OV Boss Babes

With a career spanning nearly two decades and decorated with several awards, nominations and music certifications to her name, multi-platinum recording artist Fefe Dobson is a true renaissance woman within the entertainment industry. Emerging as a pop / rock artist in the early 2000’s, Fefe stood out among her contemporaries as an edgy black female outlier in an otherwise male-dominated genre.

Her new single "FCKN IN LOVE" marks the long awaited return from the pop / rock artist as her first commercial music release in nearly 8 years. This bad ass babe will tell you to say "bye bye boyfriend" if you're dating a loser, unintentionally came up with the term "ghosting" long before it became an urban dictionary word and just when you thought she was done singing "stupid little love songs," she is back baby with her latest single FKING IN LOVE and she is screaming it from the rooftops and is sharing with Holly what she all has in store next now that she's re-emerged onto the music scene!

This month's Startup Ottawa Valley Champion Dorian Pearce faced an unprecedented time like many other small business owners did during the pandemic and had to quickly adapt to the virtual world quickly. Working in media production at a time when there were no in-person events, festivals or concerts for almost 2 years, Dorian Pearce from Kitchissippi Productions had to be creative in order to keep people engaged and attending virtual events, especially when we all became virtualled out.

This past April, Dorian transformed his former business, DPearce Productions into Kitchissippi Productions, an Indigenous owned visionary production company that works with community-driven organizations to bring back the magic of in-person gatherings, creating professional, engaging content and spaces for businesses to grow and flourish. 

Dorian gives us an inside look into Kitchissippi Productions, the variety services offered, and previous clients they have provided services for, the importance of LGBTQS+ representation in the media and how Dorian sees themselves driving change and encouraging other young folks to get involved in their community.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But Sunny Side Breakfast Buffet not only makes sure that you receive a hearty breakfast, but that you have an assortment of breakfast meal options to choose from to keep you fueled all day long!

This local breakfast spot opened 9 days before the pandemic forced businesses to shut down and going out to breakfast, let alone any meal, wasn't considered essential. Sunny Side Up Breakfast Buffet was included in the hardest-hit industry but April Traux was ready to transition from survival to revival and continue to feed her community... but she needed a plan.

Through the help of local delivery service, Valley Eats, April shares how she was able to continue bringing delicious home cooked meals straight to her customer's door. Now that we can all enjoy a hearty breakfast meal at restaurants again, customers can

enjoy a buffet style breakfast at a reasonable cost, knowing they are not only supporting a local restaurant, but also multiple businesses through April's "farm to table" philosophy.

For too long, the cannabis industry has been known as a male-dominated space. However, we are seeing more cannabis stores that are female owned and operated, and Caitlin Coleman is the proud owner and operator of two Bluebird Cannabis locations, in Almonte and Kanata North, and she and her budtenders are focused on introducing a wide range of cannabis to new and inexperienced customers.

Caitlin shares a fresh perspective on the cannabis industry, the importance of an inclusive cannabis culture and eliminating gender discrimination, and the facts behind behind the compounds in cannabis and how they can affect a person's individual experience (and moreso, its benefits to women specifically!)

For too long, the cannabis industry has been known as a male-dominated space. However, we are seeing more cannabis stores that are female owned and operated, and Caitlin Coleman is the proud owner and operator of two Bluebird Cannabis locations, in Almonte and Kanata North, and she and her budtenders are focused on introducing a wide range of cannabis to new and inexperienced customers.

Caitlin shares a fresh perspective on the cannabis industry, the importance of an inclusive cannabis culture and eliminating gender discrimination, and the facts behind behind the compounds in cannabis and how they can affect a person's individual experience (and moreso, its benefits to women specifically!)

The Farmstead Cheesehouse & Gelateria is a seasonal family owned and operated cheesehouse in Laurentian Valley. With a focus on supporting local farmers, Stephanie Petermann and her family wanted to offer a space to connect daily with the people who live in, work in and visit the Ottawa Valley, connecting Ontario dairy farmers, artisans, and their own authentic Italian Gelato.

This family business is committed to connecting the good people of Renfrew County and its visitors to the source of great tasting local products with an emphasis on the only hand-scooped Gelato that is produced on site and top quality farmstead cheeses!

This born and raised city girl shares how she came to living in the Ottawa Valley and quickly adapted to the farm life, supportive gender roles in agriculture, and if this cheesehouse plans to remain open seasonally ... or year round. Tune in to find out!

