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Frederique Philip co-owns Sooke Harbour
House with her husband Sinclair Philip. The elegant 28-room accommodation facility on the shores
of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, adjacent to Whiffin Spit Park in Sooke,
hosts overnight guests, various meetings and weddings. The lobby, restaurant, lounge, gift shop
and hallways are
filled with custom artworks by local artisans, most of them for sale.
 Frederique Philip has co-owned and operated Sooke
Harbour House since 1979.Her guest editorial
in MapleLine Magazine appeared in the
Winter-Spring 2010 issue. |
Ms. Philip (known to locals as simply, 'Fred') was an award
finalist as
Citizen of the Year, at the November 2009 Sooke Harbour
Chamber of Commerce awards event.
A profile of Frederique and Sooke Harbour House appeared in
MapleLine Magazine's Summer 2009 issue. Sooke Harbour
House is a new (2010) sponsor of the MapleLine Journalism
Program. Frederique contributed an editorial about wellness to
the Winter-Spring 2010 issue of MapleLine Magazine.
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Biography of
Frédérique Philip
Frédérique was born in Switzerland in 1947 and lived
in the south of France until 1978. She met Sinclair
Philip in 1967, the first month he arrived in France
from Canada. She became a Canadian citizen in 1984 and
has dual citizenship. Their four children -- Benjamin,
Jasmine, Nishka (now deceased) and Rissa -- have at
various times worked at Sooke Harbour House from the
time they were teenagers.
Frédérique has a Masters degree in Economics from the
University of Grenoble, France.
In 1979, with husband Sinclair, they bought the Sooke
Harbour House. Frédérique manages the hotel and the 80
staff members. Frédérique’s passion is interior design
and working with local artists to create furnishings for
the hotel.
Her support of the arts and the art community is well
known. Frédérique is a director on the Sooke Art
Council. She has also been involved for the last 11
years with the Edward Milne Community School as a
Director of the Board.
In April 2003, Frédérique self published her first book:
The Art of Sooke Harbour House. It is distributed
all over Canada. The foreword was written by Robert
Bateman, the book has received very good reviews. She
worked on 2005 calendar that featured artistic recipe
cards created by a local painter and recipes by the
Sooke Harbour House's well known Chef Edward Tuson.
In 2002, Frédérique received the Women of Distinction
Award for Business, the Professions and Entrepreneurship
from the YM-YWCA of Greater Victoria.
In 2003 she was the recipient, among 57 other nominees,
of the Volunteer Award from the District of Sooke during
the 2nd Volunteer Recognition Award Ceremony.
Sooke Harbour House, under her leadership and in
collaboration with husband Sinclair, has received in the
last 25 years the highest awards possible in the
hospitality industry and a very high level of
recognition among the national and international media
from Gourmet Magazine, Travel and Leisure,
the Wine Spectator, and The Globe and Mail
to name a few.
Frédérique has set high standards for both her family
and her family business and has been a trendsetter from
day one.
She is an active member of the Slow Food Organization
and has helped create a Slow Food Convivium on Vancouver
Island. She is a very passionate creative individual
that believes in hard work and in all possibilities, as
long as you work with people and put your energy to it.
Never tell her it cannot be done -- she will prove you
wrong.
Her latest quote is “the key to success is to do common
things uncommonly well”. Not her original but a quote
that she has heard now three times since she read it a
few weeks ago!
~ submitted by Sooke
Harbour House, November 2009
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LEADERSHIP PROFILE ~
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