“Happy employees make for a more enjoyable work environment.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: My name is Suzanne Aubin, I am the owner of the Trek Jewellers, a small family business located in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. We specialize in making people’s vision for their engagement become reality.
Technology has changed so much throughout the decades, that designing your own ring is something that anyone can do both online and in person. I love envisioning my clients’ concept of their dream ring and making it come true for them. The smile I see on their faces when they receive their piece of jewelry is absolutely priceless.
Before any work day starts, I always take care of myself first. I do wake up quite early, and get straight to my workout. It helps get me in a positive state of mind, and into creative mode. Currently, we are expanding our services and products online at https://trekjewellers.com/ with free same-day delivery locally for any in-stock items. Delivery services are something we will be adding shortly for those who can’t come in due to their work schedules or are housebound.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: Growing up, we were the standard family with our father working and our mother being at home to care for us. My dad was the one who taught me everything I know about the jewelry business. I must be honest, it was the newer technology, such as the laser machine, and CAD programs that really sparked my interest in learning more.
I always thought I would end up being a professional accountant at some point. I loved playing around with numbers. Although my career didn’t head in that direction, I still had to learn about simple bookkeeping and balancing the books. My love of numbers didn’t stop there over the years. I also studied how to trade currencies.
Currency trading takes up a good portion of my time. Proprietary traders trade with reputable firms and must keep up with world news. Some news has a major impact on the currencies, which also affects gold. This trickles down into gold prices fluctuating for all businesses. All work and no play is never any fun. I enjoy spending time with my precious granddaughter. She is such a joy to have around. My dad absolutely loves her to bits. Anything that has to do with the outdoors I love. Kayaking, hiking, biking, cross-country skiing, and of course going to the cottage or as we say it out here in the North, camping.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: If there’s anything I’d want others to know from owning your own business, is time management. It is very important to have a scheduled calendar to have everything in order. Even more important, is to have some downtime for yourself. I can’t stress this enough. Always support your team at work. Happy employees make for a more enjoyable work environment. I am very lucky to have wonderful people surrounding me every day.
Q: What does feminism mean to you? A: Feminism in my eyes is having all of the same rights and opportunities as men. It’s about empowering ourselves and treating each other with dignity and respect. It is certainly not about oppressing men. Men have their role in society and are a huge blessing in our lives. It’s about getting that education, making decisions, being recognized as a person, having work opportunities, and working alongside our men. Feminism leaves no one behind. It’s about equality in the workforce, education, business opportunities etc. With that being said, Trek Jewellers is a proud sponsor of the YWCA Women of Distinction Awards. It is a night to honor women who have inspired other women and girls by serving as mentors, role models, or by their own achievements in a variety of disciplines.
Q and A with Cassandra, from Boston, MA, living in Tampa, FL
“Don’t be afraid to sacrifice who you are right now to become who you are meant to be.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I love to help people win! Learning about otherโs backgrounds, what experiences happened along the way that made them who they are, and helping them get to the level they want to be is what brings me joy.
Working since the age of 14, Iโve explored careers in a variety of industries from fast food to fast fashion, and I’ve been exposed to quite a bit of unique situations. Itโs the people that keep me going, especially the underdog. After years of working in HR and witnessing multiple workplace discrepancies, I decided to start my own company to help those discriminated against have a fair hiring process.
In December 2020, I started my company RAAISE Staffing Solutions, an IT recruitment firm that works with companies making Diversity & Inclusion a priority on a direct hire basis. We support the career advancement of all professionals of color, emphasizing on the Black community.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: Iโm an only child that was raised by my mom, grandma, and auntie. They definitely kept me active and made me the woman that I am today. I did ballet, tap, lacrosse, and martial arts! My mom, grandma, and auntie were huge advocates for education and traditional work structures.
I graduated with honors from Johnson & Wales University, Providence Campus, and worked in my major of fashion for a few years. Creating fashion weeks, appearing on radio stations, TV shows, and even walking the runway; I did it all and loved it!
