Occupation: Co-Founder of Smart Cookies; Founder & Principal of Bratface Marketing
Who is your role model/mentor: My father who was an extraordinary businessman (he recently retired).
What do you like most about your job: The freedom, creativity and unknowingness of not knowing where I will be in a year. I guess that’s the risk-taker in me :)
Daily ritual: It depends if I’m at home or on the road for travel. But typically it starts with caffeinated coffee (a must!) followed by heading to the gym 3x a week and then going through emails & responding to as many as I can before the real work starts. Rinse and repeat.
The most rewarding part of my job is: Seeing my business ideas & collaborations come to fruition when I work with clients. I also speak at a lot of events for both Smart Cookies and Bratface Marketing and nothing makes me happier than sharing my story, ideas and inspiration with others.
What has been your biggest strength that’s helped you succeed in your industry? My go-gettem’ attitude, tenacity and ballsy nature. I will try anything once and it has certainly taken me far and opened doors I never thought possible. I literally flew to NYC last summer and had set up over 20 business meetings with influencers and business people. Amazing the connections I made & people I met.
Memorable celebrity encounter/interview: Duh, Oprah! Meeting her, being a guest on her show and seeing Harpo Studios behind the scenes was a-m-a-z-i-n-g and an opportunity I will forever be grateful for. Not once but twice.
Where do you go for some retail therapy? Being a Smart Cookie and all I try to curb my spending when I can but spend wisely when I do. I love Anthropology for unique items & new designers (excited they are coming to Vancouver!), H&M for cheap thrills, Joe Fresh for affordable fashion-forward items and Club Monaco for the classic, long-lasting items.
Dream vacation spot? In one of those amazing water front cabins in Bora Bora. I wonder if there is a Smart Cookie way to do such a trip? *sigh*
What has been your favourite event to attend? Oh don’t make me choose! So many of them! The CRAVE Company events are always great for networking & getting some good info. The FWE is very valuable & worth its weight in gold. But if I could dream of one to attend, it would be NYC Fashion Week :)
Favourite hangout: I recently fell in love with the Fairmont Pacific Rim Lobby Lounge. They have such a great atmosphere, food and wine and awesome jazz artists that are quite impressive.
Favourite childhood memory: Spending summers up at our cottage in Haliburton, Ontario.
What is your favourite ice-cream flavor? Sweet + simple vanilla
If there was more time in the day you would: I would read more. I really have to get better about that considering I have many business books & subscribe to 5 magazines!
Favourite social network: Twitter
Favourite Blog: Because I’m a marketer, I love Seth Godin’s blog but I also love Design*Sponge & The Pioneer Woman. All amazing blogs in their own way to fulfill all my guilty pleasures (food, home decor and marketing).
Last song you downloaded: Robyn’s new CD’s Body Talk Prt 1 & 2. She has finally found her groove since her pop days in the 90’s.
I now have a quarterly newsletter people can sign up via my website’s home page. We are also regularly contributing to Design*Sponge’s Biz Ladies section which is jam-packed with great small business information. We (Bratface Marketing) were also signed on as regular contributors to a new radio show on 650 CISL AM called “The Broad Perspective”. I will be speaking twice a month on all topics business and marketing.
CountDown Events would like to thank Andrea for being part of our "Friday Favourite" blog post. Follow sweet Andrea on Twitter @andreabaxter
Photos by Kien Ly
