this podcast is powered by females who sat hustle. Yeah yeah. Listen in with your host terry and Sarah the co founders of females whose side hustle a community to support, educate and empower those who hustle and this is save her seat a podcast for females who are starting grinding and thriving in business life and all of the shin in between. This is your digital seat at the table with like minded motivated females talking all things real and rob both personal and professional. So go ahead and save your seat. Well of course. Hello Hello, welcome back to save her seat. It is your host Sarah with an H terry with one arm and I and I'm going to pause you there. I have a story about that why Justin my husband was messaging me about Sarah because Sarah needs something to do with her car and my husband before being a firefighter was a certified mechanic so he can help and he wrote S. A.

R. A. And I didn't even I can't even be mad at him. He's saving you lots of money. And I wrote back it's Sarah with one H. And he's like oh my God he's like I've listened to every podcast I know that I'm sorry. So I yeah he it was like back back story when I was getting so I was getting my car serviced for my snow tires to be put on and I hate dealing with anything with my mother Effin car because I just feel like people are like oh yeah yeah like token girl who doesn't know anything. Yeah that's like, yeah, charge dropped the ass and I am like not having it. So when they call and they're like, oh, your car actually needs back brake pads and rotors, whatever. I'm like, yeah, can I call you back? And then I literally just called Justin, I didn't even call you. I'm like going right to the source. I'm just $610 plus tax for my whatever, whatever be installed. He's absolutely not. And I get okay, we're business owners.

We get like, I get that things cost money and I get that. It's, I get it. But it is, it's known and it's, it's wrong. And truthfully if you continue your story, they did something to your car that you didn't ask them to do and you had to pay for it. So it's just like that annoying. Nothing annoys me more. It's like the rage I feel in my body after dealing with something with my car. Like that makes me so mad. But I feel like there should be female owned. If there was last time I got my oil change, it was by a female and I was not pressured and do you need this new failed or you need this for a while Like it's going to be $8000 billion to get your sucking oil change. I want to go into like an all girl auto shop. How wicked would that be? That'd be amazing. Someone showed out. We would show you out, we would sing it from the rooftops on top of that. How are you terry? Just had a little bit of a moment. Okay guys, off air, Off air, we say that we're not live on air, but off the non off the mic, the mic there she goes, I took a drink of water because you know that's what professionals do before they start recording and the water went down my wrong hole.

I tried to stop it, couldn't coughed it up backwards through my nose and out my nose. I was like watching it all happen and unfold in front of me and I'm like what just happened to that? And then I'm like, are you okay because I thought you were laughing but then I thought I was like, oh that probably hurt and then you get up and I'm like that's coming out of your nose, that's coming out of your like it was intense, it's like you know that feeling when you get water like you jump in the pool and don't plug your nose or blow out it goes in your nose and then the back of your throat. Mine was the opposite is that my new talent God it hurts so bad and my throat so like overly juicy right now. Anyways if you are listening to us for the very first time that three minutes intro, I shouldn't say isn't normal because it pretty is normal, but thank you for being here, thank you for listening to save her seat podcast. It is powered by female suicide hustle, which is our community of entrepreneurs, business owners side hustlers, dreamers who are starting grinding or thriving in business and we love connecting and hear what our community wants to hear, so always feel free to reach out.

Um we've grown our community very organically over the past three years, three years going on four, no, three returning four, no going on three, we're turning three like 2019 to 2020 2020 to 21 but we're turning four, no, we're turning three, we are, we're turning three time is hard for us always, it doesn't matter what medium of time, all things, but we have a really great episode, oh my God, to share with you were actually breaking it up into a two parter, three parts because it's that good. It was just yeah, a lot of really great information on influencer, influencer marketing, working with brands and we want to make sure that yeah, we don't speed through anything, so we want to yeah, I wanted to be like digestible and I know are avid listeners, it doesn't matter how long our episodes are when, you know, it's good and you know that all the love and all the information is going to be there for you, you can break it up as many times as you want.

I do that a lot with my podcast if it's over an hour and I'm only doing like a 45 minute walk, I finished the rest another day, but this information about the influencer space and even her just sharing her story, her backstory is awesome. Like I really did a few light bulb moments for me and a lot of things that I am realizing that I did that need to be normalized against, like it's not the straight and narrow um sort of way that society like projects that you need to live your life and gain employment, gain employment, like you need to hear her story so good. So it is with the founder of co founder, founder of shine talent group, previously shine influencers, so we will get into her intro, but first we have our classic, I want to say um not classic questions that's in our episode, classic intro with just terry and I sharing updates a few segments, so bear with us, if this is your first time tuning in, we are happy to have you here returning listeners, you know the drill.

Um it is december now with this episode coming out, it is oh yeah, I was like, it is, it is, I just were doing this usually record the Tuesday, our episodes of the week of our intros, the week of um as we Bachar episodes that I was like advent calendars because I've been telling myself every night for the last couple of nights, like I need to leave a sticky note, I need to do something because I'll just wake up on december 1st and totally forget the advent calendars. Not that it's a big deal, but I don't know the kids look forward to it. I like it. I think they're fun. Of course. I used to home make them, wow. Yeah, I used to do like different little things and different wrapping in a big box. Yeah, I had a lot of energy back in the day but it's actually harder and I only used to do it for Evan obviously and then when Olivia came along when she was a baby, baby, it didn't really matter. Evan got everything anyways, but last year I did it and it was a little bit more difficult to like find things and share. And so this year I bought them love it.

