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

When I first moved to Vancouver in 2014, I found it incredibly difficult to find community. I craved spaces where I could meet like-minded women who were also intensely curious about a variety of subjects and skills! When I set out to find workshops that were for women, I was disappointed to only find crafting and homemaker workshops, which I loved, but found it strange that there weren't workshops that taught practical, hard skills such as car maintenance, finance, whiskey tasting, etc. So I set out to start my own school for women and gender-non-conforming people where the classes are taught by women, and the number of subjects are vast! Since The Bad Academy was created, we've run over 250 workshops ranging from taxidermy, to bike and car maintenance, to skateboarding, to knife sharpening! I am passionate about what I do because when women learn that they can do something they never thought they could like change a tire or build something out of wood, they then know they can do anything.

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.

The Bad Academy is a fiercely curious and supportive group of women and GNC people who understand that knowledge is power, and power is freedom. We support women by giving them information and letting them choose what they wish to do with that knowledge. We have had some students change careers, and sometimes we have people who just enjoy learning for what it is! The joy we experience through learning and being in community uplifts all of us. Bad Academy often receives support from community partners like Arc'teryx and Vancity who recognize our impact and want to support more.

Why do you deserve to win the Business Impact award?

I truly feel like I do not compromise ever on my values as an organization and leader. Here are the values The Bad Academy lives by: Trust: Our community trusts us to provide information and learning environments that are tailored to their needs and experience, and in return, we trust our community to hold us up and support the feminist movement as a whole. We don’t take this responsibility lightly and believe it to be a key factor in our success. Integrity: We do what we say we’re going to do, full stop. We don’t compromise on our promises as an organization. Representation: We take pride in requiring that all our workshops are taught by women and GNC people because inspiration is the most magical byproduct of education. We aim to not only teach people, but to inspire them with people who look and think like them. Accessibility: We do everything in our power to make our programming financially and physically accessible to everyone. It is hard work to constantly search for opportunities to lower the cost of admission, but we know it is necessary to fight classism and to bring education to anyone wanting to learn no matter their socio-economic background. Compassion: We aren’t perfect (it’s in our name!), and we don’t expect our audience or collaborators to be perfect. Mistakes and failures are opportunities for growth, and we recognize it and quickly get back up.

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.

The culture within Bad Academy is demonstrated with the work we do externally which is that we support each other and always lead with compassion and confidence. We are here to lead by example which is to show that feminism can be fun and joyous! As the leader of Bad Academy, I pride myself on a workplace and classroom free from judgement and full of humour. I do not claim to be the best at what I do, but I will never stop failing and learning faster and better as I grow my business.