YBB Connect 12/31/18 YBB Connect 12/31/18

MAD LOVE MONDAY | Ashley Rosenow - Illustrious Interiors

My name is Ashley Rosenow and I am the proud owner of Illustrious Interiors. Currently I offer interior decorating, home staging and styling, interior organizing, paint consultations, and custom murals. At one point, most of these services were solely a hobby of my own and I could only have dreamt of using my creativity in a home other than my own. I truly believe that you can accomplish anything if you set your mind to it.

After having my children, my work priorities changed and I knew immediately it was time to pursue my passion of interior design. This meant I could spend more time with my children and be the mother and wife I envisioned to be. This doesn’t come without a challenge though. Any Mompreneur understands the struggle of work/life/balance of trying to run a business and provide for your family that demands you-all at the same time. I can’t say that I have found that perfect balance yet, but I do feel blessed to have my beautiful family and my dream job right in front of me. Life will always be changing around you. You can either succumb to the challenges, or face them without fear of the future. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think I am capable enough. I believe putting in 110% effort with a positive attitude will always pay off.

My business came by demand. What started out as creating unique pieces and rooms in my own home, blossomed into requests from friends/family, that by word of mouth alone turned into more and more clients. I began researching social media strategies, built a portfolio by decorating many unique rooms, became a certified home stager, and then officially opened for business.

I have always been passionate about decorating and even on my “down time” you can find me inside Homsense or Michaels strolling about envisioning decorating or creating for a new space. I love the challenge of working in a new space with old and new furniture and making it all come together in a seamless way. Many times, when I stage a home, I am utilizing what the client has before purchasing anything new and the outcome has always been successful.

It is funny to think how murals came about. They are one of my favorite services I provide. Often when I am decorating a room, I am working within a budget and although wallpaper can be beautiful, often it can be costly. There are many times where I just end up challenging myself to see if I can paint something similar for a fraction of the price, and not to mention the colors usually work a bit better with the room since it is all custom! Murals ended up being requested so often that I decided to add it to my list of services.

Painting has always been incredibly soothing to me and I am always so inspired by other artists. I love painting floral murals and when I came across the giant floral painting on 72 St and 101 Ave in Edmonton I was in absolute awe! How has this been in Edmonton since 1998 and I have only just seen it this year! It is definitely something worth seeing!

Speaking of the YEG community, the biggest thing I am thankful for within my business by far has been my friends, family, clients, and supporters. I am pretty active on Facebook and Instagram and the number of referrals that I have seen on there alone from locals, have brought me so much business and it hasn’t gone unnoticed! These referrals have been my biggest aid in getting my name out there and I couldn’t do it without my support team!

Although I spend hours and hours on Pinterest looking for inspiration and ideas, I have yet to really figure out how to use it for my business. I started up a page right from the get-go, but I don’t really use it yet. This year my goal is to use Pinterest to my advantage and blog a little more on my site! My next goal is to duplicate myself so I can get a little more done, although this is not quite obtainable it would be really nice! This year I would also love to attend a Boss Babe mixer and get to know some other amazing YEG Boss Babes! In the meantime, head over to my Instagram and Facebook and come say Hi! I would love to meet you!

YBB Connect 11/5/18 YBB Connect 11/5/18

MAD LOVE MONDAY - Nicole Broadhurst |The Lust Project

Officially, I am a Registered Acupuncturist and Traditional Chinese Medical Doctor, specializing in sexual and reproductive health. Unofficially, I sit with people and try to sort through the messiness, and intricacies, of being human haha. I guess you could say I’ve always been drawn to human sexuality and sexual health, I noticed very early on how crucial our sexuality is and how much it contributes to our over health and well-being. Just like our Mental Health is an important focus and can tell you a lot about what is going on for a person, the same applies to how we go about our sexual health and how we view it.

I have always been fascinated with entrepreneurship and the business side of things. I was that typical kid that never liked being told what to do and had to figure it out myself (sorry Mom lol). I think as human beings we crave creation and creating things in our life and my job just so happened to be something that I wanted to create for myself.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: “Expansion is NOT linear”. I constantly have to remind myself of this quote, along with many of my clients. When it comes to growth and creating, (a business / family / art etc) the process has a natural expansion and contraction to it. Sometimes it feels like you’re killing it and others it feels like you’re taking two steps back but in the bigger picture you’re growing.

