Let's Talk

#NohemieandCo chats with Founder of Barre + Bay Wreath, Erika Gray. Erika shares how her own experience, belief in community + creating a safe space resulted in her building an incredibly unique barre studio + marketplace. With a passion for wellness & safety, Erika focuses her business on helping others create beautiful lifestyles & encourage their well-being. This lifestyle brand achieves its goal through many different outlets such as health-conscious products, floral services, different body training classes, and branding courses. Listen for more of Erika's inspiring journey that led to this diverse wellness business, focused on stimulating your own lifestyle & growth as it has done for her.Barreandbaywreath.com@barreandbaywreath

#NohemieandCo talks business strategy with Brian Cliette, a full-stack marketer, investor, and entrepreneur. Brian shares how his identity as a Muslim is integrated into his business approach, and how he perfected his strategy after starting two businesses of his own. After analyzing successful companies such as Amazon, Brian shares all he learned about digital & growth marketing strategies with others to market their business effectively. Armed with experience, Brian emphasizes having community as your biggest asset in building your brand - through outlets such as mailing lists & social media followings. Listen in for more of Brian's nuggets of knowledge.www.briancliette.com

#NohemieandCo talks with OEM Founders Shun & Ceilidh MacLeod as they navigate the drugstore/health world. Motivated by the need to enhance the drugstore experience, OEM offers a wide range of drugstore products with natural-derived ingredients. By introducing simple, healthy & effective products for use in your daily life, such as ointments, listen more on how OEM (On Earth Momentarily) defeats surface-level marketing by introducing empathy & care as you navigate essential products for your health.oem.care@oem.care

#NohemieandCo chats with Clare, Founder of Folio, an online bookstore and book community. At 24, Clare built Folio herself, technologically and entrepreneurially, while equipped with her knowledge & longtime passion for coding. Clare pursued Folio after seeing the lack of a social aspect attached to the online book shopping experience itself. In this age of Book-stagram and various book reviews on YouTube, Folio functions as a centralized book community, where customers enjoy a personalized experience based on their interests & previous reads. Now thriving as an amazing book society & online bookstore, follow along as Folio expands into various ventures to widen its social reach, such as their blog Between The Fold.www.foliobookshop.com@foliobookshop

#NohemieandCo sits down with Russell, Founder of Lily CBD, a small-batch business based out of Brooklyn. With the need for an effective medicinal product, Russell draws from his personal experience with his mother's health issues to pursue this natural health venture. Listen in to find out how Russell navigates the oversaturated CBD business, counters doubts, and tackles questions approaching the topic of cannabis and its negative connotations, along with the medical research behind its effectivity.lilycbd.com@lilycbd

#NohemieandCo chats with Melanie, founder of the beverage company, Ghia. Ghia provides inviting non-alcoholic apéritifs made with healthy ingredients, and offers the same complexity in flavour as your favourite cocktail. Targeting those who do not consume alcohol or are simply health-conscious, Melanie wanted to fill the gap in the beverage market with this versatile product that suits anyone's preference. Beginning with the idea of being restaurant-exclusive, Ghia is a standalone beverage store in its own right. As someone who wants to be remembered for bringing people together, Melanie conceived Ghia with this same sentiment in mind as a drink for your social gatherings, inclusive for everyone.Ghia@drinkghiaGhia | LinkedIn 

#NohemieandCo sits with Asia Grant, Co-Founder of Redoux, as she speaks on running a business with her best friend, and transitioning from marketing to entrepreneurship. Diving into skincare, Asia is focused on turning banal objects like soap into a personable and unique experience, by introducing culture-inspired scents. Starting & running a business throughout COVID, see how Asia and her Co-Founder tackled funding & marketing to help Redoux make a lasting impact.redoux.nyc@redouxnyc

#NohemieandCo talks with Samuel Bertram, Co-Founder of Willo, a direct-to-consumer produce farm that functions entirely with modern farming technology. Willo personalizes the experience of harvesting healthy greens your way, where you can choose what you grow and it will arrive at your door.Using his Mechanical Engineering degree and genuine interest in business, Samuel explains how this technological process is the most sustainable & cleanest way to handle the future of farming everywhere.See more of Willo:Willo.farm@willo_farm

#NohemieandCo sits down with Denetrias Charlemagne for Episode 2, the Co-Founder of Avec Drinks. Going from working in marketing to entrepreneurship, Denetrias made her mark in the food & beverage industry by offering a new type of mixer. Valuing the social aspect of bringing people together for drinks, Denetrias shows the process of releasing these all-natural, health-conscious carbonated drinks.See more of Avec Drinks!

