Shannon Gray’s sugaring business is experiencing some sweet success.

From its humble and determined start in 2011, Shannon has grown Sugar Me Right! Beauty Studio to serve a client base of 1,960, of which 749 are active monthly customers. In fact, the business has grown so much in the past year that she has just moved to a bigger space in downtown Peterborough.

“Taking the next step is always scary and exciting,” Shannon says.

She’s confident in this latest move because of how the pieces fell into place: an easy-going and extra-helpful landlord offering a “perfect” space, tremendous growth of her business over the past year — almost double — and a stable staff ready to make the move.

“When you’re weighing the pros and cons of a move, and things are falling into place, I just feel you have to take that leap of faith that this is the right way to go. There’s no reward without risk.”

That’s a lesson Shannon learned early in her journey as an entrepreneur, when she faced naysayers who told her “spa-like businesses always fail” and “you won’t get government funding for anything like this, these businesses tend to fold within two years.”

Those were clear messages even from funding agencies, Shannon says. Her choice? Fight or flight. She told them they didn’t know her and how determined she was, and she left the naysayers behind before they could talk her out of following her dream.

The early days were tough. Shannon was committed to sugaring, having experienced the benefits of sugaring as a form of hair removal for years, and then set her mind to making the service available to others.

Yet she was operating out of her home, and her home was in Buckhorn — not as accessible as downtown Peterborough. She had to take her sugaring table and equipment “on the road” to perform services in other people’s homes.

“At one of the last places I arrived with my table and sugars, I looked at the staircase and said ‘That’s it, this is the last time. I need to be stationary.'”

Shannon had started providing sugaring services in January 2011 and, two months later, knew what she had to do. Within a year, she had her own space on Park Street in Peterborough.

When that lease was up, she moved her business to a more central location on Charlotte Street where she grew for three years. Sugar Me Right! Beauty Studio operated from two treatment rooms, with a little extra space.

“The Charlotte Street location was nice but small,” she says.

So, this past June, she upgraded her treatment and office space by moving to 161 Sherbrooke Street in downtown Peterborough. She now has three full treatment rooms, a fully functional kitchen, on-site laundry, and parking.

“And I have an office space for the very first time,” she adds.

Most importantly, she says, there is a “big beautiful waiting room.”

“Our clients are our business,” Shannon says. “We exist because they choose us. So offering them the best experience, and making sure they feel appreciated and welcome, is really important to us.”

While sugaring has been used for hair removal since Egyptian times, its popularity grew exponentially in the 1990s when home products were made available. Today, sugaring is known as a less painful and safer option for hair removal than waxing.

While Sugar Me Right! Beauty Studio doesn’t guarantee permanent hair removal, Shannon says that’s often the outcome.

In addition to professional body sugaring, Sugar Me Right! Beauty Studio also offers Dead Sea salt body glows, ionic foot baths, lash lifts, semi-permanent mascara, and microblading.

Sugar Me Right! Beauty Studio is located at 161 Sherbrooke St., Unit 2 in downtown Peterborough. For more information and to schedule an appointment, call 705-742-6000, email info@sugarmeright.com, or visit www.sugarmeright.com. You can also follow Sugar Me Right on Facebook and Shannon on Twitter.

Imagine not having language to use as a communication tool. Imagine if whatever communication tools you had could be as easily misunderstood as understood. And, imagine if one person, one special being, had an uncanny knack at deciphering what you meant.

That’s the story of Karen Laws and her canine friends.

“I used to watch other people training dogs,” Karen says. “They’d beat the dog to get it to do what they wanted. I remember as a kid thinking there’s got to be a better way.”

She got her first Labrador Retriever when she was 11 and she trained him to walk beside her off-leash, never once with a whip.

“Sometimes, you don’t know what you don’t know until you go away from it and gain perspective,” she says. “I didn’t realize when I was training dogs just how much I understood about dog communications.

“I can think like a dog better than I can think like a person. It was a surprise to me that people didn’t think like I did.”

While Karen enjoyed her career as a field biologist, training dogs has always been her passion. She focussed on training Labrador Retrievers for field competition, and she was good at it. She had that uncanny ability to understand the animals that set her apart from other trainers. She was also a woman in a male-dominated industry.

“There weren’t many women training field dogs for competition in Canada,” Karen says, admitting that some of the men in the industry were surprised at her success using trust and respect rather than physical training methods. “I spent every spare minute working with my dogs.”

Every spare minute for 20 years. Then, after moving back to Peterborough for a promotion with the Ministry of Natural Resources, Karen turned her passion into a business — training dogs on behalf of their owners. The demand was so strong that she often put in an 18-hour day.

When she retired from her day job, it’s hardly any surprise that Karen went full speed into her training business — adding an interesting twist. Instead of just training dogs, she began to train trainers.

