When Indigenous designs are showcased at Milan Fashion Week next month, Lesley Hampton will be there. The Anishanaabe artist and fashion designer has been designing since 2016, focusing on making women’s fashion more inclusive. Soon, she’ll be on one of the biggest global fashion stages to promote that very idea – one that prompted her to begin her professional journey.
“I have many stories of casting plus-size models for runway shows and having them not being granted access to backstage because they don’t ‘look’ like models,” says Hampton, who in 2021 was named Vogue magazine’s top Canadian Designer to Watch. “Changing that framework was very difficult at the start. I probably should have had more knowledge about the industry. I was very naive and thought it was an easy change if I just showed the possibility.”
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Hampton’s journey to change that framework was given a boost when she became a recipient of the Visa She’s Next Grant Program. The program supports women-led businesses, and along with $10,000 gives recipients access to coaching through the iFund Women marketplace, as well as a customized mentorship program at York University.
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“I grow the most with community so it’s exciting to collaborate with these other businesses and get to know how our businesses work,” she says. “These mentors the program provides will help lay down the framework for the next five to 15 years to see where we can grow as a business.”
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Growth in business is top of mind for small business owners–particularly in today’s economy. Visa’s most recent Small Business Pulse Report notes that women-owned small businesses were already projecting lower growth (2.5%) for 2022, compared to 6% for businesses overall. They also remain less profitable (62%) compared to 70% for businesses overall. They and other small business leaders are also concerned about inflation (87%) and economic uncertainty (82%).
That said, it’s not all dire–the report also found that business leaders continue to think about how they can set up their business for future success and 68% have a positive and optimistic outlook.
Growing a small business can be challenging in the best of times, but even more so during a global pandemic – just ask the founders of Crying Out Loud. The Toronto boutique features uplifting gifts that promote self-care and the care of others, as well as workshops and events that promote wellness through learning and social connection.
“Growing the business through the pandemic, we also really missed out on a lot of networking and mentorship that would have traditionally happened face to face,” says Janice Tsao, one of four co-founders, who all met through the shared experience of losing a partner at a young age.
“In hindsight, we didn’t know what we didn’t know. We were naive and inexperienced though we had a lot of transferable skills from our careers,” says Sarah Keast, another of the boutique’s co-founders, on starting out. The team had a sharp learning curve. How, for example, can you build brand awareness in a city jammed with retail outlets?
The Visa She’s Next Grant program has now helped them, too.
“Going into our fourth year, we knew this is the time to level up with networking, mentorship and coaching,” says Keast. “We know the areas we need help, and we can leverage our experience.”
Like Hampton, the team at Crying Out Loud has set out to build more than a brand. They plan to create a more inclusive community.
“When we started, we wondered, how do we get people to care about mental health in the way that we’re positioning the business?” says Tsao. “The pandemic paved the way for those mental health conversations and this exposure will also hopefully help boost our message further of putting mental well being first.”
To learn more about the Visa She’s Next Grant Program and the recipients, click here.
