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Alison Geskin talks with some of the most successful leaders from around the globe. She discovers what they're doing, why they're doing it, and what impact they've made.
Oh, Kara, Kara, Kara, hello. I'm so excited that you said yes. I'm so excited that you said yes to this. You know, I think back to when we first started working together to where you are now, I can't even describe it. Like the brands you work with frankly do not get bigger. They just don't. And it's been such an evolution and the fact that we get to talk about this and about leadership and about the messy, beautiful reality behind it.
I can't wait to dig in. Shall we go in gently or shall we do what we always do and just jump right in? Let's just jump right in. That's what owning a business is, right? So let's just take it right off the top. I love it. I love it. Buckle in. You ready? Yeah.
Ready. Let's first talk about leading a global brand while raising a little human being. take me to a moment where the weight of motherhood and the magnitude of your career collided. What happened? What did you do? I mean, There's so many of those moments. I think there's two instances for me.
One was before I had a child and one was after I had a child. So I'll take you through the first one first. And it was in my late twenties when everybody I knew was married was having kids. Everyone was pressuring me to do it. And it was one of those things where it was really tough to be like, okay, am I choosing family?
Am I choosing career? And at that point in my life it just didn't feel right for me. At that point. I was like, no, my career. Really needs me. And that's my focus. That's my drive, that's where I'm gonna focus my time and family will follow me after the fact. And that was a really great decision, looking back on it, like I had a lot of resentment for a number of years.
I carried that weight on me for a number of years. Every baby that was born, every wedding that I went to, seeing everyone else's life progress. And I got really yeah, I got really weighted down by that. And then finally I of overcame it and said, you know what? This is my journey. It's unique.
Everybody's path is a little bit different. Got married a little bit later than a lot of my peers and friends and it was wonderful. I got to afford the wedding of my dreams, the house of my dreams and doing everything that I was, I was really, yeah. Really excited and passionate about. And then once Ella came along, a whole new challenge hit and I think about, I.
Two weeks after she was born, I was like, this never turns off this, you can't pass this baby away. You don't get a vacation from this. This is 24 7 for the rest of their lives. you know, kind of, it hit both me and my husband. And we were just like, okay, all right, buckle up. Here we are. And like we weren't sure how long of a mat leave I was gonna take.
I wasn't sure how much time I was gonna take from the business, but around the six week mark, I was like, Nope, I gotta go back. I gotta dig back in. And that was really bittersweet for me because I didn't wanna miss. Any of that time with my daughter. But at the same time, the business like continues and even to this day continues to grow.
And as much as we try to put on the breaks and say, Hey, no, we're not ready for this right now. Like events around us don't always allow us to make those decisions for ourselves. So I think the biggest thing for me was realizing I just can't do this by myself. I have to, create a team.
I have to lean hard on my family and really develop some childcare support that works for us and works for our lifestyle. We're very fortunate that we have both of our parents here in Calgary, which is really helpful, really helpful. Which is why I stayed here. A lot of people were like, why didn't you go to LA or New York or, London, anywhere but here.
And I was like, family was always number one. And I think making that decision early on in my career and choosing to be based here and based around family so that I'd have that team around me when I needed it was really key. You talked about like the carrying of the weight before.
In this iteration of you leading a global brand and while raising a human where do you feel the guilt and how do you handle it? Because as a working mom, we wear many hats. Yeah. And one of the things that comes with us inherently is guilt.
Where did you feel it most in this? I think, I think it's the same for every mom. I think it's the time. Um, Not having, you know, regular mat leave that really of hurts and not always having the time. My daughter's almost three now to do everything with her. Ah. I cannot believe. I know.
It's wild. It's wild. That happens. She's the size of a five-year-old already, she's only three still. But I think one of the things that stuck the most with me was something my mom said is she was like, it doesn't matter. The amount of time, it's the quality of time. Like you could take her for a walk around the block and as long as your attention is fully devoted to her, she feels that she understands that.
And I really saw a bit of a shift in the way that we started parenting, with that advice. And even her behavior, there was some time where I got really overwhelmed probably when she was about a year and a half, and I was really distant and away from her and traveling a lot. And then we found that, yeah, just actually spending that quality time, reducing the screen, the screen is such a nice distraction when you're like, okay, I gotta get this email here, watch this TV and let me do some stuff.