#NohemieandCo kicks off Season 4 with Nathan Shantz, where we talk about all things money. We touch on the fundamentals of money, from the history of gold to modern-day cryptocurrency, and how you can leverage money to thrive from anywhere in the world. Tune in to understand how financial value works geographically and how it circulates in this day and age.See more of Nathan on LinkedIn!

#LetsTalk Season 3's final episode presents Yesfolk Tonics, where we chat with the founders and husband and wife duo Adam Elabd & Yiyi Mendoza on their New York-based beverage company. As we chat, Adam & Yiyi care for their newborn baby and actively show how they balance running their amazing, family-led small business with Yiyi's brothers while embracing their new family life! Listen in on their story of how they started the company, what decisions they make to maintain their business especially during Covid, and how they came up with such impactful branding. @yesfolk yesfolktonics.com

#LetsTalkPodcast features @peakandvalleyco Founder, Nadine Joseph, for this week's episode! She gives us a deep dive into the natural and lifestyle benefits from her herbal supplement brand, targeting those (like us) who juggle multiple things at once and are constantly in the hustle! Nadine emphasizes why self care and slowing down are key aspects of what our generation needs during this time for the sake of our mental health and immune system, and how natural herbal supplements support your journey in doing so. Check out her brand for a refreshing take on the benefits of natural products, in comparison to the saturated market of medicinal supplements! @peakandvalleyco peakandvalley.co

Beautéboard Co-Founder Natalie Tuffuoh speaks with #LetsTalk about how this amazing platform aims to help ease the beauty journey for its audience! This wonderful brand aims to give people an in-depth look at every beauty/self care product in order to help you make the right choice for you + your skin. Natalie in turn shares her own self love journey as well and how it influenced her to create this amazing business that fills the informational gap in the market and eases the beauty and self love journey for others, providing the kind of support she dreamt of for herself! @beautéboardbeautéboard.com

#LetsTalk chats with Jenieka Dixon, a motivated and inspiring hustler who functions primarily within the social media space! This amazing femmepreneur tells all about how she manages her 9-5 while working on her side hustles and her secrets to how she does it all. Working within the affiliate marketing space, Jenieka uses her position towards empowering women of color in all aspects and what diversity should really mean when it comes to businesses dedicating themselves to its concept. Check out Jenieka's Instagram to keep up with her multiple avenues of business and as a source of inspo for your own journey! @jeniekasdixon

Happy 2021! #LetsTalk powers through the new year with another episode, tackling the discussion of workplace culture with Mike Procee, Co-Founder of Cratic.ai! This modern digital product serves as an online toolkit targeted towards employees looking to increase their team dynamic and communication. Cratic achieves this by creating an open dialogue within a workplace, through individual weekly surveys followed by team huddles for discussing the surveys' top answers and important topics! Over the weeks, the insights reveal where the work culture and team dynamic can improve. Mike touches more on how he joined the Cratic team, how his educational background in Engineering + Business Administration applies to his current practices, and how his job in corporate helped him gain great perspective on the modern work culture. We also chat about the importance of the relationships between people in the workspace, and within entrepreneurship in general! Check out their website to see more of Cratic. W: Cratic.ai LinkedIn: Cratic Ai

#LetsTalk chats with Founder of Lark, Michelle Donnelly, whose brand is making waves on social media in the Toronto scene. This environmentally-conscious practice uses the Milkman model - Lark delivers spring water in glass bottles to your home address in the GTA and picks up the bottles afterwards for reusability. This brand offers different flavours of water for you to choose from, making it more appealing in its variety of healthy products. Michelle also shares with us the quick pivots her brand has had to endure as they opened just two days prior to COVID lockdown! Support this amazing sustainable product here: Instagram: @lark_dff Website: larkdff.com

