Tell Us Your Story. What motivated you to start your business? Why are you passionate about what you do?

I was born into poverty in Los Angeles and raised by a single mom who'd had a hard life like her mother and grandmother before her. We survived on food bank donations; I remember picking weevils out of near rancid flour because throwing food away wasn't an option. Listening to scratched old classical music records as a toddler drowned out the noises of yelling and police sirens. My eyes teared up with overwhelming joy every time violins soared for Beethoven. When I was twelve I found out PLAYING that music was an option and it became my obsession to become free from a cluttered apartment and too-tight hand-me-down clothes, and instead acting as a conduit to make the music that would bring tears to other people's eyes. My mom knew my dream would help me escape the family cycle. She used a meagre shipyard painter's injury settlement to buy my first violin. I began teaching myself to play by ear (no lessons, no internet) as I quickly surpassed peers who had studied with private teachers for years. Hunger, sexual abuse, untreated health issues, and the shame of poverty were overshadowed by the brilliant light of sawing away at my violin 5 hours a day. Fast forward to immigrating alone to small town Canada where, to be blunt, I finally felt safe from rape and had access to medical care. I hit the ground running and lived as an entrepreneur ever since. It's a whirlwind: I birthed special needs kids, suffered an abusive marriage, and struggled to be accepted without a proper musical "pedigree." Simultaneously I built a lessons studio, played in various orchestras, saved up to buy my first violin in inventory for my online shop, and made a name for myself in the competitive music world on my own. I worked until I had the means and courage to escape the abuser, paid off my lovely home, married my soul mate, kept an inventory worth over $200k, and simultaneously helped thousands of people! It really was a dream come true. Plot twist: my health issues mounted (never a dull moment at Cafe Rhiannon) and I retire from playing and teaching in 2019 as well as dropping my shop's expansion plans. But you know what, I am truly at terms with the change because the violin got me where I am now. Bonus is I'm still helping people build confidence, develop talent, and become resilient through music thanks to this wonderful violin shop. I'm surrounded by a village of loving friends through music. And, yes, the music still brings tears to my eyes. Forever.

Describe and demonstrate, including metrics, your community support. How do you support and uplift your community, and how do they show that support in return? Minimum 25 words, maximum 2500 characters.

As a recipient of the kindness of musicians as a teen, I felt driven to pay it forward in countless w I've performed at hundreds of community events and in orchestras, often for free, because music's a powerful tool to bring joy into our lives. Funny example: I played at a Y2K "Symposium" in the Kootenays in 1999 to calm the anxious crowds, to which one listener whispered to me as he passed, "just like the band on the Titanic!" Having to do everything on my own sees me knowing everything can be improved upon to include EVERYONE. For example, my town announced a music festival where fiddling wasn't a category. I contacted top fiddlers in the Interior and soon enough created a new annual music festival with workshops and a fiddle contest, complete with a "Golden Fiddle" à la "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." A year later that event evolved into a non-profit society that granted thousands of dollars in scholarships to kids for lessons and college, offered workshops with top artists passing through in collaboration with a much larger society, and built up an impressive instrument bank to help people without instruments learn to play. Some saw it as "competing" with my business, but I was creating connections through music and that was more important to my artist's heart than any financial statement my accountant could show me. That said, my business has been profitable and has received great returns. Thinking outside the supply chain box, I have managed to break past the typical 40% profit margin seen in most music stores, with some violins I commission from my makers seeing a 250% profit margin and yet my prices are lower than my competitors. I provide an $850 USD violin to clients who need a reliable first instrument for their child for only $390USD with a 200% margin against my costs. My makers have consistent work, my customers can afford a quality instrument, and I'm still turning an impressive profit (Metric: 2014 was the first year my net income was over $100k). I've donated and heavily discounted these same violins to many community programs throughout Canada, the USA and in developing countries. A school in Manning, AB, for instance, relies on my shop to purchase violins for their "pool" of instruments, so my reach goes beyond my own city. It's incredibly fulfilling! Fiddleheads keeps junk out of the landfills, helps non-profits, and sees quality violins that will be used for several generations bringing music into our hearts and villages.