You know, change up. Speaking of energy. I feel very low energy. Oh, I think it's honestly the weather affects me a lot and the cold, like I can't do it. I probably complain about it every episode but I literally cannot handle. I woke up this morning, it was like pouring down snow. I don't think pouring down snow is the right term. How would you describe snow that's falling a lot. I would describe it as snow, heavy snowfall, heavy snowfall, heavy snowfall. We can all support him on weather. But yeah, I just, I can't do the snow, the slushy snow and I feel, yeah, I just feel tired. I need like a midday nap, but I haven't been bothered by the snow yet. Wow, must be nice. I think it's bothering because I'm moving and when this comes out I will have my keys to my new place. So it's just like the thought of having to move in this very cramping my style. Yeah, I, I agree with that. There's no, there's no fun part in moving in that slush and it's so funny cause I do social media for a real estate agent.

And so I put out these tips on her page and it's like tips for moving in the winter. Taking a mental note here. But yes, that is my life update. I am in my new place. So follow along on my personal if you are interested. Of course no, no pressure if you are interested in my like uh moving in the winter. No, my going to document my house set up into core love. Yeah, of course. I've already been thinking of like the reels. It's like, can we skip to the good part? And then it's like all my furnitures in there. But I don't know what that's going to be conspirators. Oh um one of our girls Kourtney at west. Shut up court. She posted about manifesting and finally getting this couch that she wanted and I was like, dude buying furniture is an olympic sport right now. It is so hard to, you know, I feel like I'm on standby because I have a truck and if you are trying to couch we gotta go, we gotta go start the car, I gotta go, I think the only other big thing is I went home this weekend and had like a celebration for my sister's wedding anniversary and so we haven't, I hadn't got to celebrate obviously in their wedding, traditional wedding fashion, we did a covid wedding for them and honestly like it worked out like it was beautiful, it was exactly probably how they would have wanted, it's like they wanted to have a big wedding but it gets to the point where it's like how do you, when does it end for guest list and things like how do you cut it off?

And so it kind of just, I want to say it worked out for them because they're very much just about like them and their love and it was so beautiful and then they got to go on this gorgeous honeymoon, so happy but also envious of God, so, and then my sister, little lucky b goes, comes home from vacation and entered into like United Way fund raisers at work. She won the grand prize of like a lump sum of money and two weeks paid vacation, what are you talking about to actually or maybe it was one extra week but she won like an extra week or two of paid vacation. Oh my God, that's amazing. I'm like, dude, you need to go buy a lottery ticket right now. My gosh, Does she ever, Oh my God, that's so exciting. Oh, your sister, She's so cute. I know she is, if anyone deserves it and she is happy. Like always supportive, happy positive. Don't say she's always happy because that's just not realistic. But she truly is always positive and like glass half full and just yeah, shadow, Nicole, shadow, Nicole and I have to give another shout out to one of her bestie stuff who is an avid say pursuit listener.

I know. So we were at the anniversary party and stuff was just telling me all about how much she loves listening and following along and like I'm blushing. Her parents are very close to my parents and my dad and her dad have been friends for like 50/50 years. They were best friends in grade two. It's not so cute. And so yeah, we've been close growing up with staff and my mom, she was just saying something about, oh, Sarah is doing this and she's like, well do you talk to, they're just like, oh, I fall along on the podcast and I'm like, I love that because I really think that we've worked really hard on our show to share more. Yeah, 100%. Like that's been something I've wanted to do is share a little more insight into what we also do behind the scenes, behind the scenes, behind the scenes, behind the scenes. So yeah, shoutout staff loves you and your cute baby. I love cute babies because like all the babies were so freaking cute. Oh, people brought their families because people came in different times. Yeah, I love that. And so they could come kind of like in their groups. Yeah, it was great. So everyone felt comfortable and yeah.

Oh my God, cute. Well that was a lovely update. I know. I don't really have much except for mental note advent calendar. I choked on my water and I'm a grown human and I think that's, I think there was something else but I can't remember like for you that you've talked to me about and I was like for the post for the podcast. Like our conversations are so crazy. I did give a little bit of a teaser, which I normally don't about my me mood. I've been, it's burning a hole in my pocket. Is that the right thing? Tell me? Yeah. Yeah. Give it to us. But it's not like money regardless. Yes. When something's like you're wanting to, you just get something you already wanted to spend it. I'm going to always be like, your money is burning a hole in your pocket. Yeah. Okay. Are you ready? I think this is the funniest, Okay. I need to hear, you know, because you say that and then I'm like, I know I know, but just picture you need to okay, be a terry for a second and visualize what I'm saying, okay because me and you do this all the damn time.

Okay, so I should give a little shout out to the person, so it's Steph Mick can so at Steph underscore M C. C A what I do on the calculator app is between me and God, so, so true. It's vigorously like punch the numbers in and then we're like, wait and then we're like, what? That doesn't make any sense. We're like, we're going to make $60,000 million in a year and we're like, yeah, we did that wrong. I am proud that now when I go to calculate percentage off, I don't do, like I say, it's like 100 this is going to be, you could do this in my head now, but like I say it's 100 and something. 20% off. Obviously I would know it's 80. But if it's other numbers, I'm just saying doing like times by 0.85 point to get the total instead of having to do with that in mind set, that's my life hack. I just think like when it comes to business and you start to price yourself and you just really, I don't know, I just feel like we go right to the calculator app and we like do a thing and then I don't know.

There's just some thing about that, isn't it so funny to when you were in high school and they're like, it's not like you're going to have a calculator everywhere you go. Like my job. Yeah, we do. Okay. So mine is by no chill, which I resonate with and it's like, can we please get rid of cooking websites where you have to get through the entire effing life story before you get to the recipe. And I have always felt this. So that's why when I had my dumped and hungry blog, which I have let go, you have, I didn't, I didn't renew it. I have the domain that I wasn't sure. I was going back and forth and I was like, I'm, I haven't like updated it in a while. Like I do a lot of my recipes on my instagram and I really like having, I have the domain still so I can always redo it. But I was like, I don't really want to pay 3 50 around 3 50. It was a year to renew it right now. When I'm putting all, I don't want to say, I'm putting all my eggs, I'm putting all my eggs in fresh just for like I have that outlet of the blog there.