VIDEO: Karen Laws – The Ontario Dog Trainer

Then a new revelation: Karen says she would train a client’s dog with ease, but would find the clients also needed some education.

Now, Karen studies dog owners as much, or more, than she studies their dogs. Her unwritten business motto? Fix the people first. Her strategy is to train the trainers to do the same, filling what she calls a “huge gap” in the dog-training industry.

So from 2006, when Karen took her training business to people’s homes, to today, when she owns and operates a boarding school for dogs in Bethany (along with a robust nationally recognized train-the-trainer business with partners in Ottawa and Halifax), Karen has a few words of wisdom for people planning to start their own business.

“First of all, I don’t offer anything for free anymore,” she affirms. “Secondly, I bought a portable classroom and my income tripled in less than one year. It was the best thing I ever did.”

“And think five years out from the beginning,” she adds. “I got some advice to ‘just do it’, and that’s true. Just do it — but while you’re just doing it, think about where you want to be in five years.”

And for dog owners, Karen also has a few tips, including learning to think like the dog thinks. Dogs and humans live together in different worlds, so it’s important to find a way to understand a dog’s world.

“Dogs see with their noses,” Karen explains. “They are not verbal creatures. Sound to a dog has the meaning that we choose to give it.”

Respecting the dog and its personal space is an important part of building a strong bond of trust with your dog, she adds.

“Maintain calm energy and park egos at the door when working with your dog, and be consistent.”

Consistency, calmness, and crystal-clear communication using body language rather than with voice — along with respect for the dog — are the keys, she says.

Oh, and Karen has one more tip that follows from the others: when you are walking your dog, be with the dog … leave your cell phone at home or in your pocket.

Ontario Dog Trainer is located at 814 Lifford Road in Bethany. For more information, call Karen at 705-277-1503 (mobile: 705-761-2159) or visit ontariodogtrainer.com. You can also follow with Ontario Dog Trainer on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and connect with Karen on LinkedIn.

Maureen Tavener has the moves — whether it’s raising chickens, waltzing across the ballroom, or closing real estate deals.

“I’ve done it all,” laughs the Brockville native who was once featured as an up-and-coming star in a Hollywood magazine, and who owned and operated the Mardi Gras Dance Club in Peterborough in the 1970s.

Now she’s not only a trained dance instructor, retired professional dancer, wife, mother, restaurateur, and former chicken farmer, she’s also a veteran realtor with RE/MAX Eastern Realty Inc. Brokerage specializing in all facets of real estate including business and commercial.

Maureen lets the glint in her eye sparkle when you raise a questioning eyebrow at her multi-faceted life.

“You’ve gotta have variety,” she says with a wink. “It’s the spice of life.”

Always a confident leader, Maureen has a long history of raising eyebrows.

In the 1970s, when she was president of the predecessor of the Women’s Business Network (the Women’s Advertising and Sales Association), she attended a national conference in Calgary.

“Back then, men and women were still quite separated when it came to business,” she says. “There was a club for men, and a club for women.”

This conference — like the dance floor she was so used to — brought both men and women together. And, like in the ballroom, Maureen was a leader: she was the one you’d have seen in the airport, dressed all in white to match the authentic white cowboy hat that she’d received at the conference. And proudly carrying the Texas mickey she’d won.

Maureen is never the wallflower.

“Life is there for the taking,” she says with her signature smile and unique ability to leave you sure there’s another surprise around the corner. “It’s what you make it.”

As a young woman, Maureen says she always thought dancing would be the focus of her life. She studied dance in Ottawa at one of the best — Arthur Murray Dance Studios — where she learned poise and elegance and mastered the art of adjusting her ‘step’ to just about any move her partner made.

It’s also where Maureen learned the art of buying and selling, she says — the footwork of real estate. A good realtor, Maureen says, leads you through the purchase or sale like a masterful dance partner, anticipating your needs, adjusting to your step, and closing the gap at exactly the right time.

In real estate, whether you are buying or selling, the key is understanding what the client needs, and creating a perfect match, she says. Her early years on ballroom floors prepared her to gracefully maneuver the business world.

And sometimes, you need a bit of an attitude etiher on the dance floor or at the business table. Maureen admits she’s hardly short on attitude: after all, it was attitude that led her to embark on this lifelong real estate career.

“The agent that sold my husband and I our first home kept talking to my husband,” she recalls. “I just said ‘That’s not gonna fly. I’ll become an agent myself.”

The rest is a rather uniquely colourful history. While Maureen bought and sold businesses, she and her husband also forayed into several other professional arenas.

“When we were raising chickens, I’d spend some time up in a feed bin,” Maureen laughs. “I’d be almost white with the dust, and then I’d go inside, put on a suit, and go to work. It’s been quite a life!”

When it wasn’t chickens or dance students, it was storage units or a restaurant Maureen and her husband owned and managed.

