The Brand is Female

Laura Nezri was focused on raising her family until she founded Maison Tess, based on an idea that came to her after she searched high and low for the perfect stylish bedding for her own home and realized there was a gap in the market.Cue in her new venture, focused on beautiful sheets made of oeko-certified natural fibres including cotton and linen, sourced in Europe from ethical agriculture and marketed from Canada,.Maison Tess, despite being focused on one specific category in homewares and using a direct-to-consumer channel only, saw rapid success and sustained growth.Laura teaches us that it’s never too late to act on our entrepreneurial vision, and insists on the importance of never feeling guilty as women who juggle business and family life!This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!—————-Visit:TBIF: thebrandisfemale.comTD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/businessbanking/small-business/women-in-business/Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

Jo Notkin has turned a passion for food into a career, although she used to have a completely different job, working in the jewelry industry and later in textile design.Leveraging her creativity and knack for business, Jo runs one of Montreal’s most successful catering companies, Zoe Ford. She was also selected as a contestant on the last season of TopChef Canada, where she made it through 6 episodes out of 8. If you’ve had the chance to try Jo’s carrot cake or any other item from the Zoe Ford Deli, you know how talented she is! Listen for great advice on starting your business as a second or third career, and the importance of doing what you love, always your own way.This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!—————-Visit:TBIF: thebrandisfemale.comTD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/businessbanking/small-business/women-in-business/Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

Melanie Ellezam created Olmsted Outerwear with the desire to do things differently. By committing to a sustainable supply chain and manufacturing process, Melanie established a brand anchored in “slow fashion” where products are conceived with the good of the planet in mind, as well as the good of the humans making them, and of the humans wearing them.Melanie found inspiration in the work of Frederick Law Olmsted, the American landscape architect and mastermind responsible for the creation of Central Park in New York City, and Mount Royal Park in Montreal. Aligning with Olmsted’s approach to letting nature run its course, and a vision for the long term vs the short term, Melanie has kept her eyes on the goal and has overcome the challenges that come with building a brand that is challenging the status quo.She spoke to Eva Hartling about her journey, what she’s learned along the way as well as her wish for the future of humanity and the responsibilities she thinks entrepreneurs have.This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!—————-Visit:TBIF: thebrandisfemale.comTD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/businessbanking/small-business/women-in-business/Olmsted Outerwear: olmstedouterwear.comFollow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

This week, we’re taking a deep dive into sustainability — all aspects of it — and the changes that need to take place in our world, both from a consumers’ standpoint, as well as from the brands that are manufacturing the products we consume. Our guest, Carrie Ellen Phillips, is absolutely passionate about sustainability, the circular economy and most of all, about helping companies carve out a new model for lasting change.Carrie is the co-founder of BPCM, one of the world’s leading fashion PR agencies with offices in New York, Los Angeles and London, as well as a Sustainability Educator.We spoke to Carrie about her personal journey and her path as a woman entrepreneur; how she views the challenges ahead and how Covid and Black Lives Matter have influenced our views as consumers and as humans. Carrie also shared with us the roadmap she recommends for companies looking to pivot to a sustainable positioning.This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!—————-Visit:TBIF: thebrandisfemale.comTD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/businessbanking/small-business/women-in-business/BPCM: sadebaron.comFollow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

Rachel Lambo founded body skincare brand Sade Baron with her mom after some convincing. While the brand has been a side hustle, it took off organically, pun intended — all Sade Baron products are all high-quality and vegan, packed with nutrient-rich superfoods that are good for both our skin and our planet. Today, retailers such as The Detox Market carry the brand and it’s become a favourite among beauty editors.We spoke to Rachel about the challenges of launching a brand in a saturated market; the benefits of running a purpose-driven brand and what her hopes are for Black-owned brands today and tomorrow.This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!—————-Visit:TBIF: thebrandisfemale.comTD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/businessbanking/small-business/women-in-business/Sade Baron: sadebaron.comFollow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