So I don't feel like I'm missing anything and I will always be dumped in Hungary. But yes, I feel that, that you have to scroll through why you love this frickin eggplant so much before you can just tell me how to make that plant part. I know I get it like I know that they make like they have affiliate links to buy this at trader joe's or whole short and sweet baby My attention span. I jump to recipe jump to jump to recipe. Jump to recipe is new. What do you mean? Like years ago there was not a jump to recipe. You were scrolling. You were scrolling. That's very valid. But I think that that's very funny. Just like save your breath, save your breath. Put out another recipe instead of telling me about behind the scenes of this night plan. Okay. 1 800 hotline nine. Okay. So this question. Well yeah, comments last question says you always seem to have so much on the go any resources or tools you swear by to stay organized the notes.

Yeah, I was really trying to think. I'm like, okay, what is it like how do I stay organized? And between us being like co founders, how that works with us is the notes up 100% terrible, Easy accessible all the time. Um, you know, talk to text even because sometimes when I'm editing the podcast, I just talked to text and blow out what we want on social or whichever. And yeah, it's a great little tool. Yeah. And I, we are pen to paper. People pen to paper. People say that 10 times. And so I think it's the most natural for me to be like okay I gotta write this down um I do like yeah writing out notes physically on pen and paper. But to work with someone notes up definitely is where it's at. For me we've tried asana and things like that but it just for our size I think maybe for a larger team that would absolutely work. I totally agree. But for us being a party of two it works well I think so.

Notes app and then like google docs like the drive is yeah it really has not that it takes anything to get used to it. But I wasn't it wasn't my first thought for a long time to plot things in the drive so I can say to Sarah okay find it here. I would wait for you to ask and then I'd send it by email or would be an attachment like and now it's now it's like it's in the drive, in the drive folder and I like that for accessibility to be wherever I am if I have my phone I can get to whatever we have. So it's really helpful to have the google drive as well. I will say one thing though when you talk about the pen to paper people I thought that for a long time because I thought well everyone else is doing these cool new things and digital right? Digital and I need to be doing that because that's what you need to be doing and it's not what works for me. So we even like I have a whiteboard in my office and you should see it. It's got, it's like color coded. It's got its things down. I can easily wipe things off. I can take a picture of it send to sarah and so I really do.

I have lately embraced. I am a pen to paper person and I can still make that work and I love, I always have a notebook and pen with me and that's sometimes just you know, it's cathartic cathartic. I don't know what that means. What does that mean? I forget just came out of my mouth. I know what you're trying to say that it's the therapeutic. Okay. Is it? I feel that okay for me. It is. Yeah, that's what I'm going with and yeah, I think so. Notes up the drive and then obviously calendar, like we released our google calendar again just working between us and our schedules. Those are the three things that I need to stay organized. I think at the end of the day, this question we, we have got this before and there's so many tools out there. Like there's so many tools. It depends on you. Yeah, I understand that people are looking for some like secret sauce or awesome thing to you got to find it on your own.

You got to put in the work deep down what you love what you love to use, what are you on the most, like maybe you're on your laptop, like there's a one client that I have that I was texting her for quite some time and she's like, is there any way that we can change this communication to WhatsApp because I have what's up on my computer, so I don't have my phone with me a lot, but if you need me, I want you to do whats app. So it pops up on my computer, I'm like perfect, like that makes total sense to me and so and WhatsApp isn't something that I use really at all. So you do for her because it works for her. So I just think that you just have to be comfortable with what you love and find find something in that round. That's fantastic. Okay, so into our episode, like we said, we have had a ton of people and if you have been following along at female suicide hustle and safer seat, we have been asking some questions into our stories about what our community wants from us. We have a lot of things rolling out into 2022 that were so excited about and they are going to touch on influencer marketing because it is such a hot topic within our niche, in our community.

So questions went out about, you know, are you a brand and you're wanting to work with influencers or are you an influencer or a want to be influencer that wants to work with brands, like what side of the coin are you on and we touch on that in this episode was jess and so she gives a lot of really great information on how to get started, myth busting, you know, things that you don't need and you do need to focus on. So a little intro to her, she was beyond lovely and like we said, she has a really cool story about how she has networked her way into different roles and positions and she said something that was just yeah, tons of light bulb moments for us and ah ha moments that she's like, I don't want to be one of 1000 applicants, I want to be one of one Yeah, and that really shifted, wow, like that's how people should be approaching it, I agree, it's also on the other side, like why do I want to work for this company?

So it just, it made me think about so many different things in terms of people who are job searching and have a passion and maybe want to be even an entrepreneur, but don't want to do it solo, they want to work with another entrepreneur, how to pitch yourself for a role, So I think there's lots of takeaways, even if you're not in that influence our creator space, it's a little bit about jess and her co founder Emily, they are the co founders of the multifaceted influencer and Pr agency shine, which she goes and talks about the kind of how they named it and I just love that part as well. So after launching Shine PR in 2015, the team quickly saw the opportunity to fill a void in the influencer landscape. In november 2015. Shine influencers were born built to serve as a resource for brands and marketing. PR agencies with one on one talent management and campaign strategy consulting and Sarah please list off some of the people that they represent, oh the birds, papaya, Alicia McCarville, who we want on the podcast, we would love to chat with on the podcast bailey who we've had on the podcast, Like so many great, I want to say positive, real, real influencer ends Yes, it are not the influencers don't want to say about the influences that you think of, but I feel like influencer marketing, marketing and influencer space gets that bit of a bad rap, sometimes 100% we talk about that and they are putting such a positive breath of fresh air into the universe of this world.

