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!

We’re honoured to announce that the four co-founders of Mabel’s Labels – Julie Cole, Cynthia Esp, Julie Ellis and Tricia Mumby – are finalists in the 2009 RBC Women Entrepreneur Awards, in the RBC Momentum Award category. This annual award recognizes women entrepreneurs from across Canada who make exceptional contributions to the local, Canadian and global economy.

It is truly an accomplishment for the co-founders to be recognized, as a record 1500+ nominees applied for these prestigious awards, in five categories.

You can read more about the awards in this RBC/Women of Influence press release. Please note, while the release states Julie Cole as the finalist, all co-founders are officially equal contenders.

Winners will be announced at an Awards Gala in Toronto on December 8, 2009. Wish us luck!

I go to the Mabel’s Labels HQ about two and half days a week and work from home the rest of the time. I like going to the office for the obvious reasons – it’s quiet, no one interrupts me to say they want a snack, and I get to dress up a bit (OK, admittedly “dressing up” is only about a half step up from my mama uniform).

There’s something else about the office that I like that’s tricky to describe – a certain dynamic that makes ours not your average office.

One thing is that our staff is just plain fun – a real mix of humour, passion, intelligence and quirkiness. All this while also being completely professional and skillful. It’s a tall order, but we seem to have pulled it off. I’ve always had a hard time exactly pinpointing what it was about our office dynamic that made going to work so enjoyable. I never knew how to define it until Elia came along.

Elia recently completed a co-op placement with our Production Department. She was diligent and made countless contributions during her time at Mabel’s Labels. Elia also has autism. One of the skills we appreciated most was Elia’s ability to spin a regular occurrence into something memorable.

There was one situation that we all got a kick out of – whenever Elia was placed alongside a certain male student to work; she got a little twinkle in her eye and spring in her step. She would giggle and joke with him as they worked together. Then one day she said about this student what I have not been able to summarize about our work environment. She said “Oh Alex, you’re contagious!”

Contagious! That was the word that best describes our staff team – we hire people who are contagious. To celebrate Elia’s completion of her term with us, we had an office ice-cream party. Even though Elia is back at school and done here at Mabel’s Labels, her contagious personality will not be forgotten anytime soon.

Elia with one of the Mabel babies

Today is vintage rock t-shirt day at Mabel’s Labels. We had everything from The Clash to The Backstreet Boys represented! 

Ida from production even made a gorgeous watermelon cake for everyone to snack on.

If you are in the greater Hamilton, ON area and need a cake contact Ida at info@mabel.ca

She does an amazing job!

Thanks to everyone in the office for having fun and rockin’ out!

This week is shaping up to be a great one for Mabel’s Labels! We are going full swing at the office producing our ever popular Ultimate Back-to-School Combo. It is only available until September 25 so be sure to get your order in soon.  

The Combo was featured on Parenting.com as one of their 25 Back-to-School Bargain Buys along with many other fantastic products.
SweetMama.ca also launched their Back-to-School Guide this week with a feature on the Ultimate Back-to-School Combo. It is a great guide if you are sending a little one off the school for the first time like me. You can search the guide by narrowing results by city, category and price range.

Mabel’s Labels was mentioned on Canada AM Monday morning as an essential product for Back-to-School by Today’s Parent associate editor Dana Reike. View the clip on the CTV website here.