This week features Cathy Tang, founder of the incredibly successful Toronto-based athleisure brand Saya The Label! Cathy gives us insight on her journey towards establishing her brand primarily on Instagram, really taking over the Toronto scene, and how she places emphasis on growing the brand name locally through relationships as well as word of mouth.Cathy also shared with us how her previous retail experiences with big name brands led to her passion in ensuring a safe, genuine and honest process for the production of staple clothing that will last a lifetime! Check out this gem of a brand here: @sayathelabel sayathelabel.com

For this episode, #LetsTalk features Éva Goicochea, the NY-based founder of sexual wellness brand Maude! Being one of the few to raise over $1 million in venture capital fund for a brand within an industry that's incredibly difficult to raise money for, Éva tells us about how she created Maude with key team members, and how she intends to grow it in the future. She also elaborates on why she chose to ensure her marketing catered to a broad audience rather than a targeted demographic and how it works in her favor. Outside of her incredible entrepreneurial successes, Éva shares with us her balanced lifestyle with her life partner, as well as her passionate love for puppies and all things animals! Check out her amazing progress with Maude along with her other ventures. getmaude.comevagoicochea.com

Lohn founders, Katerina + Victoria, chat with #LetsTalk about building their business from the ground up. Both femmepreneurs share their beginnings within chemical engineering, and how their experiences after graduating led to exploring the beauty world from Canada to France! Following their journey collecting knowledge, Kat + Vic elaborate on starting Lohn in the digital space from scratch, along with carefully choosing what goes into each of their candles and scents. They also share the importance of speed over perfection, along with trial and error, in the world of entrepreneurship. See more of them here: @lohnofficial shoplohn.com

#LetsTalk sits with Lindsay Wynn, founder of Momotaro Apotheca, to talk about their business serving products focused on improving women's sexual health. Learning to unpack this taboo topic as a regular health conversation, Lindsay elaborates on her own difficult journey in finding preventative products that improve her own sexual health thus getting into the business that is Momotaro Apotheca. She shares her future plans and expansions for Momotaro along with her small team, while instilling inspiration, authenticity and courage with her brand and her voice. See more of her work here: @lovemomotaro momotaroapotheca.com

For this episode, #LetsTalk converses with Khadidja Toure, founder of the vegan and cruelty-free brand, Kubra Kay Skincare. Khadidja tells us about her daily routine in pursuing her business and increasing her knowledge. In addition, she gives us insight behind her branding and its meaning - its Arabic origins referring to the female figure Khadidja Kubra, known for her strong business acumen and leadership, relating the brand back to Khadidja's own Muslim descent. Khadidja exemplifies her passion for her craft by carefully sharing her entrepreneurial practices, most notably her extensive knowledge on the significant ingredients she incorporates into her lovingly-made products! Check it out here: @kubrakayskincare www.kubrakayskincare.com

In this episode, #LetsTalk speaks with Luanne Ronquillo, founder of the successful Toronto-based ice cream brand, Ruru Baked!Luanne talks all things food, starting with her journey from school into culinary as a career, turning a low point into an opportunity & how she found comfort in creating ice cream during a difficult time. Luanne elaborates on investing in the tools and space needed to scale her business, as her audience rapidly grows. Regularly interacting with her following and incorporating their ideas, Luanne shares her clear vision for Ruru Baked. Check it out here: @rurubaked www.rurubaked.com

Curtis Ward chats with #LetsTalk about Nocro Men, the men's skincare product he co-founded for the digital market. He takes us through the creation of the business, what he does day to day to ensure he stays motivated and driven, and emanates his confidence in his leadership and vision. Showing his way of thinking, Curtis proves himself as inspirational and possesses a mentality that would be productive for all entrepreneurs to adopt - seeing the gap in industries and pursuing your ideas in filling them, gathering your resources to make it all work Check out his business here: www.nocromen.com

#LetsTalk chats with Taara Sajnani, the Founder of her own brand management services, overseeing young female talent + female entrepreneurs in the digital space. Taara takes us through her juggling of the 9-5 while building her consultancy services where she particularly aims to assist young femmepreneurs in knowing their voice on social media, reaching the right customers, and staying on brand throughout their growth. Along with tracking the social media trends, Taara talks about ways you can always stay on top of things within your craft!Website: sajnanibrandmanagement.com Instagram: @taarasajnani