And I just think that it also gives a lot of person new perspective to people, the amount of work that goes into being in these roles, People just think, oh wow, wouldn't it be nice to just post on instagram and make money, make money, it's like you're working, you're doing so many things back and forth behind the scenes. So I think it's just a great yeah, great way to shift maybe what you thought you knew about this industry to learn a little more. The one question that I love, we asked her was what is the biggest misconception? And she talked about the biggest misconception also being the influencers biggest strength. Oh yes, and it was so good. So I am not giving that away because you need to listen. Yeah, so you'll have to listen and just remember again, we are doing a part one, part two. So tune in next week for the second part of this amazing episode. So you can take it all in, get your pen and paper pen to paper people and start writing your notes and let's welcome jess to save receipts. Okay, quick pause to tell you about how obsessed Sarah and I are with our new athletic gear.

My venice joggers are my newest obsession. I'm getting compliments at the daycare drop off and in the grocery store. So I am telling you these are a must have they come in four different colors. I have the black, I'm about to get the other three colors. They're so amazing. And if you didn't know Athleta is a lifestyle performance brand on a mission to Ignite the limitless potential of all women and girls made for women by women which we love. Their versatile apparel is designed with inclusivity and sustainability at its core when you walk through their new Toronto location at the york dale shopping center, you will see different sized mannequins, like the vibe is just so fantastic in that store. You have to go if you can't go and you need to shop online, you can still use our code SHS 20 for 20% off, so you can use that in store or online again, that is S H S 20 for 20% off, so go enjoy some shopping and let's get back to the episode. So we are here with jess, honey Chin of shine influencers and many more.

They have their sister agency, Shine Pr her and her co founder, Emily are the founders of the Bad Con, a virtual community focused on all things body, confidence, body positivity and self love, which we actually didn't know until looking into you more, but it was initially the shine influencer side of you that we wanted to kind of dive into, so I'm so glad that we can kind of touch all things that you have created, but thank you so much for coming onto the pod, we're so excited to have introduced yourself, who you are in your own words and a bit about Shine, of course, I'm just, as you said, um I am from Melbourne Australia originally, but I'm currently in Toronto, it's like a part time in L. A. I don't know, I'm a mixed church these days. But yes, I'm one of the co founders alongside Emily, we have Shine influences is l our main baby, I'll say um Shine pr was our first baby.

Um and and we very quickly saw the need in Canada, this was seven years ago, so the need in Canada for someone to come in and really kind of earned the influence of space. So that's what, that's what we did and we love that and it's grown exponentially over the last seven years. And with that we saw we represent a lot of incredible people in the body contact. You do? Yes. Yeah, it's like, and it's such an incredible space and I think, you know, we talk a lot about, I was actually just reading today, there was an article that said, you know, nearly all of Canadians believe that facebook is detrimental to mental health. Yeah. And I was like, oh, that's so interesting because, you know, we work in a space where we represent people who it took about like try to break down the stigma of mental health, body confidence and all of these other things. So, you know, we look at it like, does it help, does it hinder and it's kind of this balancing act where you can kind of like curate your own experience and I think we have like, be aware of our own responsibility in that, you know, like, sure it can like if I followed only like a certain type of accounts, like what I feel great about myself, probably not, but the accounts that I follow, like they make me feel like so amazing and so normal and I think that's really cool.

So I think there's this other side to social media and we're seeing more and more of it where it's not like perfectly curated lives, it's getting much more raw. It's grittier. You're like, oh, you have a pile of laundry as well, like, okay, I'm not like, I'm not alone here, you know? Yeah, it's nice to see that. But through through those people who have been representing, um we saw another space open up in the body confidence area where we figured we can create it was originally going to be non virtual, right pal. Covid had other plans. So, so we turned it into a virtual event and we're so happy that we did because it was like a nine hour extravaganza about all things body confidence where we touched on age and parenting and relationships and disordered eating all of these things that kind of fall under this category.

And there were some, I guess I'm just like, there are heavy topics, like it was done in a really fun way and I think people have like an amazing day, but it's like, it's emotional. So there was something to be said, I think from doing it at home and kind of being in that like safety net, that comfort of your home very valid point, yep. Yeah, so, and and also like accessibility, it means like you can come no matter where you are in the world, you can be there. Um so that was really fun. So we did our first event, our first major event in february of 2021 this year and now we're in like wild planning mode for 2022. So yeah, coming, coming Well actually we may have a couple of little live elements to that one, A screen near you. It's so cool and true and I feel like you guys have influenced the influencer space with doing that. Well that is yeah, the whole premise of what I have seen in the work that you've done and I think it's so important and even you saying that they are heavy topics, but it seemed so normal because it's the things that people don't always talk about but in such a safe space and presented that way, it was normalizing those conversations with what we love to try and do and bring more females to the table around conversations so that they aren't those quote unquote taboo topics and you don't feel alone and you're trying to figure out life right?

Like that's so hard. It's hard trying to figure out what to do and when you have a community of people around you who make you feel better about the things that you're going through and less lonely and you can confide in like that's magic right there, Right? And there's something to be said from all, like experiencing something at the same time. It's all about like, you know the events based so well right there, it's like you feel that like, you know, I've worked in events for years and like when you have everyone in the room and that like heart pounding moment, like I owe it. I'm like, man, some of the most like love hate relationship with Yes. Hey, you hate it until the day. And then at the end of the day, like this is why I do this. I, you know your, your throbbing, we'll do it again. I know it's like when you're midway through your, like I'm never doing this again at the end. You're like, so the next one is say the date. So like everyone like it cuts five years off my life. No question.

