A woman of many hats as a lawyer, realtor and fashion retailer

Transcript

Full transcript page · Interactive episode

============================================================
TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
============================================================

[00:00] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Canada's podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_00: Hello, I'm Mario Tonigüzi and this is Calgary's podcast on Canada's podcast network.
[00:11] SPEAKER_00: Joining me today is Emma May, who is founder of Sophie Grace in Calgary.
[00:15] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us Emma.
[00:16] SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Maria, for having me.
[00:18] SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it.
[00:19] SPEAKER_00: Well let me ask you first of all, what is Sophie Grace and what do you do?
[00:23] SPEAKER_01: We are a women's wear line and really what I did was I created something that was about
[00:29] SPEAKER_01: giving women mix and match separates that are super, super comfortable and work appropriate
[00:34] SPEAKER_01: and make life really, really easy for professional women.
[00:38] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I kind of dredged it up in my closet after spending 20 years as a working professional
[00:44] SPEAKER_01: and wondering why nobody made some of the things that I wanted to make and where he created
[00:49] SPEAKER_01: it.
[00:50] SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
[00:51] SPEAKER_00: So it does what your presence like wears the stuff sold through.
[00:57] SPEAKER_01: So basically we are a direct to consumer site so I control everything.
[01:02] SPEAKER_01: So we control our design, we control our production, we control marketing and then distribution.
[01:09] SPEAKER_01: So we sell online.
[01:10] SPEAKER_01: Relates pretty much almost exclusively.
[01:12] SPEAKER_01: I've got a showroom in Vancouver and we have a showroom in Calgary as well.
[01:16] SPEAKER_01: So we do do private buy appointments here.
[01:18] SPEAKER_01: We do some virtual appointments but really everything runs through our site.
[01:22] SPEAKER_01: So we are an online site, Sophie Grace.ca and that's where we sell most of our stuff.
[01:27] SPEAKER_01: Well, yeah, nearly everything.
[01:29] SPEAKER_00: And sorry, what year did you start this?
[01:32] SPEAKER_01: I started selling in 20 January of 2020 just before pandemic.
[01:38] Speaker UNKNOWN: 
[01:39] SPEAKER_01: And it's timing.
[01:41] Speaker UNKNOWN: Yeah.
[01:42] SPEAKER_00: And can you talk a little bit about the history behind the name?
[01:47] SPEAKER_00: Where's the name come from?
[01:49] SPEAKER_01: Why I named it after my daughter.
[01:50] SPEAKER_01: So I like to say I can't screw it up.
[01:52] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[01:53] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[01:54] SPEAKER_01: And it was really for me about it was something classic.
[01:57] SPEAKER_01: I started out thinking I wanted to call it something else which was kind of like hip and
[02:01] SPEAKER_01: and then what I realized was actually what I was creating was something that was really
[02:07] SPEAKER_01: timeless.
[02:09] SPEAKER_01: And so the name is spoke to me in that way, right?
[02:14] SPEAKER_01: That it was about something that really wasn't, it was, you know, our styles are really
[02:18] SPEAKER_01: timeless and they're meant to last for a long time and not be sort of dated and super.
[02:22] SPEAKER_01: They're not either, they're neither fashion forward nor, you know, doubty.
[02:27] SPEAKER_01: So we were all about classics.
[02:29] SPEAKER_00: And who would you say your typical customer is?
[02:34] SPEAKER_01: We cater to, honestly, like the rock star women in Canada.
[02:39] SPEAKER_01: They are professionals who are senior executives, account employers, doctors, CEOs, politicians,
[02:47] SPEAKER_01: every side of the aisle we've covered.
[02:50] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[02:50] SPEAKER_01: So those are, I find, I think we did a survey and we found that something like 16% of
[02:55] SPEAKER_01: our customers actually have four degrees or more.
[02:58] SPEAKER_01: Oh, wow.
[02:59] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[02:59] SPEAKER_01: So most of them are, yeah, they're highly educated and they are independent.
[03:04] SPEAKER_01: They control their own, you know, spending like no one's watching their credit card spend.
[03:11] SPEAKER_01: They decide what they want to buy and when they want to buy it.
[03:14] SPEAKER_00: No, okay.
[03:15] SPEAKER_00: Super.
[03:16] SPEAKER_00: So in reading your bio, Emma, you know, I see your lawyer turned real turn fashion retailer.
[03:26] SPEAKER_00: So how does a lawyer end up becoming a realtor and then fashion retailer?