But it's like, no, like for us now, she knows screens on weekends. That's our house rule. And in between it's like, okay, let's go play in the backyard, go, you know, play with your dolls or like keep yourself self entertained. And, And that was a really nice shift for me and, and a really good shift as well.
Kind of advice from my mom and from other people too. They're like, you know what, your parenting style is not gonna be the same as somebody else, but your daughter's gonna grow up and look at all the things her mom accomplished and take pride in that. And we talk about often, she's like, why do you have to go to work, mommy?
Why do you have to work? And I'm like, that's how we we're already talking about that's how you earn money. That's how I'm paying for your toys. That's how I'm paying for your bed. That's how I'm paying for, you know, all of these things. And she's already kind of grasping that concept of, okay, we have to work hard to get things.
We don't just get things automatically. And, And that's a value I'm hoping to continue to instill in her. I love that. I love that.
Did you expect it to be what it is? A hundred percent. Yeah. I know a lot of people don't, but. My little sister was born when I was 14. There's four kids in my family, so we have a huge gap. Really? Yeah. So I basically like, not taking credit for raising her, but I was around babies in my adult life and I fully knew and comprehended, you know, the weight of that and how much it would take.
I think the one thing that I just didn't anticipate is again, that thing where it's like it never go, like it never turns off. You always have to be on. And I think like when I'm not at my best mentally or when I'm sick and she's sick and I have to care for like, that's where it gets hard. Where it's okay, even though I have this great team around me and support and the help, like I can't hire somebody to take care of a sick kid.
You still have to do it. Or my mom, she's autoimmune compromised, she can't take her. So things like that that's a little hard, but yeah, but no, we're getting by. How do you find, I, and I always find this and I'm sure that you do. so used to as women, especially women business owners or women in business, we're multitasking.
And I know so many women that end up answering emails while they're at their son's hockey game or soccer game or practice or whatnot, and we find that it just creeps into our lives. How have you found a way to maintain your presence so that you're fully present while you're working, but then you can kind of let that go a little tiny bit, although it never goes off, but then just really be fully present for yourself.
Yeah, and then really for your relationship with your husband, and then really present for your relationship with your daughter. 'cause they're different relationships. I can't say there's a simple answer to that. Like I'm personally seeing a therapist just to work through some of those issues. So I'll be very vulnerable and honest with that.
That's probably one of the hardest things is how do you be present. And then also, like for me I had a lot of health issues coming outta my pregnancy. I had a lot of brain fog. I have a thyroid disorder that was really impacted um, with that. So it wasn't even so much the amount of emails and communication coming in.
It was like the amount of stimulation, like I was always feeling like it was in six places at once and not really understanding. How I can just focus on one thing and for me it was a lot of reducing the things in my life. you know, Me, I'm a social butterfly. I used to be at every single event, every single press, opportunity and really being present in like fashion, community, art, community, film, community.
And this year I've had to take a little bit of a step back, which has been so hard 'cause it's been a huge part and a pillar of my brand and who I am for the last several years. But when I weighed out everything, I was like, my family's really the top of this. It's my daughter, my husband, and then it's work, and then it's all those social engagements.
So kind of pulling back a little bit to hopefully take a bit of a step forward and not having as much of that pressure really helped and just being like, you know what, it's okay. I've been in the social scene for a while. I've like, We used to host these beautiful, large fashion shows and big events and we're taking a step back from that this year.
So anything that is just like a really big time suck that just doesn't align with those values I've started to get rid of. But I think the first step of taking care of yourself is therapy, is, making time for exercise and eating well, like been back on a meal plan, which I'm really excited about and is feeling great, and like making those small investments and not taking it all in at once.
Every week I just make a little goal. I'm like, okay, little steps, baby steps every week. And then eventually a few months later you're like, okay. Things are better, things are good, and getting to be more manageable, and I found that really helpful. And not only do you have Ella, who's three, you have been married now, what, five years?
Yeah. Yeah. Huge global market expansion of your business, falling in love and marrying the love of your life. Having a baby, all of these new things that have come up. What a wild ride that must have been. How have you been able to maintain your presence with your spouse? How have you been able to maintain like the love, the playfulness in your relationship as opposed to what happens to a lot of us without intention is you become more partners.
It's more calendar management. Okay, you're gonna go here, you gotta go here, I'm working here, I'm flying here. You're doing this. Okay. You've got stuff. You've got stuff. You've got stuff. How do you maintain the joy and the vitality of your, the love that you have, because it's. It's really hard.
