Put a Cork In It Wine Tasting + My favorite wines this summer!
Many years ago, I started my career as a Librarian. My career focus was in online information management and accessibility of evidence based medical information. In 2011, I took a career pause to raise 2 amazing boys.
Hands down, one of my favourite activities I have done with friends in a long time was a backyard wine-tasting with Put a Cork in It Wine Tasting. It’s a refreshing feeling to learn more and taste wines I would have probably never purchased on my own before. Other than Bread & Butter Wine, I was introduced to some new wines and learnt the stories behind them while catching up with friends whom I have not seen in quite some time. A+ for value, A+ for unique experience, and totally doing this again!! Learn more about this business and her fav wines at the moment below:
Many years ago, I started my career as a Librarian. My career focus was in online information management and accessibility of evidence based medical information. In 2011, I took a career pause to raise 2 amazing boys. As they reached an age where they were more independent, I looked for an adaptation to my career that would allow me to do something I love while allowing me to choose my own work hours - and I found it in a partnership between my education and my hobby!
Classification of wine, keeping track of specifics, cataloging tastes; are not all that different than the Library world! I took WSET certification Levels 1 and 2, and 3 is in the works (on pause, like many other things, because of COVID). I opened Put a Cork In It Wine Tasting in 2019 and am thrilled on how quickly the idea has caught on in the Edmonton community.
I supply wooden wine flights, professional wine tasting glasses and table décor for your event. My take on wine tasting is a little different than you may be used to. I focus on bringing in interesting wines, wines with crazy back stories and often wines made by the same families for generations. The event is fun and full of laughs. Oh, and I sneak in how to taste wine in there too.
Wine Tastings are a fabulous idea for birthdays, showers, stagettes, stags, date night, or a friends get together. Not to mention Christmas parties, Halloween parties, surprise parties and themed parties. I also offer corporate wine tastings for a fun twist to a social event at the office, a lunch time team building offering, or an interactive addition to a client dinner. In addition, I offer wine tastings for networking events. What a great way to get people together; talking and getting to know each other while learning about wine! I serve Edmonton and area but am also happy to go on the road! Think lake lot wine tasting or wine tasting by camp fire light! I also travel to other cities of course.
With the advent of Covid, and social distancing measures my wine tastings have gotten creative. I bring glasses and wine flights (think a wooden mat with places to hold glasses). This allows guests to hold wine on a tray on their laps if needed, or on the grass without risk of spilling. Driveway wine tasting, backyard tasting in camp chairs on the grass, or on the deck spaced with deck chairs, it all works. Wine tastings start at $20 a person. We discuss what you are specifically looking for and where you are located for an individualized per person quote. This price does not include the cost of wine. This allows me to customize your wine flight to your specific tastes, budget, and numbers attending. Please note, I do not purchase wine on your behalf (AGLC regulations prevents me from doing so). However, I work with two wine stores in Edmonton to arrange your wine for your event and have it delivered to your house. Hosts are billed directly for the wine.
My favorite wines this summer: Bender Pinot Noir. This is a crisp, clean interpretation of a Pinot Noir. Bender is considered a “maverick” in the German wine industry; his wines grace Gordon Ramsey restaurants, Lufthansa’s business class, and can also be found on menus around town! Available at Rosslyn Liquor Store. http://rosslynliquorstore.com. Imported by Enotri wines.
Bread and Butter Chardonnay. I generally stay far away from mass marketed, large wine distributers in my wine tastings. But I make the occasional exception with the Bread and Butter Chardonnay. This wine is full of body and leaves your mouth coated in a buttery feel and taste.
Brutal. This rare cult wine is a cult wine for a reason. Want to know why? I’ll tell you at a wine tasting ;) Available at Highlands Liquor Store https://www.highlandsliquor.ca
All things sparling. Cava, Prosecco, Champagne (or Champagne method) are all fabulous to enjoy on a warm summer evening (or summer breakfast or lunch!).
