About Andrea
Award-winning Entrepreneur, Author, Lecturer, M Ed., Dobson Fellow, Sound Meditation Facilitator
In 1997, Andrea founded Grandma Emily’s Granola in Montreal, Quebec. Starting from her home kitchen, she grew the company and the product line to include granola cereals, bars, snacks and gifts. A single mother with three children, little money and no child support, her business plan was one line: ‘don’t give up’. Eighteen years later, with sales from coast to coast, the company was sold.
Andrea imagined lazy days of retirement ahead filled with nothing but time, but a larger role awaited. That of caregiver to her daughter Chloe who fell ill with cancer. After a difficult and also blessed year, Chloe passed in 2016. She was 28.
About six weeks after Chloe's death, Andrea sat down to write her a letter - the kind of letter a mother writes to help express her grief. Fully expecting to burn the letter upon completion, her world changed when Chloe answered back. There began a five-month long conversation touching on everything from what Chloe is experiencing out-of-the-body to her 12 Steps to Bridging Across the Veil. The result is Andrea's first book, Conversations with Chloe - A Mother and Daughter Dialogue Across the Veil.
Wanting to understand more about how grieving mothers handle this huge loss, Andrea joined Helping Parents Heal. From those conversations came her second book, the book she wished she could have read when Chloe passed : Magical Thinking...not!
For more information, see Andrea's CV
Testimonials
Meeting you through cancer has been a special gift and you never fail to inspire us and create a setting to help us reflect during deep relaxation. You have helped me to accept death even though I sometimes feel FOMO (fear of missing out) and remind myself to live my best life in spite of not being closer to my 4 young grandsons – we exchange many virtual hugs and kisses during FaceTime. My osteopath, another “angel” in my life told me many years ago that the Universe is as it should be for me and you, my dear Andrea, have reinforced this. Merci mille fois for your devotion and time spent to helping others.
You never know what a session holds for you.
No two sessions are ever the same! Each is unique.
During one session you guided us to a place where we could meet a loved one. I was overwhelmed as I met, not one, but many! My grandparents and the dog my family had as a pet when I was a child. It was such a joyous occasion!! Everyone was so happy.
During one session I remember that I never left the ‘pyramid’ yet during others I’m soaring out through the top of that pyramid – maybe to the Big Dipper in the sky, maybe to a meadow, maybe to a rain forest! Once I went to the middle of the earth. (No, no drugs involved!) Sometimes I see no colours at all and yet during other sessions they are so vivid. Thank you. I really benefit from the sessions.
I want to thank you for an inner experience that I never thought I could reach…
Thank you for the wonderful gift you gave us last evening.
Thank you for the wonderful workshop. I learnt so much from you.
Today is my last sound meditation class at the centre and it saddens me just thinking about it. I never thought that a class like this one would have such an impact on me. It has opened my heart and allowed me to feel…My journey with cancer was enlightened by you, by your spirit and your loving energy.
The session was something special. See you next Thursday.
I was at your last Saturday sound healing class/session. I wanted to let you know that I slept very well that night and got calmer regarding a very serious issue that had happened the day before. It helped me relax.
Since last fall I have been attending Andrea’a sound healing, something I look forward to each week… My favourite is the trio of crystal bowls which once tapped, create waves of sound that are felt throughout the body. They are hypnotic, mesmerizing, the vibrations build and build and like waves, they wash over us, envelop us, there is nothing else to focus on but those waves and Andrea’s voice as she takes us on a journey. Sound healing has given me many tools that I turn to when I have scans, doctor appointments or just a bad day.
I think one of the key benefits is feeling peace and taking it with me. This is what Sound Healing with Andrea has helped me to do the most.
Thanks again for the meeting last week, we’re very grateful for the advice you gave us and the brainstorming – you gave us a new perspective and ideas that we hadn’t really thought about.
Thank you for sharing your story; It was the highlight of my week. It gave the little spark I needed to get up and continue the race. Also, I also want to thank you for your advice. I listened carefully…
Je tiens à vous remercier sincèrement d’être venue transmettre votre expertise à nos stagiaires et à nous-mêmes lors de notre journée d’encadrement des stagiaires.
Ce sujet est rarement abordé en général ou dans nos cours, donc il a suscité beaucoup d’enthousiasme de la part de tous ceux et celles qui étaient présents. Cet après-midi a été riche en apprentissages et je vous en remercie énormément.
