Clearing a New Path

Bruce County, Ontario based artist Heather Lynne Travis is known for her bold use of colour in her large scale, and often whimsical, abstracts. A lifelong artist selling mainly to family and friends, Heather has been exhibiting professionally (and selling art to strangers) since 2018 and in that short time has sold almost 100 works of art, as well as limited edition prints, now living in homes all over North America (and even one i...

In town hall style, and from some of our most engaging guests, we created a community space of vulnerability to hear authentic challenges faced by women-identifying and non-binary entrepreneurs in rural Canada.

Our goal is to connect rural women-identifying and non-binary entrepreneurs with rural women politicians, band council chiefs and business leaders in order to learn how we can support each other and to grow an ecosystem built...

* 'Explicit Content' = cursing* 

Erica Marchand is the founder of Bear and Fox Apparel based in Embro, Ontario which is in Oxford County. The brand is named after Erica’s children and they are one of the many reasons why she created the business.

Erica grew up immersed in the outdoors:  hunting, trapping and fishing. She wanted her brand to exemplify that heritage. Not only would the business be named in honour of her chi...

Jessie Thomas is the creator and owner of Farm Girl Fitness; a small group training facility with a focus on Fresh Air Fitness. Farm Girl Fitness was established in the summer of 2020 to help provide people a safe place to workout, socialize and support mental health during the pandemic. Multiple studio shutdowns due to Covid-19 created opportunities for Farm Girl Fitness to pivot. Jessie kept people moving by creating unique ways ...

According to the newest census data, East Gwillimbury, Ontario is Canada’s fastest growing municipality.

But how is that growth being managed as it relates to immigration and diversity?

Meeta Gandhi is an award-winning communications professional with experience in both the federal and municipal sectors. Meeta joined the Town of East Gwillimbury last year where she is the Director of Communications, Customer Service, and Diversity an...

Serena Viola is currently completing her Masters in Capacity Development and Extension at the University of Guelph.

She completed her undergrad at the University of Toronto in Political Science and Diaspora & Transnational Studies.

Her interests lie in food and community, rural expansion, rural immigration and rural immigration retention.

We talk about her recent survey asking rural Ontario immigrants about access to their cultur...

Lourdes Still is the creative behind Masagana Flower Farm & Studio, a small-scale flower farm dye studio near La Broquerie, Manitoba. 

In this immigrant, Filipina-lead small business, Lourdes puts a priority on sustainable growing practices. She grows seasonal blooms, dye plants and makes hand made, small batch naturally dyed textile goods. 

She grows crops without synthetic fertilizers in garden beds where lawns previously exist...

Sierra Lathlin is the founder and owner of Barkery Dog Treats. She is a 24-year old Indigenous female from Opaskwayak Cree Nation but she currently lives and handcrafts all her pet treats in Gimli, Manitoba, where she also has a storefront.

Late last year, Sierra attended the Young Entrepreneurs Alliance G20 Summit which was hosted in Milan & Rome. She was one of 13 young entrepreneurs from across Canada, selected to attend wher...

While a war rages in the Ukraine, a few states in the US have waged war on the lives of trans and gender diverse people. Although President Joe Biden has stepped in, there is still a troubling anti-trans sentiment that fueled orders and legislation in Texas and Florida that would in essence, make it illegal for parents to seek gender-affirming care for their trans children, calling it ‘child abuse’.

Here in Canada, there is more opt...

Cheryl Haskett has had a diverse career with a start in tourism, then supporting a family run construction company.  After her divorce she diverged completely into a career spanning 14 years in training and development in multiple roles including sales, service, strategy, instructional design & facilitation. 

Cheryl facilitates learning in the areas of Emotional Intelligence, Innovation, Conversation, Engagement and Leadership f...

Shawna Perry is the owner of Little Black Dress, a women's high end consignment boutique located in Summerside, Prince Edward Island.

Shawna grew up in a rural community in PEI. In her early twenties she travelled as much as she could, both nationally and internationally, before settling back in PEI to raise her family and open up her own business.

Although she was hesitant to start a business in rural PEI, she knew that it was h...

I have often found it challenging to find statistics, not just about rural women entrepreneurs but also the intersection of further marginalized groups.

The Women’s Enterprise Organizations of Canada or WEOC, is spearheading a comprehensive Canadian survey, collecting information specifically about women entrepreneurs.

The survey is looking to collect individual details about access to capital, financial literacy and a host of many o...

The 2nd annual StrikeUp Digital Conference for Women Entrepreneurs is coming up next month. I’m joined by two of the many dynamic speakers that will be presenting at the event. Both of these women are in rural or remote Canada.

Joella Hogan is the sole proprietor of the Yukon Soap Company. The Indigenous owned and operated business, creates beautiful, hand-crafted soaps, shampoo bars, essential oil blends, and so much more.

Along w...

Sascha Boulet Devost is the CEO of Capture Therapeutics (& PhysioFirst). She started these practices with one purpose: to offer accessible healthcare for all.

Her goal is to provide rural communities with accessibility to an interdisciplinary team, without being added to a waitlist. Transforming healthcare from reactive to proactive.

Sascha has a Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology from UNB, a Master's degree in Science of Ph...

Shayna Jones is a multi-disciplinary professional spoken word artist, specializing in the traditional oral storytelling of African and Afro-Diasporic Folklore. As an award-winning actor and emerging poet and playwright, Shayna has written and performed for theatre companies, schools, and festivals across Canada. As a folklorist, Shayna combines her passion for live, theatrical performance with the study of traditional African and A...

When I put out a call for folks to suggest someone as a guest on the podcast, Stella Sehn’s name came forward. And as luck would have it, Stella was speaking at an Alberta Women’s Entrepreneur Event the following day so I signed up for the free event. 

The group is called WESTEM and the event was called Inspire 2021 - Celebrating Women’s Entrepreneurship in Southern Alberta.

There was a diverse group of women on the panel, and when a...

In 2017, after fifteen years as a geologist and senior leadership professional in the Energy Industry, Kiersten Mohr embarked on the most significant challenge of her life: gender transition. Gender transition was life-changing in many ways. Kiersten's publicly authentic and vulnerable approach to her transition allowed her to see how authenticity in the workplace could build connection and synergy with her colleagues. Kiersten...

THE EQUAL FUTURES NETWORK is a national initiative through the Canadian Partnership for Women and Children’s Health or CanWaCH and it connects national, regional, community and grassroots organizations, agencies and projects from across Canada. They are all committed to advancing gender equality and to ensuring equal futures for all!

As CanWaCH and Equal Futures Network CEO, Julia Anderson champions bold, innovative - and even disru...

Heather Taylor is a fourth-year student at the University of Ottawa with a Major in Honour's English and a Minor in Public Administration. 

She is a Co-Founder of Rural and Ready, alongside her two other Co-Founders, Kayla Han and Ava Kucera. Heather is the Chief Marketing Officer. 

They started Rural and Ready because of their own struggle as rural high school students, and later as post secondary students, to find work experien...