WINTER MIXER 2018 | EVENT RECAP

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Thank you so much to the wonderful #YEGBOSSBABES who attended the Winter Mixer! This was only our second mixer and we are so proud of amount of local female entrepreneurs & community members that made it out!

The Woodrack Cafe was an amazing location that provided us with great service, delicious drinks, and a cozy place to network. We defiantly filled the space and appreciated your understanding when things got a little cramped!

Our evening started at 7PM and the conversations seemed to flow easy! People started filling tables, networking and learning more about each other. We love to provide name tags to all of our attendees to help with the "I totally just met you but now I forget your name" situation!

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Founder, Kirsten Kyle started the evening with a quick run down of our "WHY" and introduced the other members of the team! Next up we introduced Zakiyaa Murji and she gave an amazing speech on Self Love & Body Positivity. Now you might wonder why we may have choose a topic that wasn't specifically related to business and heres why..

When we heard Kia speak at a previous event we were so moved by her story and feel that in a community full of women that this topic would relate to so many. Confidence in yourself will help you succeed in all things, one of those being your business. It will give you the confidence to step out of your comfort zone and land those clients, jobs, sales etc.

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We are committed to hosting a mixer every season. With that being said, we are already working on details for our Spring Mixer and will be taking into consideration all of the awesome feedback we received! We encourage all of the Fall & Winter attendees to join us next season as well!

Want to keep in touch regarding the Spring Mixer? Here is how:

- Visit our WEBSITE and subscribe to our mailing list! - Be sure to follow us on INSTAGRAM

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Keep the feedback and partnerships coming our way! Who knows, maybe you will be featured as a YEGBOSSBABE by us in the near future!

For all the ladies who attended and were interested in some of the feedback we received here is a list of the FAV YEG HANGS!

• Little Brick

• Sculpt Barre

• YEG Cycle

• MyGym / All Stars for Kids (#MOMBOSS HANG)

• Cafe O'Play (#MOMBOSS HANG)

• Tiramisu

• Die Pie YEG

• Alley Kat Brewing

• Town Square Brewing

Sincerely,

Team BOSSBABES! xo

Photo Credit | @smallwave photography

MAD LOVE MONDAY - Tara Dragon | Work Evolution

We go Q&A style with Tara Dragon, founder of Work Evolution AKA the place to consult with regarding flexible employment opportunities in Edmonton and area. We are so on board with her vision about flexible work opportunities as the new employee standard. Finally, a consulting firm for employers and employees to benefit from with a unique twist we l-o-v-e.

1. What is your Business all about?

I am the founder of Work Evolution and we are connecting the best employers with professionals seeking flexible employment. I am very passionate about helping professionals find meaningful work that utilizes their skills, education and talents while respecting the boundaries that they need for work-life balance. To do this, we are also changing the way that organizations think about employees and helping break down some of their barriers to accepting and/or hiring a flexible worker.

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2. What inspired you to start your own business?

I recently had a career in IM/IT and was a partner in a boutique consulting firm. I returned to work six months after my son was born and found work and roles that allowed me to balance time at home with time in the office and also gave me enough flexibility to attend my son’s activities and appointments when I wanted.

Looking around at one of my peer groups – professional women with young families – I saw that many were not able to find a balance that worked for them. Some asked their employers for flexible arrangements and were denied, forcing them to make a decision about what to do. Options that they reviewed included returning to the same role and same circumstances, not returning at all, or returning to a different role with more flexibility (sometimes in a different organization). Some of the factors that were frequently under consideration were: cost of child care, ability to spend time with their family, income, opportunity to use their experience/education, and their ability to stay in a job they considered meaningful. At the end of the day, the decisions were very important, extremely personal and often very stressful.

Rather than convert everyone to IM/IT careers (which can be very flexible), I decided to tackle the problem a different way and found that the model was appealing to parents of young families (they don’t want to be away from their kids all day, every day), folks approaching retirement (they often want to ease into transition with a flexible “bridge” job), and millennials (they want to have jobs that support all of their other interests and passions).

3. Do you have a go to quote / motto?

If you do the right things, the right things get done.

4. What’s a personal goal of yours to accomplish? (time frame?)

My personal goal for 2018 is to be more active and involved in the lives of those closest to me. I had a stressful work project in 2017 that reduced the amount of time that I had to connect with people. This year I want and  need to work at strengthening those relationships again now that I have left the consulting world.

5. Why do you love being an entrepreneur?

FLEXIBILITY! (Pun intended!) I love that I can work anywhere and at anytime. (E.g., I can take my son to gymnastics during the day and put in a few hours of work in the evening.) I also love to see the excitement and buzz around something that I am building.

