The Brand is Female

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Jane Riddell, President of GoodLife Fitness. With over 40 years of experience, Jane has worked in various roles within GoodLife and its parent company, from selling memberships to C-suite. As a member of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, Jane is committed to creating inclusive environments and supports diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.&n...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Anna Sinclair, a former actor and performer who had to pause her career when she became pregnant. That’s when she started her business, Total Mom, which serves a community of mom entrepreneurs through its programs and partnerships, including Total Mom Pitch, where entrepreneurs across Canada can apply for $50,000 in grants and services. As t...

This week, host Eva Hartling speaks with Melody Adhami, the “Queen of Apps.” Melody launched Ontario’s first private testing operation during Covid, with labs that conducted over 350,000 COVID tests for individuals and companies. Her latest tech venture is also in health, supporting women's fertility journey. Melody had quit her steady job working on brands like Dove, Hellmann's and Lipton to laun...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Emily O’Brien, founder of Comeback Snacks. Emily’s unlikely journey into the popcorn business began in 2018 while serving time at a federal prison for drug smuggling. Despite being behind bars, she managed to produce a product and support its launch, making it a successful business. Emily transformed an obstacle into an opportunity. The idea...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling is having a special conversation about gender equity in the workplace, and her guest is Yolande James, Executive Director, Diversity and Inclusion, for French-language broadcaster Radio-Canada. A lawyer and mediator, Yolande James became the first Black woman elected to Quebec’s National Assembly in 2004, and the first person from the Black community ap...

Dans le cadre de ses fonctions, Yolande accompagne Radio-Canada dans ses projets liés à l'inclusion et la diversité, en plus de développer et renforcer les liens de Radio-Canada avec les communautés et l'industrie. Elle contribue aussi à l'atteinte des objectifs de recrutement et de promotion en matière de diversité. Cette conversation a lieu juste au moment où nous publions un rapport spécial sur...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Bojana Sentaler, Founder and CEO of SENTALER, a Canadian luxury outerwear brand with impressive growth and a celebrity cult following. Bojana’s designs have been worn by the likes of Kate Middleton, Jennifer Lopez, Halle Berry, Heidi Klum, Gigi Hadid and more. Bojana moved to Toronto from Serbia when she was still a child. She knew she had a...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Taneka Clarke-Powell, Founder and Designer of Slayedbyten. Taneka began making her own clothes at home while in her last year of law school. When people on the street started asking her who had designed her outfits, she knew there was a business there. Taneka applied her corporate background and skills to the launch of her new business. Fast...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with April Pride, Founder of cannabis brand Van der Pop, which April sold to the world’s largest cannabis company, Canopy Growth, in 2018. Following her successful exit, April launched Of Like Minds, which develops brands for women who are changing their lives thanks to altered states of consciousness — a topic April also explores as host of The...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Valerie Pringle, former host of CTV’s Canada AM and CBC’s Midday and host of several television series, breaking glass ceilings for women in television, and paving the way for a new generation of women in the media. She is a member of the Order of Canada, awarded for her work in broadcasting and philanthropy, and one of Canada’s most respect...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Tanya Taylor — Founder, Creative Director and CEO of the independent, New York-based fashion label by the same name, which you may very well have spotted at retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, or on celebrities like Lady Gaga, Michelle Obama, Beyonce and more. Hailing from Toronto, Tanya launched...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Kristen Gale, CEO of THE TEN SPOT, Canada’s largest and fastest growing beauty bar and retail company. Kristen is the recipient of multiple awards, including Top 40 under 40, Growth 500’s fastest growing companies by Canadian Business and Maclean’s, and PROFIT 500’s fastest growing companies in Canada for numerous years. Over 15 years ago, K...

Today, on the podcast, to highlight International Women’s Day, host Eva Hartling speaks with Peggy Whitson, the NASA astronaut who has achieved the most days in space for any man or woman in the world. With a total of 665 days in space, Whitson also holds the record for the oldest woman spacewalker and the most spacewalks by a woman. Whitson is a biochemistry researcher and retired NASA astronaut;...

