Growing up, Brielle attended Estonian school, sang in the choir, participated in multiple Laulupidu song festivals, and spent summers at Jõekääru as a camper, later returning as a kasvataja (counsellor).
At Jõekääru, she was immersed in sports, which nurtured her lifelong love of athletics and shaped her career path. After completing her undergraduate degree in psychology at Laurier University, Brielle pursued a graduate degree in sport and performance psychology at the California State University in Fresno. There, she studied the soft skills used in sports, examining the mental and interpersonal skills that shape performance.
While often associated with athletes, she explains that these skills can also apply to everyday life: “Whether you’re performing at a job, playing a musical instrument, or going on your daily runs, skills like confidence, team dynamics, and performing under pressure are all important. Because of this, there’s a broad market for sports psychology, for example, in development within corporations and leadership development.”
After completing her graduate degree in California during the COVID-19 pandemic, Brielle returned to Canada for work before making another bold decision: leaving her job to spend two months travelling solo across Southeast Asia. “I appreciated meeting the locals and people from all over the world,” she said. “I got to see so many different cultures. It was an amazing experience.”
“Your twenties are about experiencing everything… if you take the wrong path—or the one that you don’t necessarily want—you'll be regretting it later on in life. Follow what makes you happy and what you're interested in.”
(Brielle Migur)
Brielle credits her love for adventure to growing up in the Toronto-Estonian community, which she says helped foster her openness to new experiences. “I think our community is so heavily cultured within the travel space,” she said. “I know so many people that have been to so many places in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, South America… It inspires me everyday to go somewhere new. I also have friends that live across the world: in Eesti, Portugal, Australia. I think having those connections influenced my love of travel and also taking new risks, diving head first into new opportunities.”
For those navigating their early twenties, Brielle’s advice is to experience everything: “Live life. Do what you want. Say yes. Take those opportunities, whether it's travelling, changing your job multiple times, doing the degree that you want to do,” she said. “Your twenties are about experiencing everything… if you take the wrong path—or the one that you don’t necessarily want—you'll be regretting it later on in life. Follow what makes you happy and what you're interested in. You'll rarely ever be disappointed in where you go.”
Now, Brielle is looking to bring her experience in sport and performance psychology to the workplace. “I’m looking into jobs in human resources and organizational effectiveness, spaces that fit within the realm of sports psychology,” she said.
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Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.
This article was written by Natalie Jenkins as part of the Local Journalism Initiative.