#LetsTalk speaks with siblings and Co-Founders Alex + Robin Daprato about their incredible hotel in the making, Irth Landscape, located outside of the Toronto area. They give us a look into this family-founded business, their dynamics within a small-scale team, and they walk us through the ropes on how to start a hotel. Alex + Robin share their unique + beautiful vision for this project, embracing earth tone minimal design carefully implemented in the scenery, materials, and the overall business and brand. You can keep an eye out on this beautiful conception for a hotel on their website! irthlandscapehotel.com

#LetsTalk chats with Femi Odutola, the humble + articulate Founder for Bevel Plexus! This innovative online platform aims to facilitate the payment of international students' tuitions from their parents abroad. Its function is to ease this process - a contemporary issue - and make it incredibly friction-less and hassle-free. Stemming from his own experience as an immigrant, Femi elaborates on the importance of this platform, along with his journey beginning in engineering and moving into the fintech space! Check out more of this product at @bevelplexus.

#LetsTalk features Cait Khosla, Founder of Botany Box - an online plant delivery system! Cait shares all her knowledge as a marketing guru within the digital space, and how she turned her passion for houseplants into a functioning business. She touches on navigating the 9-5 world while building her hustle, and teaches us the ropes of nurturing your entrepreneurial ideas. Tune in to learn more about setting up your business for success in the digital realm!Check it out at: botanybox.co & @botanybox

#LetsTalk Podcast chats with Phoebe Kunitomi, Founder of Okko Co. undergarments - emphasizing on intention and making a statement through this business. Phoebe takes us through her journey of minimalism advocacy and how this lifestyle can be incorporated in our wares + lifestyle. Okko Co. is based on the theme of being intentional with your purchases of essentials rather than giving into impulsive purchasing. With this, Phoebe continuously proves how Okko Co. actively sets the new standard, promoting diversity and consideration of all skin tones, shapes and sizes! Website:www.loveokko.co Instagram: @okko.co

Based in Lisbon, Portugal, Francesco tells #LetsTalk about Lokals - the app functioning as a 'buddy system' for when you travel anywhere in the world, connecting you with someone who can tour you around based on your interests! Delving into the tech space, Francesco teaches us the ropes of getting started, his entrepreneurial journey along with lessons learned, and how to ensure your own app is also a success. Website: Lokals.app

#LetsTalk speaks with the Founder of @whatthefinances, Chantel Chapman, who also has a hand in many entrepreneurial and financial endeavors. Chantel digs deep into the world of money in an easily digestible way for modern audiences on a daily basis via Instagram. Helping us improve our relationship with our money, Chantel shows us how our personal experiences affect our financial management while giving us the right coping tools and practices to deal with ourselves and our money better! Instagram: @whatthefinances Website: www.whatthefinances.ca

#LetsTalk Podcast brings back this entrepreneurial pair from Season 2, Chris Peng and Jordan Masys, as they share their new product NEO. During this time of COVID, Chris + Jordan created this great tool for tracking variables that assist in minimizing your chances of contracting COVID by monitoring health outcomes + tracking them properly. In addition, Chris + Jordan help enlighten us on the business growth journey and how to successfully (and wisely) navigate your business ensuring you utilize your best resources. Check it out at: NEO

Co-Founder of Counter Culture, Tara Leigh Rose sits with #LetsTalk about running an agency that manages content creators + influencers' partnerships with brands. With a strong following of her own, Tara explains navigating the digital space in the surge of social media + how the agency naturally developed during the wave. With lessons learned, Tara shares all the rewards and challenges, keeping her inspired and humbled. Instagram: @taraleighrose Counter Culture: www.counterculture.agency

#LetsTalk Podcast chats with Ali Kriegsman - Co-Founder of Bulletin.co - on creating a digital marketplace promoting indie brands + matching them with wholesalers. With her own book coming out next year, this powerful business mogul shares her knowledge & wisdom with tips + tricks on her Instagram account. Ali shares with us about how Bulletin.co began, along with lessons learned for Bulletin.co's future and her own. For her Business 101 knowledge: @alikriegs Website: Bulletin.co