Ask your wine store representative (or send me a message!) to point you in the right direction for level of sweetness you would like and highest quality for your price point.
Check us out on Instagram or Facebook!
Submitted by Naomi Maharaj | Put a Cork In It Wine Tasting
Soulful Sunday | Speaker, Kyla Kazeil Tells All
I always love getting the chance to sit down (and indulge in wine) with Kyla Kazeil. She is a true rockstar and always chooses to courageously speak her truth. Kyla co-owns 5 local Edmonton businesses, yes, 5, The Bamboo Ballroom, The Common, Foosh, 99ten, and Grandin Fish & Chips. Oh, and did I mention she also has a 3 month old baby named Stevie? Girl, you're killin' it.
Kyla Kazeil tells all: from entrepreneur life as a new mom to the steps she takes to upkeep her mental health.
Written by: Jamie Bay, The Wellness Warrior, @JMEBAY
I always love getting the chance to sit down (and indulge in wine) with Kyla Kazeil. She is a true rockstar and always chooses to courageously speak her truth. Kyla co-owns 4 local Edmonton businesses, yes, 5, The Bamboo Ballroom, The Common, 99ten, and Grandin Fish & Chips. Oh, and did I mention she also has a 3 month old baby named Stevie? Girl, you're killin' it.
I hope you enjoy Kyla’s genuine answers about her hustle and mental health as much as I did! I'm so excited to have her speak at our upcoming #SoulfulSundayYEG event in just a couple weeks.
Tell us about your hustle.
The hustle has definitely changed for me. It's now more focused on working to empower the people and employees who surround me. So I’d say it’s shifted from focusing on my products and services to community building and creating a better work environment for our employees.
Have you always been an entrepreneur?
When I was 15, my friend and I stole her dad’s truck. My mom punished me by making me count plastic spoons. So my whole summer was spent counting spoons…. for 5 cents a bag. Yes, 5 cents. At first I was like ok, this really sucks, but by the end I was trying to find ways to count these spoons in the most efficient way possible. If I’m going to do it, I want to do it well and find ways to enjoy the pleasure of lining them up perfectly when I slip them into the bag. I learned how to streamline the process to make the most amount of money doing a job that I hated. I feel that was the beginning of my entrepreneurial spirit: finding creative ways to do things, making it fun, and challenging yourself, even when it sucks.
As a new mom and entrepreneur, how do you make it all work?
Right now, I’m relying heavily on my team and putting a lot of trust into them. I’ve spent 14 years building up the people around me, and now I’m able to reap the benefits of that. I’ve really taken a step back so I can enjoy the small things and time with my baby that I’m never going to get back. I don’t want to live with any regrets. Being able to let go of that control has really helped me and is so good for my mental health. I do still help with wedding planning and things I really enjoy with the businesses. I'm so happy that I've established this trust with the people around me so I can just spend time doing the things I love.
Have you ever struggled with your own mental health?
Anxiety for sure. I had full blown panic disorders in my early 20’s: 6 to 8 a day, which were triggered essentially by the fear of having another attack. I didn’t want to take medication, so I started trying to change my patterns and habits to avoid triggering them. I learned more about myself and how to change situations that I knew would set me off. I would also make sure I was keeping busy at night (nights were the hardest), and had lots of people around me. All those things really helped.
I feel my anxiety started to decrease the more busy I became and the less I could hyper focus on certain things. Maybe I wouldn’t even have four businesses if I didn’t have anxiety. It was definitely a coping mechanism at one point. I would keep busy until I was so tired I'd have to go to sleep, and not focus on my mind. I’m still always on the go (in different ways). But it’s just who I am so I embrace it.
Then as I got older it sort of just started resolving itself. I found as I started to tailor my life to suit the needs of my mental health that my anxiety decreased because there’s less unknowns and I have more control. With anxiety, dealing with uncertainties in life was something I struggled with for a long time. I still struggle now, but I’m much better at controlling the situation.
What do you keep your mental wellness in check?