Yeah. What is that worth it? So worth it. It is before we dive into like all things you and all things shine. We want to start with a little bit of an icebreaker. So are you an early bird or nighthawk. I will say I'm equally birth, but I'm an afternoon low. Yes. Yes. I feel the early morning and I'm a late night worker. I love to work at night, much to my team's dismay. I'm sure I love to work when it's quiet. So I think early morning, late night today right off. That's like I want to take a nap. That's your time to recharge. That's your that's okay. What is the first thing you do in the morning? Well I'm ashamed to say. I guess I'm not ashamed to say I check my phone immediately when I wake up. But right now I just got a new puppies. The first thing I do is I'm like I'm being working out for a midnight P. Yeah. What I'm doing first morning right now. But but otherwise I'm on my phone.

I'm like my family's all in Australia. So usually my first check is WhatsApp. We have like family WhatsApp channel. So usually my God, what did they do all day? And I have like a full day of updates from like, so that's usually the first one and then I'm like a email slack instagram base the the list list. A gamut. I love that. What is the last thing you do before bed? What is the last thing? That's a good question. What is the last thing I do? I guess maybe you're on p duty still right, you gotta do one more pee before bed. Actually I would say the last thing I'm doing right now out the dog plan is like he doesn't sleep in the bed but he does have a pre sleep bed snuggle. Right? The last thing I do is physically carry him from the bed to the crate where he left out this slow growl of I hate you. Why did you move me mommy? Why have you moved me from my slumber?

You chuck right now? That is the last thing I do. Like a physical move of the body, your last minute workout. Seriously. And are you more work from home or in the office? I got to say I love working from home. I love it so much. I didn't realize I went to my business partner's house the other day and as I was driving home with one of the other girls on our team, I said, I was like, I don't, I didn't realize how much I laid down during the day. It's like not really what you do at someone else's home. And I was like, I'm mind for like, I'm like up and down. I'm like, I have my laptop and I'm on the move always and then like just moving around the house, like different spots like my fiance, he's like, he's like, I come out, I never know where you're going to be here, could you be there? Like, it's like a secret. You just scenery Yes sir, I am. I love working from home. We are semi going back to the office in L. A. But we, instead of going back to a formal, traditional office, we rented a house, shine house.

Um which it's like work from home but not your own home. I divide. So we have this beautiful house. We will be like kind of working together there. So it's like a fun like Sudo. Yes. I guess a coworking space. Yeah. So yeah. So that's like, I love being at home. I really enjoy it and I get so much done. But I like, I miss my, the team is like, our team is the best. So like I'm like, could you come to, would you like to come to my house, lay down with me and I know you're going to have one of those like beds that are like all the kings like put together and it's just like this like sit wherever, like wherever or whatever. I like my dream. So good. What is one apple resource you cannot live without? Oh, I'm obsessed with the weather off. Like in an unhealthy me to the radar. Do you watch the radar? The radar? The Alcala look like I go off app. Sometimes I'm like predicted temperature for like three months from now.

Like it's stupid. Like it doesn't like that weather is not accurate. I know, you know, if there's like an important date, I'm like, what we have in events like it's like, tell me you're an event planner without telling me. I know sir. I love, I love that. And like I'm a, a massive Tiktok binger right now. Like I just like, I'm gonna watch you talk for 10 minutes and like two hours later, like, oh my God, that's your wind down? That's fine. Yeah. I love a little Tiktok, What has owning your own business allowed you to do? I have two things that years and years ago identified to me that were important and they were having fun and having flexibility and earning shine and starting shine has allowed me to have the most fun. I love it. It's like we're very excitable as an agency am and things keep happening with seven years in and, and I still feel so excited, like an unhealthy amount.

Uh, it's allowed me to have like a ton of fun and flexibility is just important to me. Like I, it's something that like, I need to be able to go home when I left to go when I go and like, I was just like, I can't have a job that I have two weeks of when I moved, I was like, I can't have a job that I have two weeks of leave, like it takes 24 hours just to fly to Australia. Of course it's a fun and flexibility are important to me and, and, and doing this has allowed me to have both of those things. Love that. Yeah, that is so, I want to say something that needs to be normalized because you always hear that traditional, like millennials are lazy or they don't want to work when it's on the flip side. I hear my dad and I on conversations with him being like, we work so much like you work so much of your life. So I'm like, why would you want to be at a place that you're punching in and punching out when we love what we do and I would work 24 hours if I could, but that's my choice and that's because you're inspired by what you're doing in your love, who you work with and what you get to do.

So I think it's, our generation is working on creating more jobs that we love and want to be in versus have to be in to love our lives. Yeah, I was like, I was like, I don't want to work to retire like that. No, it ain't for me. When did you start to consider yourself an entrepreneur? I don't know if I do. Yeah, that's a hard question. It's a word that I will say I struggle with. I like if someone said to me, what do you do, I would never, in a million years say I'm an entrepreneur, Whatever I might say like I want to tell management agency or something to that effect or I work in talent management. I, there's something about it that feels, it feels like it's coming out of my mouth, like I it's just not, it's not the right like title for me. I hate when people say I'm a serial entrepreneur. But yeah, it's not a word that's ever resonated with me.

I like, I love to build things, I love to be creative and like, I really always thrived when I have worked for myself, I'm a terrible employee. Um so that was more of a necessity than a desire. Um but yeah, it's not a word that I personally connect with, so maybe my answer is like, I just don't consider myself that I know and I love that because I know if I have a okay, right? And I, I, we, I do like to use the word, I do like to allow people the opportunity to realize that you know, we talk about hobbies and side hustles and businesses, like when you're bringing money in the side and you're doing something that's passionate, like or that brings passion to you be proud of that. So we do like to like say the word so that people can be like, oh yeah, it's a it's a recognizable word that can fit them. But as you were saying that like I was picturing, oh, how do I feel when I hear that word and I still have the idea of an old white man.