In order to grow, I definitely set a lot of goals for myself. Goal Setter! (for all my Lululemon crew out there haha). A big one I’m in the middle of is launching a project that I have been working on for a very long time. It’s my Soul Project and it involves a lot of beautiful people so there is a lot at stake. With launching it, I want it to have a global impact in the realm of Sexuality. How people view it, what they know about it (for themselves and sexuality as whole) and how it is spoken about. Who knows, after that maybe books, talk shows, speaking engagements, workshops. sky’s the limit ! =)

That’s what I love about being an entrepreneur, there is really no limit to what you can create. I love that I am really in control of what I get out of my business. I have no one else to blame if things go wrong, but that means I am always the solution as well. It can be scary but so empowering and rewarding.

Although it is rewarding, there were SO many times I wanted to give up! Haha, ALL THE TIME. In school there was more times than I could count and when I first started practicing, I questioned myself constantly. I haven’t had that feeling in a while though. It gets hard and some of the remedial tasks are daunting but the pay off far outweighs that.

The only way I got through it, honestly, was to keep going. There was no other option than to keep going. I also recognized early on (thanks to my development training that I got a chance to have while working at Lululemon for years) that I had this story about me not finishing things. Once I recognized that, I was able to see when I was wanting to quit because I was scared. I had to experience what it was like to go through something difficult and get through it. I had to see the other side. Everything you desire is on the other side of that discomfort you experience.

If I never kept going I wouldn’t have the cool, boss babe moments that I have. Like when I got my first full week of bookings and I started a waitlist for clients to get in to see me. As a practitioner that is a huge feat, and something that a lot of us strive for. I achieved that relatively early on after school and that was very rewarding for me.

As a practitioner, getting your name out there is an important focus and my website has been a great way to do that. Just like Instagram, it’s great because it gives me an opportunity to give information, resources for people, advertise, and educate. . It’s a fascinating little business tool.

With being in the health and wellness industry we talk a lot about “work-life Balance” and I have a slightly controversial view on it. I think the concept is talked about a lot but not really understood. I also think in this day in age we glamorize being “busy” (or “grinding” haha). With being an entrepreneur a lot of my “down time” is spent on developing myself and my business. To be honest, if I didn’t do that I wouldn’t be able to grow the way I have and at the speed that I have. It takes a lot of work to develop a business and a brand and that’s not always balanced. I am just now at a point where I can begin to adjust my schedule to something more centred around myself and take my personal time into account. If I demanded that straight out the gate, I would not be where I am. A lot of practitioners come straight out of school and have a sense of entitlement - they think they should get paid a top wage, have a clinic give them clients, all the while working 3-4 days a week with hours that work for them. Balance is not a perfect straight line, it is crooked and in the bigger picture it ends up being balanced. Sometimes you have to sacrifice areas of comfort in order to accomplish something bigger than you imagined you could. With that being said, I’ve noticed the importance of self awareness, if I know my patterns that show up when I am under higher levels of stress then I know I need to balance it out with things that fulfill me (ie: gym, time with family/partner, mindless television, nature, journalling, budgeting, creating etc).

I’m really excited to learn from and see what other YEG Boss Babes are up to and see their growth. I want to see how women view themselves in roles that would typically be male dominated. I think women have a vast array of qualities and seeing how they apply those to success in business is so cool to me. If one of us wins, we all win.

Find Nicole on Instagram or on her website.

YBB Connect 10/29/18 YBB Connect 10/29/18

MAD LOVE MONDAY - Chantelle Beasley | Aradia Fitness

My name is Chantelle Beasley, and I am the owner and operator of Aradia Fitness. We have six studios, and four locations including Whyte Avenue, Kingsway, Sherwood Park, and St. Albert.

Chantelle was nominated for a MAD LOVE MONDAY by her assistant Ashley Moorji from Aradia Fitness! Below is what she shared with us about Chantelle!

"She owns 4 different Aradia Fitness locations (Kingsway, Whyte Ave, Sherwood Park and St.Albert).

She decided to take on Aradia fitness when she was just 19 years old & has since built the largest pole dancing business in Edmonton! She works so hard every day to ensure that not only her business is running smooth, but that her staff and customers are treated fairly & are happy. While building up her pole dancing empire she also had a daughter & finished her social work diploma through Grant Macewan. AND to top it all off she started a charity (

A Radiant Goddess

) for young girls. I have been working for her for nearly 4 years and have NEVER been so inspired or motivated by anyone than I have

Chantelle!

I would love for her to be featured. She truly deserves all the praise she can get! <3"

Hey! Thanks for reading!

