Vancouver Mom » Profiles

Entrepreneur to Watch: Karen Di Venanzo of Sunlife Financial

Diane Wild — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:30:55 +0000

Karen Di Venanzo, an Advisor with Sunlife Financial, helps families and business owners put plans in place to protect what really matters.

What inspired you to start your company?

Personal experience lead me to this business. I want to make sure that no one has to go through what I did.

What is your company all about?

Helping people reach lifetime financial security.

What’s your vision for your company?

That everyone work with a professional to keep focused on tomorrow while still managing to get through today. That everyone find the value in working with someone who understands their family and will help them stay on track with a plan that is geared to what really matters to them.

What excites you about what you’re doing?

I have changed people’s lives when they have needed it the most. I am making a huge difference in their lives and their families today and in the future. When a devastating incident hits close to home, I am there to deliver some good news.

What are some early examples of success?

Delivering a health insurance cheque to a mom with a young child. Making sure that during this rough time in her life, she only had to focus on recovery. That is what it is all about.

What about challenges?

Many people find it difficult to discuss illness and death with their family. Time is also another challenge. We are all so busy with the day to day routines that we sometimes put these crucial tasks off. My job is to make sure they get crossed off sooner than later.

What’s next for you?

My Registered Health Underwriter (RHU) designation, as well as monthly discussions and public speaking.

Karen Di Venanzo of Sunlife Financial

Website | Twitter: @karendivenanzo | Facebook

Sue Sinclair’s Favourite Things

Diane Wild — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:30:18 +0000

Every few weeks, we’ll introduce you to a local Vancouver mom who’ll share with you some of her favourite essentials.

This week: Sue Sinclair, Founder and “Chief Executive Mom” of Raspberry Kids, which sells new and unique children’s products. She lives in Vancouver with her husband and two children.

Favourite Thing For Your Kids:

Walking them to school & going to movies in the cinema. One gives me the chance to talk to them one on one and the other allows me to observe them in a setting that promotes make believe and imagination.

Favourite Thing For You:

A massage. Would have one every day if I could.

Favourite Thing For Work:

Coffee. Loving our new espresso machine in the office I share with my hubby’s company. It is a real game saver some days!

Favourite Place in Vancouver:

Queen Elizabeth Park. It’s close to home and where we got married so it holds lots of special memories for us.

Favourite Birthday Gift Idea:

Depends on the recipient but I’m a big fan of giving photos in frames for adults and really nice quality wooden toys for kids.

Favourite Kids Book:

Dr. Seuss. Can’t go wrong with the classics.

Favourite Restaurant:

Cobre on Powell. The flavors are amazing and they serve my all-time fave beverage, the Michelada.

Want to be featured in an upcoming article of Favourite Things? Feel free to contact us!

Kids of Vancouver

Rebekah Nathan — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:30:12 +0000

If you have yet to have taken the plunge into getting professional portraits of your wee ones, Kids of Vancouver and Veridamo Photography might be just the ticket. Tanya and Jeff Harrison started Veridamo Photography back in 2001 primarily shooting weddings and have since grown into one of Metro Vancouver’s top children and family portrait photography studios. Not only do they offer fun, child centered portrait sessions, but as of last year they now also use their photographic skills to raise money and awareness for two fantastic local charities, Share‘s Tiny Bundles program and the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Kids Picks, through the Kids of Vancouver project.

Kids of Vancouver is a beautiful coffee table style book featuring the portrait photography of children all around Metro Vancouver, at beaches, favourite parks, playing soccer or cuddling a teddy. Parents donate $100 to either of the two charities and receive a professional photo session, the opportunity to purchase any of the prints taken at the shoot and then of course their child will have a one page feature in the book that gets printed just in time for Christmas. What more could you ask for!

After seeing a photographer friend of theirs run a similar project in Australia successfully for a number of years, and after taking a bit of a break from working on and promoting their photography business in 2008 due to the birth of their daughter Alexia, Tanya and Jeff decided to give it a go here in Vancouver, “We chose the project because of its win/win/win – charity receives donations and awareness, clients finally get a professional portrait sitting of their children, and we receive new clients” Jeff explains. They were absolutely right, too, raising over $9000 last year while at the same time creating a stunning debut edition. After the success of their first book, they have set a goal of raising $15,000 for this year, which would purchase a whopping $45,000 worth of food for needy kids. Tanya and Jeff chose Share and the Greater Vancouver Food Bank partly because of that very reason, that they focus on children but also because they have a local community presence and receive a lot of exposure at Christmas but not as much during the summer months when financial support is still vitally important.

