While raising four children in Montreal's Nôtre-Dame-de-Grace area, Joan Pepin McGuigan started her career in real estate in 1970, continuing the real estate tradition started by her mother (and continued by Joan's daughter, Sharon McGuigan, a successful real estate agent in Toronto with Royal Lepage). Joan received her Bachelor of Commerce from McGill University, one of only 10 women in a class of 75. Besides her active involvement in several Montreal charities, notably the Montreal Chamber Orchestra and the McGill Women's Alumnae Association, she also chairs the Commerce '55 Scholarship Endowment Fund which she co-founded in 1985. Joan worked with her husband Brian for 25 years at Royal Lepage (where Joan was awarded a Lifetime Award of Excellence) in Montreal before receiving her own broker's license in 1994. On January 1, 1995, she and Brian launched the new family business, McGuigan Pepin Inc., and were joined 5 years later by their son, Tim. In 2012, Joan and Brian became partners with Century 21 Canada and were co-owners in the Westmount franchise Century21 McGuigan Pepin Fine Homes and Estates until July 31st., 2019. Presently Immobilier McGuigan Pepin Inc. remains always active at Royal Lepage Heritage on Greene Ave.