Yeah, I really do have that picture. Like I was trying to picture what I thought the works. I'm such a visual learner and it was funny, I didn't picture my face or Sarah's face or yours. It was like a picture. This unattainable white man sitting on it, sitting on a magazine cover. That was weird to me, I just had this like, yeah, no, in that moment, I feel like it's a bit of a, when people say if I said something like, oh, what do you do? And they say I'm an entrepreneur, I'm still like, but what do you do with what? Like, how like, what do you do? Like Yeah, like that's amazing that you started a ton of businesses, like kudos, but like, what, what are they like? I think I I think I just want more than to hear that I might work doing what? Like, yeah, do you have a podcast? You have this? You have that? That's so cool. Like, that excites me like that I want to hear about. But I think some people, like, I'm an entrepreneur period.

Yes, it's true. Like I can't say that we've ever been like, oh, we're entrepreneurs, but like if someone's like, oh, you're very entrepreneurial, I'm like, oh, thank you. Like I can accept that, but like, we encourage people say like, oh, you're a business owner or we rely on like that co founder or I'm like, that's that's what we do or the co founders of female suicide household and then that leads into we do this, this is our community pool a lot. It's not necessarily yet that blanket. I would say like I love, I would absolutely say I have an entrepreneurial spirit. I do, I resonate with that like that I feel good about. So it's like, it's like there's little nuances, right? Because there's more, there's more to it. I love that, awesome. Okay, so talk to us about what got you started or what led you to where you are, You have an interesting story with your background and your mentality of not always taking the traditional route of finding your past job. So like you said, you are not the greatest employee, but talk to us about what kind of led you to that or how you have gone about finding and sourcing your quote unquote jobs that you've had.

Yeah, it's it's definitely been interesting pathways and I think I noticed that more than anything, more than ever, sorry, when I moved to Canada. So I moved here in february eight years, which is just craziness um in itself, but when I moved here in my background was in pr and marketing, in entertainment and television, and I moved here and I thought, well I'll get a job in Pr in television, very good at it. And I got here and I knew like not a single person except the old boyfriend that I had moved to Canada. So I I got here and I was like hunting for jobs, no one would talk to me um let alone hire me. And I was like, this is not going well, like I may have made a huge mistake. And so when I when I kind of got to that spot, it forced me to look back and reflect on, like, well, hold on, how did I get my other jobs?

Like I don't think it was through applying applying for jobs through like Indeed or something like that and I have said many times before like I don't want to be one of 100 or one of 1000 people applying for a job. I want to be one of one. The odds are way better. Yeah. So I am I looked back and my first job job of these airports with that out of university, I had done a couple of internships right before I I was finishing school like my last semester also um NPR and I was like I love this, it's crazy and I pay for it. And so I was like I think I could do this and there are a couple of like small um like female like single female are not single female, just like solar females. A along by single females. Um Solar female earned pr agencies who had connected with through this internship. And each of them kind of said we have like a little bit of work if you want to subcontract to us.

And I was like absolutely. So I started um I thought well if we're going to do that, I have to set up a business number and this and that I may as well like instead of having like a numbered company I may as well have like set it up as an agency and if I get work direct, I get work direct and that's great as well. So I started Honey Pr I think I was still like in school, like the very, very end. Like I hadn't graduated and I was like, I'm done with school on to the next. So I started Honey Pr and I had like the best time doing it. Like it was just so fun. I learned a million things, but after about three years I was kind of like, I've learned a ton, but only really through trial and error, like not through like actual learning. So I was like, I want to switch it up, I want to do something different, I want to work in television. So I, I knew one person who had met just like out and about um through my like pr well old who was the head of Pr and marketing at one of the large networks in Australia, and I reached out to her and I was like, hey, I like I would like to work in television and she was like, okay, well I believe something is just coming up at, she was at Channel Nine and she was like, I think something just came up at Channel 10, the person's name is X, you should reach out.

And I was like, got it amazing. So then I was like, well, I don't know their email. Um so I was like, I tried like every email, I was like, first name, last name, first name, last name, first name, last name ultimately tried every email until I just got it. She had a hyphenated name as well, which is a treaty, but anyhoo I got it in the end and I emailed her, I was basically just like, I would like to work in television, please please take me under your wing. And we sat, we sat down for a meeting a couple of weeks later and she was like, I'm so sorry, I'm in a tailspin. My my marketing executive resigned like two days ago and she'd been with her for like years and I was like, okay, so it's a weird interview, like we didn't like, she was like frazzled, so she like a week later. And so she's like, I'm sorry, that was a mess, but I like I need help where you come in and work for a week just to get me through this time or work for two weeks. And I was like, yeah, sure, like let's do it, what do I have to lose?

Yeah, exactly. So I did that, I was doing like a two week contract and after a week she was like, please stay forever. So I did um so I was at Channel 10 for around a year I think. And then they did like a big reshuffle. So I was in Melbourne, they moved all marketing to a national office out of Sydney. And so that all of the marketing executives around the country jobs became redundant. Um and I was like, oh dear, Like, this is not good. It turned out to be like, an amazing thing for me. I like, took some time off, did a little travel. I like, went to the movies at like 11 a.m. On a Wednesday. Like, it was, I really enjoyed it, but inevitably, like, had to go back to work. So then the contact that I had originally had a Channel Nine who had asked me to come over to nine a couple of months prior to that and I said no, and then she called again, she's like, please come.