These days, Maureen does most of her business from the comfort of her car which is home to a little of everything: duct tape, hammers, extra shoes. Whatever she needs to make one of the myriad adjustments she has become well known to master in the world of real estate.

Because like the young dancer who could walk into any room of men and choreograph a performance, Maureen is still the master of the perfect match.

You can contact Maureen Tavener at RE/MAX Eastern Realty Inc., Brokerage (34 Bridge Street in Lakefiled) at 705-652-3367 or by email at maureent@nexicom.net (or her assistant at sold@trytel.net). You can visit her website at www.maureentavener.com or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Sue Simmons believes that, as professional women, we can learn to thrive in the face of chaos — even when autism is part of the picture.

Sue experienced a life-altering moment, after which she realized that her life’s purpose was to help women who believe that they’re at the mercy of their circumstances.

It was the day her five-year-old son was diagnosed with autism.

After doing her research, and discovering that autism didn’t have to be a life sentence — thanks to the fact that the brain can be shaped through experience — she turned for help to a Relationship Development Intervention (RDI®) Consultant. This leading-edge program is based on neurodevelopment and child development, and promises to give parents a second chance to build a loving, reciprocal relationship with their child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

“I was able to build the connection with my son that I had only dreamed of,” Sue says. “It changed my life, not to mention my son’s.”

She said goodbye to her career in sales and marketing, and went to Houston, Texas to train with the psychologists who developed the evidence-based program.

Since 2006, she’s been a Certified RDI® Consultant and guides her clients to reclaim their power, competence, and the joy of connection through her business, Equinox Family Consulting Ltd.

That was the first ‘aha’ experience; the second came when Sue learned about the fastest growing mind-body methodology in the world, which reduces stress and anxiety, and can shift negative thinking patterns so women aren’t at the mercy of their worries.

The technique she discovered is a cutting edge treatment called Emotional Freedom Techniques, or EFT — also known as “tapping”.

This gentle technique is based on the scientifically proven premise that our minds and bodies are inextricably connected. EFT calms the “fight or flight” centre of the brain, allowing us to live a life beyond what we think and feel on a daily basis. Essentially, it gives us freedom from our mind-chatter and worry.

“Becoming Certified as an EFT Practitioner was a game changer for me,” Sue says. “It allowed me to manage my emotions and freed me from being a slave to my thoughts and worries.”

The fact that tapping had yet to be considered mainstream by some western psychologists when Sue embraced it is not lost on her, but her own personal experience reinforced its value. And now, the scientific world has uncovered clear evidence of its effectiveness and, of course, the mind-body connection.

VIDEO: Equinox Family Consulting

“Both my autism work (RDI®) and tapping were considered ‘woo woo’ until recently because they’re both focused on building new neural connections,” Sue explains. “Now, the concept of neuroplasticity is widely accepted and backed by mountains of research.”

It was a short leap to see that she could also help professional women who are consumed with “family stuff,” overstretched and overwhelmed. She helps them to become proactive and learn to manage their mindset powerfully, so they can thrive, regardless of their life circumstances.

“We can get back in the driver’s seat, and live with power and joy.”

In 2017, her business includes both types of client: families with a child on the autism spectrum, and professional women who feel they’ve lost touch with their authentic selves — and long to feel joy and meaningful connection with their families.

Equinox Family Consulting Ltd. is located in Peterborough. For more information, call 705-875-4605 or visit www.equinoxfamilyconsulting.com. You can also follow Equinox Family Consulting Ltd. on Facebook, and connect with Sue Simmons on Twitter and LinkedIn.

The morning light peeks through the branches that overhang the corner table at the Silver Bean, Peterborough’s waterfront cafe. The air is laden with the promise of heat and humidity, but neither Carrie Wakeford nor Pat Kenney forego the coffee.

“We have to have the coffee,” they both say, laughing.

Pat is the founder of Black Cap Design, a full-service web development business based in Peterborough, and Carrie is his partner in the company — and in life — which they both joke is often one and the same thing.

In the summer, Carrie and Pat find the Silver Bean Cafe one of the best places to meet clients, either to review websites or to begin the process of planning a brand new one.

“The great thing about being in business for yourself is that you can work wherever and whenever you want to,” Pat says. “The downside is that you often work all the time.”

While Pat is responsible for the creative and technical side of the business, Carrie manages the incoming business requests.

“Your website is your hub,” Carrie says. “It’s your home base. From there, you shoot off to social media, newsletters, and blogs. We do the website portion; taking the design and back-end management off your plate makes the rest a little more manageable.”

Both Carrie and Pat were counsellors before venturing into the world of web development. Pat says it was a very intentional decision to change careers in his mid 40s, return to school, and open a business that would appeal to his innate desire to be both creative and constructive.

“When I was working with youth, I would assess the challenges, and make a plan for how to help the youth or family get back on track,” he says. “Now, we’re essentially doing the same thing, but with websites. We listen to the client’s business needs, and build a website to get them where they need to be.”