Make sure you check out the Veridamo Facebook page to keep track of what they’re up to, and nominate your child on the Kids of Vancouver site to be photographed and featured in this years book. You can even have your portrait session done up on beautiful Grouse Mountain, and as part of a cross promotion Grouse Mountain will provide free day passes for the entire family! An excellent deal considering adult passes are around $40.

Veridamo have also generously offered a free 16×20 print to one Vancouvermom.ca reader who nominates their child and follows through with a portrait, which they will receive at the end of the year.

Entrepreneur to Watch: Yoga with Lori Lucas

Diane Wild — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 15:30:53 +0000

Former doula turned yoga teacher Lori Lucas believes in the motto: “Breathe and let go, and remember that nothing happens next: this is it!”

What inspired you to start your company?

I was working as a birth doula here and had enjoyed a yoga practice of my own for many years, so it was a natural progression for me to teach yoga and share it with others.

What is your company all about?

I teach yoga to everyone from pregnant and postpartum mothers and their babies, to athletes, seniors, children, and everyone in between. I started with prenatal yoga to help my moms prepare for their labour and delivery, and now I teach all levels of hatha yoga, yin yoga, prenatal yoga, baby and me, and even children’s yoga.

What’s your vision for your company?

My vision is to keep yoga affordable, accessible and available to not only moms and dads and babes, but to folks of every demographic. You can never be too young or too old to practice yoga.

What excites you about what you’re doing?

Everything excites me! Everyone from the expectant and new moms who repeatedly tell me how their yoga practice was invaluable to them through their labour and delivery, recovery, and transition to motherhood … to the student who has forever suffered with back pain that “magically disappeared” since coming to class … to that student who has struggled with crippling anxiety attacks and now has the tools to help deal with their fight-or-flight response. And there are the sports enthusiasts who gush about how yoga has improved their golf game … the executives who have very high-stress jobs who come to yoga for the stress reduction aspect.

The list literally goes on and on. And it’s not me! It’s yoga. And there are the beautiful children whose art work, cards and letters adorn my fridge: drawings of their favourite yoga poses and cards of thanks for teaching them the ocean spirit breath, telling me “it really works Lori, it really works!” Ahh, yoga. I hate to think where I would be without it.

What are some early examples of success?

Lucky for me it’s the yoga that does all the work, so every class is a success for the person who practices yoga. There are miracles in every class. Every time someone learns to breathe and let go and self regulate, every time one learns to practice mindfulness, every time someone ditches their aches and pains, experiences inner peace, strength, vitality and the clarity of mind that yoga brings. The benefits of yoga are immediately felt. It is really like magic. It sells itself. It’s body-work you give yourself. Yoga helps to bring you into balance. It doesn’t matter who you are.

What about challenges?

The challenges yoga-wise are the misconceptions about yoga, for example that it’s a religion. It is not. Or that you’re not flexible enough to do yoga. You do not need to be flexible — that’s why you do yoga! Another thing that can be challenging for some is feeling intimidated to attend that first yoga class. I have never heard of a soul who regretted practicing yoga.

Business-wise, the challenges of working for yourself are that you need to be disciplined, organized, committed and willing to face any challenge that comes your way. And of course perseverance. I teach the classes, study and plan the classes, fill out the invoices, set my schedule and price structures and do much of my own administration, marketing and advertising. Thankfully the places where I teach share the administrative duties. Finding study time is a big one for me – daily study and practice time, as well as attending yoga conferences, workshops and teacher trainings to upgrade my education.

What’s next for you?

My wish is to continue providing non-threatening, accessible and affordable yoga classes to folks of all walks and stages of life in this beautiful city of ours. In the future I may put on some workshops. I have been toying with the idea of starting a YouTube channel or making some yoga podcasts. When people ask me why I practice yoga, I always tell them: none of us know how long we’re going to be here, so why not feel as good, healthy and unburdened as you possibly can? Quite simply that’s why I love yoga.

Yoga with Lori Lucas

Website | Twitter: @LorilLucas | Facebook

Jill Earthy’s Favourite Things

Christine — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 07:00:14 +0000

Welcome to our first article in our new Favourite Things series! Every few weeks, we’ll introduce you to a local Vancouver mom, who’ll share with you some of her favourite essentials.

First up: Jill Earthy, the Executive Director of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and the co-founder of MomCafe. Jill lives in Vancouver with her husband and two young daughters.

