When researching NBAU Consulting under the leadership of Natalia Smalyuk, MBA, MA, one is immediately drawn to two quotes included on their website:
“The Secret of Change is not to focus all your attention on fighting the old, but building the new” - Socrates
and….
“When written in Chinese, the word crisis is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity” - Often attributed to John F. Kennedy
Natalia Smalyuk started NBAU (Not Business As Usual) Consulting in January 2021 with a mandate to help leaders navigate complex challenges, prepare for high-stakes moments and communicate under pressure. Basically, to support organizations large and small in finding solutions to the kinds of challenges that can disrupt seemingly smooth day-to-day operations. Or, as Natalia likes to say, wicked messes.
NBAU is a strategic communication and crisis resilience consultancy that supports organizations before, during and after adverse events with a planning and training model designed to enable positive action in an uncertain world. Since the firm’s inception in 2021, Natalia has worked with more than 40 organizations spanning Fortune 500 companies, healthcare, professional services, international institutions and public service. She has supported clients through a wide range of high-stakes situations, including major organizational change and transformation, data breaches, fires and other catastrophic events, litigation, regulatory developments, contentious stakeholder issues, labour disruptions and community tensions. In other words, moments that have required proactive communication solutions to sensitive and fast-moving issues. The broader societal challenges Natalia has helped address alongside client teams in multi-stakeholder national and international environments have ranged from climate change to global health and public safety.
What Natalia is most proud of is helping organizations get ahead of a crisis. “It’s about spotting signals early and getting in front of issues before they become bigger – reputationally, operationally and politically,” she says. “That’s where resilience becomes a strategic advantage.” A diligent student of crises, Natalia is committed to helping organizations and individuals build resilience so they can adapt, grow and thrive.
As a WBE Canada certified WBE (2021), NBAU Consulting has worked extensively with WBE Canada corporate member City of Toronto, among other clients. The initial project began in the fall of 2023 when Natalia and her team were engaged in delivering complex stakeholder engagement programs focusing on the City’s net zero and climate resilience goals. Since the successful completion of that initial mandate, NBAU has gone on to work with a number of City of Toronto departments on a range o meaningful projects, including those focusing on addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing our city and its diverse communities. Natalia has also partnered with other WBE Canada certified WBEs, including Margaret Brigley and the Narrative Research team, on a number of public service engagements.
When sharing stories about WBE Canada’s women entrepreneurs, there are those key moments that remind us of the necessity and important benefits of connectivity and partnership as we navigate today and prepare for the next economic wave. While attending WBE Canada’s National Conference in 2024, Natalia recalls listening to Chinyere Eni of RBC Origins and her wisdom …“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” NBAU is definitely “not business as usual” and neither is Natalia Smalyuk, whose number one goal is to help leaders and their teams build resilience, moving from reacting to those “wicked messes” to acting on growth opportunities. She is definitely not sitting still. And she and NBAU Consulting are definitely focusing on the second character in the Chinese word for crisis: OPPORTUNITY.
To learn more about NBAU Consulting: www.nbau.ca
To learn more about WBE Canada Certification: www.wbecanada.ca/certification