Eyelash extensions, microblading and lip fillers: many of us have at least tried at least one of these services. They are not only popular with millennials and Gen Z's but they are affordable and are a regular part of our self care routines.

Kara Miles, owner of The Lash Nook in downtown Carleton Place, shares her journey to entrepreneurship and how she has not only created a space for her clients, but other women in the beauty industry, including Refind Image Ottawa! Needless to say, the The Lash Nook is an entire one-stop cosmetic beauty services shop and they have more than just eyelash extensions on the menu.

Kara and Holly chat about the former stigmas of beauty standards and how women are no longer feeling shame for getting cosmetic beauty procedures done. And, if you're another female-owned business in Carleton Place or Lanark County and you meet Kara, she just might utter the words "wanna do a pop up?!" and collaborate with ya! Because she's all about #babessupportingbabes and empowering other women in business. This is a boss babe you should definitely know about!

OVBB Podcast is excited about our latest partnership with Startup Ottawa Valley, which supports rural members through various biz resources, networking events, workshops, and highlights diverse and innovated businesses and entrepreneurs in our community.

Startup Ottawa Valley is a network through the Upper Ottawa Valley Chamber of Commerce, whose mission is to connect with the entrepreneurship community across the Ottawa Valley.

Mount Molson has been around since 1959 and is historically the world's smallest ski hill. And you babes may have learned to ski or snowboard yourselves here. And it was all made possible because of one man's dedication to the hill and ski club, who is fondly remembered as the King of the Hill, Fred Molson, known for his kindess, sense of humour and endless patience. He sadly passed away this year at the age of 87, but this Petawawa legend not only lives on in his children, grandchildren and those that knew him, but through a new form of giving back to the community and that's through ice cream.

His daughter Tanya and granddaughter Zöe Nolan have taken over the former ski chalet and transformed it into Mount Molson Dairy Bar, offering Canadian favourite Kawartha Dairy ice cream to all the locals! Learn more about the man who started it all, why serving ice cream is the most rewarding job (for all ages!), and Zöe teases our listeners with plans for what she has in store!

More and more of us are wanting to enjoy fresh, local, and natural produce that's chemical free, fresh from the garden and support our local farmers and gardeners. And Gema Villavicencio and her family from Pure Conscience Farm in Bristol, QC practices regenerative and sustainable, organic farming, which means that their practices are centred around a holistic, integrated approach to farming that goes beyond sustainable.

Not only do they carry a variety of fruits and vegetables, but they are also beekeepers, soapmakers and visionaries who jumped on the online food subscription bandwagon as they, along with other Pontiac business, offer their organic produce through a weekly subscription market.

Gema is proud to educate people on the importance of organic produce, how she and her husband originally started their farm with honey bees and yaks, why farm fresh eggs taste better than store bought eggs, and more! De plus en plus d'entre nous veulent profiter de produits frais, locaux et naturels, sans produits chimiques, frais du jardin et soutenir nos agriculteurs et jardiniers locaux. Et Gema Villavicencio et sa famille de Pure Conscience Farm à Bristol, au Québec, pratiquent une agriculture biologique régénérative et durable, ce qui signifie que leurs pratiques sont centrées sur une approche holistique et intégrée de l'agriculture qui va au-delà de la durabilité.

Non seulement ils vendent une variété de fruits et de légumes, mais ce sont aussi des apiculteurs, des savonniers et des visionnaires qui ont sauté dans le train des abonnements alimentaires en ligne alors qu'ils, avec d'autres entreprises du Pontiac, offrent leurs produits biologiques par le biais d'un marché d'abonnement hebdomadaire.

Gema est fière d'éduquer les gens sur l'importance des produits biologiques, comment elle et son mari ont commencé leur ferme avec des abeilles et des yacks, pourquoi les œufs frais de la ferme ont meilleur goût que les œufs achetés en magasin, et plus encore !

Riley Nixon is a 27 year old Canadian adult entertainer (aka porn star) from Brandon, Manitoba who ventured down a different career path than many of us but by nature, is still considered her own boss as she calls the shots, lives life on her own terms, and isn't afraid to get up close and personal for her fans.

Nothing is off limits for Riley as she gives us us an inside look into the porn and adult entertainment industry, as we discuss how her parents discovered she was in porn, orgasms (how "real" are they on camera), OnlyFans (how much money can you really make), body confidence and positivity, while also getting candid about slut shaming and how it's more often from men vs. women (duh because #babessupportbabes).