#LetsTalk Podcast starts 2020 with speaking to Yvonne Ben, the Founder of KScope – a platform highlighting African diaspora and talent within foods and fashion in Canada – and Digital Marketing Consultant Becky Umweni about tackling entrepreneurial challenges while navigating COVID-19. Along with emphasizing the importance of e-commerce now more than ever, Yvonne + Becky touch on business trends we should foresee, and how businesses should seek to strengthen their digital marketing strategy. See more of them here! Yvonne Ben: thekscope.co Becky Umweni: beumweni.com

#LetsTalkPodcast chats with the VP of Marketing & Operations, Kristina Breckon, from Consonant Skincare based in Toronto. Kristina tells us all about her joining Consonant in its infancy to getting it on the shelf! In the skincare industry, what Consonant focuses on is having well rounded, accessible products that really meets the needs of its users. With this, Kristina emphasizes the importance of always listening to the customers and users, fostering the company culture you and your team believe in, and making the most of every employment opportunity you have along the way.Visit their website: consonantskincare.com

#LetsTalk speaks with Lisa Young about her store The Common Good General located in beautiful Caledon. It is surrounded by beautiful greenery, filled with carefully curated items from kitchenware to deliciously and locally made ice cream, magazines, and bags made by local artists. Lisa shares with us the importance of supporting small businesses + locally made brands who promote creating with intentionality. She also shares her experiences as an entrepreneur + why it's so important as a community to support the locals!W: thecommongoodgeneral.comInstagram: @thecommongoodgeneral

In today's #LetsTalkPodcast episode, I speak with Morgan Lunn, Founder of Girl Gang Goodies, a Toronto-based company that makes delicious delivered-to-your-door cookies. Morgan's cookies are homemade and accessible through an online delivery service; her cookies have also appeared through catering in several events! Morgan shares with us her hopes of empowering Girl Gangs, how branding is the most powerful tool that helps set her products apart from others, and how she emphasizes comfortability and realness with her audience.Grab your Girl Gang cookies at: www.girlganggoodies.ca

From Taipei, Taiwan, Studio 1 Labs co-founder Olivia Lin chats on #LetsTalkPodcast about her journey in pursuing accessible human-centered technology that can be integrated easily into daily life. Olivia shares about her patented fabric sensor technology bedsheets that can actively monitor + inform people's health outcomes to better identify ways of improving their personalized care. She tells us all about her integration into the tech world and how she made this grand + innovative idea come to life.W: studio1labs.com

In this episode of #LetsTalkPodcast, I chat with Christie Pinese about her lifestyle store, Rose City Goods. Located in Toronto, this beautiful space houses products that are thoughtfully made and designed by female entrepreneurs and Canadian-based artisans and designers. Christie shares how she runs her retail shop while maintaining resilience as an entrepreneur.W: rosecitygoods.com

In this episode, I am in Taipei (Taiwan) chatting with Chris Peng and Jordan Masys, co-founders of Kiipo. This is a sustainable impact social enterprise known for creating the first ambulance system in Ethiopia. Kiipo has since launched multiple sustainable impact projects, including PhysioQ, a software platform for medical researchers. It is truly humbling to hear about Chris and Jordan’s learning curve as entrepreneurs, and how it is continuously influencing their work. W: www.kiipo.com

For today’s #LetsTalkPodcast series, I am so excited to chat with Joshua and Amar, who are the founders of brüst (@brustbevco) which is a great protein and cold brew beverage. brüst has 20g of new Zealand grass-fed and cold brew coffee and tastes amazing! It is really great to hear their story because this beverage idea came from Josh and Ammar’s personal journey as athletes juggling a busy schedule, so the protein and coffee combo was a no brainer!Where to get your brüst beverage: www.brustbeverages.com

Jag Malhotra (@turbangentleman) is the vice president of Mansha Financial, a company that makes an incredible impact by providing financial literacy workshops to youth and young adults. Jag speaks on his journey and pivot into finance, as well as the importance of taking a holistic approach with clients. To learn how you can help #AddAnotherZero to the number of lives impacted by financial literacy visit TMI19.com.W: https://www.manshafinancial.com

For today’s #LetsTalkPodcast series, I’m talking to two young Torontonians, making fashionable and practical clothing for all shapes and sizes, while empowering artisans in the developing world. I chatted with Eva and Chelsea about their pursuit in fashion, the ropes of equitable international collaboration and partnerships, and fair trade.

