Edmonton resident Amena Shehab is a working mother of three, with an extended chosen family of more than 100 delivery associates employed by her logistics company, Alma Logistics Inc.
Since starting out as an Amazon Delivery Service Partner (DSP) in 2024, Shehab has quickly scaled her business, but her ‘north star’ has never wavered from being an employer who takes care of her team. Her employees include graduate students, working parents and a diverse array of individuals who benefit from her willingness to roll up her sleeves.
“I remember when one of my delivery associates was a medical student preparing for an exam. I personally covered their shift so they had time to study,” she says. “I consider myself to be an adopted mother for my drivers — they’re like my own children, and I want their jobs to help them grow to make an even bigger contribution in their lives.”
DSPs are just one example of the thousands of independent Canadian businesses that partner with Amazon. From manufacturers to facilities maintenance firms to food and beverage companies, Amazon’s third-party business partners in Canada include companies founded by or led by women who are giving back as they grow.
Kelly Vieira, a DSP based in Pitt Meadows, B.C., saw working with Amazon as an opportunity to pivot her passenger transportation business into a delivery company during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, she employs more than 100 delivery associates, who transport thousands of customer orders every year. She pays her success forward by giving back to the local community.
“We’re committed to supporting local families in need. In 2023, we joined Amazon’s ‘Together, We Give’ program, which creates a positive impact in our local community. This past summer, my team and I partnered with Amazon Local Good, which leverages Amazon's logistics network to deliver food and essential items to food banks. We were proud to deliver more than 40,000 pounds of food to local causes,” she says.
With their global scale and resources, companies like Amazon are helping local woman-run business partners reach new heights.
In the case of Strathmore, a third-generation family-run commercial landscape management and snow removal company headquartered in Montreal, an initial facilities maintenance contract with Amazon eventually grew into an international expansion opportunity.
Strathmore’s president, Jessica Milligan, who took the reins of the business from her father, remembers the prospecting call that opened the door for her company to participate in a bid for snow removal and landscaping services for Amazon’s Canadian operations network, which now stretches from Victoria, B.C. to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
“Winning that contract was transformative,” she remembers. “Growing our business supporting a multinational company like Amazon was the first time we ever looked at our business as a potential North American player. Today, we have more than 300 employees across Canada and the U.S., and we support more than 1,000 indirect jobs through the partner network that services our work with Amazon — and 25 per cent of our team is female, much higher than our industry average,” she says. “As a leader, it’s so rewarding for me to be part of a relationship that helps us create jobs and help local partners adopt best practices — because no one knows more about snow removal than Montrealers!”
Her advice for other female leaders who are thinking of making a leap?
“As women, we are more risk-averse, but you have to put yourself out there. People say no a lot — but when there is value alignment and quality work, they say yes a lot, too.”
Shernee Chandaria, president & CEO of Toronto-based Conros, is also shepherding a family business into a new generation, alongside her sister, director of HR & special projects, Sheena Chandaria.
The sisters are leading the family-founded, minority- and women-owned company across Canada and the United States — transforming it into a technology-forward supply chain and product development and manufacturing platform serving major North American retailers and companies, including Amazon.
Conros supports Amazon as a strategic logistics backbone, coordinating manufacturing partners; managing cross-border freight; overseeing warehousing and inventory optimization; and ensuring precise, on-time delivery into Amazon fulfilment centres.
Working with Amazon has been an opportunity to scale to new heights while creating new opportunities, just as people opened doors for their father when he founded the company as a new immigrant to Canada.
Shernee and Sheena grew up in Toronto watching their father build Conros from the ground up. Their earliest memories include weekends filled with factory and warehouse visits, and the sisters have taken the same hands-on approach with their own children.
“Our kids see us take difficult calls. They see us problem-solve. They see us show up consistently. We hope they learn that leadership isn’t about perfection — it’s about resilience and integrity,” says Shernee.
One early moment with Amazon still stands out.
“We were navigating a complex cross-border shipment that had a lot of moving parts, including regulatory hurdles, freight volatility and zero room for delay,” Shernee recalls. “We were on late-night calls walking through contingency plans line by line. At one point someone asked, ‘Can we actually pull this off?’ I said, ‘We don’t miss — we figure it out.’”
Conros’ growth has created new operational and analytics roles within the company and expanded its logistics footprint. It has also strengthened its ability to innovate.
Today, Shernee is intentional about creating those same openings for others — particularly women and newcomers building their own paths.
“Our parents were immigrants. Someone took a chance on them. Someone opened a door. That opportunity changed the trajectory of our family.”
Her advice to other women in business?
“Stay in the room. Step forward before you feel fully ready. Build capability before you need it. And don’t dilute your leadership style — empathy, long-term thinking, and care for people are competitive advantages.”