And so then I took a job at Channel Nine as like, in their publicity teams. It like when I look back, I was like, that wasn't like, they were like traditional pop. So, so when I got here and I was really struggling, like, I like no one would hire me like it was getting pretty dire. And so I was like, well, hold on, this isn't how you get jobs. Like, I don't know, maybe I'm like, not good in a group. I don't know what, So, I, I kind of reflected back at one, I was like, do I want to work in publicity anymore? Um I decided no, I do not. I wanted to be a wedding planner had worked in events for years and I was like, I love, love, this is right, we know that feeling all too well. Exactly, and I was like, I've worked in television with actors and actresses? Like brides have nothing, like I got this and so I I researched every wedding planning company in Toronto and I found two that I really loved, reached out to both of them and again, was like, I would like to be a wedding planner, would you like to talk to me?

And I also had no friends as an aside, like, I didn't know anyone here um so I was like, maybe we could be friends, like give me a job, like this will be great. So one of them had said, you know, I have all of my consultants um for this year or whatever, um but it sounds like you're much more suited to pr anyway, so I'm going to connect you with my business partner and sorry, not my business, my friend who's in pr and she'll she'll connect and I was extremely disenchanted with the world of pr I was like, no one in Toronto wants me like this is bullshit, I hate it. Um but her friend did email you back very soon after um went to meet her, she was super busy, we started working together that day and that's my business partner Emily that all like happened very break. His met um and then the other wedding planner I did meet with, she was lovely and we did become quite friendly and she's like, could you help me with like some styling here and there.

And I was like, sure, like I'm sure I could do that. And so the first job that I did for her, she was like, I won't be there. My friend Ashley will, she's amazing, you love her men, Ashley, she's a florist and does beautiful work and so we became just like very good genuine friends. Um she was like, excellent, I've got a friend, someone has hired me for like a one job, we're rolling, rolling here, okay, we're off and then that like, that was in, I want to say like august september of the first year that I was here, so I moved in the february, this is like august september and by, you know, like november of that first year, like broken up with the boyfriend that I'm here to be with and she was like, what are you doing for christmas? I was like, I don't know, I'm so alone and I don't want, this is like a terrible situation, I should probably just pack it up and go home, but I don't want to those years like come and spend christmas with my family, um it'll be great, we've moved to a new house, first christmas in the new house, whatever, whatever, and I was like, okay, sure, and she was like, I apologize in advance, my brother will hit on, you, ignore him.

And I was like, that's fine, no problem. And so I went and had christmas with her family and now I'm engaged to, her brother was just waiting for it on me. I fell for it and here we are. It all worked out front five city. Oh, I absolutely love that story because I love the raw and that's yeah, traditional. If I look back, I hustled my way into places to, I literally sent those emails, will you take me on? And a lot of places that I went to just because my education said like you're really overqualified but sure I really like your personality. So I knew I always had that on my side in the sense that like I was approachable and my background is in hospitality and events and yeah, that's how I got and that's the best. Like I'm thinking about who you were then going to these places and then seeing your hustle and your potential, like that's what we are wanting for females for somebody coming to be like, I love what you're doing, I want to be a part of that whether or not you're in the stage or not yet, but I want to be a part of what you're doing and like we've done that two companies when we were kind of coming up through our careers and so I just think that that, yeah, again, another thing to be normalized is going after jobs that you want being that one of one instead of one of 1000 and I think it's like, you know, like I get receive resumes all the time now for people applying for jobs at shine and, and many of them are, are wonderful.

But like I just like, I think I connect with, like I resonate with like the bull's penis of people so I love and out of the like, like obviously like, you know, you need to like remember when I like first was applying for some jobs in Melbourne at one point in my life and I was like, I don't want to have a boring resume. I just don't I. And so I remember instead of having a resume, I broke it up and I was like, this is what I can do and that's what I can't do. And then I had, this is what I did for the love and that's what I did for the money. I like, I was like, and I was like, I know this is polarizing, but I'm like, I don't want to work somewhere who doesn't like this, who doesn't get it Yeah, right? Because I'm like, it's not going to be for me anyway. And and then inevitably, like I just probably won't be that happy. They're like, yeah, I want someone that thinks it's funny that I said like I like couldn't juggle, but you know, like I'm like, I want someone to chuckle at my resume, you know? And like I want them to like, oh this is different and like see the personality that shines through on that note.

Tell me how you guys started shine and like where the name came from. Yeah. So we um so as I kind of mentioned how I met Emily she had a freelance business. She'd worked in like large agencies, had a freelance business after she had her babies. And then I met her at a time where she was just like, she's like, oh and you know, like if you're a freelancer, like you can't say no to anything, like you're like, when's the next job gonna come? I don't know, it's scary. So you just say yes to everything and you get burnt out and there's too much. So I kind of like floated in right at that time and she's like, could you do like this? Like help me with this one and this one that one. And and we just like really liked working together and you know, we talk about this a lot, like we get asked a lot like we friends and like we weren't like, not that we weren't friends. Yeah, that's really like the way that we connected. Like it wasn't through friendship is like through like, oh well let's work on this together.

Like I think we respected that we were both very bright and we then like we became friends as a result of that, but it allowed us to have this kind of basis of just like mutual respect, perhaps that, that just really like worked well for us and so um it kind of grew and grew and grew and she was doing a little work in an advertising agency, I got pulled in there as well, we did some work together there and coming up like that first year, so as I said, I moved in february and like that late that year I kind of december november december, like let's set up a bunch of like big meetings for the new year, like let's talk like anyone who will talk to us. So he'd set up a bunch of big meetings and like what are you going is like freelance friends, like it's kind of weird, let's start an agency and like see what happens, like that was kind of yeah, what we thought it would be and so we, we saw that we like we were brainstorming a bunch of different names um Emily had suggested shine.