Chantal Carter has revolutionized the underwear industry by introducing nude undergarments that actually match everyone’s skin tone, including BIWOC’s. In an industry that is known for being traditional and having few disruptors, Chantal and her brand, Love & Nudes, are true trailblazers.In this episode, we speak with Chantal about the inspiration behind Love & Nudes, how the fashion industry still has a long way to go to reflect real diversity, and her journey as a Black female founder.This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!—————-Visit:TBIF: thebrandisfemale.comTD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/businessbanking/small-business/women-in-business/Love & Nudes: loveandnudes.comFollow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

As women, we often have a complicated relationship with food. From the society we live in where diet culture and pressures around body image and “health” are pervasive to our own struggles with figuring out what is right for our body. We know nutrition is a key element when it comes to our health, affecting everything from our immune and reproductive systems to our energy levels— even our hair and skin.In this episode, we speak with Bianca Osbourne who has turned a passion for food and cooking into a successful career (when we recorded this episode Bianca was starting production on her very own TV cooking show!). Bianca spoke to us about what food means to her, how nutrition plays a role in her personal approach to wellness (she starts every day with a fresh squeezed celery juice, and swears by perfectly foam-topped oat milk lattes which are great for skin) and she talks about making it as a professional chef and on-air cooking expert.This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!This episode is presented by Jamieson Vitamins. Use the code​ thebrandisfemale​ to receive 20% off your order at jamiesonvitamins.com​ and keep an eye on our Instagram page where 3 of you will have a chance to win supplements from the Jamieson Women’s Health collection! From now until July 31st, every time the Jamieson campaign hashtag #HereForHerHealth is used, 50 cents will be donated to the​ ​Canadian Women’s Foundation​. Connect with Jamieson on Instagram:​ ​@jamiesoncanada.—————-Visit: TBIF: thebrandisfemale.comTD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/businessbanking/small-business/women-in-business/Jamieson Vitamins: jamiesonvitamins.comFollow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

This episode features a conversation with Elizabeth Cabral, Founder and Creative Director of Purpose & Perspective, a platform that promotes mindful consumption and sustainable practices for the fashion industry.Fuelled by a global pandemic and a racial justice crisis, consumers are demanding more of the brands and companies they shop from. We are witnessing the rise of global consciousness, but we know green-washing, pink-washing and Black-washing are still prevalent. Three years after the foundation of Purpose & Perspective, we speak to Liz about what’s changed, and what still needs to happen to truly see companies align with purpose and social values. .This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!—————-Visit: TBIF: thebrandisfemale.comPurpose & Perspective: purposeandperspective.co TD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/businessbanking/small-business/women-in-business/ Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

This episode features an interview with Afiya Francisco, Style Expert for on-air and print media and the Founder of The Style House.Afiya has built an impressive career in fashion and lifestyle in the past decade— she appears as a regular contributor on Canada’s leading TV networks and collaborates with publications and brands on style content. In this convo with The Brand is Female, Afiya talks about her professional milestones and she also shares her guidance on addressing the complex question of racism with our children, our friends and family, and the best way of stepping up for Black entrepreneurs and Black-owned brands in our communities. For more content by Afiya, we highly recommend checking out her Kitchen Talk series on race, over at The Style House.To support Black-owned brands, check out this list of Afiya’s current faves:Love and NudesOkoko CosmeticsBrother VelliesOmi WoodsPetits GenouxGoodeeSaint LyonBôhten EyeglassesPretty DenimSade BaronThis season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!

This episode features an interview with Elizabeth Vazquez, CEO and Co-Founder of WEConnect International, and Marie Muldowney, Managing Director at the Canadian Securities Institute and Moody's Analytics.Through the Council on Scaling Women-Owned Businesses, WeConnect, along with their partners Moodys and TD, worked on a report that was just released this week, called HOW TO REBUILD GLOBAL BUSINESS FOR GOOD. In light of the devastating impact COVID had on the global economy and local communities, the report addresses why it is critical to be connecting access to markets with access to capital for women-owned businesses.Elizabeth and Marie spoke to The Brand is Female about the obstacles faced by women entrepreneurs across the world, preventing them from achieving their full potential. We talked about how women entrepreneurs can shift strategies in the tail of the Covid pandemic; Elizabeth and Marie also shared some of the concrete solutions that have been put forward in the Council’s report to be on the path to more inclusive business strategies, which will in turn create lasting change for the global economy.This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!