Who am I? I’m a serial entrepreneur, a designoholic, a bossy real estate slayer and an extreme advocate for women empowerment. I’m also the mother of four children and own three companies. I’ve spent 25 years in Marketing, Branding, Sales and Advertising, with the last decade as a top-producing Realtor in west Toronto. I built a multi-million dollar real estate business and opened the boutique real estate brokerage Page & Percival, back in 2015. I also own a not-for-profit company called Community Venue. So in a nutshell, I know marketing, I know small business and I know real estate.
My Story
The roots of my business & entrepreneurial spirit were planted at a young age. I was raised by my single-father (highly unusual back in those days!) who was extremely successful and dabbled in all sorts of businesses. He always encouraged me to go into business for myself, but I struggled with the lack of security. Surprisingly, I’m not a risk taker by nature. So, after graduating from University where I studied Psychology and Business, I decided to join the corporate world. My very first job was in communications where I learned a lot about graphic design, layout and copy editing. It was here that I discovered my love for creative design. Granted, it was done a lot differently back then! The internet didn’t even exist yet, so all we had access to was clipart that you had to buy on CDs.
I spent the next decade in various roles in marketing, sales, advertising, branding, video production, events & promotions. I was fortunate to have been trained by some of the best marketers and ad agencies in the country and I soaked it all in. Then I decided to start a family and things went down hill from there. Despite being identified as a high performer, the second I announced my pregnancy, the tables turned. Turns out they weren’t so supportive of work/life balance. It was one of the worst experiences I have had to go through, but it was also the best thing that ever could have happened to me. I likely would have stayed in the corporate world forever and never experienced the personal joy & satisfaction of owning a business. I always gave 150% to every job I had….now I get to reap the rewards of that hard work. I have learned that you can’t count on anyone else, but I can count on me and I’ll bet on me any day.
Fast forward to Oct 2008, the month we launched our new real estate brand Page & Percival, to Toronto’s west-end. It was also the month the real estate market crashed and the economy imploded. Great timing. For the first 6 months I worried I’d made the biggest mistake of my life. I had invested all of my savings into launching my new real estate career and there was nothing happening. Crickets. But I had faith. I KNEW in my gut we were on to something and then the tables turned in our favour. Our business exploded and we hit top 2% in Canada that very first year.
The rest as they say, is history. I’m happy to share it over coffee (or wine) one day, if you’d like to hear it!