Which is a constant challenge, Pat adds, because the internet is always changing. And it’s what he loves about his work: it’s anything but static.

“In another ten years, everything will have changed again,” he says. “My hope is that we can continue to find that interesting place on the curve.”

Today, there’s a trend toward clients who want to manage their own content as the popularity of user-friendly content management tools such as WordPress grows. In addition to her business management role, Carrie also provides training in WordPress to clients who wish to keep the content management piece under their own hat.

“We really offer the full service,” Carrie explains. “We help people figure out what they want and need, design it, then teach them how to work it.”

Working in this cyber world requires a steadiness, Pat adds, and Carrie nods in agreement. It’s been an 11-year journey and both Carrie and Pat are still loving it.

“If you love what you do, why give it up?”

Black Cap Design is located at 310 Elias Avenue in Peterborough. For more information, call 705-927-2308, email info@blackcapdesign.com, or visit www.blackcapdesign.com. You can also find Black Cap Design on Facebook.

You can also connect with both Carrie and Pat on LinkedIn.

From flowing tunics and stunning Joseph Ribkoff dresses, to cozy cottage wear, The Kawartha Store has it all.

They carry the very best Canadian designers who are still manufacturing in Canada. For that special occasion, you’ll find a huge selection of Joseph Ribkoff dresses and separates. Wanting a more casual look? They carry Tribal, Softworks and Michael Tyler. The Kawartha Store is your go-to for fine fashion that fits and gifts that give the greatest wow.

The shop occupies three spaces under one roof at 30 Colborne Street in Fenelon Falls, Ont. The spacious — 5,000 square feet — clothing, shoes, and gift emporium for women and men features something for everyone.

“Originally, I really wanted to create a space that sold great jeans and tops,” says owner Trish Dougherty, who opened The Kawartha Store in 2012.

VIDEO: Welcome to The Kawartha Store in Fenelon Falls

She succeeded: the store now boasts one of the biggest selections of Yoga Jeans by Second Denim. In fact, it’s the largest online selection of Yoga Jeans in the world, says Dougherty, who prefers to go by “Trish” with her customers.

There are jeans for every size and shape imaginable — regular, plus-size, tall, skinny, straight, ankle, and boyfriend — and in a stunning variety of colours and washes. And all Yoga Jeans are handcrafted at their production facility in Quebec.

Not only do they look chic and sporty all at once, but they’re built to last: the brushed cotton is woven to maximum stretch along with 94 per cent shape retention. Put a pair of great fitting yoga jeans together with a Parkhurst sweater and you are set for anything, she says.

“We have customers totally addicted to these jeans,” laughs Trish. “I might be addicted to them too!”

Speaking of love, there is nothing more addicting, design wise, than the feel and look of European fabrics. The Kawartha Store searches for unique pieces from top Canadian designers: Joseph Ribkoff tunics, sweaters, dresses, skirts and pants worn by celebrities around the world. The Montreal-made designs feature flattering lines for every shape.

If comfort and breathability are features you cherish, then Miik, FIG and C’est Moi bamboo tops and tunics are for you. And no need to sift through the hangers on a crowded display; the friendly, knowledgeable staff at The Kawartha Store will find the perfect outfit for you.

“Our staff is truly amazing,” Trish says. “We are totally committed to putting you in the right outfit.”

That’s why The Kawartha Store features such a powerhouse of designers — Ribkoff, Yoga Jeans by Second Denim, Parkhurst Knitwear, Michael Tyler, Soft Works, Dex, and Tribal — as well as small hard-to-find Canadian designers like Eaze Wear, Miik, FIG, Tonia Debellis, Ruelle, and Gitaine. And so many more.

“What we want to do is promote Canadian designers, Canadian-made designs, and offer as wide a selection as possible, so that every person who comes in our door, or visits our online shop, will find something they love,” Trish says.

Trish, a farm girl from Quebec, knows first-hand the value of “Canadian made”, be it maple syrup or local produce. The Kawartha Store offers more than 40 Canadian manufacturers and, in addition to ladies fashions, offers menswear, footwear, jewellery, handbags, and giftware. It even offers a comfortable social area for customers to gather or simply take a break.

“We are doing more than selling clothes,” Trish says. “We are creating an entire experience for our customers.”

A trip to Trish’s store, for example, often includes a customer receiving a sightseeing tip, a referral to a local restaurant, or a compliment — or two or three.

In sizes from XS to 4XL, 0 to 20, in a wide range of price points, the clothing selection ranges from intimates and sporty, to business casual and dressy. And for every outfit, there is the perfect accessory. The Kawartha Store has sandals by Vionic & Steve Madden, necklaces and earrings by Anne-Marie Chagnon, Myka, Kameleon, Tima, and handbags by Derik Alexander and Matt & Nat.