Votre prestation était très bien organisée et fascinante, de plus elle comptait plusieurs éléments riches en informations pour des futurs diplômés. Votre présence fût un privilège et a été très appréciée…
Reading “Conversations with Chloe” gave me hope, comfort and courage as to what awaits us after life on earth. It made me realize that death is the beginning of a new chapter…
I attended the Big Picture workshop Sunday before last and just wanted to let you know that I very much enjoyed hearing your story and meeting you – you have a great spirit, very charismatic, and easy going yet focused! Thanks again for your energy and charisma at the workshop!
At 7pm yesterday, we started receiving messages from students with notes like “Thank you Emilie, it was really nice today”, “Thank you for picking her (as in Andrea) ”. “I am so happy I came” …it was not even 24hours yet.
Whoa, participants really opened up and allowed themselves to be vulnerable; even those who were skeptical about emotional intelligence or “the soft stuff” were engaged. There are a few people in the room that I knew were scared and jaded. One of them came to me at the very end (while we were cleaning) and said, “I’ve remembered my childhood dream; uhm, I have more questions than when I woke up this morning, but that’s ok”. Andrea, you did an amazing job. Incroyable.
Thank you so much for making time for this workshop and for always being wonderful,
Thank you for this beautiful workshop today. You enriched my knowledge big time. And I think my next concrete action would be to create big pictures, because when u can visualise it, you can make it happen 😉
It was an amazing experience for me to be able to sit down and have a conversation with you during the semi-finals of the Dobson Cup. As I mentioned to you during the interview, you are a true inspiration to me and I will definitely keep in mind the advice and lessons you spoke about.
Je dois t’avouer que Gabriel et moi avons vraiment adoré la dernière rencontre que nous avons eue avec toi!I think it really makes a difference that you had a business in alimentation and that you took your business from small to really big! Je crois que Gabriel et moi n’avons jamais eu une conversation avec quelqu’un qui comprenait autant les différents défis que nous vivons quotidiennement!
Thank you for your wonderful story at McGill University’s, “Women in Entrepreneurship,” event. It was a treat to hear you describe your experiences as an entrepreneur. Very entertaining and insightful.
After listening to your story at the Meet-Up event, you really inspired me to work towards my “big picture”.
Thank you for all your support and inspiration.
I regularly mention you to my classes and I have always received fabulous feedback from your visits to class. You have always been a very positive influence.
You are so inspiring Andrea. Your take on life is one of a kind.
Conversations with Chloe offers warm reassurance that we are not alone, that unseen hearts whisper words of comfort, that learning never ends. Andrea Courey is an inspiration; I think of her as ‘the heart whisperer.’
Reading Andrea’s book ‘Conversation with Chloe” I felt like I had been let in on a secret, a wonderful connection between mother and daughter. How I envied Andrea this connection after the death of her daughter!! It had never occurred to me that this was possible and has opened my eyes and soul to this possibility. There is such love in the writing as well as evidence of a relationship throughout Chloe’s life that had enabled this connection to continue. I can hear their voices in Andrea’s writing and I wished I had known Chloe…. Thank you Andrea for sharing her with us.
‘I finished re-reading the first chapter of your book. Every word, every phrase and sentence inspires a break for thought. I remember having the same experience the first time I read it. Your writing sometimes has a stream of consciousness quality that I think is related to the kind of heart-opening that connects you to spirit. Reading your book invokes something similar in me.’
Conversations with Chloe is a wonderfully recounted story of a mother and daughter weaving their perspectives, history and love in conversations that flow during the intense time of grief. The exchanges can be profound one minute and then whimsical the next, all the while giving a comfortable place of acceptance and respect between a mother and daughter.
The afterlife is such a mystery, but when you read through Andrea and Chloe’s pages, they read as heart felt truth, regardless of your belief system. The love is so deep in this book, not solely between a mother and daughter, but there’s a lust for life and connection that shines though that is absolutely beautiful!! I’ve recommended this book to quite a few friends and they’ve all been grateful for the read, just as I am.
I was very moved and inspired by Conversations with Chloe. Andrea tells her story with grace and wisdom. What a beautiful perspective to see life’s struggles as a journey of enlightenment. Her exploration of her tormented relationship with her daughter paralleled with her evolution as an entrepreneur creates a book rich in insight. As a fellow entrepreneur, I loved her tips at the end of the book. Highly recommend.
This book further explores that the totality of the human experience goes beyond what is here on earth and that we have so much more to learn about death and all that it transcends… It gives me hope to know my loved ones are very much present.
A Labour of Love at the Lily Dale Bookstore
Sharing the magic of Conversations with Chloe
A ray of light shines down on the cottage door
Our HACCP certified manufacturing facility
Judging Business Plans with McGill Uni Colleagues