[03:33] SPEAKER_00: I do both of the same.
[03:35] SPEAKER_00: I do both right now, right?
[03:37] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I say I'm not doing as much real estate right now and I still have an interest in Charles
[03:42] SPEAKER_01: Real Estate, which I found it.
[03:45] SPEAKER_01: And I do some work for, you know, special clients that I'm not doing a ton primarily
[03:50] SPEAKER_01: because this thing is taken off and it's a growing, going concern, as we say.
[03:56] SPEAKER_01: And it's, yeah, it's moving.
[03:58] SPEAKER_01: Yes, eating all my brain, I have to say.
[04:01] SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I start, I mean, that's how I, I think I guess, I guess the answer to that is that
[04:08] SPEAKER_01: my career path was interesting and different because I was a woman and I was a mother.
[04:15] SPEAKER_01: And so all of the challenges that that presented made me have to pivot and shift and do things a bit differently.
[04:24] SPEAKER_01: I met my husband at law school, graduated, I ended up with a, you know, I worked with the UN and overseas.
[04:31] SPEAKER_01: I worked at a big law firm in Vancouver and then when I was 28, I got pregnant and I had my
[04:38] SPEAKER_01: daughter Sophie and that changed my career path. It was a very difficult road to, you know, to,
[04:47] SPEAKER_01: to push forward on being a mom and a lawyer at that time. So it was about 20, it was 20 some years ago now.
[04:56] SPEAKER_01: And yeah, she's 20. And so my husband was sort of a, you know, pursuing the law as well as corporate
[05:03] SPEAKER_01: finance lawyer and having two lawyers in the family, it was hard. So I did it for 10 years, had two kids,
[05:09] SPEAKER_01: worked in, you know, private practice for a bit, did it, did in house for a bit.
[05:16] SPEAKER_01: But I struggled getting the files that were really interesting. I struggled with the bill of
[05:20] SPEAKER_01: hour. I struggled being the mom that I wanted to be. And so I decided, and I was heavily involved in
[05:28] SPEAKER_01: my community, you know, I was sort of like on the PTA, you name it, right? And then I was like, well,
[05:33] SPEAKER_01: maybe I need to find a way that I can leverage my, you know, negotiation skills, my experience,
[05:42] SPEAKER_01: my commitment to my community into a job where I have more flexibility. And so that was why I
[05:49] SPEAKER_01: wanted to real estate, right? It was really, it was, it was a way for me to be able to still work and
[05:55] SPEAKER_01: to still be engaged and to still have an independent income, a good independent income, right? And,
[06:02] SPEAKER_01: and build my career that way. And at the time that I left law, you know, that didn't go
[06:09] SPEAKER_01: overwhelmed with my family, they're like, what are you doing? Like, why are you putting,
[06:14] SPEAKER_01: becoming a, why are you putting being a lawyer to become a realtor? Like, are you insane?
[06:19] SPEAKER_01: Like, you spent all these years at school to do this, right? But it was, you know, from, in many
[06:25] SPEAKER_01: ways, it was a great career for me for that period of my life. Yeah, well, it's interesting, right?
[06:30] SPEAKER_00: Because I recently spoke with another woman that was basically the same kind of scenario that
[06:37] SPEAKER_00: you're describing, right? She, she was an investment banker back east and she, same thing, you know,
[06:44] SPEAKER_00: I had a child and started a family and, and you couldn't, as she said, I think she couldn't put 17
[06:51] SPEAKER_00: hours on at the desk anymore. And so she ended up buying a, a, a, a, a little company and she's,
[06:59] SPEAKER_00: and she's in the retail sector and the, the business is just like booming, one of the fastest
[07:05] SPEAKER_00: growing in Canada. So she went to transfer and find ways to transfer the skills that she had into a
[07:12] SPEAKER_01: new venture, so to speak, right? Right. And into one where she can, you know, for me, it was, yeah,
[07:18] SPEAKER_01: how do I control, you know, what I do? And I think it's, I think it's a bit easier sometimes for
[07:23] SPEAKER_01: women who are more established in their careers when they have kids, right? Like, but when you're
[07:27] SPEAKER_01: younger and you have a kid and you're, you know, battling out the hours in the bill of hour,
[07:32] SPEAKER_01: it's, you know, it's a grind and it ended up with me making different decisions about the path
[07:37] SPEAKER_01: I was going to take. And it wasn't always happy about those decisions, right? It wasn't, it's
[07:42] SPEAKER_01: funny because people were like, oh, you've had such an interesting career and it's like, yeah, it wasn't,
[07:46] SPEAKER_00: like, it wasn't a plan. Exactly. So tell me about being an entrepreneur. What do you like about it?