In the menswear section there are Lois jeans and Viyella shirts, and a double rack of Mypakage underwear with many colour and designs from floral to camo. In giftware, there are cozy fitted pyjamas and slippers for the entire family, pottery maple products, novelty t-shirts, even one-of-a-kind puppets for the young-at-heart.

And while the trip to Fenelon Falls is always worth the drive — the store is a real destination — all this is also available at your very fingertips, simply by visiting www.thekawarthastore.ca.

Customers will find not only the ease of shopping and the variety of price points just like in the physical store, but a frugal world-wide shipping policy and the opportunity to engage with The Kawartha Store through newsletters, social media communities on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest, plus blogs that include style, lifestyle and beauty tips.

All this, because giving back to the customer — indeed the community — is something The Kawartha Store continues to passionately pursue. The evidence? The Kawartha Store has raised a whopping $15,000 in just two years to support local medical walk-in clinics through their “Walk In Strut Out” fundraiser each May.

Trish is full to the brim with ideas and excitement for her store, the unique selections it offers, and the equally unique and fun clientele it draws.

She ties a bow on a customer’s gift-wrapped package and gives the ribbon a swirl.

“The future?” she pauses. “Well, I always look forward to the next collection, the next season, the next customer. I imagine that’s what I’ll be doing at least ten years from now!”

The Kawartha Store is located at 30 Colborne Street in Fenelon Falls. Hours are 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 705-887-9888 or email info@thekawarthastore.ca. To browse and shop online, visit www.thekawarthastore.ca. You can also connect with The Kawartha Store on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Not too many of us can claim the work we do every day affects the lives of hundreds of thousands of people of every age, ethnicity, gender, and socio-economic background — but Lesley Heighway can.

As President and CEO of the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) Foundation, Lesley works hard to bridge the ever-increasing gap between government funding and the necessary costs of providing high-quality care at our region’s hopsital.

For almost six years now, Lesley has led a team of professionals and volunteers who have raised between $4 and $5 million every year for PRHC — more than $21 million over the past five years.

“Many people don’t realize the government does not typically fund hospital equipment or technology,” she says. “That’s why the most generous communities have the best hospitals.”

These community donations fund the tools and technology that form the backbone of patient care at PRHC and help bring new lifesaving services to our region. Not only that, but a hospital’s ability to fund state-of-the-art equipment and technology is one way to attract and retain health care professionals, helping to put the standard of care at PRHC on par with the top hospitals across Canada.

A tireless advocate and ambassador on behalf of PRHC, Lesley is clearly passionate about health care philanthropy. She’s personally helped thousands of people understand the tangible ways their donations are transforming health care.

“Donors are touching the lives of people they’ve never met every day,” she says. “Our role as a foundation is to give donors an opportunity to give back, while at the same time seeing how their donations are making a real difference in the lives of patients and their loved ones.”

The PRHC Foundation is committed to supporting the hospital’s centres of excellence, which serve the region with state-of-the-art cancer care, cardiac care, and vascular surgery — some of the fastest growing and most innovative areas of health care.

With her wealth of business knowledge along an MBA specializing in leadership, Lesley aspires to match the private sector for innovation and creative thinking when it comes to fundraising, while still maintaining the warmth and compassion that fuels inspiration among her team.

And these efforts have paid off. Under Lesley’s leadership, in 2016 the PRHC Foundation was recognized by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy as a “High Performer” for 2014/2015, putting it in the top 25% or more than 2,200 health care organizations across Canada and the United States. The international professional organization gave the designation to only 45 health care foundations.

“We’re extremely proud of this achievement,” Lesley says. “It speaks to the commitment of our team and our Board of Directors to the responsible stewardship of community donations.”

A typical work day for Lesley consists of working with donors and spearheading fundraising efforts that currently include $8.75 million in cancer care investments, $2.7 million for a new Learning Centre for PRHC, $1.75 million for surgical investments, $1 million for technology for women’s and children’s services, and additional millions for equipment that covers all areas of the hospital from the Emergency Department to Palliative Care.

In the last two years alone, Lesley has successfully led efforts to fund:

• Two of three new mammography machines needed for breast cancer screening in PRHC’s Breast Assessment Centre, part of a $1.9 million campaign.
• A $1 million investment in upgrading nine of PRHC’s 12 operating rooms for minimally invasive surgery, enabling PRHC to begin to transition from performing 35% of all surgeries using minimally invasive techniques to performing 80% that way.
• An $850,000 investment in upgrading and expanding the Cardiac Cath Lab with vital technology upgrades that have significantly reduced procedural radiation exposure for both patients and PRHC physicians and staff, as well as technology that’s brought brand new cardiac treatments to our community for the first time.
• $1.1 million in state-of-the-art laboratory equipment investments that enable faster, more accurate diagnosis and treatment, particularly in cancer care.
• Other vital investments in patient care areas across the hospital from the Emergency Department to ICU, in Women’s and Children’s, Diagnostic Imaging, Cancer Care, Palliative Care and more.