Favourite Thing For Your Kids:

Two things: Bubbles – endless entertainment for kids of all ages! For an actual product, this one is really fun: EcoTronic – Eco Mic (available at www.raspberrykids.com). My kids love creating their own songs and routines and rockin’ it!

Favourite Thing For You:

A great glass of wine with friends and Lululemon big sweatshirt.

Favourite Thing For Work:

Blackberry. I know it is not as funky as an iPhone but it works for me.

Favourite Place in Vancouver:

Jericho beach at sunset with an ice cream cone.

Favourite Birthday Gift Idea:

An experience. Something special depending on the unique qualities of each person.

Favourite Kids Book:

Time for Bed by Mem Fox. This was the first book I read to both of my girls when they were wee babies. I love the rhythm and now I love listening to my five-year-old reading it to her little sister.

Favourite Restaurant:

CRAVE on Main Street, a cozy intimate neighbourhood restaurant with yummy food, a nice wine selection and a great patio!

Want to be featured in an upcoming article of Favourite Things? Feel free to contact us!

Entrepreneur to Watch: Yasuko Brander of Théra Wise

Roanne Weyermars — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 07:00:44 +0000

Vancouver mom entrepreneur Yasuko Brander originally began developing Théra Wise bio-active natural therapeutic ointments and plant based medicinal ointments to help with her own skin conditions. Now her Théra Wise products are sold throughout Canada by major retailers as well as local health stores.

What inspired you to start your company?

I am a life-long sufferer of eczema and atopic dermatitis and was looking for a solution to help manage my condition. My husband has a background in Oriental Medicine and Cosmetic Science. He and I were involved with developing and manufacturing various natural health products at that time and noticed that all over the counter ointments and even homeopathic ointments are petroleum and synthetic chemical based. We wanted to offer a healthier, more effective and ‘body friendly’ option in the medicinal ointment category and I especially wanted to help people who were experiencing what I went through.

Tell us about Derma Wise Skin Care and Théra Wise.

We are Vancouver-based Canadian company producing the Théra Wise line of bioactive, all-natural therapeutic ointments for First Aid/Wound Healing, Cold/Flu, Anti-Acne, Diaper Rash and Hemorrhoidal conditions. Théra Wise products are biodegradable and made entirely from bio-active plant ingredients without the use of petro-chemical based ingredients. A minimum of 99% of the total ingredients are of natural plant origin (excluding water) and a minimum of 35%of the total ingredients are from organic agriculture including certified, non-certified and transitional organics. Théra Wise uses plant material that is transformed with low-impact environmentally friendly processes without the use of hydrocarbon extraction methods. Our line is also vegan friendly with a commitment to providing cruelty free products, free of animal testing on the raw materials and finished product.

What’s your vision for your company?

We want to empower people to make healthier choices for themselves and the planet. To be the name that families can trust and feel good about when they need a remedy ointment to work fast.

What excites you about what you’re doing?

Discovering the wonder and magic of plants, to learn from them and understand their potential to heal us. We are also continually inspired by all of the positive feedback we receive from people who have used and benefited from our line.

What are some early examples of success?

Théra Wise was the first plant-based medicinal ointment line to receive a Health Canada Natural Health Product License. With an approval rate of only one in three applications, the license ensures products have passed stringent requirements for safety and efficacy. This approval was a key factor that allowed us to make health claims required to be carried in major pharmacies such as Shoppers Drug Mart, London Drugs and natural health stores.

Tell us about some of your challenges.

As with many small businesses you end up doing everything. Time is so precious, I feel like I would need 48 hours a day to properly balance my duties of being a mom and a business woman. Of course we can’t forget about marketing, marketing, marketing, I am constantly thinking about unique and engaging ways to reach our target customers.

What’s next for you?

We are planning to launch a natural diaper rash ointment this summer and organic tamanu oil (which is a rich body moisturizing oil from the tropics). We are also looking for partners for cross promotional opportunities – for example, we may donate products at school fundraising events or to charities.

Théra Wise

www.therawise.com | Twitter: @therawise | Facebook

Entreprenuers To Watch: Rachel Boguski, Anna Day and Zoe Flower of Playpants Modern Bloomers

Christine — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:30:19 +0000

The other day, my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter came down from her room, wearing a pair of fuchsia bloomers that came with one of her dresses, and announced that she was wearing “dress-up underwear”. When I saw that, I couldn’t help but think that Playpants, a recently launched Vancouver company, was onto something.

