About Us - Our Professional Team

Chantal Raby - Owner

Chantal is an Honours Graduate from the Dawn of a New Day Academy. She is certified with International Professional Groomers in Terriers, Sporting breeds and Non-Sporting breeds. She is currently working towards becoming an IPG Certified Master Groomer. Chantal is also a Certified Feline Master Groomer with The National Cat Groomers Institute of America. She possesses a natural talent for communicating and handling the feline species.

As a lifetime member of the International Society of Canine Cosmolegists, she holds a high grooming standard for the Salon. Chantal was also an instructor at Algonquin College for the Grooming Assistant program.

Prior to grooming Chantal worked as a Licensed Physiotherapist from the University of Montréal for over 20 years. She now combines her love for animals with her experience in physical care. Chantal is passionate about grooming, especially with Terriers and specialized in hand stripping wire-haired coats. Through the years, she has developed a cat grooming service becoming one of three Certified Feline Master Groomer in Canada. She personally owns 3 Airedales: Maxou, Thalie and Ellie-May and 3 cats: Olive, Charlotte and Pico.

Chantal is bilingual...if you call at Dawn of a New Day, you will probably recognize her French accent.

"Mon ami n'est pas parfait, et moi non plus, de sorte que nous nous convenons parfaitement."

                                                                                                                        -A.Pope

Henri Poirier - Owner

Henri Poirier is the one that usually greets you when you come in. He is the Salon Manager and co-owner of the salon. You can ask him any questions on grooming, pet nutrition and your pet's health; he will gladly take time and converse with you on this matter. Over the years, Henri has studied canine nutrition through extensive reading and research as well as from caring for his family's dogs and horses when he was a young boy to taking care of many other canine companions over the years to his present 3 Airedales and 3 cats.  

Henri has worked with the CBC for over 31 years as a documentary technician to live TV broascast technician. Henri is planning to retire from the CBC in the new year. He his looking forward to this so he can work in his true passion of caring for pets and offering his service and knowledge to the salon's clients. Henri and Chantal Raby are the owners of Dawn of a New Day.

" La récompense de l'étude, c'est de comprendre." - le Talmud

Eun-Hye Cha

Extensively trained by IPG Certified Master Groomer Lisa Day, Eun-Hye has exceptional scissoring skills and excels with Bichons and Poodles. She has completed her practical exam in Salon Details and is working toward her IPG certification.

Prior to grooming, Eun-Hye worked as a make-up artist where she worked in a variety of industries from movie special effects to clinics covering trauma scars. Make-up artists are artistically inclined and possess a well-developed sense of colour and form. By tapping into her creative past, Eun-Hye is able to create beautiful, high quality grooms.

May Szeto

May Szeto graduated from the Algonquin College Grooming Assistant program in 2010 while working as an assistant at Dawn of a New Day. She quickly moved onto the groom team and became IPG certified in Salon Details.  She has received additional training from IPG Certified Master Groomers Lisa Day and Paddy Rayburn and is always trying to gain more knowledge of the industry.

Prior to grooming, May worked in the computer industry as a self-employed software consultant. She expanded on this by volunteering for the Ottawa Humane Society and helped build turtle basking sites in Brewer Park. She now applies her love for animals in her new career.