Written by Paul Fraumeni  

August Hummelbrunner is very busy.

During the summer break from her studies at Western University’s Ivey School of Business, she’s working at accounting giant Ernst and Young in the Toronto office on the banking technology consulting team.

But as busy as August is, she’s excited to be on her way to a degree in business administration and, when she graduates from Western in 2025, her career.

“There are so many areas you can go into with a business degree,” says August, 21. “I just love the variety of the business sector.” For now, she’s keeping her options open but is thinking about working in the consulting field or maybe going to law school.

August has an affinity for business. She and a friend founded Toys for Joy, a charity that has raised $38,000 for Ronald McDonald House in London, Ontario over the past two years. “It’s been a profoundly rewarding experience and taught me that my energy could be a force for good.” In fact, she and her colleagues were recently recognized by Ronald McDonald House of Southwestern Ontario with the Team Harmony Chapter Donor Award, which celebrates extraordinary teamwork and community engagement through donation efforts.

That “energy” August talks about was once a challenge for her.

She says that as a child, she was always on the move, with a “boundless energy that I couldn’t quite control.”
As a young child, FIREFLY, a social services agency based out of her hometown of Kenora, Ontario, supported August and her family to help manage her energy levels.

Competitive skating enabled August channel that energy. The discipline essential to skating helped her to shape “the resilient professional I am becoming.” She also uses these strategies to support her colleagues when they find it difficult to navigate their busy and stressful schedules, providing guidance for effective time management and overcoming failure.

She’s also developed her growing business skills through her other part-time work experience—at K-Sport Marine in Kenora and at Saffron Road, a fashion shop in London.

August is thankful to her family—her mom, Jackie, and dad, Laurin, and her older sister, Elise. “My parents always knew when to step into my life and when not to. And Elise has always been in my corner. We’ve really stuck together.”

Now, as she enters her final year at Ivey—where she especially enjoys the classes in entrepreneurship and interpersonal negotiation—she’s excited about what’s to come.

“I’m so thrilled to have this opportunity. That’s what I’d encourage others to focus on—the opportunities and not the struggles. And don’t be afraid to ask for help.”

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