And again I can't say there's a special or secret sauce or secret answer to that. And again, another thing that I'm gonna therapy for, so on all the good things, but in a good way. In a good way, we're in a really great place right now because of that communication. The communication that, we can drift apart, especially when things are busy.
But I think the most important thing that we continue to talk about is, do we wanna choose each other? And the answer is always yes. I love, we always want to be with one another. We see this life together. We see the benefit on Ella's life, having a mom and a dad together. Like she always brings us together in a big family hug.
She'll wrap her arm around Brendan, wrap her arm around me, and it's just it melts my soul. And. Having those moments where you're like, no. Like it's, even if it's hard it's still better together. And so I think just finding the little joy, finding the little moments, again, really showing the priorities.
If you have the chance to spend, you know, six nights out with your friends versus one night with your husband like, choose your husband. You know, like that's what I'm doing, at least at this point in our life. Mm-hmm. We had a, an amazing opportunity. We went to Italy for five weeks last year for our honeymoon.
We had a like, very delayed due to Covid honeymoon, and that was a really nice reset for us. So yeah, so just trying to find the little things we're also very fortunate we get to do a lot of projects and a lot of work together, so that also helps to bring us together. More so we're seeing each other more on a daily basis than maybe some couples that work apart.
So we don't, yeah, we don't fully work all the time together, but yeah, we get to do traveling and trips and different projects together, which also adds another interesting layer to the dichotomy that is, you and the relationship. your husband's super successful, has his own gig going on his own career going on, and then you guys get to work together at some point.
So it's your lovers together, your spouses together, your partners together, your parents together, and then working together sometimes. Yeah. Yes. Do you find it?. Oh, we're gonna go a little deep. Do you ever code switch? No. I don't know what that is. Oh, I find code switching.
I do that a lot. So I find myself in certain roles that I play. So if I'm executive Allison, I am very um, just more and so I can be clear, kind, I can be very directive. when I'm with my husband, so it's a bit of a, more of a, like an alpha, not so alpha. So I can be alpha in some areas, but then, you know, I've gotta create space for my husband and let him be the alpha.
And so I, code switch. So I'm this, powerful house outside, and then I'm like, just take care of me. I need my whoopee. Do you do the same, do you find yourself like just mirroring and matching the different kind of roles that you play? Sometimes I, I don't know. I feel like just in our personalities, Brendan and I are very well matched in general.
Like he's a little softer. I'm a little bit more forward. So in general, we kind of naturally our personalities just do that. But I do find myself probably to my detriment sometimes, bringing my work voice home or like, I always joke in my household. They're like, that's your phone voice.
Take your phone voice off. I learned that a long time ago too. You have to boss me, mom. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So definitely something that I'm, I'm getting more attuned to, but no, not nothing that I've ever focused or paid attention to yet. You have another really important relationship in your life, and that is the fact that you have co-founded and co grown with your partner.
You and Jesse have been together for. 10. Ooh, more than 10 years. Yeah, since 2009, So that's how many years that is? Uh, 16 years, which is Oh my gosh, absolutely incredible. 16 years. You know, You think about that in itself.
Like I always say who you are at 20 is not who you are at 30, and who you are is 30 and not gonna be who you are at 50, not gonna be who you are so on. What's the secret to arguing with someone that you've built so much with? Oh man that's a really tough question.
I think the. Biggest thing that I've found to be really beneficial in our relationship is consistent and constant communication. Anytime we do that, the arguments become lesser, any points of conflict are reduced because we're constantly talking about the small pain points and we don't let those small pain points really build into explosive conversations.
So that's something that we don't always do perfectly, but that's always something we come back to. It's like, okay, why are we having, where are the frustrations and why is this happening? It's like, because we've gotten really busy and in the last three months we missed our weeklies and we're not constantly touching base as much. And I think a few of the exercises that you actually taught us are like mind blowing. I I don't wanna give away your secrets on this, but. But definitely the like start, stop, repeat exercise. Like we still do that. It's so great. It's, oh my god. And that was like 10 years ago. Yep.
But it's every time we're like, okay, what do we wanna continue doing? What do we wanna stop doing and what do we wanna start doing? Like That was just such a nice way to kind of bring up, you know what, I didn't really like how you did that this week, but you know what, you did this great. I really like, let's keep doing that.