This week, on the podcast, Eva Hartling speaks with Anie Rouleau,   Founder and   CEO of The Unscented Company, a line of natural, unscented home and body care products that is redefining the notion of clean. As a Certified B Corp, The Unscented Company has been recognized by leading wellness giants from Goop to Whole Foods, and has made it twice onto The Globe and Mail’s list of fa...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Jaime Leverton, CEO of Hut 8 Mining Corp., a digital asset miner launched in 2018, and one of North America’s oldest and largest companies in the crypto mining space with more self-mined bitcoin than any crypto miner or publicly-traded company. Over the past 20 plus years, Jaime has been the driving force behind the operational evolution of...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Kate Swanson ,  a lawyer and entrepreneur and more recently, the founder and CEO of ENSEMBL, a design-forward, modern housewares brand that has disrupted its category and received accolades from the likes of Architectural Digest. With her strong business acumen and background in corporate law, Kate literally bootstrapped ENSEMBL from co...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Jan Frolic, a social entrepreneur who has spent the last decade working in gender diversity, equity, and inclusion. Formerly an executive at Women of Influence, Jan is now applying her experience and learnings to her new global education company. Jan’s new venture, Captains & Poets, is a global education platform for Kindergarten to Grad...

This week, Eva Hartling speaks with Jen Govier, founder of HUX, an underwear brand with the mission to end the dreaded camel toe, and provide women with a level of comfort never matched before. When founder Jen caught sight of her camel toe while working out, her own embarrassment put her on a mission to solve this problem for all women. After searching the market Jen realized that the perfec...

Welcome to a new season of The Brand is Female podcast! This week, host Eva Hartling welcomes Marilyne Gagné, Founder and President of Dermapure, Canada’s leading network of high-end aesthetic medicine clinics. Marilyne launched Dermapure 13 years ago, growing the brand from a single clinic in Sherbrooke, Quebec to a network of 68 clinics coast to coast, partly through a recent merger. An industry...

This week on the podcast, we are re-airing our episode with Ara Katz, co-founder and co-CEO of Seed Health. Seed Health pioneers applications of microbes for our health and is known for their probiotic products for gut health. At Seed Health, Ara wears many hats from fundraising, design thinking, brand, insights and more, and she is at the helm of the company’s work when it comes to science, commu...

This week, we are re-airing our episode with professional women's ice hockey player for the Toronto Six, Saroya Tinker. Saroya is a Yale graduate; she played for the Yale Bulldogs during the entirety of her collegiate eligibility where she was recognised for her physical, shutdown style of play. Saroya is passionate about educating others and uses her social media platforms to encourage and share...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Jeri Ann Willis, co-founder of The Observatory, Edmonton’s leading destination for independent, luxury eyewear. Jerri Ann purchased her first optical retail space in downtown Edmonton in 1976 at the age of 23, and today, 46 years later, she is still going strong. Listen to the conversation to hear about what makes a retail operation a succes...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Jacqueline Prehogan, Chief Brand Officer and co-founder of Open Farm, a premium and ethically sourced pet food brand, and founder & CEO of Canada Pooch, a leading pet apparel & accessories company. At Open Farm and at Canada Pooch, Jacqueline has worked hard on creating and maintaining a company culture and brand mission stemming fro...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Ashley Mielke, Registered Psychologist and Founder and CEO of The Grief and Trauma Healing Centre in Alberta. Ashley founded her company at the age of 26, after the tragic death of her father by suicide. It was the purpose she found through her healing that inspired the ‘WHY’ behind The Grief and Trauma Healing Centre, which is on a mission...

This week, on the podcast, host Eva Hartling speaks with Los Angeles-based Allison Conrad, an entrepreneur and operator focused on consumer brands and e-commerce. With a BA from Duke University and an MBA from Stanford University, she’s run fashion and beauty brands as well as consulting and advising tech-enabled consumer companies. A couple years ago, Allison started wondering why there were not...