In today’s interview, I chatted with Sagal, founder of Muse Avenue magazine. This is a digital magazine that aims to showcase modest dressing targeting western muslim women, who lack representation in mainstream media. Sagal is a business studies graduate, juggling the 9-to-5 with building the Muse Avenue vision in the Toronto area. In this episode, we chat about large corporate brands failing to see a market opportunity among some of its biggest market consumers, young muslim western women, and Muse Avenue aims to help these brands properly reach this demographic. For full podcast interview, read blog post: www.nohemie.co

In this interview, I spoke to Marie, founder of Sampler which is a Canadian-based company that aims to use technology and rigorous data to help brands get product samples into the hands of the right consumers. This way, businesses maximize on their returns for investments while monitoring consumers behaviours to the point of purchase. Marie is a very kind and authentic soul, and gives us great insight on adapting a rapidly shifting (consumers) market.Check out: www.sampler.io

I chatted with Annabelle while in Paris, France, about her journey as a human-centered designer with her own multidisciplinary firm. We talk about going from practicing architecture in Barcelona, to leading a team of four, and practicing empathy to best meet the needs of the client.For full podcast interview, read blog post: www.nohemie.co

For this episode, I chatted with Greenhouse Juice co-founder Hana James on her start in the wellness entrepreneurial space, to now operating a cold-pressed juice company taking over the greater Toronto area. We chat with Hana about the importance of shifting how we view plant-based consumed products, having a balanced wellness lifestyle, and building grits as an entrepreneur when the future seems very uncertain.For full podcast interview, read blog post: www.nohemie.coGreenhouse Juice Co. : greenhouse.ca / @greenhousejuice

For today's #LetsTalk podcast episode, we're chatting with Nathan who’s company just raised $26 millIion in medical cannabis investing & going public on the Canadian stock exchange later this year. Tune in to hear us talk about leaving the 9 to 5 world to take risks as an entrepreneur in a disruptive & controversial industry, recognizing the need for (gender + racial) representation in the investing world, and avoiding burnout as a hustler. Full blog post: www.nohemie.co#NohemieCo #LetsTalk #podcast #Cannabis

Today on Lets Talk, we chat with Claire Nouy, cofounder of a Parisian holistic boutique and cold pressed juice space, Atelier Nubio. We chat with Claire about when its right to leave the 9 to 5 corporate world, to pursue your own enterprise, while being a mom, and creating an open space for dialogue and knowledge exchange among women in Paris to feel heard and inspired. Claire is really a wise hustler, with a lot of passion and clear vision for what she is pursuing, as she leaves a mark in this world, starting with the Atelier Nubio concept store. For more on this interview, visit: www.nohemie.coClaire Nouy: https://www.ateliernubio.fr/

Last month, I was in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to attend a business conference, and while taking some down time at a beautiful coffeeshop in the design district of the city, I met Najah, a beautiful young women who is finishing her final year as an architecture student, diving into the world of Abaya designs. Besides her flawless outer beauty, Najah is truly kind hearted and her creative ability to merge physical building designs, with middle eastern abayas wear, is truly a ‘thinking outside of the box’ approach. I was truly excited to interview Najah, and learn more about the incorporation of merging what seems like two different types of designs, into one.

While in San Diego, I got the chance to interview Tiff for my #LetsTalk podcast series. Tiff is the co-founder of Witty Rentals , a modern furniture rental company lead by her + Chelsea. This is a really cool story. Both founders are young full time moms with a baby crib set up in their beautiful warehouse/office; running a four years in the making business that started out of a garage with both of them not having any formal training linked to their current line of work, impressive right? Listen to the full interview as we discuss the juggle between leaping from creativity to business, carving a niche for your business in an unconventional way, & structuring your company in a way that gives you flexibility to prioritize family time (#Goals). Witty Rentals: http://www.wittyrentals.com/ Nohémie: www.nohemie.co