I just started going back to the gym, post baby. We go 5 days a week. We bring our daughter and she just hangs out and we get to spend that time together, doing something that’s good for our bodies, and good for our relationship. When your body is more strong, your mind is more strong, and you sleep better.
AND time with friends. Constant, solid connections with the real people who love you.
We're so excited to have you at our very first #SoulfulSundayYEG event. What's favorite thing to do on Sundays?
Sleeping in, going for brunch and having fun with friends. It hasn’t changed since having a baby. I think I had that fear about motherhood. That it was going to tie me down and I wouldn’t like it. For me, I want to be able to go where we want to go! So we do. If we want to go for brunch, we take Stevie, and if I want to go for girls night, Stevie comes along; I want her to be around the people that are important to me and be well socialized. That's all that really matters and what's truly important in life: the relationships we have with each other. I want her to make real connections with real people, despite living in a social media focused world.
What does being a wellness warrior mean to you?
Now that I have my mental health pretty well under control, I think it means helping other people to not have to live in a situation that would cause anxiety. That means helping my employees by doing things like creating a stable work environment, and having a place where they know they’re respected.
Being a wellness warrior also means advocating for others and changing the retail industry so that those people don’t have to have an exit. Not being able to talk to your manager, feeling like you aren’t being treated fairly, not being able to schedule time off, or not being rewarded for the same job someone else would do - all those things are anxiety inducing. So I think making those changes to establish a place where people can be themselves and have a fun work environment is so important. Life isn’t always easy, but it doesn’t have to be hard. A lot of the time’s it’s hard because of the situations we’re in, and a lot of times that unfortunately has to do with our employment. So I believe being a warrior means making a difference for my staff where I can.
Our next Soulful Sunday event will be announced soon! Become a YBB Member and receive 24 hour notice before the public on all events, mixers and workshops!
MAD LOVE MONDAY - Jackie Lindal |Fit Like a Girl
My business is called Fit Like a Girl. I am a certified personal trainer and I help my clients who have been left frustrated with their weight loss and fitness goals create healthy,
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What is your business & why that field / service/ product?
My business is called Fit Like a Girl. I am a certified personal trainer and I help my clients who have been left frustrated with their weight loss and fitness goals create healthy, sustainable habits and reach their goals while feeling confident and badass at the same time.
My mission with Fit Like a Girl is to break stereotypes of what it means for a woman to be “fit”; I want women to know that we can still be sexy and feel pretty while being strong and total badasses!
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What inspired you to start your own business?
I initially did not set out to become a self employed business owner.
I started Fit Like a Girl as a blog and Facebook page for my own accountability for my own fitness journey where I discovered weight lifting and I loved how I felt stronger and more confident.
I obtained my personal training certification in 2016 as a way to help my friends with their fitness goals and learn more about working out. Fit Like a Girl became my “side hustle” along with my full time career as a veterinary technician. Over the course of 2017, I discovered I had a strong passion for what I was doing and loved helping others with their fitness and health goals. So I worked like a mad woman to take on personal training full time in the early months of this year, I took that leap of faith and I’m not looking back!
Do you have a go to quote / motto?
I have several quotes that help keep me going and I repeat to myself all the time. My favourite is one I just found online: “beautiful girl, you’re meant to do hard things so believe in yourself”. When I feel like I am overwhelmed, I just remember it's not supposed to be easy but I can handle it.
I do also have a quote for my business that I have turned into a hashtag and include in my business logo which is “Live, Train, Love & Fight” It was my motivation when I was starting my business, in my martial arts training and when I was going through my multiple knee injuries and surgeries over the past three years.
I want to have each of my clients find their own meaning in this phrase, but what it means for me:
Live is to live your life to the fullest and live without regrets. Living so that you don't look back one day and wish you've done more.
Train is in reference to learning and growing as a person as well as working out and enhancing fitness.
Love means to love your life, your body and yourself. Love yourself no matter how you look or where you are at on your own life and fitness journey.
