Ritchie Valdez, who made history this week by becoming the first Filipino-Canadian woman appointed to the federal cabinet, took an unusual path to a high political office, moving from banking to baking to Parliament.

Valdez (43 years old), born in Zambia to a Filipino family that immigrated to the southern African country, said that the day her plane landed in Canada in December 1989 was the first time she wore a winter coat.

She told Canadian media in an interview, "I grew up in shorts and T-shirts and then came to this amazing country in the middle of winter," and her promotion this week to the post of Minister of Small Business in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is an achievement for Filipino Canadians, a community that has raised concerns about what it calls its underrepresentation in government.

Valdez, who was first elected to represent Mississauga-Streetsville in 2021, struggled to hold back tears when she took the oath of office in the cabinet on Wednesday, as part of a broader cabinet shuffle by Trudeau.

She added, "It's an extremely proud moment," noting that her husband and children were among the audience and that her family in Mississauga, Ontario, was watching on television.

Valdez said, "Filipino Canadians have not had a voice in federal politics since the defeat of Winnipeg MP Ray Pagtakhan, who became the first Filipino Canadian to be elected to Parliament in 1988, in the 2004 election," adding, "It's all about representation and having a voice at the table."

More than 957,000 Canadians identified as having Filipino roots in the 2021 census, including over 757,000 who were born in the Philippines and immigrated to Canada, according to Statistics Canada.

Valdez said, "I worked in banking for 15 years but changed my path in 2016 when I baked a cake for my daughter's first birthday, became a self-taught baker, started baking, told my friends, and eventually, once I was able to master my recipes, I then registered my business and became an official small business entrepreneur."

As her business grew, she began serving customers across the Greater Toronto Area and then launched another company to supply a Filipino line of pastries and confections to Asian grocery chains in Mississauga, saying, "I went from baking one birthday cake to being able to stock groceries. It has been an incredible journey."

She also hosted a program on Filipino television sharing stories about entrepreneurs and artists, worked with basketball associations, and raised funds for children's charities across Canada.

She said her background has equipped her to advocate for small businesses, noting that being a small business owner in Canada, you learn what it takes to have vision, work hard on that vision, and grow your business from the ground up."

Grant Gonzales, co-founder of the Philippine Canadian Political Association, described her appointment as inspiring, saying, "I was personally very proud and a bit touched with Ritchie herself when she was taking the oath because she was very emotional and it meant a lot to the Filipino Canadian community."

Gonzales said, "There are systemic barriers in Canadian politics that make it difficult for people experiencing racism, including the Filipino Canadian community, to access elected positions."