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Tina Bacon | August 11, 2010
Cheryl Davie | August 11, 2010
Abbotsford Artist | July 22, 2010
FRESH! Fraser Valley | August 4, 2010
How sweet it is: Bacon's passion shines
For 18 years Tina Bacon toiled in the plumbing and heating industry, all the while yearning for a job she felt passionate about.
Not until she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006 and survived the rigors of a mastectomy, chemo and radiation treatments, did she start thinking about creating a business that would allow her to work and maintain a balanced family life with her husband, Matt, her twin daughters and infant son. Matt is a tech-ed teacher at Mennonite Educational Institute Middle School in Abbotsford.
Today, as owner of The Pink Spatula, you can find Tina Bacon teaching baking and pastry classes at Well Seasoned in Langley, and producing delicious hand-crafted miniature sweets, banana bread, lemon loaf, biscotti, scones, muffins and squares in an open commercial kitchen at City Blends in Mission.
"I walked into Blends one day and they we're looking for someone like me, said Bacon. "I like the open kitchen idea and being with people."
In the spring of 2008 she started meeting with Wayne Fobert of the Self Employment Program (SEP) which is funded by the B.C. Ministry of Housing and Social Development.
After exploring some ideas, she started talking to people in the food industry as part of her market research.
"I got work from the first three people I talked to . . . without them even trying my food." Those businesses were SerendipiTea, Well Seasoned and Mizuna Culinary (catering and cafe).
"I couldn't have created a successful business without SEP. The access to so many experts in so many areas of small business was invaluable," said Bacon, pointing out that she is primarily self-taught. "I baked since I was a little girl in my mother’s kitchen and I took some courses."
Bacon's passion shines through as she takes the mystery out of baking for her students. "I like to make it exciting, approachable and fun. If you're going to take time to bake, use premium ingredients to make the calories worth it."
Now her exceptional talents have earned her a Les Dames d'Escoffier scholarship to train with Chef Marco Ropke at the Pastry Training Centre of Vancouver.
Bacon is careful to keep her work to three days per week, and is producing some 500 units of baking in that time.
She uses social media to play a significant role in the marketing of The Pink Spatula. Her Twitter handle is @wortheverybite, and she is developing relationships with people in the industry and clients who she would otherwise not have met. She also created her own Facebook fan page.
Davie had the MBA theory, SEP provided practical business skills
Cheryl Davie spent a decade working in international business, primarily as a ship broker for a Norwegian company, before she realized the opportunities to grow were lacking and it wasn’t really what she wanted to do.
Agriculture was always something she was keen to focus her energies on since her father owns a dairy farm in Delta and her mother is a writer for the BC Holstein News.
In 2005 she resumed her studies, and by June 2007 she graduated with two Masters degrees, in Business and Agriculture, from the University of Alberta in Edmonton. While she was finishing her degree she became pregnant, and in October 2007, her son Seth was born.
During this time, Cheryl made ends meet by taking on contract work with an agri-technology company and teaching international business the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
After her maternity leave she did more contract work, this time with the Government of Alberta.
“I enjoyed being a contractor, but I was nervous about starting my own business,” said Cheryl, now owner of Cheryl Davie and Associates ( http://www.cheryldavie.com ).
In 2008 she moved to B.C., leaving all her connections in Alberta, and by 2009 she excitedly enrolled in Fraser Valley SEP, the self-employment program funded by the provincial Ministry of Housing and Social Development.
“Because my MBA had an international focus, I didn’t know a lot about entrepreneurship and running my own business,” said Cheryl, adding that working with SEP advisor Suzanne Blakely-Oaks” made me feel confident. She encouraged me to apply for the program and walked me through the entire process. Her network was impressive, and I started building my own with her help.”
Cheryl said she had the theory but did not have the practical skills to run a business.
But with each new contact Cheryl made, another door opened for her.
From her association with Barrowtown Agricultural Development Society, she wrote a press release that caught the eye of Country Life in B.C. newspaper, and opened up a writing career that allows her to “tell so many stories that aren’t being told.”
Cheryl met Stephen Evans of Abbotsford Growers Co-op at an Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce meeting that led to a successful grant writing proposal for approximately $25,000.
Now she is on a team of consultants working on an agricultural plan for the City of Chilliwack and the District of West Kelowna. And with the Abbotsford Chamber, she is an active member of its agriculture committee.
