To say we are THRILLED to be the recipients of the RBC Momentum award would be an understatement.
Seven years ago we were working through the night in a dingy basement. In those early days, we paid our first web designer not in cash, but in exchange for a foosball table.
Now we are here and our thank yous are many:
First and foremost to Carolyn Lawrence and our friends at Women of Influence, to our esteemed panel of judges, and of course to RBC, the kind sponsors of the Momentum Award. We truly appreciate your support and hard work.
On a personal note, we also want to recognize some people who have been on this journey with us.
1) It seems appropriate to acknowledge our women folk – including a handful of mothers, grandmothers, mothers-in-law and a step-mother. And since the four Mabel partners are related, some of these women have overlapping roles! They have provided wisdom and support to us. Their lives have been remarkable and their love for us unwavering. Let this be the legacy we leave our daughters.
2) Our spouses – known affectionately as ‘the Mabel widowers’. Creating and growing this business would not have been possible without their encouragement and their willingness to watch every family function transform into a strategic planning meeting.
3) Our collective 12 children – who sometimes have to suffer through having mothers who, while having one eye firmly on the soccer field or ice rink, have another eye occasionally straying to her BlackBerry. Our children were our inspiration to start a business, and continue to inspire us in so many ways.
4) The Mabel team – our staff has worked in unconventional spaces with unconventional supervisors. They have suffered through tremendous and challenging growth and change, always remaining positive and keeping the company’s needs their top priority.
5) Our customers – clearly, we love them for buying labels and we quite literally would not be here without them! But in addition to that, our customers are loyal and many have been with us through the years, providing us with feedback, ideas and spreading the Mabel word among their contacts. They have become a part of the Mabelhood community and shaped that community through engaging with us on many different levels.
We four partners have had quite a ride, and throughout it all we have remained a strong sisterhood – four different women who have laughed together, struggled together, raised families together and worked, worked, worked.
We started a business because we chose to live as dynamic business owners, enthusiastic mothers and inspired women. Thank you to the esteemed panel of judges who, by selecting us, showed that you value that choice.
We want you to be the first to know that the Co-Founders of Mabel’s Labels were awarded the RBC Momentum Award this evening! Winners were announced Dec 8th at The 2009 RBC Canadian Woman Entrepreneur Awards Gala at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. Master of Ceremonies was Diane Francis, Editor-at-Large for the Financial Post. These are the top national business awards for female entrepreneurs and this year saw a record 1500+ nominees, so it’s exciting stuff! Find out more here: www.theawards.ca
Attending the event were partners Julie Cole, Cynthia Esp, Julie Ellis and Tricia Mumby, along with husbands, family members and several staff.
A massive “thank you” to everyone who has bought our products, shared the love and been with us through the years. And, if you are a female entrepreneur (or thinking of being one), we hope our win will inspire you. Our business started with a simple idea and a lot of hard work. We’ve come a long way in a fairly short time but could not have done it without your support. So, again, THANK YOU!
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.
I was 18-years-old when the 14 women were gunned down. As an earlier adopter of feminism, I had already done much of the reading required of a budding feminist and had some very decent mentors in place.
When the Montreal Massacre happened, it rocked my young world. Twenty years have gone by and never have I forgotten that day. Throughout my life, I have remembered.
I remembered the 14 women the year after the massacre, as I sat in my first year university lectures, imagining what it would be like for someone to walk into my lecture hall and kill me – because of my gender.
I remembered the 14 women as a graduate student working with women’s groups – planning memorial services for December 6th.
I remembered the 14 women when I was at law school, choosing subjects like Feminist Legal Theory and writing papers that focused on gender, violence, Battered Women’s Syndrome, etc.
I remembered the 14 women when I worked at a women’s legal service, having to go through security to get into the building and working behind bullet proof glass. All that because of the men in the lives of our clients.
I remembered the 14 women when I gave birth to my first daughter on International Women’s Day in 2001, wondering what her life would hold and what the women of her generation would face.
And how do I remember the 14 women now?
I remember them as I raise my sons and daughters. I remember them in simple ways – conversations with my children, the way I use language, through setting expectations and by bucking gender stereotypes within our home. Feminism is not a big scary word. It is founded on the basic principle that women have choice – the choice to have six kids, the choice to have none.
Last week I was in the carpool line picking up my oldest son. I realized once I got there that I hadn’t brought my bag. I just put the younger kids in the car and headed off to school. My kids are generally quiet while we are in line and if I am lucky they even fall asleep. I should revel in the quiet time right? Nope, not me. My mind started to run wild with the things I had to do and I had NOTHING to write them down on. Ideas popped up left and right and I knew I wouldn’t remember them when I got home. I think as mothers we are used to so much noise throughout the day that when things are finally quiet our brain tries to catch up on all of our thoughts for the day – all at once!
Anytime I know I will have a wait… carpool, doctor’s office, etc., I carry a couple of things with me. I always have my notebook and feel lost without it. It is good practice to get those thoughts out when you have them, otherwise you have all of this stuff bottled up that will come out sometime. For me it is when my head hits the pillow at night. Restless sleep for a mother of three is never a good thing.
I also carry with me a magazine I want to read and any mail I need to catch up on. You might want to have a couple of note cards on hand as well so you can pen a letter to someone you are thinking about.
Taking these spurts of time to do something productive will help keep things in balance and free your mind of clutter.
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