I don’t think I ever felt fully ready to start Style Bar… I just got to a point where I knew I didn’t want to keep waiting.

I didn’t just randomly start it. It was something that had been building for a long time, even if I didn’t fully realize it at the time.

I started out at FIDM in LA, studying Merchandise Marketing and Design. I just knew I loved fashion and the creative side of things, and I wanted to be part of that world somehow. I didn’t have this big, clear plan yet, but looking back, I think the foundation was already there.

After that, I came back to Winnipeg and worked in a few different design offices, and then eventually took a contract position in Toronto. It was during that year, somewhere in the middle of it, that something shifted for me. I remember having this quiet moment where it just clicked… like, okay, I think I’m actually going to do this.

The idea of starting something of my own was never really new. I grew up watching my dad build his business from the ground up. It was successful, it was stable, and it showed me from a young age that creating something for yourself was possible. So I think a part of me always knew I would go in that direction. It just took me some time to actually take the leap.

And when I did, it felt like everything became very real, very fast. The finances, the risk, the insecurity, signing personal guarantees… all of it. None of it was something I had dealt with before, and I definitely didn’t feel fully ready for it. But I also knew I didn’t want to keep waiting until I felt ready, because I’m not sure that moment ever really comes.

At the beginning, Style Bar didn’t look like what you might expect. My vision was never for it to be this perfectly curated, all-white, don’t-touch-anything kind of space. I wanted it to feel comfortable. Somewhere you could walk in, take your time, try things on, not worry about making a mess. Somewhere you actually wanted to hang out. Ironically, it was black… which I eventually hated. But at the time, I was just figuring it out as I went.

I worked seven days a week in those early years. Eventually, when I felt okay stepping away a little bit, I had one employee, Kirsten, who would take Sundays. But for the most part, I was there almost six days a week for seven years. Looking back, I don’t even know how I did that, but when you’re in it, you just keep going.

Emotionally, it was hard in a way I don’t think you can fully understand until you’re in it. I remember calling my dad one day and telling him I felt like I was drowning. I didn’t have the confidence yet, and I was learning everything in real time, especially things like cash flow, which no one really prepares you for. It felt heavy a lot of the time.

But what’s interesting is, even in those moments, I never thought I made the wrong decision. Not once. I always knew I would figure it out. It wasn’t a question of if, just how.

And honestly, it was the smallest things that kept me going. Every time someone came in and said they had heard about us, it meant so much. Those moments felt like proof that something was starting to build, even if it was slow. Like people were finding us, and coming back, and telling other people.

That’s what kept me going. Those small moments that felt like something was starting to grow into what I had hoped it could be.

What I didn’t know at the time was how much things were about to change. Not just in the business, but in me.

Because the next chapter of Style Bar didn’t just come with growth… it came with becoming a mom, and everything that followed.