Why do you deserve to win the Business Impact award?

I deserve to win the Business Impact Award because I am more than a cheesy rags to riches success story crammed with trendy buzz words. I am a mature artist with an open heart, a deep thinker with a problem-solving mind, and a seer with optimistic eyes for our future. I dare to question the predictable steps toward success. Success, as many people seem to see it, is about expansion and increased profits over the year previous. But to me success is living a life that is fulfilling, energizing and sustainable. For example, I recently wrote an article about how I scaled back my products to a curated selection so all products are my top recommendation in that price range. This goes against the usual business growth model where we're told more products will attract more clients. Adam R. in Tennessee wrote to me recently, "I really appreciate and respect that you keep your selection curated and small... I feel that when you can stand behind the products that you love, its so much better than being at a superstore where nobody knows anything about anything. It makes your business so much more personable, and I trust it more than if you had 3000 different [accessories]." I deserve to win the Business Impact Award because I tell the truth, even if it means losing out on making a huge sale or don't win a prestigious award because I have no plans to crush the competition. Instead I want to make quality tools for the violin trade attainable by far more people. I wish to share my knowledge and ideas so other people can seek a similar path and even improve upon it when I am gone. The violin's construction may have stayed the same over 400 years, but I want to change the way we put violins into people's hands moving forward. I deserve to win the Business Impact Award because I put my heart and soul into everything I do, be it making a $12 sale or setting a school music program up with $10,000 worth of violins. I am grateful to do all the work I do because makes me of service to people in a meaningful, human way. If I am not chosen to win the Business Impact Award I only hope it goes to a like-minded individual. We need to support a new, kinder and more sustainable way of doing business. Thank you for your kind consideration.

Tell Us About Your Culture. How are you creating a sustainable and healthy workplace where everyone feels welcome? Provide examples of leadership you show in interactions with clients, vendors, contractors, staff and others.

It's not a brag to say I've a gift for connection and that my dear Fiddleheads facilitates real connection. My efficient operations see no need for regular staff so I contract work as required. When I hire people, they deeply enjoy working with me. A now-grown former violin student said I was her nicest boss because I respected her ideas. Likewise, the contractor who's doing my annual inventory count as I write this says this is the safest workplace she could have as a transgender woman. She's a fourth year philosophy student and Marxist who frequently sites Fiddleheads in class discussion as an ideal business model for the future! My vendors around the world are like family to me because I seek out more than just an exchange of funds and goods. I genuinely care about these individuals and their staff and am aways grateful they craft the violins that help me and so many players in a cosmic trickle-down effect. For instance, a husband/wife team of makers in Bulgaria and I have exchanged baby to grown-up pictures of our kids, gardening and holidays over nearly twenty years. The manager of the finest violin workshop in all of China, recently wrote, "I feel so warm that everytime [sic] reading your email... I always trust in you since you are more like a friend than business partner to us for so many years." As for thousands of clients I've had the pleasure of serving, words cannot describe the incredible connections we've shared over 26 years. Respecting privacy, some violin-seeking clients felt safe enough to share painful personal details of their lives, things they had never told a soul before me. It's as though I have an invisible antenna broadcasting "I HEAR YOU and YOU ARE SAFE HERE." And they are. My husband, an HR manager with much formal business training, says I'm a violin therapist acting as a violin shop owner. Needless to say, I'm humbled by this ability because I crave deep connection and my business sees me creating lasting bonds with people like me who simply wish to be heard. On the subject of sustainability, this is my primary goal in all decisions I make both environmentally and financially. Twice I earned my town's Business Excellence Award for my passionate "Green" practices, from the instruments I commission and sell to my efficient and cost-wise home-based studio, or the clever ways I pack fragile shipments to our family's conversion to a vegan diet. More on this topic can be explored at www.fiddleheads.ca/green