fred’s dream, build the company, make it strong, keep the jobs, grow the jobs and keep the company there for the farmers so they’d have a place to sell their hogs. Then some jerk called a board meeting the morning of Fred’s funeral. Fortunately, they then cancelled it.”

9. So now you were a woman boss in the macho world of meat processing. How did that go over?

“I think a lot of people at first thought I was a piece of fluff. They weren’t really sure what to make of me, but then I think they actually respected and admired me. I was never given the cold shoulder and I’ve never been in a board meeting where anyone has asked me to get them a coffee. Even though (the industry) is macho and male dominated, I feel very blessed by the way I was treated. Women have a lot to offer in this business because women (shoppers) are 80 per cent of who we’re after (in the market). The industry was going through some hellacious times and a lot of people said: ‘What are you? An idiot? You just lost your rudder and you’re going to try and cross the ocean anyway?’ I could have sold the business and walked away pretty comfortably, but I had a good management team and we were able to move the company forward.”

10. Describe your management style?

“It’s taking down walls. Fortresses used to work when we would have to protect ourselves. But fortresses can work to keep good things out, too. You have to be unafraid to be real and you especially have to listen. Another rule is the CTC rule – Cut The Crap. One mental exercise I do in dealing with the crap is looking at the source instead of getting riled up. And if it’s a donkey, why not just look at a little donkey head there with its lips flapping with whatever they’re telling you?”

11. Why did you sell your approximate 27-per-cent interest in Mitchell’s last November to Schneiders?

“It came to the place where we needed to make some pretty major moves and we didn’t have a whole lot of time to investigate good, bad or indifferent. So, after a lot of soul searching and discussions with advisers, etc., I came to the realization that the very best thing for the company and for its future, which is my ultimate goal, was to sell my shares . . . Also, with the growth that I see for our company in future years, which is going to be absolutely extraordinary, and the opportunities available to us, it was absolutely now or never. We are now in a strong partnership (with Schneiders) and we have similar philosophies in the way to treat people (employees). Schneiders, like us, has been very pro people. And, if you look at our packaging, you’ll still see Fred’s signature on it and I would hope that will continue.”

12. What was it like returning to your roots recently to present a $1-million cheque to the University of Saskatchewan in your late parents’ name for the Gingara Trust Fund?

“I always wanted to do something like that. When I was in the Miss Canada pageant, I said my dream was to do something for my parents (Anna and Peter). My dad, as a teacher, taught me so much about learning to read and my personal life. We were from a farming community and we weren’t wealthy people, but I remember my dad never entered or exited a room without kissing my mom. That’s the kind of home I had. I was a pretty blessed girl. I’ll be making another significant donation soon to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Canada.”

13. How did you fare in the Miss Canada pageant?

“I think it went over like a lead brick. It started with me talking about the advancement of women in society. I’m rather outspoken and I’ve always had this issue about women and this term ‘beauty pageant’. I’d always thought this wasn’t right. Anyway, I said (speaking at the pageant): ‘Listen, what’s with this beauty pageant thing and what about the advancement of women in society?’ That was sort of the premise of my talk. What really bothered me was that there were a couple of girls whose figures weren’t exactly what would be perceived as ramp material for these sorts of endeavours. Yet, these girls were brilliant and would have made fantastic ambassadors for this country. I looked OK in my swimsuit, but these girls were literally crying on my shoulder backstage. They didn’t feel comfortable. It really feels like crap being on that T-ramp because they put the panel of judges right at the bottom of the T so they’re literally looking right up your crotch.”

14. How did your four-day desert trek for Self Magazine go over with your business associates?

“I remember the first board meeting after I came back. All the guys were silent. I started to call the meeting to order and one of the guys finally said: ‘What’d you do that for?’ I said: ‘Excuse me, that’s not on the agenda. It felt right.’ Another one of our major shareholders and a member of our board said: ‘Next time you do something like that, it’s going to have to go to a vote from the board first.’ (Laughter) I was like: ‘It’s not going to happen. Read my lips.’ If it was another one of the guys, I think it would have been like: ‘Yeah, f-ing A, right?’ There’d be arms in the air and beers after the meeting.”

15. What’s the best advice you’d offer your daughter as she embarked on an entrepreneurial career?

“The best thing is for her not to go into it expecting anything and never get caught up in the spirit of the deal, no matter what it is. Go into it with your spirit and bring to the table those things that you bring. The first job I really had was at the Army & Navy store in Saskatoon when I was 17 attending the University of Saskatchewan at nights. And I was fired. I remember phoning my mom and telling her how humiliated I was and that I didn’t know why I was fired. My mother said: ‘LuAn, it’s a blessing in disguise, you weren’t supposed to be there.’ Sometimes, we try to funnel feed or force things and it wasn’t the best place for us to be, but there’s a seed for good in everything and, if we can just find that, the rest of it makes darned good fertilizer.”

16. Who is the entrepreneur you most admire?

“It would have to be Fred Mitchell. He was absolutely phenomenal in my life.

“Beyond that, into the bigger world, I have a great deal of respect and admiration for Galen Weston (the Canadian grocery store magnate). He’s a central buyer of our industry and I look at what he has achieved. . . . He loves to speak about his wife and his family. I think he’s a well-balanced and well-rounded gentleman and I have a great deal of respect for him.”

17. From a business perspective, how do you feel about Jean Chretien not supporting the U.S. in the Iraq war?

“I don’t like it. As far as I’m concerned, we’re one family. It’s a bit of a bailout. It wouldn’t be so bad if it were put to a vote of the people and we saw that the majority of the people felt that way. I think we could have done it in a far more palatable way.”

18. What’s your most prized material possession?

“My Ferrari. It’s not a Chevy van. Those days are gone. I’ve got to tell you, I used to own a show Porsche that was probably worth $68,000 US and I had to fire-sale it when we needed the money for the business.”

19. What are your personal investment challenges these days?

“I always say to brokers that I like to sleep at night. There was a time in my life when I really didn’t sleep well at night. I’m kind of a conservative investor, but I’m a big believer in supporting the strengths of different opportunities that are out there that I think look like good ones for me personally. I have a little oil investment that has done pretty nicely.”

20. What’s your most important goal?

“Health. That’s a big one. Believe me.”

IN PROFILE: LuAn Mitchell-Halter
* Born/raised/age: Melfort, Sask.; Melfort, Saskatoon; 41.
* Title: Chair, Mitchell’s Gourmet Foods; president, Save The Planet Holdings.
* Education: High school.
* Family: Husband Reese Halter, children Fred, Ryan, Jinji.
* Career: Mitchell-Halter has been chair of Mitchell’s Gourmet Foods since 1998 when she succeeded her late husband Fred Mitchell. She was the second largest
shareholder of the food-processing company before selling her shares to Schneiders in 2002. Mitchell-Halter is also a motivational speaker, inventor of the board game Save The Planet and formerly owned
and operated a spa/hair salon/modelling school in Saskatoon.
* Awards: She has been Canada’s top woman entrepreneur for the past three years, an award presented by Profit and Chatelaine magazines.
* Claim to fame: Miss Saskatoon 1984.
* Moonlighting: Mitchell-Halter is a member of the Conference Board of Canada, the University of Saskatchewan Institute of Agricultural, Rural and Environmental Health and the women's leadership board of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Women Entrepreneurs of the World. She also is founder of the Fred Mitchell Scholarship Fund.
* Passions: Writing, mentoring, sports cars.
* Web sites:
www.luanmitchell.com
www.mgf.ca