While the success of PRHC Foundation’s fundraising efforts speaks for itself, Lesley’s passion for philanthropy extends far beyond our community. She is involved with an advocacy and advisory group of regional hospital foundation CEOs from across the province. As one of Peterborough’s foremost experts in legacy giving (giving through estate plans), she takes a lead role in working with financial and legal advisors.

She also shares her extensive knowledge and experience with the community through a wide range of board and advisory roles with other organizations and service clubs, as well as a variety of coaching and mentoring relationships with up-and-coming fundraising and young business professionals.

While Lesley is the first to acknowledge that the success of the PRHC Foundation is not hers alone, there’s no denying the impact of her expertise in leadership, motivation, and workplace culture in that success.

“I’m extremely proud of my team and I’m dedicated to supporting them to achieve their highest potential,” she says. “It’s all about creating an organizational culture that fosters passion as well as results.”

The Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) Foundation is located at One Hospital Drive in Peterborough. For more information about the PRHC Foundation and how you can make great health care possible in our community, call 705-876-5000, email foundation@prhc.on.ca, or visit www.prhcfoundation.ca. You can also connect with the PRHC Foundation on Facebook, Twitter, and Vimeo.

A model of innovation, collaboration and engagement: Catia Skinner’s dynamic presence as the CEO of Kawartha Entertainment Group Inc. (KEGI), as well as The Venue and marketing agency Mega Experience, reflects her passion for Peterborough and community.

She’s both highly competent and driven, while at the same time welcoming, gentle, friendly, and open. She is a recipient of the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce “4 Under 40 award” and is a Newcomer Entrepreneur of the Year award nominee for the Chamber’s 2017 Business Excellence Awards.

Perfect traits, one might say, for the woman behind one of the city’s most rapidly growing event spaces.

Aptly named, The Venue is a multipurpose space that hosts conferences and conventions, weddings, business meetings, galas and other fundraisers, concerts, art shows, and sports events.

With a full kitchen, a dedicated chef, a capacity of more than 900, complete onsite catering for 340 in a sit-down dinner, and concert-quality sound equipment, The Venue also features three uniquely connected spaces: the Lobby Bar, Main Hall, and Balcony Lounge.

“Each space can be used individually,” Catia explains, depending on the atmosphere the client is creating and the number of guests. “The good thing about our space is that we can change it to be whatever a client needs.”

That’s because The Venue is uniquely set up on two levels, complete with stage and dance floor. Its versatility is one of its main selling features.

The Venue building is owned by MAS Capital Investments Inc., or, in other words, Catia’s husband, Michael. You may know him as the previous CEO of Operitel Corporation, Conservative Candidate of Record in the 2015 federal election; you may also know him as a property manager and relentless volunteer in the area.

When it comes to The Venue, Catia explains that flexibility and versatility are its foundations.

“We work very closely with customers to understand what they are looking for,” she says. “Our strength is our experienced staff who know how to ask the questions, to share our own experiences, to offer suggestions and options, and to make the client’s vision come to life.”

The goal, always, is to sit down with the client, face-to-face, to determine exactly what that vision looks like, because Catia is also practical. The evidence for that can be seen in the other company she heads, Mega Experience.

Mega (as she informally calls the full-service brand experience marketing company of which she is co-owner and director) assumes all the marketing for The Venue, under Catia’s direction. Strategic? Definitely. Practical? Obviously. What better way to position a set of companies than to pair an event space with a marketing company?

And not just any marketing company. Mega Experience is based on a model of “experiential marketing” from Mega Experience in Catia’s home country of Brazil. While the two companies are linked in philosophy and collaboration, Mega Experience Canada operates entirely self-sufficiently in Peterborough.

Catia explains the motivation behind Mega Experience.

“I had this passion to help clients with their complete marketing needs, to incorporate strategic planning into all marketing, and to do experiential marketing, focused on the five senses where we catch people’s eyes, their tastes, their ears — their emotion — to sell them on an idea, concept, or brand.

“It’s not just about making a pretty design. It’s about making something meaningful for the client. I like to see the ‘Wow Factor.'”

The result is creating meaningful experiences for customers, clients, and communities in Peterborough and the Kawarthas.

There’s much more to come from both The Venue and Mega Experience, according to Catia:

• The Venue will continue to refine its branding, positioning itself in front of its corporate audience. Central to that are the relationships The Venue is building with its customers and the entire community, partly through the avenues opened by social media managed by Mega Experience.
• While The Venue is almost fully booked on weekends, there’s the potential for hosting more weekday events. Catia says that often when an event is over, the client books immediately for the following year. Strategically speaking, that leaves weekdays for new business, and Catia is honing in on that audience.
• There are also more opportunities for corporate involvement in and support of the community. KEGI considers requests for sponsorship on an annual basis and supports every cause it can. When additional requests for help come in throughout the year, Catia seriously considers them, in conjunction with a review board, to provide support whenever she can. She also sits on several not-for-profit boards and committees, including the New Canadians Centre, Peterborough Pregnancy Support Services, and Bears’ Lair. Catia has also been a past board member of three years with the Women’s Business Network in the roles of Strategic Planning and Director at Large.

