Women Entrepreneurs Win Awards
by Scott A. Sumner
The PARO organization have been helping women entrepreneurs in NW Ontario for many years now and decided it was time to celebrate their achievements with an award evening.
“ We are aiming to build the financial growth of women in NW Ontario. There is still a gap in what women earn in their workplace or in their businesses as compared to men and we want to close that financial gap in NW Ontario. Today we want to showcase the women who have followed their dream of not only building their business the way they want but going a step further and giving back to the community by sharing their dreams and aspirations. They are mentoring with others in their community as a way of life to be a part of the bigger community and that is why they are successful.” said Rosalind Lockyer, Executive Director of PARO.
On hand to speak at the event was Heather White of the Cupcake Girls. Heather and her partner Lori Joyce opened the first cupcake store in North America and today they manage two corporate bakeries and 6 franchise bakeries in the Vancouver area. You can also see them on
television on the W network and the Oprah network with their program ‘ The Cupcake Girls”.
“ The story we want to talk about is what it takes to get from beginnings to here. lori and I said we were going to do this business, do it together and see it through. Our dream became reality and today we will talk about our trials to get to today after 10 years,” said Heather White. “ It has been interesting, not always fun but real. We joined a women’s group in BC exactly like PARO here and it was amazing for us, helping in many areas like financial and hiring people. We want to help people live theirdrem.”
“ Laurie and I were in NYC working for a company that sold an organic odour neutralizer which was used at the 911 site. At the end of one long long day we ended up in a bakery called Magnolias. They had a small section of cup cakes and some people were in there just to buy
cup cakes. For some reason the light bulb went off in my head, this is something that could work. I watched the line up outside the door,” said White. “ In Vancouver it was hard to get anything for a birthday outside of the large grocery stores. We wanted the customer to come in,
have an experience and celebration at the same time. Somebody did it with cookies, doughnuts and bagels so why can’t we do it with cup cakes. It has gone from 0 to 100 in the last 10 years.”
The female cup cake entrepreneurs are working on the Toronto market next and will open outlets there soon.
One of the 10 award winners at the PARO event were Brenda Adams and Kathy Pratola of Janzen Pharmacy. “ I am thrilled to have won. We started a second store in Westfort and worked very hard together. It is going well,” said Brenda Adams. “ Now we are looking to expand again in the near future with a new store. We have been nominated and won
awards in the past but this is different as it feels more of a belonging feeling because it is my peers, celebrating the success of women and that is so exciting.”
“ What we strive to do is to take care of all our customers and meet all of their needs and more. Once they leave our store feeling comfortable, they know they are being taken care of and we are happy. We are always there and you know our names.” said Kathy Pratola.
