MAD LOVE MONDAY | Bailey Brown - Below Hair Studio

How did you find out you have a passion for being a Hair Stylist?

I would say my passion in hair and make up began at a very young age! I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by hair and make up my entire life! When I was really young I would attend hair and nail conferences with my mom as she was a nail tech. My mom always let me do whatever I wanted to my hair, and which I totally regret some decisions, my creative juices were always flowing! My sister was also in the beauty industry, she was a make up artist. When I wasn’t being used as her guinea pig for makeup, I was sneaking into her bathroom to steal all the cool make up she owned. Needless to say, my mother didn’t raise tomboys, I was destined to be in the beauty industry!

When did you know that you wanted to become a salon owner instead of just being behind the chair?

Let’s just say I was never someone to take direction easily from others haha. My personality definitely conflicted with what the definition of being a good employee was! I’m loud, I love to crack jokes, I love coming up with new ideas, etc. I needed an outlet that I could just be myself and surround myself with people like me. When the decision was made to enter into the world of self-employment, I remember my dad saying to me, “I knew this day would come, I always knew you needed to be your own boss.”

Why did you decided to expand your salon / how did you know it was the right time to expand?

I started Below Hair Studio in my basement with one of my best friends Danielle. We made it our mission to have the salon atmosphere that we always wanted. A fun, friendly, high end vibe that at the end of the day, just had a good time! All of our clients became more like family to us, and we decided we needed an assistant. I hired someone to help us with day to day duties that we were finding to be too much for us to do on our own. Before we knew it, our social media presence was making an uproar and we weren’t able to keep up with the amount of people that wanted to book with us. After 4 very fast years in the basement, the perfect store front location became available and my curiosity led me to look into it. I had always talked about expanding but never took it too seriously. When I went to look at the space, I had the same feeling im sure that a bride would get when she found the perfect wedding dress. Everything just felt right, nothing was rushed, it was time to expand. We knew we had outgrown the basement salon, we needed more people! We had become one of the most followed salon instagrams in Edmonton and we were in a 500 sqft basement! We made an unbelievably smooth transition to the bigger space and flash forward a year and a half later, we have 8 stylists on our amazing team and rent out a room to an awesome eyelash technician.

What makes you happy about being your own boss babe?

I would like to say that if you’re your own boss you can do whatever you want and take as much time off as you’d like, but it’s quite the contrary. My hours have grown longer, vacations have become fewer, and the hours behind the scenes that no one sees are the hardest. There is not a lot of glamour in being the boss, but the incredible feeling I get watching Below Hair Studio grow into what I always dreamed of is priceless. I’m happy that we’ve created a community of amazing stylists, developed so many new relationships with clients, and have a platform to share our passion the way we want it shared. Those are some of the many things that make me happy about being a boss babe.

If you could go back and tell yourself one thing in your first year of business what would it be?

OMG where do I start?! I would say my biggest piece of advice I would give to myself would be to take the time to understand the actual BUSINESS side! Source deductions, gst remittances, budgeting... I didn’t want to believe there would be actual numbers to crunch in owning a business! Thankfully my mom,  Shelley, took care of all of that for me so I could put more focus into growing the business, but not everyone has a Shelley in their back pocket like I did! Learn about your business taxes, hold on to ALL of your receipts, know your inventory...they are a very important part of running a successful business. (But for real thank god for Shelley haha)

Find Below Hair Studio here

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MAD LOVE MONDAY - Kaitlyn Breederland | Heritage Birth Services

Birthing a Business

Hey bossbabes!

I’m Kaitlyn Breederland, labour doula and co-founder of Heritage Birth Services, an Edmonton-based doula agency. I married young, and shortly after became a mom. Before having kids I worked with seniors in a long-term care facility, but I never really found a traditional career I was truly passionate about.

After my first daughter was born, I started to think about becoming a labour doula. It all started so naturally, having become a mom before many of my friends, they came to me for support and encouragement during their first pregnancies and births. I became passionate about nurturing that relationship and found real joy in empowering them in the months and days leading up to their births. Then, a friend asked me to attend her birth as a support person. I knew it was time to embrace this calling and take doula training. So I did.

Ever since, I have never doubted that I was created to do this. When I started out, I just knew that I wanted to be a doula. What I didn’t realize, at first, is that to practise my passion I also had to embrace being a business owner. I would have to do the “business stuff” first in order to be able to get to the part that I was super-passionate about.

Birth work is a heart-centred industry, so turning my passion into a profitable, sustainable career was easier said then done. I quickly realized, however, that if I wanted to do this (and do it well!) I had to treat it like a business. I had to give it my all, and I had to charge my worth. I can empower women through birth and postpartum till the cows come home, but the turning point for my business was when I firmly decided to empower myself. I decided to charge my worth and in so doing have turned my passion into a career.