It’s easy to see why parents and children alike will fall in love with Playpants’ modern spin on traditional bloomers. Meet today’s Entrepreneurs to Watch: Rachel Boguski, Anna Day and Zoe Flower of Playpants Modern Bloomers.

What inspired you to start your company?

Our children. As busy mothers, we were each looking to find that balance between motherhood and our careers. The three of us each have two little ones under the age of four who have been playing together since birth. It was one day last summer during one of our play dates that we talked about how nice it would be if we could find some bloomers to cover our little ones’ diapers – and wouldn’t it be even better if we could find them in a wide range of modern prints and solids that would be as great on our sons as they would be on our daughters. As quickly as we could finish our lunch, Playpants Modern Bloomers was born.

Tell us about your company.

Playpants are the original modern bloomers that cover the little bums of your little ones. Available in over 30 different styles, our bloomers are a modern take on the traditional bloomers and the plastic diaper covers of the 1970s that disappeared with the rise of disposable diapers. Playpants are fun, functional, affordable and locally made in sizes 1-5 to coordinate with disposable diaper sizing (they cover cloth and hybrid diapers too!) designed to fit babies and toddlers from birth to three years. Our organic styles are made from 55% recycled hemp and 45% organic cotton, fully certified by Control IMO, Control Union Certifications, Global Organic Textile Standard and Ecocert and dyed with low impact nontoxic dyes. Safe for the environment, safe for your little ones.

What’s your vision for your company?

We hope to see Playpants in retailers across Canada and the US within the next year while staying true to our brand and our current business practices. We’ve got big plans for little bums!

What excites you about what you’re doing?

We get excited all the time! When we see our product in a shop. When we receive feedback from mothers. When we see photos of babies and toddlers of all ages, shapes and sizes in our bloomers – the biggest reminder that yes, we have actually done this!

What are some early examples of success?

The response to our brand has been phenomenal. We feel fortunate to already have retailers throughout the Lower Mainland in just these couple of months since our product launch and a steady flow of orders since the launch of our online shop in the beginning of May (one as far as South Africa!). We were also lucky to be written up in The Vancouver Sun business section – something we are all very proud of.

Tell us about some of your challenges?

As a new business, we are constantly learning as we go (who knew our best seller would be our highest price point!). We are doing our best to educate the public about our brand – that bloomers are not seasonal, not just for babies and not just for girls. We are making sure we meet our demand while remaining a locally manufactured product. And we are learning that being a mompreneur isn’t always easy.

What’s next for you?

We’re going to continue to build our list of retailers and focus on brand awareness. We’ve had several requests for toddler sizing so we plan to expand our sizing to fit up to age 6 as well as introduce our “fancy pants” line of organic silk and linen bloomers.

Playpants

www.playpants.ca | Twitter: @playpants | Facebook

Entrepreneur to Watch: Elizabeth Kowal and Kim Mallory of ADORE pictures

Roanne Weyermars — Tue, 18 May 2010 07:00:30 +0000

Moms Kim Mallory and Elizabeth Kowal each run their own photography studio, Kim Mallory Photography and White Album Weddings. But when they saw a need in their community for something new, fresh and convenient and ADORE pictures was born.

What inspired you to start your company?

Kim: I am a custom photographer and my clients tend to budget for my services every 1-3 years. I was turning away a lot of smaller jobs because I was busy and I started asking myself, where do people go for those in between sessions, something that’s quick and easy? It got me thinking that a new type of studio was needed to fill the gap between what I do and department store studios – something modern and affordable. I called up my greatest ally, Elizabeth and ran my idea by her. We got really excited about it and pitched it to our husbands and they were quick to jump on the band wagon too.

Elizabeth: I have been photographing weddings with my husband for the last 9 years and we noticed many of our clients coming back wanting baby and family photographs. This was a whole new market for us and far more than we could offer at the time. Kim and I had been wanting to work together on a project and the idea of a retail studio was one that excited both of us. Knowing that there was a niche that we could fill we decided to run with it! We put our heads together and after months of planning and countless hours of work ADORE pictures opened on October 1, 2009.

Tell us about ADORE pictures.

ADORE pictures is a retail studio located in downtown Chilliwack. ADORE offers fun, fresh and affordable photography for everyone! With session fees at just $29.95 and no obligation to purchase it is virtually risk free. The studio is set up to accommodate new mommies and families with kids and furry kids. Each session is 30 minutes and images are viewed following the session. Clients are offered tea and coffee, kids are happy playing in the playroom and there is a private mother’s room for changes and breast feeding. ADORE shoots product photography and headshots for actors and realtors too. Our products include print packages, digital images, custom cards, collages and mounted portraits and photo jewelry. We also sell hats and tutus in the studio.

