This Commerce Life

Happy 10th birthday to Moonshine Mama's! Mel Divers talks about putting summer in a bottle.

I could have sworn I produced it, but I can't find it!(Phil)

Check out Moonshine Mama's here: https://moonshinemamas.ca/

Melinda is here on Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/melinda-divers-75a32259/

Her episode on Hearts & Carts is here: https://podcasts.apple.com/bg/podcast/melinda-divers-ceo-founder-moonshine-mamas/id1653692647?i=1000632562460

He has 18+ years of real estate development, and he knows music spaces. But now, he knows kitchens too. COO of Coho Collective Kitchens, Amrit Maharaj talks about one of our favorite subjects - food!

check out Coho Commissary here: https://www.cohocollectivekitchens.com/

Find Amrit here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amrit-maharaj-00334b193/

This one is a different episode. Daniel Rabu is an aquaculturist. We didn't really know what that was. 

Daniel talks about his work with First Nations,  he talks about growing seaweed, abalone, oysters, sea cucumbers and many more things. 

You can find Daniel here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-rabu-177b3b16/?originalSubdomain=ca

We get naked and saucy (sortof) with Founder Paul Gill. 

Paul talks about his sauces, but he also gives an episode full of tips & tricks for founders - things that he's learned along the way.

You can find Paul here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gillpaul/

Check out  Naked & Saucy here: https://nakedandsaucy.com/

Make sure you subscribe here: www.thiscommercelife.com

John Danyluk and Michael Rende  from Earth's Own come on to talk milks - oat, almond and we get a bit of masterclass in how to look at category analytics and how they look at strategy.

John Danyluk - https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-danyluk-7194405b/

Michael Rende - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelrende/

Check out Earth's Own here: https://earthsown.com/

We spend some time with Hope Aylen. We learn a few things and see how a designer sees the process of designing our hopes and dreams in packaging and labels. 

To find Hope https://www.linkedin.com/in/hope-aylen-designfulhope/

check out her services here: https://www.designfulhope.com/

We brought her back to talk about her! Cheryl Grant, the founder of Vitality comes on to talk about her journey. 

Last time she was on, she spent a lot of time talking about Save our Supplements. We wanted to make sure we got a chance to talk to Cheryl about Cheryl. We're glad we did. We talk about work life balance, taking time for oneself, and what it takes to "unplug"

To find Cheryl: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylgrant25/

Shop Vitality here: https://www.vitality.ca/

Former broadcaster Patrice Mousseau started making eczema lotion, and now she's moving into helping other businesses. 

Find Patrice here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrice-mousseau-1109791a/

Shop Satya here: https://satya.ca/

Tamara Wensley sent us the best pork rinds we'd ever had. The founder of Primal Sisters talks about how a vegetarian nutritionist got into pork rinds. 

Find Tamara here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamara-wensley-96a445209/?originalSubdomain=ca

You can shop for her amazing pork rinds here: https://www.primalsisters.com/

They got voted off the island...literally. Salt Spring Island Founder Mickey McLeod comes on to talk about their origin story, regenerative farming, organic, fair trade standards. 

check out Salt Spring Island coffee here: https://www.saltspringcoffee.com/

you can find Mickey on linkedin here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickey-mcleod-8829598/

Mickey talks about Regenerative Organic Alliance https://regenorganic.org/

Will Harris' book that Mickey refers to, is called 'A Bold Return to Giving a Damn: One Farm, Six Generations, and the Future of Food'  https://www.amazon.ca/Bold-Return-Giving-Damn-Generations-ebook/dp/B0BS2TYFTW

He likes to break down silos and move between things.  Michael Mikulak, Executive Director of Food and Beverage Manitoba comes on to talk about his winding path to helping food processors and brands today in Manitoba. 

Find Michael here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-mikulak-5057b531/

Check out Manitoba Food and Beverage here: https://foodbeveragemb.ca/

find out more about Cultivate here: https://members.foodbeveragemb.ca/eventscalendar/Details/cultivate-sustainability-conference-and-trade-show-945577?sourceTypeId=Website

She's done a fast thought with us, but we finally got a chance to hang out for real with her.  This started with a journey to switch the family to vegan, and she realized how hard it was to get healthy, tasty and relatively to make. 

check out Yumasoy here: https://yumasoy.com/

Find Gina here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gina-arsens-cpa-ca-cbv-05533312/

Cedar Valley founder Ameen Fadel talks about how he got started at 16 and how he and his family have built a national business

Find Ameen here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameen-fadel-48175514b/

Shop Cedar Valley here: 

A colouring cookie kit. Who knew? Chris Goodrow and his wife, Kristy, that's who.  They began baking out of a licensed kitchen in their basement part-time and frantically juggling 3 small children, a travel work schedule and growing demand. Today, they're pioneering a whole new category, and pushing the borders on decorating kits.

check out https://bysweetness.com/

Find Chris here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisgoodrow/

They bought their uncle's business, got orders by fax machine, and didnt' know who their end customers were. It took a pandemic, and a timely instagram post by Ryan Reynolds, and a lot of sweat and selling to get this business into what it is today. 

shop Grandpa J's here: https://www.grandpajs.com/ 

Find Jenny here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennygrandpajs/

A father/daughter podcast on families in business together.

We spent some time with Randy Sihota at Nationwide, and this time, his daughter Kamryn joins us and talks about working with her dad.  She talks about reconsidering working with her dad and Nationwide. The two of them talk about family dynamics and what it takes to try and continue to build a family business together. 

You can find Kamryn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamryn-sihota-4865b826b/

Randy is here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randy-sihota-04593444/

check out Nationwide here: https://nnfd.ca/

check out Wescana foods here: https://wescanafoods.com/

Randy's original episode is here: https://www.thiscommercelife.com/tclpodcast/episode/231333c0/they-could-have-bought-a-mcdonalds-in-1976-but-his-dad-and-his-brother-chose-to-get-into-granola-instead-fast-forward-randy-sihota-is-still-in-the-family-business

Old Growth beverages tea will make a great Christmas gift! www.oldgrowthbeverages.com

This episode finally happened. We get a chance to talk to Aaron Chin about 30+ years in the Organika business. He always knew that he wanted to be in the business of helping others. Watching his dad do it served as role model for what he's trying to do with the business today.

You can find Aaron here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-chin-b1336336/

check out Organika here: https://organika.com/

check out our microground teas here: https://oldgrowthbeverages.com/

CEO and a partner of Unity Brands Inc., David Lui comes on to talk about the company he cofounded with Joe Mimran and Frank Rocchetti. We talk to David about his wide and varied past, and how he's lived right across Canada.

Find David here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidymlui/

Check out Kit and Ace here: https://www.kitandace.com/

Mayumi Bae and her siblings are committed to bringing Asian inspired, innovative plant based products to market. Their newest product Noods, surprised us at CHFA East. In case you want to check out their food offerings in person, head to their cafe - the Plant Based Workshop

find Mayumi here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayumi-bae-b735b1277/?originalSubdomain=ca

their cafe is here: https://plantbasedworkshop.com/

If you're interested in microground tea, head to www.oldgrowthbeverages.com

Sonia Strobel talks about supporting Canadian fishing families and keeping small-scale fishing alive in BC and providing transparency around what they are catching, where and how. 

Find Sonia here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonia-strobel/

Sign up for Skipper Otto here: https://skipperotto.com/

Homework for our listeners - watch the cbc documentary on Skipper Otto here:: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2256028739565

Thank you to Fieldagent Canada for sponsoring this episode.  You can find Buy and try here: https://www.fieldagentcanada.com/buyandtry