This does not mean there have not been times when I wanted to quit! Absolutely I have had moments when imposter syndrome has hit me like a ton of bricks, when my inner critic tells me “I can’t do this! I can’t be a boss and run my own business … are you kidding me?” But. Just like when a woman in labour looks at me in the eyes and says “Kaitlyn, I can’t do this” and I reply “It’s too late, you’re already doing it. You're in it, and you're doing amazing!” Just as I encourage women in that moment, I too have to encourage myself. Like a woman giving birth, I’m too far into it to just up and quit, so I do the only thing to do and just keep moving forward! And it’s been a beautiful, thrilling, eye-opening experience.

My goal and my dream now is not just to work with and empower women in birth, but also in business. Heritage Birth Services has blossomed in the past year to become a doula agency where women—labour doulas, postpartum doulas, childbirth educators, and lactation consultants—can come alongside us and work with mothers and mothers-to-be without ever doubting that their work is a viable career and that they deserve to earn a living doing it.

I'm not really in a place to give advice. This is all still so new. But one thing I know to be true is this: Value yourself and always charge your worth. And when you doubt yourself and your abilities doula yourself through it. Look in the mirror and tell yourself “I'm doing this, and I'm doing awesome!”

Well, there you have it. I’m Kaitlyn, a doula, turned accidental business owner, turned passionate entrepreneur, and now a #bossbabe!

Top 5 Restaurants in YEG - Sarah York | Foodies of Edmonton

Foodies of Edmonton’s Top 5 Restaurants in YEG

1.Sabor

This spot has to be my top choice for this exquisite list for top 5 restaurants in Edmonton! Featuring the flavours of Iberian coastal cuisine using sustainable seafood, served alongside the passion and energy of live music with a Latin flare you are sure to enjoy your experience! The atmosphere is lovely along with caring service. Choose from an array of delicious handcrafted drinks using fresh ingredients, with an interesting variety of tapas and well thought out selection of seafood and as they like to call it “landfood”. Too top it off there are many gluten free options!

My dinner of choice would have to be the “Rack of Lamb” with roasted potatoes, vegetables and fresh mint-parsley.

2. The Marc

The Marc is one of those places where you leave and say, “I’ll be back!” Named one of the top three dining experiences in Edmonton and four-time winner of “Best Steak” by Avenue Magazine, it is sure to impress. The decor is simple and unpretentious, with a smooth casual but professional feel making in comfortable and relaxing. There is also the quaint street side patio available, of course in Edmonton weather permitting ;) The service and attention to detail is simply admirable with choices of a variety of traditional bistro fare.

My dinner of choice is the “Arctic Char” With precisely executed pan seared fish, served with couscous, and vegetable pieces. This colorful and summery dish will not disappoint!

3. Central Social Hall

This gastropub is the epitome of the meaning, while serving high-end beer drinks and food. Central began with a focus on its night time atmosphere but following renovations and months of re-working the menu it's clear that they value fresh, unique spins on classic pub fare. Particularly being impressed with the effort they put in to locally sourcing their food. Not to mention the free chicken wings on Friday from 3-6pm ;)

My dinner choice has to be the “Tokyo chicken” with crisp fried ginger + soy marinated chicken, crispy won ton chips with srirancha mayo accompanied by “The Beautiful Salad” grilled herb chicken, avocado hummus, ribbon carrots, candy cane beets, watermelon radish, spinach, cucumber, quinoa, grape tomatoes, toasted sunflower seeds, apple cider vinaigrette

4. Kabuki Sushi and Grill

My top-rated sushi spot by far! Kabuki Sushi has a mind-numbingly wide selection of items on the menu; the sushi, sashimi, tempura, noodles, katsu and don buri (rice bowls), and a higher level of "exotic" variants. There's an adventure in figuring out what to order, and another adventure in consuming your catch! Fancy sushi rolls, easily big enough to share for two on date night. Sometimes the whole adventure is just searching through the menu, pinpointing those rolls which perfectly match the mood.

My dinner choice would have to be and order of “Dragon Eye Salmon”-House special combination of deep fried salmon, green onion and rice drenched in house sauce with the “House Roll”-Shrimp tempura, crab with unagi, avocado, tobiko on top

5. RGE RD

Last but certainly not least RGE RD! As they say it is “off the beaten path” with this Canadian cuisine inspired by our country’s fields and forest, our mountains and oceans. Source ingredients and provisions from farms and small-scale producers across Western Canada. Decadent farmhouse to table food! Those comfort foods you love elevated! Some special points about this dazzling restaurant are that RGE RD organizes a lineup of Farm Dinners across Alberta as well as having a butchery for some freshly prepared terrines, rillettes, sausages and selection of cured meats along with offering fresh baked breads!

My dinner of choice is the “Four Whistle Farms Duck” with roasted duck breast, duck tourtière, oven roasted pear, garden greens, cardamom duck jus. Delicious!