Once I started working in HR, it made me a better person, so I knew it was what I was meant to do. It was a lot for them to take in that I decided to leave the 9-5 life for that of an entrepreneur, but they are getting used to it and are very supportive!
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: Eventually, we all have to burn the boat and storm the island. Transitioning from the workforce to self-employed has been a remarkable journey full of ups and downs. Iโve learned that in order to reach the next level of my career, I have to makes changes and let go. Donโt be afraid to sacrifice who you are right now to become who you are meant to be.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: Equal rights, equal pay, equal opportunities for us all!
MORE FROM CASSANDRA:
I use motivational quotes for keeping me strong, a good laugh on the rough days, and to remind me to never to give up on me. These are a few of my favorites:
โDeny yourself nothing in life.โ โ Wendy Williams
โSave your heart for love, use your brain for business.โ โ The Office
โYou got champagne taste and beer money.โ โ 30 For 30, Broke
โNever allow a person to say no who doesnโt have the power to say yes.โ โ Eleanor Roosevelt
โTrue leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leader.โ โ Robert Townsend
A: I am passionate about helping aspiring service-based entrepreneurs who are stuck and confused to stop going round in circles, gain clarity, formulate a strategy whilst leveraging digital marketing to continuously generate leads, and create a wildly successful business while they live the life they choose. Over the years, I have always been interested in marketing, and at the time, I didnโt know much about digital marketing. I started my job as a waitress in Dubai in 2012, whilst learning online about marketing. It took a lot of hustle, tears, hard work, rejections, training, and a huge mindset shift for me to finally land my first job in a marketing department in one of the fastest-growing cities (Dubai) and grow to become a marketing manager. Once I started, there was no stopping me; I read many books, learned everything I could, attended so many webinars. I worked successfully in the marketing field up to when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and we had to stay at home. At this point, I realized there was a lot digitally that I had already accomplished and a lot more that I needed to learn. So, once again, I decided to use quarantine time to study. That is how my journey with digital marketing started. It was quite easy because I had already had the basics, so it was more of just advancing my knowledge and thinking bigger.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I grew up in a small village in Kenya, Africa. I lost my mum when I was 5. Honestly, I donโt know much about my background as I didnโt get to know my father to date. I grew up with my loving grandparents. There isnโt much to say about my background, except that I also had this fire within me that made me feel like I wasnโt extraordinary. I tried to fit in; I always wondered why I was different. Most of my skills are self-taught as I didnโt get a chance to study anything I wanted in college. I have always had a huge affection for orphans, which led me to start my foundation called TOF(Talented Orphans Family), which is geared towards developing orphansโ talents to make them independent and also teaching them skills that can make them dependable in society. This was the most fulfilling thing I had ever done, but as I was the sole financier, it came to a stop as I had an accident that caused a fracture that disrupted my earning and functioning capabilities. This would just be a tip on the iceberg to what I have endured over the years and also achieved. Everything has led me to my destiny. I am strong now, unstoppable, and ready to conquer then change the world. My experience has taught me to overcome any situation, to understand peopleโs situations, and to relate easily to them. I believe that this is the right time for me to make an impact.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: When you are at the saddest and lowest, most painful level you can be, that is where you get sharpened. That is the time you can become reborn. That pain is what, when used the right way, can turn you into someone very powerful. We all have this greatest strength buried deep inside each one of us; only a few people get the chance to fully experience this strength. The feeling of being unstoppable. When you have lost it all and there is nothing else to live for, you have a choice to give up or to dig deeper than ever before for your hidden strength. Itโs more like a superpower. Digging and tapping into that inner strength will change you and make you as strong as steel. You will then be ready to become anything you set your mind to and there is nothing that can put you down because you already know how to get back up.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: When I talk about feminism, this comes to me on a personal level, coming from a background where women are known to stay in the kitchen and learn to be wife material. I do not want to be put in a box of what I am supposed to become or who I am supposed to be as a woman. Being a woman is just my gender; I should be judged by my capabilities, my skills, and my intelligence. When I am talking to fellow entrepreneurs, I need them to understand that being a woman or a man has nothing to do with how intelligent one is. If I succeed in something, it’s because I am just that good, not because of favors or because I am a woman.