[07:55] SPEAKER_01: Um, well, I know that I am actually pretty ADD. So, uh, I like the, I like how new everything is
[08:03] SPEAKER_01: all the time, right? Like, I like the challenge of that. I like the intensity of it. I like the fact
[08:08] SPEAKER_01: that, um, I can control the direction of where things are going. I love building teams, right? Like,
[08:14] SPEAKER_01: I love bringing together people who are really, really good at what they do and then pursuing this sort
[08:20] SPEAKER_01: of common goal together. So, you know, that part of it's all like, it's just really exciting. It's
[08:26] SPEAKER_01: like this idea, it's about, you know, I had this idea and I did it with Charles Real Estate. I did
[08:32] SPEAKER_01: it when I sort of did the community work around the flood stuff too. And it's about, I have this
[08:36] SPEAKER_01: vision and idea and then sitting down and how do I make it real? Like, how do I turn it into this
[08:42] SPEAKER_01: real thing that's tangible and actually, um, you know, has got legs and, and then exists in and of
[08:50] SPEAKER_01: itself and becomes something that is other than me, not just this thing that lives in my head.
[08:56] SPEAKER_01: Mm. Like, that, that part of it is really, really satisfying and really fun. It's like, it's,
[09:00] SPEAKER_00: it's a creative process more than anything else. Yeah. On the flip side of that, what, uh, don't you
[09:12] SPEAKER_01: I think that, you know, the, um, right now I'm running a heavy cash flow intense business,
[09:20] SPEAKER_01: right? Like, we have to make investments pretty far out. So, managing growth and cash flow and
[09:25] SPEAKER_01: the pressure around, um, knowing that really it's my responsibility to make sure that everybody gets paid
[09:34] SPEAKER_01: and make sure that, you know, uh, that we, that things work. Um, and that, that we continue to grow and
[09:42] SPEAKER_01: move forward. That, that's, you know, that stress level is a different level of stress than, um,
[09:50] SPEAKER_01: you know, than, than just sort of doing the work. It's really not a bit like it's, it's, I have people's,
[09:56] SPEAKER_01: you know, um, yeah, you, you have people's lives and livelihoods a bit in your hands, right? And
[10:03] SPEAKER_01: then when people are investing in you, um, I'm now at the point where you know, I've got investors who
[10:09] SPEAKER_01: are coming in from outside, right? Like they are trusting me to, uh, maximize the value of their
[10:15] SPEAKER_01: dollar, right? And to, and to, and to achieve the things that I set out to achieve. So the,
[10:21] SPEAKER_01: I think just the responsibility around that is, I like it, but it's, you know, it weighs on you some
[10:27] SPEAKER_00: nights. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So beyond the work that you do, like what other interests do you have?
[10:40] SPEAKER_01: I think I've always been interested in my community. I work for it, you know, I did some
[10:45] SPEAKER_01: blood stuff, um, like, you know, formed an organization after the floods of 2013 that really
[10:53] SPEAKER_01: got me kind of invested in my community and then ended up working for Jim Prentice in the
[10:58] SPEAKER_01: premier's office as executive director to him. So I mean, I'm always kind of, you know, I'm,
[11:04] SPEAKER_01: I guess I have interest in politics. I hate partisanship. Um, but I do have an interest in policy
[11:12] SPEAKER_01: and politics and, you know, housing shape up. Uh, I was joked that I'm, you know, when I'm in Calgary,
[11:19] SPEAKER_01: I'm considered a liberal pinco. And then when I go to Vancouver, I'm like this fascist.
[11:25] SPEAKER_01: You know, so I don't, I don't really fit anywhere. Yeah. My, some of my leanings, um, but I, you know,
[11:33] SPEAKER_01: I have an interest in good policy. And I think it makes a difference in, in our communities and,
[11:38] SPEAKER_01: you know, and in people's lives. So, uh, I probably, I'm too interested, maybe sometimes I'm too
[11:45] SPEAKER_00: interested in it, but yeah, I think it matters. So, so I'm curious. I'm like, you know, not to get into
[11:52] SPEAKER_00: too much of a political discussion, but, but obviously it is a keen interest of yours. Uh,
[11:58] SPEAKER_00: what troubles you today about the state of politics in this country?
