The Finance Cafe

In this episode Shannon sits down with Anita Pawluk, President at RaceRocks, to discuss her journey as an Indigenous business owner, being vulnerable as a leader, her relationship with money and money mindset, creating a company around diversity, equity and inclusion, plus more. Anita is a proud Métis woman from St Louis, Saskatchewan, Treaty 6 Territory and Homeland to the Métis on her Mother’s s...

In this episode, Shannon sits down with Sage Lacerte, Founder of Sage Initiative, a national Indigenous womxn's impact investing collective. Sage is a Carrier womxn from the Lake Babine Nation, and lives in Victoria, BC on unceded Coast Salish Territory of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ nations. They discuss why she chose to focus exclusively on investing in Indigenous-owned social purpose business...

In this episode, Shannon sits down with Bobbie Racette, the Founder and CEO of Virtual Gurus, a talent marketplace that leverages proprietary technology to match organizations and entrepreneurs with highly skilled Canadian and American fractional administrative workers. Forbes recently announced Virtual Gurus as one of the top 19 Innovative Tech Startups to watch. They discuss Bobbie’s journey as...

In this episode, Shauna sits down with Shashi Behl, the Owner & Founder of Joydrop, Partner & Co-founder of Fernweh, and Founder of Twisted Goods. Shashi shares tips and insights on how to prepare your retail business for the holiday season including how to prepare for the future sales wise, inventory insights, pricing strategies, and even marketing tactics. They also discuss tools, resour...

In this episode Shauna sits down with Tanya Hilts, founder of Cloud Business Services, to discuss the importance of having accounting software as an entrepreneur and tips on how to effectively implement & manage it. Tanya shares what bookkeeping software is and what they do for your business, why bookkeeping software can be the best investment for entrepreneurs and how much it really costs, th...

In this episode Shauna sits down with Melissa Houston, founder of She Means Profit, to discuss 5 tips on managing your cash flow in your business as a women entrepreneur. Did you know that approximately 7,000 businesses go bankrupt every year in Canada? Surprisingly, 82% of small businesses that fail, do so due to poor cash flow management. However, as entrepreneurs, we have the power to change th...

In this episode, Shannon sits down with Stephanie Andrew, founding partner of Women’s Equity Lab to discuss how Women’s Equity Lab is creating opportunities to invest in more women-led companies and bring more women investors to the table. Stephanie shares how WEL is breaking barriers for women founders and women investors, what exactly venture investing is and how it’s different from borrowing mo...

In this episode, Shauna sits down with Jen Rogers, the co-owner of Wild Winds Brewery to discuss business collaborations. Jen shares the landscape of collaborations in the craft beer industry including some collaborations she’s formed, the benefits of collaborating as a business, key questions to ask when considering a collaboration, how to approach a company to propose a new collaboration, and mo...

In this episode, Shauna sits down with Nadia Ladak, the co-founder and CEO of Marlow, a new menstrual wellness brand that has created the first-ever lubricated tampon for smoother and more comfortable insertion. Shauna and Nadia discuss the creation of Marlow and where this idea first started, challenges they’ve encountered as a company along the way and how they’ve overcome these obstacles, chang...

In this episode Shauna sits down with Ashli Phippen, a Chartered Professional Accountant, Co-founder of Grow CPA, and mother of two, to discuss why it’s so important to be prepared for that year-end meeting with your accountant and what you can do to be prepared with her 5 key tips, to make the most out of the meeting.  From understanding your financial information to setting realistic goals, thes...

In this episode Shannon sits down with Dr. Wendy Cukier, Founder & Academic Director of the Diversity Institute, Academic Director of the Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub, and Research Lead of the Future Skills Centre, to discuss the current state of women’s entrepreneurship in Canada and their recently launched 2023 State of Women’s Entrepreneurship annual report which synthesizes new res...

In this episode, Shauna sits down with Laura Gassner Otting, Author, Catalyst, and Executive Coach to discuss passion vs purpose, comparing ourselves to others and how we can use this in a positive way, defining our own definition of success as women, and advice for women entrepreneurs around ambition.  Laura’s secret superpower is seeing your greatness and reflecting it back on you, so that you c...

