Success Stories

I’m often asked how much of my life and my family’s life it has taken to build a catering business from the ground up. For the past twenty years I have dedicated myself to growing as a mother of three, a wife and a business minded woman. I own...

Born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Janet's plan for her life was first marriage and then to work in the health care industry. She did both for over seven years and realized her original plan was not the most ideal for her life. After living and working...

How do we teach our young adult children to become responsible social drinkers? In 2002, as a single mom with two teenage children, I was mindful of this concern. So much so, that I decided to learn everything I could about social drinking. What...

One of my lifelong hobbies has been my love of sewing. I really wanted to be a fashion designer, but was always quite chubby. For some reason, I believed I needed to be like a model to be a fashion designer. I applied to Ryerson for the Fashion Design...

It all started when we noticed that when our children got together, belongings would always get lost or left behind. There were four of us and so eight years ago, we started Mabel’s Labels. We were having children and wanted to move away from the...

Our kids were grown, in university and well into living their own lives. My husband and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to do what we had always wanted to do. For me, I wanted to work in the field of positive psychology and made the decision...

When Donna graduated high school she wanted to be either a teacher or a secretary but ended up in the international sector of a banking company, where she learned that she didn’t want to be a banker; because she was an entrepreneur.

“When you decide to be an entrepreneur, you suddenly realize that you are responsible for your living and that you cannot blame anyone for your missteps or success” said Cora as she recently reflected on her life.

It was her mother’s broken hip that launched Joan Turner on a new career path. While her mother had been sick for years, this fall resulted in her being admitted into a nursing home. Her father left to cope alone at home, found he couldn’t. Suddenly...

If you stay focused on your dream, regardless of what comes your way, you can find a way to make it happen” shares Marnie Walker who endured eight years of walking with cranes and crutches, but still managed to graduate on the deans honour list with...

Jody Steinhauer is an exceptional women with an exceptional story. Born in North York, Ontario, she has been in business for herself for 21 years. As the founder of The Bargains Group, she has become an expert at branding at a bargain. Her company...

While Keka was born in Canada, she grew up living in two different worlds, with a typical western experience at school, and her Indian culture and roots at home. Always active in the debating society at high school, Keka thought she wanted to go away...

Travel. Shopping. Jewellry. Sounds like a dream combination, and for Patricia Pinkney it is a dream come true.Even when Patricia was in high school, she wanted to go to Paris and years later she did. For two years she lived and worked in Paris, working...

Where do you get your shoes? If you are size 9+ you will be pleased to hear about Divna (deev-na), an exciting new fashion source for women. Owner, Veronica Ljubicic, 31, wears a size 11 and it was her own shoe shopping frustrations that inspired...

“In high school I excelled in fine arts and having fun.” shares Marissa McTasney. First she tried the Ontario College of Arts and when that didn’t work out, she pursued the fun angle and back-packed in Australia. Eventually she came back to...

Like many entrepreneurs, for three years now Nancy Ashbaugh has been leading a double life.

Lorraine Green describes her business like a love story, with the chapters of her personal and business story very much inter-twined. To her, there was her life before the business and a first marriage gone wrong, and then her life with Lorraine’s...

Nine out of 10 restaurants close their doors within the first three years. Scary statistics. So why would someone choose to go into this business?

Faced with the financial challenges of raising her three-year old daughter, Kristen, on her own, Cathy Boytos struggled with finding ways to provide a good and balanced life for the two of them.

“I think I always knew that I wanted to run my own business, but my challenge was determining in just what.” shares Wendy Marlow, President of The Art of Marketing.

It really should come as no surprise that Andrea is a photographer, given that both her parents were in the photographic field too.

My corporate life was a lot more about corporate than about life. In fact, during the last several years in the corporate world, I had no life! I just worked. I didn’t have time to be happy.

Growing up as a competitive figure skater meant diet and nutrition were always of vital importance to Heather Wilgar. She had been turned on to The Zone diet but found it quite difficult to manage all the weighing and measuring of the ingredients.

Running a successful family business for 33 years, speaks to someone with determination, tenacity and vision. It speaks to the strength of character deep inside Kathy Thomas, owner of Green Thumb Landscaping and the Bronze Frog Gallery.

With her spiky platinum hair and infectious giggle, you automatically feel Jean’s warmth and energy, but the generous smile belies a life that hasn’t always been that easy.

One of the first things you notice about Wendy is her glasses. They are always unique, look good on her and co-ordinate well with her outfit.

As a young mother of 28, with two children, Karen saw herself as Employee 084. She was the one of only five women in a factory of 160 employees.