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

I am passionate about my business as it allows me to intertwine my personal values with my professional goals. My childhood summers were spent off grid in our family cabin at Coldwell Beach, Indian Arm. The rustic west coast lifestyle of my upbringing set the foundation for woodworking where nothing is wasted and everything is reused when you are your own hardware store with a boat ride away from the world. Fast forward to an undergrad in Environmental Studies and 20 years in environmental and humanitarian based careers I found myself feeling deflated with the overwhelming woes of the world — especially for my children’s generation. I needed a change for myself and my family. Covid hit and as a healthcare family we hunkered down and reconnected with cabin life, growing food in our garden and working with our hands. I created my first set of candle holders out of discarded table legs from a family heirloom dining table turned coffee table and didn’t look back. I took the plunge and created an Instagram account and applied to markets. I leaned on a friend’s marketing career and all of a sudden I had a website, online store, business cards, a marketing strategy and a registered business. I can better balance family and professional life with woodworking and honour my priorities all while showcasing the authentic beauty of creating upcycled art. I am DOING it! Combining my passion for the outdoors as well as establishing my vegetable garden paved the way for Coldwell vases. Every vase is made from tossed aside wood that was otherwise destined for the landfill. Every vase holds a glass vessel for a forest floor find, a seasonal flower, a herbal sprig or a plant propagation clipping. No imported flowers required - just step outside and bring the outdoors in naturally and sustainably. It is my hope that every vase and Coldwell Creation inspires a person to see the potential beauty in upcycling and perhaps applying that way of thinking to their daily choices, their purchases, their decisions. My family and I strive for a "know better, do better" approach. About doing more good and less harm to our planet. We are by no means perfect, but by questioning our daily and long term purchases, food choices, interests and priorities, not to mention building a small business that supports the circular economy, we aim to lessen our ecological footprint and practice waste isn’t waste until we waste it.

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.

Coldwell Creations goes beyond reclaimed and repurposed woodworking, beyond showcasing the potential in upcycling and keeping waste out of the landfill. Not only is it also a little reminder to celebrate our own perfectly imperfect dings and dents by highlighting the beauty in the cracks and flaws of castaway materials, it is a business built on community. I was raised in a household where volunteering in one's corner of the world is just part of life and something you do to build community ties and "keep the community magic alive".  As a multi-generational Deep Cove family, I strive to keep the magic of the "small town in a big city" feel that the Cove is known for.  This is why I volunteered to launch the first Cove Community Market — a local artisan market that offers eco forward and handmade goods. To be an organizer of and a vendor at this fantastic community event marries my professional goals with my personal values further than I could imagine. I leaned on my community roots from my 40+ years of volunteering in the Cove and combined them with my new business network (of a whopping 6 months) and launched a market that believes in “community over competition”. Our “community over competition” messaging is intertwined on multiple levels. Our committee of 4 is fuelled with endless volunteer hours of mostly laughter. We foster community involvement by partnering with local businesses, organizations and individuals to keep costs low. We choose our secondary school as the host venue - involving on student, staff and parent volunteers. Our vendor fees of our carefully curated line up of emerging and established artisans are low to minimize financial barriers. Any surplus of funds once the smoke clears is given BACK to our community through donations to local organizations. We also partner with our local schools giving each a booth to fundraise for their respective school by selling locally made products from nearby businesses. Wait, there’s more, we feature a handful of local non-profit and environmental organizations to nurture community interactions and educational opportunities. Lastly, we support students as Jr Makes + Creators free of charge. Our small volunteer committee is now in its 3rd year. Each market grows in attendance and abundance. I am so proud that my network of family, friends and community members are excited to attend, support, volunteer and be featured at.

Why do you deserve to win the Business Impact award?

As a solo artisan woodworker it would be simple to stick to creating in my workshop and treat each creation as a commodity. However, Coldwell Creations goes beyond reclaimed and repurposed woodworking. Beyond celebrating our own perfectly imperfect quirks by highlighting the dings and dents of upcycled materials. Each Coldwell Creation sparks a conversation on the circular economy and welcomes conversations on how small choices have big impact when practiced on a daily basis. If the practice of “waste isn’t waste until we waste it” was at the forefront of our daily choices I believe we would discover how big of an impact each of can make to walk lighter on our planet. Perhaps winning the Business Impact Award would shine a brighter light on this topic and encourage the practice of the circular economy, upcycling, repurposing and reinventing and avoid single use and linear purchases and practices.

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.

As a solo artisan woodworker I don’t have staff to interact with or to lead. My interactions are tied to wholesale orders with stockists, customers online and in person, wood suppliers, woodworkers far more experienced and talented than me and my sub-contracted marketing guru, Michelle O’Neill of Lanterngirl Creates. My preference is to be in my workshop creating (or on the trails with my family in my other happy place). My professional interactions with customers, clients, subcontractors, fellow vendors and small business owners are based on the premise that Coldwell Creations is an opportunity to share how creating art that supports the circular economy sparks joy, conversation and hopefully reflection of ones daily choices to walk lighter on our planet. Each Coldwell Creation welcomes conversations on how small choices have big impact when practiced on a daily basis. I constantly highlight the cracks, the dents, the knots, the warped parts that are too deep or too big to be used by furniture makers and get scrapped. I find these pieces to be the most satisfying to work with — everything that made them unusable is what makes them beautiful when turned into a Coldwell Creation. Repurposing discarded furniture into candle holders is how it started. However, I am currently focused on repurposing lumber offcuts mainly from furniture makers into vases. Regardless of what I am making, all Coldwell Creations incorporate reclaimed + repurposed wood proving time and time again that true beauty is imperfection. I think celebrating the perfectly imperfect is something we can all use a little more of in our day to day.

Why do you think you should win the Premier’s People’s Choice Award?

The Premier’s People’s Choice Award speaks to the community support of a small business and how that business supports its community. It is up to the community that I am intertwined with, not me, to decide if I, as the creative force behind Coldwell Creations, deserves a vote cast my way to support a win for the Premier's People Choice Award.