Fight refers to fighting for your rights, fighting for your goals, fighting disease and bad habits.
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What’s a personal goal of yours to accomplish?
I have so many personal goals it's hard to pick just one! One that always stands out for me is to go back to competing in martial arts, specifically Ju Jitsu. I suffered through some bad knee injuries and had two surgeries over the past three years. I have had bilateral ACL reconstruction in September 2016 and then a meniscus surgery this past March that have sidelined my martial arts training and competing. I am slowly coming back to training, but I’d love to feel the rush of competition again and give myself something to train for.
Do you have a professional goal or set of goals for your business?
Again, so many goals I want to accomplish! For my clients, I want to help them achieve their health and fitness goals, whether that be losing 5, 20, or 50lbs, improving their health, having a better relationship with food, making healthier choices, feeling less achy and painful, whatever those goals may be. I also want to help them find their confidence. I want to help them feel unstoppable, strong and sexy. I want to break down the barriers of women in fitness and help women know that we are strong, both mentally and physically.
Why do you love being an entrepreneur?
I still have a hard time classifying myself as an entrepreneur! I recently had a friend say something about me owning my own company and I remember saying “well not really” it was just a knee-jerk reaction and she looked me and said, “well what the hell do you call it when you have your own business with a company name?!” I laughed and said she was right, I just never really thought about myself as a entrepreneur or the “owner of a company”.
But what I love the most about owning my own business is that I am in charge, haha! I love to make my own schedule, even if it means I am busier than I want to be, I know that I made myself busy and that something to be excited about.
I love being able to form family-like relationships with my clients and being there for each step of the way in their journey. I laugh with them, I cry with them, I celebrate each win with them. Many may think I am just a personal trainer, but I find there’s so much more to it than that. I am really in the business of transforming not only their bodies, but their minds and life.
Did you ever have a time where you wanted to give up? How did you overcome that feeling?
I am still what I could classify myself as a “self employed infant”, because I am still so new to all of this so there is so much I have to learn and struggle through. I do classify myself as a determined (some would call stubborn and controlling haha) person and I refuse to give up. That being said there are times when I think to myself, “I have no clue what I am doing, I have no idea what it means to be a business owner” But I just put on some of my best boss babe music (I mean, that's why Beyonce exists right?!) and write lists like a mad woman to figure out whatever problem is in front of me.
What's your best boss babe moment?
When I first started having people come to me for advice. Whether that was just to ask some fitness and health related question or when I had people seek me out to train them. The best moments for me are referrals. When I have one of my clients say they referred me to a friend or coworker because they love working with me, I’ll think I must be doing something right.
What platform do you find most success / interaction from?
I find Instagram (@fitlikeagirl.ca) and Facebook (facebook.com/fitlikeagirlca). I am slowly trying to understand the algorithms and keep up with the changes. I would like to build up my website and blog more.
Work-life Balance: What you do you do to destress? What is your must-have moment of the day?
Since I am still a newbie at being a business owner, I am still working out the kinks of a work/life balance. Since I work mostly in the evenings, it can get hard during the week to spend valuable time with my husband, but when I get home in the evenings, even if it's late, I try to spend as much time with him as I can and turn “off” work mode.
I also love to be outdoors and try to escape to the mountains whenever I can. This past summer, we went several times to the mountains for hiking, camping, backpacking, etc. I enjoy being able to work my schedule out so I can take the time to head to the mountains, be without cell service and just adventure with my husband and friends.
For de-stressing, I make sure I squeeze in my own workouts and keep up with my fitness. Whether it's in the morning or between clients, I put on my headphones and try to focus on myself for even just 45 minutes. I also have been making more of an effort to prioritize my martial arts training, so I try to go to classes when I can and focus on improving my skills.
What are you looking to learn from other YEGBOSSBABES in the Community?
Anything I can! I love meeting other badass business ladies and hearing their experiences and knowing I am not alone in this crazy journey of owning a business.