Getting real

 At the recent launch of the One Red Lipstick book which shares the stories of 24 entrepreneurial women from across North America, we asked some of the authors to share their message from the book.

Up first was fashion icon Linda Lundstrom, who started off by saying her message was that “shit happens.”  And she should know as after 26 years of a successful fashion design business, the bank called in her loan and she had to declare bankruptcy.  But she bounced back and has started over.

As did Nadja Piatka who in debt and recently divorced, decided since no one would hire her, that she’d hire herself.  She started off by baking and selling her muffins to the local coffee shops. 

Fast forward to today and she has a multi-million business and her muffins are sold in McDonalds, Subway and other food chains.   

Her message was that it’s not so much that you fall down, it’s how you get up after the fall that matters.

For Che Marville the key was to recognize our vulnerabilities and to share with one another because there was strength when we walked the journey together hand in hand.   She also spoke of the power of listening to your intuition, just as her mother did when Che, as a child was deathly sick, and her mother insisted that she be transported back to Canada, even though the authorities and doctors were reluctant to do so. 

And for Anastasia Valentine who became a teen mother at 15, it was important not to let other people define you.  To set the bar and hold your head high helped her navigate her early parenthood and she went on to become the CEO of a successful marketing business, when she could have so easily allowed the stigma of being a teen parent hold her back.

While the stories of these four women were dramatically different, as are the others  in the book, the one common thread is one of resilience. 

All of the women in the book faced some obstacle in their lives that they had to overcome, accept and move on from – and they did so with tenacity and fortitude, forging on to carve a life of success on their own terms.

It wasn’t a competition as to who had it worse, it was more that the women were willing to share, to be open about the trials as well as the triumphs in their lives and it gave those listening hope and inspiration, something we all need.

The documentary One Red Lipstick will be coming out in May, and it bound to bring even more glimpses into the lives of real women.  Real lives, real challenges and real victories.

One red lipstick… a bold move by a young woman

Recently I wrote a blog for Huffington Post about how I wouldn’t want to be a twenty-something today.  It generated a great deal of discussion and interest, as people pitched in on what they thought.

So my hope is that they will be equally interested and engaged in what one twenty-something is actually doing to inspire her peers.  Spenser Chapple has decided to track, interview and film successful women entrepreneurs so she can share their stories, their advice and provide inspiration to other women – of all ages.

Growing up her mother would say “get up, put on your lipstick and get on with your day, no matter what it brings.” And plenty has happened to this young woman in the past five years when a personal tragedy struck the family. 

Suddenly at seventeen, she found herself taking care of her younger brother, just four, while her mother had to take care of her father.   She grew up fast.  She had to.  Today, her father is still at home, requiring twenty-four hour care by the family.

Like many young women of her age, she is looking at her future and wondering what next?  Through One Red Lipstick, Spenser is exploring what makes for success. How other women have designed successful lives for themselves?  She will be talking to women entrepreneurs from across North America.  And it's not the sugar-coated version that she wants, because we all know success doesn't come that way, well rarely.

Through a book, documentary and website, she will be sharing what she finds out as she embarks on this exciting project.   To get started, she’s launching a kickstarter campaign.  Check it out and get involved - http://bit.ly/oneredlipstick    

Armed with her red lipstick, she’s taking her mother’s advice and stepping boldly into her future, and I for one congratulate her on her proactive stance.  I encourage you to get behind her and this exciting venture.

On camera challenges

This week I took part in a photo shoot.  Everyone else was fooling around, hamming it up, but somehow my British DNA always holds me back.  Why?

Part of it of course is I don’t like getting my photo taken – too many double chins, too many extra pounds and frankly I have rarely had a photo that I have liked.  Except maybe the one I have been using for the past ten years, but as friends have been saying, “time to change it, Anne.”

For one my hair is now au naturel and second, I have new glasses.  Well, actually several pairs of new glasses – they’ve become my signature – much to Wendy Buchanan’s joy.  I am like a walking ad for her and her company Perceptions Eyewear.

But back to the photo-taking.  There is actually quite the story to the photo I have been clinging on to.  The day it was taken, I was also speaking at Ryerson University.  It was International Women’s Day and I spoke on a panel that was asked to speak on Work-Life Balance. (Don’t laugh)  As my husband said at the time, that will take you all of five minutes, you’ve never had it.

So I leave this speaking gig, armed with a beautiful bouquet, for my photo shoot.  Now if any of you have ever had your photo done by Yanka, you will know it is an experience.  First there’s the wine  - not a bad idea – then she does your make up and has you chanting how beautiful you are.  Now this is where the Brit in me kicks in again. Really??

It was a long shoot, and in the chosen photo, I am not even wearing my clothes – Yanka had me in one of her jackets. She wanted me to look more corporate  (I had arrived in a purple jacket.)  I loved the end result which is why I have kept that photo all these years.

But the story doesn’t end there.  On my way home – on the Go train – I sit opposite this young couple.  Now you have to picture this, I am made-up to the nines, and carrying this beautiful bouquet of flowers.  So the young woman leans over and asks me “Who are you?”

I guess I looked like someone famous or something.  Although if she’d thought that one through, she would have realized I wouldn’t have been travelling on the train, if I was that famous.  We had a lovely chat all the way to Oakville, when I gracefully embarked.

Bottom line – here’s the new photo.  What do you think?  It was a painful process (for me) but I think we got there.