What’s your vision for your company?

When we started our business plan our idea was to create a photo studio that we could franchise. With this in mind we created a strong brand, and a business that we are able to duplicate to give someone the tools needed to own and operate their own photography studio. Every community needs a place to go for convenient and affordable photographs that are modern and fun.

What excites you about what you’re doing?

EVERYTHING! It’s wonderful to have a great staff and a great concept. It’s amazing when people walk into ADORE and comment “Are there more of these?” We are seeing our vision turn into reality and it’s so exciting for us. We’ll never forget when we put the finishing touches on the store the night before opening. We stood out front on the sidewalk looking into the windows and we were in awe of what we had done and what we could achieve together as a team. The sky is the limit!

What are some early examples of success?

We are six months into it and getting great reviews from clients and many of them are returning already! We are fielding franchise enquiries and everyone seems to know about ADORE pictures and what we’re up to and they are very supportive. The word on the street is that it’s a great place to go.

Tell us about some of your challenges.

Of course juggling family priorities, two studios, clients, marketing and everything in between is a challenge for us. We need to remind ourselves that it’s okay to take a day off, or be sick or just do nothing or we don’t stop working. We are lucky to have husbands who support us and are able to be there to help with the family and household! Our staff at ADORE are great too and give us the support we need to ensure that the studio runs smoothly!

What’s next for you?

We are in the process of determining if it’s the right time to hire a Franchise Consultant. Things are happening a little quicker than we expected and we want to be prepared when it’s time to take the leap into selling our first franchise. We are also both taking a month off this summer to travel (and maybe scout out some new locations along the way!). We are super excited to have a much needed break. It’s been a crazy ride!

ADORE pictures

www.adorepictures.com | Twitter: @ADOREpictures | Facebook

Entrepreneurs to Watch: Tamara Komuniecki and Cynthia Merriman of Delish Magazine

Roanne Weyermars — Tue, 11 May 2010 07:00:10 +0000

Headed up by Vancouver moms Tamara Komuniecki and Cynthia Merriman, Delish Magazine is a new e-magazine all about living like you mean it, set to launch this spring. Both of these women have serious skills in their areas of expertise to apply to their new venture – Tamara will take on the role of Editor in-Chief and Cynthia will head up the look and feel as Design Director.

What inspired you to start your company?

Cynthia: Having been a graphic designer for over ten years, working for design firms, companies and doing my own freelance work, I was always looking for “the” project — something to use what I have learned so far, try new things, meet new people, and get recognition too! Plus to be able to have control over the design - a total moot point! I had been involved with various projects with Tamara over the years, so much so, that our styles and personalities were in sync with each other. It seemed like a perfect fit to take on the magazine when Delish was decided on. Despite being pregnant with my third child, it was just too exciting to pass up. With print magazines going under left and right, going all-digital with the magazine was such an obvious choice.

Tamara: I have been a broadcast and print journalist for 16 years and my most recent position was as Editor-in-Chief of a magazine in California. When my husband and I moved back to Vancouver, I knew that this was the type of work I wanted to continue doing. Such positions with established magazines are very hard to come by and I quickly found out that all was fairly quiet on the print front in terms of openings, so I decided it was time to start my own venture. Many magazines are folding their print operations and going electronic and I have been a blogger for so long that I decided the burgeoning genre of e-magazines would be perfect.

Having worked with Cynthia on other projects, I knew I couldn’t do this without her. She and I were both pregnant when we first started discussing the start-up in earnest but we decided we would just try to make it work. Then I had our son Finn very prematurely at 28 weeks of pregnancy! Seven weeks of hospital care in the ICU followed for him. The project was put on hold and has been a few times since then, but we both manage to fit it in between nursing sessions or during – we’ve become proficient at one-handed typing!

We now plan to launch in May and just keep getting better from there. We brought in Managing Editor, Emma Alvarez Gibson, who is based in San Pedro, California, as I had become familiar with her work when she was one of the writers at my previous magazine. Her style and sensibility meshes perfectly with ours and she embraced and even enhanced the vision of what we wanted Delish Magazine to be from the beginning. Plus, Emma has a young son as well and so my final wish, to create something that I could do at home, will hopefully grow to the point where it can sustain three work at home moms.

Tell us about Delish Magazine.

