Jeanne Beker grew up in the suburbs of Toronto with a poster of Paul McCartney on her bedroom wall and making a wish on every birthday candle for her own TV show.

Today, the fiftysomething celebrity fashionista has more than fulfilled her youthful dream. She’s created her own fashion empire.

For the past 21 years, Beker has been the face of CHUM’s FT-FashionTelevision, which airs in more than 80 countries. She’s also a host and segment producer on FashionTelevisionChannel, a celebrity judge on the reality series Canada’s Next Top Model, an independent producer – her company makes Cover Stories for CHUM – a columnist for The Globe and Mail, editor-in-chief of FQ magazine and the author of two books.

Oh, and her other childhood fantasy also came true this fall, when she rubbed shoulders with her favorite Beatle backstage at daughter Stella McCartney’s Paris fashion show.

‘I remember thinking ‘How did this happen?’ My wildest dreams have come true. I am so blessed to be able to do work that I am passionate about. I don’t take it for granted ever,’ she says.

Beker’s many accomplishments are being recognized by Women in Film and Television – Toronto with a special Crystal Jury Award for lifetime achievement.

‘Jeanne has been a real trailblazer,’ says WIFT-T executive director Sue Sheridan. ‘She has made fashion an important component of the media landscape. And she did this with personality and passion.’

Beker started her career as an actress at the age of 16 on the CBC sitcom Toby, and worked as a mime artist for several years.

Not wanting to ‘starve in a garret,’ she reinvented herself as an arts and entertainment reporter for CBC and then CHUM Radio.

She admits that the road to success wasn’t always paved with glamour.

‘It was tough getting to this point in my career as a woman – there was an appalling degree of sexism,’ she says. ‘But I was adamant about maintaining my ground and not selling out despite the temptations of all the ‘Hey baby, I can make you a star much quicker’ lines.

‘I know it sounds like a sickening cliché, but that was the reality. In those days, if someone came by and grabbed your ass, you had to figure out a way to deal with it, whereas today you could slap a lawsuit on them in two seconds flat.’

Beker credits her parents – both Holocaust survivors – for giving her the drive to succeed.

‘They encouraged fearlessness in me, which translated into an inordinate amount of chutzpah,’ she says.

‘Believe me, there were so many times I wanted to give up, but at the back of my head there was that voice saying ‘No, you can’t.’ Here I was with the incredible blessing of being born in Canada and having all this emotional support from my parents. There was no excuse. I couldn’t just have a good life or a great life. I was determined to have a fabulous life.’

In 1979, Citytv’s groundbreaking show The New Music launched, and Beker was given the hosting gig alongside J.D. Roberts.

‘I wasn’t your usual helmet-headed, blonde cheerleader with a turned-up nose,’ says Beker. ‘Those were the stars of television at the time – not people like me, with a big nose and a big mouth and an in-your-face kind of attitude.

‘But [CHUM exec Moses Znaimer] wanted to shake it up. He said to me people should either love you or hate you, but don’t let them be just ‘okay’ with you. This gave me the freedom to find my own voice and not fit into a mold.’

In 1985, FT, the first show of its kind to report on the fashion industry as entertainment, was developed at City, and Beker made it clear she wanted to host.

‘I always loved fashion as a form of self-expression, and for its theatricality and crazy characters,’ she says.

Two years into FT, at age 35, Beker added the role of mother to that of wife (she was formerly married to radio deejay Bob Magee) and TV personality.

It wasn’t easy juggling a career and family, she says.

Made to believe she would jeopardize her job if she went on maternity leave, she took only three weeks off after the birth of each of her two daughters.

‘I didn’t dare risk everything I worked for,’ says Beker. ‘I remember canceling an interview with Jane Fonda from the delivery table.’