[12:04] SPEAKER_01: Uh, I would say today very much so, and I was just talking about it this morning is, um,
[12:10] SPEAKER_01: conspiracy theory, not, not a rite. Um, I think, uh, I actually think some of the, and I,
[12:18] SPEAKER_01: and I do believe this is actually, I mean, the left is about its own issues. They, their own,
[12:23] SPEAKER_01: um, you know, they can get really out of touch with people, I think, but I think right now there's
[12:28] SPEAKER_01: factions on the, uh, on the right, which are going down a very dangerous path. Um, you know,
[12:35] SPEAKER_01: when people throw around the word globalists and things like that, these are, you know,
[12:39] SPEAKER_01: anti-semitic tropes that, um, uh, we really don't need in, in our governance, right? And in our
[12:47] SPEAKER_01: parties, and I think we need to have, you know, it's laughing, but it was like, we need to,
[12:51] SPEAKER_01: who's going to be the Liz Cheney if they conservative party right now? And who's going to stand up
[12:55] SPEAKER_01: and say, whoa, whoa, guys, like, let's get back to talking about what's effective tax policy.
[13:01] SPEAKER_01: Um, how do we make help, help business grow? How do we set a path for the future? Um, we don't,
[13:08] SPEAKER_01: you know, there's a lot of, uh, there's a lot of garbage out there right now. And I think it's,
[13:13] SPEAKER_00: uh, and I think it's, it gets dangerous actually. Okay. Um, and just going back to being an entrepreneur,
[13:20] SPEAKER_00: uh, I know, as you said, you're, you're right in the midst of the pandemic and, uh, you know,
[13:26] SPEAKER_00: setting this up and setting up this business. Um, what pieces of advice would you have for a
[13:33] SPEAKER_00: would-be entrepreneur, uh, that wants to start a business, uh, in this day and age?
[13:39] SPEAKER_01: I think it really clear about what it is that you want to do, right? And I think, I think having
[13:48] SPEAKER_01: real clarity around what it is that you, what problem you're solving, um, who is your customer,
[13:55] SPEAKER_01: and what, what you want to achieve at the end of the day. And then also actually really loving
[13:59] SPEAKER_01: what you do because it's a lot like, it's a lot of work, right? And, and it's 24-7,
[14:06] SPEAKER_01: there's no getting away from that. And if you, if you don't love it, you're going to give up,
[14:11] SPEAKER_01: right? And if, and if you're not really clear on who your customer is or what it is that you want to do,
[14:18] SPEAKER_01: um, it's harder, right? Like it's, it's, uh, the, the times that I've had success with things,
[14:26] SPEAKER_01: and this doesn't mean I haven't had like a thousand other ideas for staff, right? But the times that,
[14:30] SPEAKER_01: I find it's connected is, is because I have a very simple core thing. And that, and I can find a
[14:40] SPEAKER_01: way to meet a need that people want. Um, and I think we can get carried away a bit with like, you
[14:47] SPEAKER_01: know, and, and it's okay to be niche and it's okay to focus on a, on a very niche customer, right?
[14:52] SPEAKER_01: And, and sometimes that niche customer will turn into something that's like bigger and not so niche.
[14:57] SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you think about like, Luthe Lemon, when they started out, right? Like yoga pants was a pretty
[15:04] SPEAKER_01: niche, uh, you know, like it, it was like really yoga pants. I mean, people do yoga at the time,
[15:10] SPEAKER_01: not a ton of people were doing yoga, right? But I mean, it turned into this like global thing. But
[15:14] SPEAKER_01: that was because he had a very clear vision at the beginning of who his customer was and what
[15:18] SPEAKER_01: they wanted and what he wanted to give them. Um, and so that, I think that's, that's the
[15:26] SPEAKER_01: differentiator between things that are successful and things that aren't. We love my dog's in the
[15:29] SPEAKER_00: office. I know. I just like, I got another one here under my feet. I love the fact that he just kind
[15:35] SPEAKER_00: of sauntered from the back and just got a nice little spot on the spot. Yeah. Yeah.
[15:41] SPEAKER_01: And that's a part of the joy. Yeah. Yeah. No one tells me I can't bring my dogs to work.
[15:48] SPEAKER_00: There you go. Well, thanks Emma for joining us today. Yeah, you're welcome, Mario.
[15:53] SPEAKER_00: Great to connect and thank you. All right. Super. That was Emma May, who is founder of Sophie
[15:57] SPEAKER_00: Grace in Calgary. I'm Mario Toneguzi. This has been Calgary's podcast on Cal Canada's podcast
[16:04] SPEAKER_00: network. Thanks for joining us today.