But her plum appointment is with the BC Farm Industry Review Board where she has an influence of issues related to agriculture and marketing boards.
“It’s so exciting for me. I am learning so much about the industry in B.C. If I had a 9 to 5 job I would not be able to do something like this.”
Cheryl says her company helps bring people in the agriculture industry together to add value to products through innovation. She said there is a lot of potential to do some value chain consulting through collaboration with farmers, processors, wholesalers and retailers.
Cheryl’s advice to anyone launching a new business is to “get involved in the community. It provides an opportunity for you to expand your network while building trust. As a business owner, I believe your network is your net worth.”
For a little fun, Cheryl interacts with the public through social media, in particular as the volunteer voice behind the Twitter account of the Abbotsford Farmers Market (@AbbyFarmMarket).
Abbotsford master carver Errol Evanik with his layered marble sculpture entitled Chief Poundmaker at Self Employment Program graduation last week at The Phoenix Restaurant.
Abbotsford artist transforms wood, stone
Since he was 14, master carver Errol Evanik's steady hands have transformed thousands of specialty woods and layered marble into things of beauty.
"I always was an artist. I was better than the art teacher in Yorkton, Saskatchewan in Grade 12, so I taught the class," he said.
His first project was a wooden recreation of the Last Supper, and his proudest moments came after he was flown to Calgary in 1981 to create a $100,000, 14-foot high epiphany for a Greek Orthodox Church. It was fashioned out of walnut, maple and oak and every Easter it is carried down the streets of Calgary.
Evanik, now 56, and living in Abbotsford, is one of the latest graduates from the 10-month Self Employment Program (SEP) funded by the provincial Ministry of Housing and Social Development.
His business, Stonewood Sculpting, is run out of a shop attached to his house, and he has nothing but praise for his SEP business advisor Suzanne Blakely-Oaks.
"It's one of the most comfortable courses I've taken in my entire life," he said. "They are 100 per cent behind you. I have never come across a more devoted group of people. There is no negativity. They teach you business skills, insights and technologies."
Evanik was once head carver for a major company, creating moulds for wildlife sculpture duplicating machines. He also carved wood components for upholstered furniture featured in special galleries.
He has turned solid blocks of cedar into five-foot religious sculptures of Mary, and one of his latest projects was a layered brown marble sculpture of Chief Poundmaker, an historic Plains Cree figure who was a skilled orator and leader on the Prairies in the 1880s.
"I always wanted to carve historic or 'noted' people," said Evanik. "Chiefs from that era got no recognition. Thousands of Blackfoot and Cree natives died in wars on the Canadian Prairies."
Asked if he visualizes the sculpture in a block of wood or stone, he responds: "I'm paid to do a job. I do it in a certain way. I don't visualize. I do it in the best way I can with all my years of experience. Some abstract can be mixed with reality. I believe one enhances the other."
As a child, Evanik resided on RCAF bases across Canada until 1971. His father, Bill, was a corporal who also drew cartoons for Airforce newspapers.
FRESH! Seeks the Fraser Valley's finest businesses to exhibit
An escape from the ordinary; a chance to learn something new. On September 25 Fresh! Fraser
Valley’s Finest will offer the public an unparalleled opportunity to uncover local gems, including artisans, shops, services and activity providers.
Held at the comfortable Ramada Plaza and Conference Centre, it will celebrate the finest entrepreneurs and independent, locally-owned businesses in the Fraser Valley. Not a traditional trade show or lecture series, it will combine powerful workshops with a showcase of local companies and made-in-the-Fraser Valley products in an unorthodox and effective way.
Owners of local, independent companies are encouraged to contact Fresh! soon if they’re interested in exhibiting, as spots are filling up quickly. Participation is priced affordably so all businesses will have the opportunity to get involved.
Kristi Ferguson and Danielle Knowles, Co-Founders of Fresh! encourage all types of companies to exhibit, from restaurants to boutiques to tattoo studios. For anyone who is interested but not sure what they should do with their booth, Ferguson and Knowles are happy to offer ideas.
On September 25, 2010 everyone from Hope to Surrey will have the opportunity to gain a Fresh! perspective on life and business in the Fraser Valley! Will your company count itself among the Fraser Valley’s Finest?
For more information, contact info@freshfraservalley.com or visit www.freshfraservalley.com.