Going forward, Catia says both The Venue and Mega Experience will continue to stay focused on the local community.

“I want to see The Venue and Mega grow,” she says. “I want to see us doing something that is meaningful for Peterborough, growing more, and being even more engaged in the community. The whole vision for us is for the Peterborough community.”

The Venue is located at 286 George Street in downtown Peterborough. For event inquiries, call 705-876-0008 or email events@kegi.ca. For band bookings, email concerts@kegi.ca. For more information and to find out what’s happening at The Venue, you can visit www.venueptbo.com or connect with The Venue on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Mega Experience Canada is located at 270 George Street North in downtown Peterborough. For more information, call 705-243-6989, email contact@megaexperience.ca, or visit www.megaexperience.ca. You can also connect with Mega Experience on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

When Jeannine Taylor first got access to the internet in late 1995, she wasn’t sure how it was going to change her own life — but she did know it was going to change everything else.

“I was the managing editor of three local print magazines at the time and the internet was a huge eureka moment for me,” she recalls. “I’d always worked in marketing and promotion and I just knew that the internet was a game changer.”

After a Christmas holiday spent surfing the internet — she laughingly says she was single at the time — she returned to her freelance work, recommending that her print publisher needed to embrace the internet.

When that didn’t happen, she went online herself, developing an “e-zine” with local content that launched on May 1, 1996 — just five months later. Called Quid Novis (a variation of “what’s new?” in Latin), the website at quidnovis.com received 10,000 visits in its first week.

“That was a lot of internet traffic back in 1996,” Jeannine says. “It’s funny now to think of the publicity we got at the time. CBC Radio called me to come to Toronto for an interview, and the local daily and television news covered it too.”

There were only a handful of local websites in existence at the time, and businesses began to seek out Jeannine for guidance in web development and internet marketing. Quid Novis soon morphed into Quid Novis Internet Productions.

“We got really busy doing website development,” she says. “It was so busy that we didn’t need to seek out new clients — they came to us.”

The business grew over the next 15 years, with Quid Novis Internet Productions developing and hosting hundreds of websites for the private and public sector and garnering local, provincial, and international awards.

Along the way, Jeannine has earned her own share of awards and accolades.

She was Peterborough’s Business Woman of the Year in 2005, a Premier’s Award nominee in 2003, and received a City of Peterborough Civic Award for chairing a fundraising committee for the development of Millennium Park.

Despite the success of her website development business, Jeannine never lost sight of her original intent to develop an online media publication. Quidnovis.com had continued to thrive separately as a community events website, with growing traffic every month — but it was a labour of love. She committed staff resources to maintain and update the site, even though it was a cost centre for the company.

By 2006, changes were happening in the web development industry that made it easier for people to develop and host their own websites. At the same time, social media networks like Facebook and Twitter were gaining traction both with individuals and businesses.

“I realized the potential to grow the web development business was limited,” she says, and decided to shift her focus back on the business of online publishing.

Because the Quid Novis brand had become synonymous with web development, Jeannine rebranded quidnovis.com to kawarthaNOW.com in July 2010 and greatly expanded the site’s content to include news, arts, lifestyle, and business content as well as community events.

Over the past seven years, the site has continued to grow, now reaching more than 200,000 unique readers every month who read 25,000 pages daily. kawarthaNOW.com was recognized in 2011 and 2013 with the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce Excellence Awards for Entrepreneurial Spirit.

Jeannine, who is often asked to speak on digital marketing to local business groups, is also a regular media contributor. She has appeared on CBC Ontario Morning, CBC Fresh Air, Kruz, Magic, Extra, and CHEX Television.

But the internet has not only changed Jeannine’s business life — it’s also changed her personal life. It’s where she met her life and business partner Bruce Head, who has been by her side every step of the way since 1996 and is currently kawarthaNOW.com’s managing editor and lead developer.

“I often joke that my only true talent is recruitment,” she says. “I recruited Bruce via Match.com in 1996 and I recruit all of our writers. We have amazing talented writers on our team, and they all understand our focus on high-quality content, which is a key feature of our brand.”

And there’s no slowing down. When it comes to online business, change is constant and fast paced, and there’s a need to be present and active on multiple channels — both web and social media — every day and without pause.