MORE FROM VALENTINE: Something I have learned and would like to share: You do not need to make it perfect; just start and keep learning, keep improving. If you keep going, you will keep getting better.
Q and A with Clairafrom Helena, MT, living in Missoula, MT
“You deserve to thrive, simply because you are alive.โ
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I am passionate about pro-social living, ethical business, health, food, luxury, freedom, spiritual evolution, my long-term partner (Zac), our animal babies (bearded dragon, Shanti) and (axolotl, Cosmo), and Zacโs kids. I have two businesses founded on ethical principles.
My first business is called Holistic Contentment. It is a caregiving agency in which we offer a sliding fee scale, pay a living wage to everyone on the team, and give 20% of our profits back to the local community. I founded a care model called the Client Liberation Model. You can find out more about that here: https://www.holisticcontentment.com/client-liberation. When I started HoCo, it was on $125 and a dream. I was told that I was too progressive, offered too much for too little, that I looked like I came from a circus, and we would never succeed. The business has grown to 14 times its size in the last 10 months. Iโd say thatโs proof that those were false and limited beliefs on other peopleโs parts.
I have also recently started a second business called Claira Kruse Coaching. The premise is teaching bosses to level up their self-care, self-love, and their company culture. My theory is that bosses and workers have been taught to grind, to not take care of themselves, to take on responsibilities that are not their own, to place blame where blame is not due, etc. In that, leaders and teammates get burnt out. Turnover rates are higher. Health declines. This all leads to an overall leak in profits. As a boss, I can empathize with bosses, but as a progressive who came from poverty, I can empathize with workers. I help others in bridging the gap, to make business beneficial for everyone involved. I am here to change the world in serious ways.
I also love food and health. I had a binge eating disorder as a child and gained 130lbs between the ages of 7 and 8 (or 8 and 9, I donโt remember exactly). I went from 70lbs to 200lbs and started wearing my mom’s clothes because mine did not fit. Food was a means of control where I felt I had none. When I was 11, my only two friends decided we could not be friends anymore and I hit a hard spiral, completely losing my appetite and losing 30lbs in one month. After that, I dealt with the “yoyo weight swings” for a while, but I learned about vegetarian, gf, paleo etc. and have found better ways to enjoy food, while also taking care of my body. At this point, I expect to always be curvy, but between style, eating healthy, and daily movement practice, I feel great in my body. My partner and I primarily follow the Eat Right 4 Your Type food protocol.
Luxury and Freedom come after the above. If business isnโt flowing, and balance isnโt found, there is very little space for luxury and freedom. If you donโt have enough money to do what you want, and are not comfortable in your body, it is challenging to fully reach for either. I like the finer things in life. Vacation, travel, nature, fancy pants (literally, I love slacks in bright colors), jewelry, skin care, being able to do what I want, when I want. I love being my own boss and finding ways to implement healing techniques for what I mentioned above in my coaching profession. I am deeply spiritual. I was born and raised pagan and am completely non-denominational. I was sent to Sunday schools on and off as a kid, but it never stuck. My grandparents on my mom‘s side are pagan; my mom is now pagan, and my dad and stepmom are agnostic. I study spirituality, love spiritual podcasts, have a regular spiritual practice, and I am a spiritual channeler. At one point, I was studying to become a priestess, but I left that behind in part because I am not good at following other peopleโs instruction; I am a bit of a rebel. We are spiritual beings having a human experience, as they who are themselves say.