It resonated with both of us, I think we're both in like big life changes, like as I said, like I've broken up with the guy I moved here for and was going through a divorce, like it was like we kind of, it was something that was like ours and like I don't say it was like our time to shine, but not as cheesy as that at all, but it was, it was kind of like, oh it's just like stuck and then like as with anything like this then you see like the word shine everywhere. Funny I'm like, you know like if I bought every through cushion that says like time to shine on it and like I would like it would fill my yeah, so you know, it just kind of then started popping up and it's like it connected with us in terms of like, you know, we wanted to help our clients shine and we want to tell their stories and then when we started representing talent like we wanted them to be the star and like we could like, you know, we wanted to shine lights on them and to be shiny and all of those things. So I think at the beginning it was just like a name that we liked and we felt very connected to it but the more and more we got into the business, it became like such a, I don't know, cornerstone flagpole kind of thing that it was like everything kind of connected.

And then yeah, we like started like the business at Emily's like kitchen table. I did the website which is anyone who knows me is like, oh God, like how I like I'm terrible, I like I can't do anything like that. So thanks goodness, we have like better people than that now. Um But yeah, we like started it, we like made some terrible business cards and like if we went to our meetings and that first year we met with like every single like we would be in meeting after meeting after meeting after meeting and it meant that we spent a lot of time in the car together and so after every meeting, no matter how, you know, good or bad it went, we would always come out of it and say, you know like oh my gosh, like we are so excited like this is so exciting and that became a real qualifier I suppose for like what, like which direction we should move like going forward.

Like we certainly weren't like this is our five year business plan, nothing. Yeah, I totally get that absolutely nothing. But we were very much like guided by that excitement and it is still now like that is still like it's so it's so huge and you know, I like when we're interviewing someone and they're like, oh I'm so excited, I'm like yeah, I love already they're very excitable, they'll fit in, they feel like the shine vibe. Um But yeah, that really became something that as I said, it was very much a guiding force which is like what were we drawn to him? What excited us and that's what we would explore and and kind of move forward with. Amazing. I feel like you're telling our story back to like I love that everything from the beginning about meeting, I was Sarah's professor at college then she became my colleague and we just connected and so we do have mutual friends or mutual like acquaintances that not often now, but when we first started there like what are you doing with Sarah?

Like why Sarah and I'm like, I can't explain to you why. Yeah, there's just something there. We finish each other's sentences. We she just gets me and I get her and like we've just rolled off of that and then also just being friends. Like I said, people see it now as we're such good friends, your best friends. But I always say I'm like you weren't my friend like loved you. Like you were a great professor mentor. Always say you're professor mentor now soul sister in it all. But we weren't best friends who went into business together. We went into business and became friends through our business. So I think that's something that people need to look at and think about before. Maybe they jumped into business with a friend and think it's gonna work out because I more and more people I talk to is that don't go into business with friends but you will become friends with who you go into business with totally. I love so cool. Yeah. But yeah, I love that story. I love the meaning behind shine love how it kind of, I mean I love any sort of cheeky marketing that has like a great play on words. It's just that is like my Kryptonite.

Like I love that. I love punch Yes play on words. It's just like, it's the best and it makes you stand out. So what is your secret sauce for starting? Because that can be kind of the toughest part for someone to really take their idea and put it into reality and you and Emily really saw a void with the influencer space and took that leap to tackle it. So what is your piece of advice for starting when you don't like you said, have that kind of road map? Yeah, I mean, I think more than anything, it's like just starting, you know, and I think for me, like I, I've been saying this a lot recently and talking about a lot. I like to do things that and it's like a, it's an interesting word because I think people look at it in different ways, but I like to do things that come with ease. So when I say that, like, I don't mean that I like to do things that are easy and I worked super hard, but I like things like it feels natural.

So like when m and I started working together like again and I'm a terrible planet, like my mother is like a strategic town plan, that's her job and like, I'm like, oh, we'll see how it goes, like what are you going to do and how do I birth you? Like, it's, you know, like, it's like, I don't know where I like inherited that from, like, I wish I was a better plan, I'm not um but I think that, you know, sometimes when people have plans that are too rigid, it doesn't allow for creativity, it doesn't allow to flow and like to like, just like open your eyes and see what other possibilities there are, you know? So for me, I like, I like to kind of take one step at a time, like with them and I will like, okay, well that's like, let's work on this small freelance project together, that one. Well let's like, do these projects, that, that one, Well let's like, register website, what's the worst that could happen. And then it was just kind of like lots of little steps, like, and looking back, it's huge, like it's so huge what grown over time is incredible and it's not to discount that, but like, it's just like lots and lots of teeny tiny steps in the right direction and that direction changes are full of, I was just to say, I go in circles for a little bit, but yeah, down here there and everywhere.

Yeah, and I love this story too because we talk about baby steps a lot and you're just kind of re enforcing enforcing it in the sense that I do feel like some of the traditional path or what we're made to believe of peoples are past that they take is easy and they have these big long goals and everything so perfect and the line is straight and everything just lines up for them. Like give me a break, like there's no way and if it did great, no problem kudos to you. But in reality everyone I've spoken to have real conversations, it is not that way. So I just love again that this is just like another source for somebody who's in that headspace of like, oh man, I don't have it all together. I say neither did jess or m of shine influencers, you know what I mean? Like you guys are major players in the game, you have a ton of people in your portfolio.

Most of my instagram followers are the people you guys represent because they are just such real humans. So I feel like coming from you guys, it's like, oh, okay. If they did that then I can do that. Mhm Okay.