AUDIO: Jeannine Taylor on CBC Radio’s Fresh Air

“We have to make the time to plan strategically and be ready to take action when needed,” Jeannine explains. “We constantly have to re-evaluate our position in the market and watch who’s crossing into our business lane at any time. We used to do a SWOT once a year but now it’s something we talk about all the time.”

While for most people this might seem exhausting, Jeannine says it actually energizes her.

“It forces me to be constantly researching and learning,” she says. “The real challenge is being able to accurately identify our next moves, where we need to be going, and how to get there.

“With the pace of change on the internet, it’s a daily process to stay tuned in and be vigilant. It’s a good thing that, over 20 years later, I still believe the internet is the future of news and communication.”

The head office of kawarthaNOW.com is located in Peterborough. For more information, contact Jeannine Taylor at jt@kawarthanow.com or 705-742-6404. You can follow kawarthaNOW.com on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

The old adage “Home is Where the Heart Is” might as well be a slogan for Kawartha Lakes Construction (KLC). With three decades of experience building and renovating homes and cottages in the Kawarthas region, the team of professionals at KLC has a keen understanding of the meaning of the word “home”.

“We’re about building relationships,” says Christine Watts, Design Manager and Senior Designer at KLC and a member of the Women’s Business Network of Peterborough.

Relationships that start as soon as a potential client makes that first call: 75 per cent of KLC’s client base is made up of either repeat business or referrals from other happy clients.

The team at KLC takes it from there, helping narrow the vision for the project down. Is it a renovation the client is considering or is it a new build or an addition? What kind of space are they hoping to create: cozy and tidy or spacious and open? How much do they want to spend? They also ask the client to scrapbook ideas they like from Houzz, Pinterest, or magazines and to share the scrapbook with the KLC team.

The questions can seem overwhelming, but the team at KLC says that upfront work is crucial to the process. One of the first people a client will see is Christine, who joined the team in 2003 so that KLC could offer a full suite of services, from design concepts to completed construction.

“Before we even sit down to make the first design, whether it’s a room renovation or a new build, we have a detailed questionnaire that helps anchor our client’s thoughts and identify exactly what they want,” she says.

The questionnaire takes the client room by room through the home, identifying the type of living the client enjoys (for example, formal or informal), their hobbies, their must-haves and their nice-to-haves, how many cooks there are in the kitchen, and how many people living in the home.

The end result is a better understanding of what the client wants, but Christine says the process has another surprising result.

VIDEO: Design/Build. Home Builder. Home Renovator.

“The client is also educated on a number of levels,” she says. “It can help with budgeting, and to bring their expectations in line with what’s legal to build, what’s possible, and what’s in the budget.

“It helps us to understand the client, their style, what they’re trying to do, to begin to develop that relationship.”

After the initial relationship building, Christine gets to work on the “jigsaw puzzle.” She takes all the information, the wish lists, her own background in construction, the budget the client has helped to draw, and the legal piece, and matches them together into a design framed by the relationship KLC has built with the client.

“We are absolutely dedicated to making sure clients are happy through the process as well as at the end,” Christine says. “We want to make sure we are delivering what will improve the life of the client.”

About 80 per cent of the projects KLC works on are large-scale renovations and remodelling. Christine says people are choosing to renovate rather than build in today’s economic climate — whether it’s a cottage property, a lakefront home, or a century building in the middle of the city.

As people sell homes and retire to the area, they often have a little extra money from the home sale to put into renovation.

“Clients find it more economical to renovate something they have,” Chrisitine explains. “They like where they are and just want to improve what they have.”

The trends in design these days include open concepts and lots of glass to let the outdoors in, she says. Energy efficiency is also important to clients so Christine spends a large amount of her time working on specifics of heating and cooling of the home.

She expects her job to become even more challenging as homes become smaller and the task of bringing in fresh air to the home, and exhausting the stale air out, heightens. And rules change frequently. For example, as of July 2017, new homes and garages have to include wiring for any future electric car plug-ins.

“It can be very overwhelming for clients who have not been through this process before,” she says, adding that the KLC team is committed to a process that ensures clients are educated of the details through extensive upfront planning, including the use of three-dimensional drawing software that allows a client to tour a room before a design is finalized.

“Sometimes it’s difficult to feel what the room’s going to be like from a drawing on a piece of paper,” Christine says. “We want to make sure the client is well informed.

“We are building and renovating homes, taking the process right from the first inkling a client has through to completed construction. To do that successfully, to have a product we’re proud of and the client loves, we’re also building relationships.

When you hire us, you hire a team of professionals committed to your dream.”

Kawartha Lakes Construction is located at 3359 Lakefield Road in Lakefield and serves the Peterborough, Lakefield, and Kawartha Lakes area. For more information, call 705-652-5241 (toll free at 1-800-951-8062), email info@kawarthalakesconstruction.com, or visit www.kawarthalakesconstruction.com. You can also connect with KLC on Facebook, LinkedIn, Houzz, and Twitter.