Take #57 - From Women's Shelter to Canadian Beauty Brand: Brandi Leifso on Evio Beauty, Fearless Choices & Building a Brand With Purpose

Brandi Leifso started Evio Beauty from a women's shelter at 21 with a bootlegged Photoshop. Now she's in 460 Shoppers Drug Mart locations and has a debut book. This is what Fearless Choices actually look like.

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What does it look like to build a globally recognized beauty brand from a women's shelter with nothing but a laptop and a borrowed idea? This week on That Digital Take, we sit down with Brandi Leifso, founder of Evio Beauty, impact entrepreneur, and author of the debut book Fearless Choices: How to Reclaim Your Power One Decision at a Time, for one of the most honest, grounded conversations we've ever had on this show.

Brandi's story isn't a highlight reel. At 21, she left an abusive relationship and found herself starting over with almost nothing. What came next wasn't a cinematic turning point — it was a series of small, quiet, often uncomfortable decisions that slowly built something extraordinary. Today, Evio Beauty is a Canadian-founded, impact-led skincare and beauty brand stocked in hundreds of Shoppers Drug Mart locations across Canada, with a mission rooted in giving back to women from day one.

In this episode, we go deep on the decisions nobody posts about — the vending machine fail, the early funding hustle, the Michelle Phan full-circle moment, and what it really took to land a major retail partnership at scale. Brandi also opens up about writing Fearless Choices, why she deliberately wrote a book that grounds you instead of hypes you up, and what she's still navigating in this chapter of her life.

If you're a founder, a creative, or someone who has ever felt stuck choosing between who you are and who you're becoming, this one is for you.

🕐 TIMESTAMPS

• 2:15 — What does courage actually look like in hindsight? The mindset shift from survival to building
• 7:32 — How Brandi funded Evio Beauty without telling anyone where she was living
• 11:07 — The Michelle Phan full-circle moment that changed everything
• 19:49 — The vending machine: a business decision that didn't work (and what it taught her)
• 24:23 — Why "grow at all costs" is a red flag, and how the founder era has shifted
• 26:38 — Is there still space to build in beauty in 2026? On the Girl Boss era and what replaced it
• 29:28 — "Always listen to the market" — staying agile enough not to sink
• 32:01 — Luck, preparation, and the Disney press trip moment
• 32:50 — Building a brand by women, for women — and the give-back from day one
• 37:00 — Setting boundaries around your founder story: keynoting Shoppers and reclaiming your narrative
• 44:42 — Mo money, mo problems: the hard parts nobody actually posts

IN THIS EPISODE, WE COVER:

• Building a mission-led beauty brand from zero resources
• The difference between an impulsive decision and an intentional one
• How to rebuild self-trust when it's been broken
• Scaling into major Canadian retail (460+ Shoppers Drug Mart locations)
• Balancing profit and purpose without compromising either
• Differentiating in a crowded eye patch and skincare category
• Why women feel pressure to make the perfect decision, and how to unlea