My name is Chantelle Beasley, and I am the owner and operator of Aradia Fitness. We have six studios, and four locations including Whyte Avenue, Kingsway, Sherwood Park, and St. Albert. We primarily specialize in pole fitness and aerial arts, but we also include fun alternative fitness classes such as hip hop, belly dancing, aerial yoga, dancing in heels, twerk, strength/flexibility, and so much more!

Growing up, people knew me as the unathletic slug that avoided gym class at all costs. (We’re talking, I would only show up to class to get signed off for attendance, and then I would sneak away to sleep in the gym locker room). I absolutely despised physical activity. Often, I would find myself going to the gym because I felt like I had to, or because I was trying to burn off as many calories as what I had for supper that evening. I hated it – it became about obsession in regard to what my body looked like, and it didn’t help me appreciate my body for what it was.

I was about 17 years old when I saw MTV Canada interviewing a pole dancing studio in Toronto. I was glued to this interview, and I couldn’t help but think “What!?! You can take pole dancing classes? It’s a form of fitness? This looks like something I actually wouldn’t hate!”

And as soon as I turned 18, I signed up for my first class at Aradia Fitness. I was a nursing student at the time, and I convinced one of my classmates to join me. VERY long story short, I became instantly hooked. (Yes, my first few classes were awkward as heck, and I felt like I was in the wrong place the entire time, but once I got past that feeling and realized everyone was in the same boat as I, it was incredible).

And for the first time in my life, I finally stopped counting my calories. I began setting goals in pole fitness as to what tricks I wanted to attain, not how much weight I wanted to lose. I would look at girls in higher levels, and think “WOW, if I could EVER do that, I would be so proud of myself.” And with practice and work, I did learn to do those things, and through it all, I learned to become proud of my body for the incredible things that it can do, as opposed to just how it looked.

So at the age of 19, my dad who owns his own business as well, also owned some commercial property in Sherwood Park. He had a vacant mezzanine, and he would constantly suggest “we should open up some kind of a business up there.” With my new passion, I suggested that pole fitness would be a great fit in the community – and he agreed to let me put a studio up there! And that was it – from there I took over the original Edmonton studios two years later, and opened up our fourth location in St. Albert almost three years ago now.

Without realizing it, I think my lifes’ motto is “just do the things.”

I take a lot of risks – and I admit that I haven’t been very cautious about my business decisions. If something sounds like a fun challenge, I hardly think twice about it, and honestly just go for it. Sometimes I have absolutely NO idea as to how these “opportunities” are going to play out, how I’m going to even afford them, or if it will work – but I do them anyways. I only think about the possible positive outcomes of those adventures, and even if failure does happen, which it WILL, I think about what I will learn from it, and how it will help me grow as a leader and entrepreneur.

I just feel that if we only have one life to live – what are we doing to live it to the fullest? Being an entrepreneur, and owning Aradia has helped me live my passions out to their fullest.

I am always setting goals. I have daily goals, weekly goals, monthly, yearly, and even 5 year plans in place. They definitely change all the time, my 5 year plan today could be different tomorrow, and that’s okay!

Did I ever have a time where I wanted to give up? I’d say I contemplate giving up more often than I don’t. Being an entrepreneur will never, ever be easy. My biggest struggle is that I’m a huge people pleaser. If somebody is unhappy with something, I take it very personally, and lose sleep over it until it’s “resolved” or made better. As you can imagine, having a clientele of 500 students, and 50 instructors – it’s next to impossible to please everyone – but they keep me on top of my game, even when it’s hard! My business is my baby, it is an extension of myself, so I feel that when somebody is unhappy with my product, they are in return unhappy with me. I try and use this as a positive for my business, because I truly want my customer experience to be incredible!

The reason at the end of the day as to why I’ve never given up, is because I believe in what I do – SO strongly. Getting the e-mails, receiving the feedback, and hearing about how pole fitness has changed somebody’s life… there’s no greater feeling, there’s no greater reward.

None of this could be done without my incredible team. They are the face of Aradia. I can sit behind my computer and make business decisions, but without my team to carry forth safe training, a body positive attitude, and a want to build community – Aradia is nothing without them.

As a YEGBOSSBABE, I want to connect with other YEGBOSSBABES in order to find a means of support. Admittedly, when I am going through my business lows, I struggle emotionally. As much as my husband lends an ear for support, he does not quite understand the struggle of a business owner. Additionally, I can not put the stress of my woes on to my team – it would be incredible to find a support system from other YEGBOSSBABES who can relate and connect by supporting each other through the difficult entrepreneurial times!