Maybe it’s better to start off with what it’s NOT all about. It’s not about making a woman feel inadequate, like she is not enough or does not have enough. It is not about rampant consumerism, but rather it is about appreciation of and participation in a way of living that begins at home – the heart centre of our lives, and extends to health, relationships, work, our larger community, and the world. It will celebrate true efforts made by real people to live consciously, responsibly and joyously. It will offer (primarily a female audience), information you can use, in all areas of life.

What’s your vision for your company?

Our vision is that Delish will become a self-sustaining entity – a new media success story. We would love it if the e-magazine genre became popular but hope that readers are able to separate the wheat from the chaff. What we mean by that is that we want them to recognize journalistic experience and integrity, as well as beautiful design on our pages and continue to read every issue. Also, the stories will keep coming – we never, ever worry about a lack of good content but the fact is we need advertising revenue to make this work and for that we need eyes on our pages.

What excites you about what you’re doing?

This is such a new genre, and it might be mistaken for blogging in the beginning, but we’re out to show readers what can happen when journalists move from established mediums into a new form of medium. Everyone was into fusion a while back and hybrids are everywhere to be found now. It’s exciting that we’re forming our own media hybrid – a cross between a print magazine and blog, while offering the best of each. Things like sharing of personal stories and first-person perspectives meeting solid research and commentary from experts, with a healthy dose of truly useful information – recipes, reviews and you-heard-it-here-first helpful product news.

What are some early examples of success?

The word of mouth and excitement that are building are just infectious. People are talking about what we’re doing, asking questions, inquiring about advertising and signing up for news of our launch. And you should see the pages that are coming together, wow! Our premiere issue will likely be the smallest one and we’ll build more in for the Fall 2010 issue, but we are so pleased with what is being written and designed already.

Tell us about some of your challenges.

We have three principals involved in Delish Magazine, all with kids and all living in different cities (but thankfully in the same time zone!) Plus, there is no formula to follow for success. What we are doing is throwing together the parts that each of us is good at and winging the rest. The good thing about this though, is that we are creating our own thing completely. The freedom and potential it represents makes us all giddy.

What’s next for you?

We are working crazily to launch our first issue in May, and along with that an accompanying website and blog. Then it’s on to the Fall 2010 issue!

Delish Magazine

www.delishmag.com | Twitter: @delishmag

Entrepreneur to Watch: Shaheen Hirji of Organically Hatched

Roanne Weyermars — Thu, 06 May 2010 07:00:38 +0000

Meet Shaheen Hirji, the mom behind online organic baby store, Organically Hatched. Shaheen launched her business in 2008 with a goal to bring moms the best selection in natural baby products. Recently nominated for the The SavvyMom Mom Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Shaheen’s young venture is off to a great start.

What inspired you to start your company?

My son was the inpiration. When he was born I had a difficult time finding natural, organic skin and bath care products for him. I would go into one store and they would have one or two products I was looking for but not the entire line. Plus with feedings every two hours it was difficult to physically go looking for products. I thought it would be great if I could offer moms like myself a one stop shop for all the organic baby essentials – one that was open 24/7 so moms could shop at their convenience.

Tell us about Organically Hatched.

Organically Hatched is about finding natural, organic and eco-friendly products to bring to our customers. It’s also about making it easy for parents and caregivers to shop for all the baby and kid essentials they need. At the same time, we aim to keep prices affordable.

What’s your vision for your company?

It would be great to see an Organically Hatched store in every community. We also need to continue doing what we feel we do best, which is bringing a great selection of quality products to the store. It would be great to expand our selection of products so that it caters to the entire family, not just kids. We’ve started to do this and want to continue to add more products for moms and dads too.

What excites you about what you’re doing?

I enjoy looking for quality products. There is also great satisfaction in researching products and learning what ingredients to avoid – in order to ensure that the products we add to our line-up are good for kids as well as good for the environment.

What are some early examples of success?

We doubled our sales in our second year! We have a solid customer base with lots of repeat customers even though we just turned two years old. We also receive positive feedback from our customers telling us that they love the store and product selection.

Tell us about some of your challenges.

One of our biggest challenges is how potential customers find us online. Search Engine Optimization is tricky and with the rules constantly changing, this has been and continues to be one of our biggest challenges. For the first six months, we didn’t even show up in the Google organic search results and this was frustrating.

What’s next for you?

I plan to keep growing the business, adding great products and spreading the word about Organically Hatched. It would also be great if we could partner with other local businesses to cross promote. Finally, I hope to conquer the search engine optimization challenge one day soon!