In this episode Shannon sits down with Kristine Beese, founder of Untangle Money, to discuss the gender wealth gap, and what we can be doing to close this gap. They discuss what compelled Kristine to create Untangle Money, why taking a gendered approach to finances is so important, myths around women and money, and financial tips for women.  Kristine helps companies foster stronger relationships w...

In this episode Shauna sits down with Alysha, Sr. Financial Planner in Tax and Estate Planning at Richardson Wealth Limited, to discuss why estate planning is so important and what this looks like as an entrepreneur, breaking down what estate planning is and what it entails, who should be involved in the process, and 5 estate planning tips for women entrepreneurs. Alysha takes a holistic approach...

In this episode Shannon sits down with Karyl Akilian, Director of Marketing and Business Development at Financial Alliance for Women to discuss the power of the women’s economy, why we need to take a gendered approach as Financial Service Providers, barriers Financial Service Providers face when it comes to creating equality in the economy, key tips for financial service providers, advice for wome...

In this episode, Shauna and Shannon sit down to discuss 5 tips to overcome financial self-sabotage. Self-sabotage is defined as when you have behavior that creates problems and prevents you from accomplishing your tasks or goals, such as procrastination. Many entrepreneurs often avoid looking at their financial statements, but unfortunately, we know that avoiding things only provides temporary rel...

In this episode, Shannon sits down with Evelyne Nyairo, M.Sc. P.Biol., a socially conscious innovator and driving force behind the luxurious all-natural skincare line, Ellie Bianca. We discuss her entrepreneurship journey including the barriers she’s had to overcome, what has made her so successful in the retail industry, advocating for women’s rights, advice for entrepreneurs and what’s next for...

In this episode, Shauna and Shannon sit down to discuss 5 tips to grow your bottom line in your business. While most business owners are always thinking about how to increase their sales, there is still another important factor to consider in order to see the full picture of your business - your bottom line, also known as net profit. Profit is what’s left once all expenses have been reduced from y...

In this episode Shannon sits down with Nadine Spencer, CEO of the Black Business Professional Association, to discuss her own entrepreneurial journey as a black woman including unique obstacles and opportunities, how we can close the funding gaps out there for black entrepreneurs, some of the key outcomes uncovered in the Rise Up Study researching black women entrepreneurs experiences, and much mo...

In this episode, Shauna and Shannon sit down to discuss 5 strategies that you can implement to find new revenue streams for your business. Identifying new revenue streams in your business is very important as it can not only generate more income and help protect your business from being reliant upon a single source of income, but it also allows you to be more confident in the future growth of your...

In this episode Shannon sits down with Victoria Bennett, Founder and CEO of The Crowdfunding Hub, to discuss everything around crowdfunding from what it is and how it works, to the different types of crowdfunding and which one is right for you as a business owner. She also shares what it is that makes a crowdfunding campaign successful and advice for women looking to crowdfund. A strategic markete...

In this episode, Shauna and Shannon sit down to discuss 5 tips for improving your financial resilience. Being resilient means the ability to get back up when you fall; so what does financial resilience mean and how can you build upon it? We share the answers to all these questions, giving you tangible tips on how to do so. Resilience is especially important today because the business environment i...

In this episode, Shannon will sit down with Charlene SanJenko, an Impact Producer and Media Visionary. Charlene leads Turtle Island's only Indigenous-owned and female-led media impact agency. reGEN's media is looking to shift how advertising dollars are spent and bring more investment to transformative stories that deliver target returns. We discuss the role media plays in shifting our future’s na...

In this episode, Shauna and Shannon sit down to discuss 5 financial goals to set you up in 2023. With a new year, comes new goals for yourself and your business. But, did you know that 25% of people give up their new years resolution within the first week? Shannon and Shauna are going to share their tips for making realistic financial goals you can stick with, and how to create a plan in order to...

In this episode, Shauna and Shannon sit down to discuss the highlights of 2022 and what they're looking forward to most in the new year. As co-founders of The Finance Cafe, they discuss some of the most notable episodes that stand out from Season 2 of the podcast, fascinating statistics from the year, behind the scene moments of the podcast, and details about their financial literacy program for w...