Her Defined

Erika Berthelot grew up in a remote northern community in Winnipeg. She did a brief 2-year stint in university for business and is a veteran nail tech of nearly ten years. 

At the beginning of the pandemic, she began experimenting with different cuticle oil formulations, a product she wished her clients would use more often. After a few prototypes of varying formulas and bottles, she landed on the winning Cutie Oil and began to market it to her clients and coworkers.

The company grew rapidly and has already reached milestones she had never really envisioned, such as hiring a marketing and brand partner, in addition to being featured in several publications like The Kit and Canadian Living. 

Erika continues to embrace each new challenge as she reaches new and exciting milestones! She discusses how she remains scrappy and savvy to avoid overspending in her business, why she looks forward to constantly learning new business practices each day and how to know when it's time to ask for help.

Erika's Instagram

Cutie Oils Instagram

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In this episode, we're learning how to combine passion with a whole lot of persistence to get what you want! Tianna McFarlane aims to revolutionize the way people shop for bandages. 

In summer 2019, Tianna was looking for an adhesive bandage that matched her skin tone. Unable to find one she set out to create her own. Enter Heal in Colour. Tianna’s mission is to make black and brown bandages the norm.  

Heal in Colour is the first Canadian founded company of its kind. It builds long-term relationships with customers based on integrity and a dedication to excellence by offering the highest quality brown and black bandages, made from premium materials, at a competitive price. The company is determined to find opportunities to create a superior experience for all households, schools, and health care.

Tianna gives tips on how she preps for the neverending amount of media interviews, explains her "bet on herself" motto and why it’s so important to believe in your mission and she shares her advice to other entrepreneurs that are working full-time and starting their own business.

https://www.healincolour.ca/products/bandages

https://www.instagram.com/healincolour/

In this episode, we're learning how to endure and enjoy the process of growing our businesses.

Founded in August 2020 by Darlene Gahite, SYSTM is a professional home organizing service based in Toronto, ON. Darlene works together with the everyday millennial by organizing spaces inspired by intentional living, functionality, and clean lines. The main concepts within her work include minimizing clutter, establishing new layouts, and reshaping your milieu.

What she aims to achieve with each of her clients is creating a collaborative experience in providing a more efficient and organized living space. She works with her clients on establishing strategies that are customized to their lifestyle which enables them to realistically integrate these changes into their daily routine.

Darlene discusses how she looked at the bright side and silver lining of being laid off, she outlines her minimalist approach and how it has changed her life and she details what goes into running a professional organizational business.

https://www.instagram.com/systmto/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/melodywilding/2016/07/11/why-do-so-many-women-feel-like-frauds-4-tips-to-deal-with-chronic-self-doubt/amp/

In this episode, we're learning how to gain exposure, whether that be for our business or brand or if it's to promote ourselves.

Mrkt Gallery is an online gallery dedicated to works by female artists. It was founded in Toronto, Canada by Nuria Madrenas in 2019. As an artist herself, Nuria recognized a gap in the market to provide female artists with a dedicated resource to sell their work and achieve discoverability. Nuria is devoted to celebrating female creatives in a way that is approachable for the emerging art collector. 

Nuria also specializes in marketing and communications, having worked with brands such as Holt Renfrew, NARS, and Céline. Nuria aims to apply her expertise in communications to amplify Mrkt's mission and enhance the reach of female artists globally.

Nuria discusses why only 2% of all art sold is female-made and what we can do to change that. She gives her tips on how creatives should properly price their work and she advises you on how to gain exposure.

https://www.instagram.com/mrkt.gallery/

In this episode, we're learning how to find our success through our discomfort. Ivana and Antonia Juric are sisters and founders of Leo and Co. Bakery, an inclusive, baking company in the GTA area that specializes in delicious, handcrafted, allergen-friendly baked goods and healthier alternatives to traditional pastries and bakeshops.

Growing up, Ivana and Antonia were both competitive athletes, which fuelled their desire to learn more about how to properly fuel their bodies and keep up with the physical and mental demands that sports had on them. The pair also had a deep love for food and watching their grandma prepare classic Croatian and Italian-inspired desserts. Ivana’s passion for cooking and baking continued to grow exponentially. She started spending countless hours in the kitchen, inventing and testing recipes to get them just right. 

In 2013, Antonia developed an autoimmune disorder and became incredibly ill. For months she spent most of her days in bed, in pain, unable to eat almost anything. At first, she had to cut gluten out of her diet completely. As time went on the list of things she was unable to eat grew longer and longer until it felt she almost had no options whatsoever. This was an extremely hard time for her mentally and physically and Ivana would constantly try to alter her recipes in order to help her sister eat and become healthy again. 

As time passed Antonia became healthier and continued to further her education in health and wellness and discovered a passion for the food industry and how different foods affect the body/mind and gut. The pair started creating recipes together, and slowly realized that this alternative way of eating was best suited for their needs.

The duo believes that everyone should have delicious food that makes them feel great. They strongly believe in having dessert every day! This is why their treats and eats are filled with the most nutritious ingredients they can source. They are continuously trying to make their goods healthier while also keeping the delicious flavors.