6. What’s your best boss babe moment? (First moment of reassurance).

My best moments since launching Work Evolution have been the emails and notes from people that I don’t even know. I expect my family and besties to love my idea, but it’s extra-special when a stranger does!  For example, I received this on LinkedIn, “…I was just browsing on LinkedIn and somehow stumbled on your article and story about flexible work. Thank you for what you are doing to help others find flexibility in their careers. As an HR Professional, I have seen how this has affected colleagues of mine and understand how flexibility impacts me personally. It makes me sad to see that so many employers are so rigid in their belief that you can only do work within the confines of their offices. Kudos and all the best to you in this venture. I'm a fan…”

7. Work-life Balance: What you do you do to destress? What is your must-have moment of the day (me time)?

I wake up at 4:50am every week day and get in a 60-minute workout before the household wakes up. I also use this time to watch my guilty-pleasure shows: The Bachelor, Nashville, Grey’s and Dr. Phil.

8. What are you looking to learn from other YEGBOSSBABES in the community?

I would love to learn more about how other YEGBOSSBABES are achieving their work-life balance. I would also love to learn more about how I can support them through the services offered by Work Evolution and find any and all opportunities to collaborate.

Interested in being featured? contact us at yegbossbabes@gmail.com

MAD LOVE MONDAY - Laurel Redfern | Redfern Creative

HEADSHOT

We go Q&A Style with Laurel Redfern, the owner of Redfern Creative.

1. What is your business? Why that field/service/product?

70% of my business is Graphic Design services, specializing in print.

My clients are generally small to medium sized businesses that don't necessarily require a full time designer on staff, but can recognize and appreciate the importance of branding and professional design. Templates and "online" designers simply don't produce a high quality finished product and it's noticeable.

I absolutely love designing catalogues and brochures but that's not all I design. Advertising (magazines, billboards, digital), logo design, flyers, event branding (posters, invites), signs, menus and stationary are my bread and butter. Really, any form of visual branding is what I do best and I will happily defend the position that print is not dead! Clients and customers still like to have tangible things to remember a conversation by, so why not make it beautiful? A glossy product book featuring your best sellers, a fancy wooden business card to leave behind or a thought inspiring ad in an industry magazine are all sure to impress.

The other 30% of my business is Calligraphy. This has been a passion of mine for years and I sell both original artwork and prints through my website. I currently offer a line of greeting cards as well and hope to expand into some different products in the future. I may even try teaching if I can work up the courage! Calligraphy is my love and keeps me creative, inspired and focused.

Everything I do is driven by my desire to create. I have always been fascinated by the idea of creativity, where it comes from and how to foster it.

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2. What inspired you to start your own business?

I had been working full time as a Graphic Artist for 13 years. Although I loved my job and appreciated the steady income and benefits, I was becoming complacent and getting less satisfaction from the role. It would have been very easy to stay there but the years were flying by and I needed to do something to get my passion back.

3. What is a personal goal of yours?

"I own my business. My business doesn't own me" That quote sums up my goal pretty perfectly. In this first year, I am ready and willing to give this everything I've got to make it succeed. Once I get there, I simply want 8 hours of work to do a day. The freedom to work on something I love inside my little tiny trailer in the mountains is really all I'm going for here. Although this answer might seem underwhelming, it took me a while to accept this idea and I want others to know it's a perfectly fine goal! Goals of global success are ok too ;)

4. What's your best Boss Babe moment? First moment of reassurance?

I had someone request a quote from me on a project I knew I could do an awesome job on. I presented a fair quote based on my applicable experience and was met with "your rate is too high". This isn't the first time this has happened and in the past I would have considered dropping my rate or maybe not even responding. It happened to be the day after the epic Oprah speech though so I just explained my rate. I also noted you could easily find designers that charge far less than me and many that charge more. I spoke to my level of skill with confidence and respectfully left it at that. Guess who called me back and gave me the job? I needed this reminder and maybe some of you do too. Stand your ground, speak confidently and know your worth... then impress the hell out of them because you CAN.

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5. What are you hoping to learn from other Boss Babes in the community?

When I browse Instagram and @yegbossbabes, it's always for inspiration. Before I decided to venture off into my own business, I had no idea this community existed. There is such a massive group of amazing, inspiring and resilient women in the city. In my own experiences, they've always been more than willing to offer advice and suggestions. When I'm feeling crazy for leaving a steady job, just seeing other women doing it makes me think... "hey, maybe I can do this"

Interested in being featured? email us at yegbossbabes@gmail.com