My direct family is Zac, who I have been with for over 4 years, and he is amazing. Heโs so intelligent, funny, cute, and cozy. He also challenges me to be a better person and to always be true to myself and my principles. Heโs really passionate about the game Dragon Dice and the community it comes with. Itโs a great and diverse game. I love him a ton. We have a 5-year-old bearded dragon, a 1.5-year-old axolotl. Our bearded dragon Shanti loves to snuggle and gets sad if we do not snuggle him. He also loves TV, watching us do stuff, and the sunshine and garden. Cosmo loves to dance, eat, swim around, and be cute. Zacโs kids are 10 and 13, and they are both highly intelligent, creative, and hilarious. I am lucky that they love me.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: My younger years were a can of worms. My parents separated when I was 4. My mom was pregnant with my little brother, and I was conditioned to be a disciplinarian to him. This was not healthy for either of us. My mom had a hard time with healthy relationships, but she did her best. My mom has always been playful, free spirited, and wanting to help everyone. My dad was a bit of a rocker, long hair, rock shirts, played in bands etc. My dad is helpful, soulful, and all about personal accountability. My dad and stepmom met when I was 7, and they are together to this day. I have two half sisters: an older sister and a younger one. I have my one full brother. I grew up with my big sister Ana in Oregon, but would visit her typically once a year (because Iโm in Montana), and I lived with my little brother full-time until I moved into my dad and stepmom’s house at 14, at which point, I was living with my little sister until I was 18. I started planning ethical businesses at 11, but I was failing school from the time I was 8. I had a serious struggle between โI will change the worldโ and โI am incapable and no one likes me. I am a freak.โ I struggled with self harm, codependency, substance abuse, challenges with gender identity and sexuality, failing grades, and serious anger and depression issues. I got into a lot of abusive friendships and relationships very young. My anger and depression started letting up when I moved into my dads, and my grades went from Fโs to A-Cs within six months, but I did not have a genuinely happy year until I was at least 18. I have a belief that every year gets better than the last because I learn more, open up more, and live more as my authentic self. I did love when my mom would take me to Washington and Oregon to meet with her friends. They showed me a lot about being yourself, loving yourself, and loving humanity.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: I would like for others to know that no matter where you start, what conditioning you are given, or beliefs you have about yourself, you can be open to support to heal, you can work on being kind to yourself, and in time, things change. You are capable. You are here for a reason. Find what you are avoiding in yourself, what dream you fear because it is too large, or because you feel unworthy, and go for it. You deserve to thrive, simply because you are alive, and scarcity is a lie meant to keep us small.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: To me, feminism means true equality between all genders, female, non-binary and male. It means letting go of gender boxes and allowing people to be who they truly are. Not taking any gender away, but simply being you, and not being bullied or shamed for your true expression. It means Black Lives Matter, POC lives matter, and recognizing where women who are not white have less privilege than those who are historically, and to this day. It also means paying fairly for stereotypically feminine labor. It means supporting families and using pro-social means to allow everyone a fulfilling and supported life.
MORE FROM CLAIRA: I am in a monogamous relationship with my partner, but I continue to identify as a non-binary queer woman. I will always stand up for the rights of others, and I think that the planet is better when we and the planet thrive. Follow me at https://www.instagram.com/claira.kruse.coaching/ and DM to schedule an application call for Liberate to Elevate, my coaching program.
A: I am passionate about many things. I am an initiative creative and I love creating new content. I am launching a new program around empowering women to balance out in multiple ways, including understanding and shifting their dream state to make a bigger impact on their lives and biz.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I grew up in a big family. I was the oldest of six kids, and I helped take care of them. My family taught us to work hard and value being a good, honest hard worker. Life was our education. We worked and played hard as a family. Service to others was valued and important as well.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: Learn to have balance now. Do not put it off. Being over busy and being out of balance can effect your ability to retire in peace and abundance. Start now!
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism shouldn’t be hard or coarse. It is not demanding. It’s soft, receptive, and kind, but it sets healthy boundaries and gets important matters taken care of properly.
MORE FROM TAMMI: I am a certified ThetaHealer and I love empowering women to make bigger shifts than they can ever dream possible even faster! Struggling to overcome hormonal imbalance and PTSD has been a challenge, and I love empowering other women feeling out of balance to balance naturally so they can live their dreams.
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