They discuss their tips and advice for going into business with their sister, why therapy is a must when working in a family business and how they included local companies in their business plan to ride the challenging and unpredictable wave of COVID-19. 

https://www.instagram.com/leoandco.bakery/

In this episode, we're learning how to push past our limits and achieve our goals. Calene Glousher is a certified lash tech, lash extension educator, professional makeup artist and certified nail technician. She values networking with people of all different backgrounds and building a connection with her clients.

In 2019, she was working at a salon that was negative and super draining. Calene was still passionate about the beauty industry so she quit but was determined to create her own space that was open, accepting, and actually fun for people to be and work in. Within two weeks of quitting, her own business was up and running.

4 months in, the dreaded COVID-19 hit and she was forced to shut down. After lockdown, Calene was able to fully fill her schedule in addition to bringing on her first employee. Now Calene pays her first employee almost 4x the amount that Calene made while working at the old salon.

Today, Calene Ashlee Artistry serves over 150 clients a month and is consistently booked 2-3 months out. Calene won the 2020 London Community Choice Awards for Best Nail Salon and Best Manicure within the entire city! Calene strives every day to make sure that her salon is a space where anyone and everyone can feel welcome and comfortable. She tries to practice gratitude often and preach the law of attraction to my employee and clients daily.

In this episode, Calene highlights her thoughts on receiving professional certifications within the beauty industry and her tips on how to gain meaningful and useful knowledge. How she manages to stay positive during the unpredictable times of COVID and her advice on how to organize, manage and understand your business’ financials.

https://www.instagram.com/caleneashlee.artistry/

In this episode, we're learning how to find our voice.

Celina Caesar-Chavannes is an equity and inclusion advocate and leadership consultant, and a former Member of Parliament who served as parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and to the Minister of International Development. 

During her term as an MP, Celina advocated for people suffering from mental illness and was awarded the Champion of Mental Health Parliamentarian in May 2017 by the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health.

She was also named one of the Most Influential People of African Descent, Global 100 Under 40, Politics & Governance and Black Parliamentarian of the Year in 2017, and featured in the April 2018 edition of O (Oprah Winfrey) Magazine entitled, “What would you stand up for?"

Before entering politics, she was a successful entrepreneur, launching and growing an award-winning research management consulting firm with a particular focus on neurological conditions. 

Celina highlights when she realized she needed to take a stand against the Prime Minister and how she advocated for herself, how we can all create our own history and explains why analyzing our failures can be far more meaningful and insightful compared to our successes.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamcelinacc/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mpcelina/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamcelinacc
Website: https://www.celinacc.ca
Buy Can You Hear Me Now: https://adifferentbooklist.com/?q=h.tviewer&using_sb=status&qsb=keyword&qse=rC8Hn_GwKfRknZtDJhFGAg

In this episode, we're learning how to set ourselves apart through perseverance.

Jessica Zagari has over 10 years of experience in Communications in the fashion and beauty industries. She's managed integrated communication strategies and programs including public relations, events, content, social media and influencer campaigns on diverse brands such as Garnier, Maybelline, Essie and most recently as Director of Communications for L’Oréal Paris Canada.

Just one look at her LinkedIn page and you will see how she’s played an integral role in the Canadian beauty and fashion industry. Jessica highlights how to stand out when applying and interviewing for the job of your dreams, what a strong and great brand consists of and the advice and motivation she’s received from Jane Fonda, Helen Mirren and Viola Davis.

https://www.instagram.com/jessiez514/

https://womenofworth.lorealparis.ca/en/end

In this episode, we're learning how to understand our worth and trust our intuition. Sarah Singleton & Teri Canestraro launched Females Who Side Hustle back in January 2019. A community to support, educate and empower those who hustle. Females Who Side Hustle also referred to as FWSH is rooted in having open conversations, shared experiences and celebrate collaboration over competition.

In just two years, Sarah with an “h” and Teri with one “r” and one “i” have connected with over 7,000 female hustlers, they’ve launched their merch shop and they’ve begun their podcast, Save Her Seat which is ranked under the top 20 entrepreneurship podcasts.

Sarah and Teri discuss how to create intimate yet impactful networking events,  what to say to your loved ones who may not understand your passion and how to respect your business partner's creative process.

https://www.instagram.com/femaleswhosidehustle/
https://www.instagram.com/tcancans/
https://www.instagram.com/bysarahsingleton/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4EPJLiTA0kPYvruYvxEF1b?si=6c93ef53053d40f5

Opening quote by Humble the Poet: https://www.instagram.com/humblethepoet/
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41859812-unlearn 

In this episode, we're learning how to make our own way and not accept the norm.

Rebecca Freed and Sheridan March are two best friends based in Los Angeles who are dedicated to navigating the world of beauty and wellness together. After losing their jobs during the pandemic last year, they put their heads together to launch SELFISH, a self-care destination to amplify the voices of small and minority-owned brands while also encouraging others to put themselves first. Rebecca & Sheridan love diving into the self-care community and want to support all of you in your self-care journeys!

Each box is packed with care and compassion, even including a handwritten note. There are no year-long commitments or recurring payments. With function and sustainability in mind, SELFISH boxes are individual purchase gifts for a friend or yourself including everlasting brands and products. 

Rebecca and Sheridan highlight how to stay true to their brand's mission, why self-care is crucial and should be stress-free, and finally, how to foster and connect with a community.

https://www.instagram.com/selfish.box/