Or it'd be really helpful I think if we could approach this. In this way together in the future. And that kind of mentality I think really helped give us a lot of clarity. I think something as well as having a third party coach or mediator or therapist working with you.
Like I think, I always tell people a business partnership is essentially marriage. Yes. And it's one of those things that takes work and it takes commitment and it takes time, it takes understanding, it takes patience, it takes empathy constant attention a hundred percent. And when you neglect it, things get fuzzy and things get hard.
But I think one of the things that I've been so fortunate and blessed about in my business partnership is we so closely share the same values. We share the same work ethic, we share the same goals. And when we're aligned and when we connect on those goals, there's nothing that can stop us. Like right now, I.
We are barely scratching the surface of our growth potential. And we know that like we're purposely holding ourselves and our team and everybody back because we're like, we're not ready. Like we're focusing a little bit on our, our personal lives and just, getting into a good groove. And we've seen so many people like shoot up and get way too big and they can't manage it and they crash really quick.
So we're really focused right now on steady and sustainable growth. That's something that we're both, very aligned with I think that's helpful. And I think just like the pillars of any good marriage, you know, like having very clear and organized financials is always helpful when you take out money out of the stress of, a business relationship.
It's a huge help. And just trying to make as many decisions as we can together. So again, we're aligned. And we're moving. I had a therapist tell me this years ago. They're like. Every good partnership, like you really wanna be moving at the same time, at the same speed, in the same direction.
And if one person's starting to do this, like it's never gonna work. You're never gonna get together. So what can you do to bring yourselves together? And if you're not going together, if you're not on that same path, then that's time to, to re-look at things. Yeah. You know, Your world this crazy?
Magical. Super. High stress, high stakes, highly volatile, lots of emotion, lots of creative high demand. How do you interface with a partner and how do you like, what are some really good ways you guys have decided to make decisions, especially when you're under stress making decisions? When you've got lots of luxury time, you can flow with it, but your world is very different.
Your world is, from my perspective, you've gotta be in and out in six days. You only get three days notice and there's a million dollars on the line. As an example, right? Yep. It's like in a quick high stakes. Let's go. Yeah. And lots of moving parts and you've gotta be the eye in the center of the storm.
Yeah. Both of you. Especially when you're on set. Right. how have you guys found ways to make decisions under stress together, especially when they're big critical, like in your world? All of these thousands of pieces have to come in, align just perfectly to get flawless execution. And that's what your clients demand out of you is flawless execution.
Yep. So how, have you managed that high stress decision making? I think it actually goes back. All the way to our education. As weird as that. Sounds like we were both went to university. I went to, I was an engineer, Jesse was a charter accountant before running our film prediction company.
And an engineer and accountant decided to, I know. Who would've thought No, we're working in fashion and film, but but honestly I think it's that idea of always anticipating the risks. Yeah. So that you try to take the stakes out, so that when things are stressful, they're not as stressful, they're not the worst case scenario, they're, than, hopefully lesser case scenario.
So I think risk management is a huge part and foundation, and that's something that both my business partner and I really feel strongly about. And then on top of that, it's creating a bit of a metric. To guide you. And you, again, you I, I don't wanna spill all the Allison Secret sauces out in here, but you really helped us with that.
I think you called it a measuring stick. And like, okay, if a project is this dollar amount, these benefits, we're gonna say yes to it. If it doesn't fit within a certain bracket or parameter, it's, no, we're not gonna do it. We don't have time to take that on. We gotta keep focused on the path forward.
And I think as soon as we did that, it took all the emotion outta that decision making. And I think when you get emotional on your decisions, that's when you make the wrong choice. And that's something that. Took me a lot. That was probably 10 years before I learned that.
Like I used to get like it, the stress and the weight and even like some of our first employees, do we keep them? Do we not keep them? How do like, oh my gosh, like it would weigh so heavy on my heart. And when it was like, okay, like let's take a look at the bigger picture. Let's take a look at, some of these metrics
that we've set out for ourselves, and then eventually you get really good at it because you're practicing. Yep. So as soon as more decisions you make using these tech metrics and tools, the easier it becomes. And now I would say, in our 16th year business, it's a gut feeling. I just know right away so I can make that decision instantly.
And the cool part is, is Jesse and I usually make the same choice. Yeah. It's very I would say less than 5%. We make different choices and we always joke, we're like, we're interchangeable. We'll make the same choices. We'll say the same things, we'll even show up in the same outfit a lot of that time.
But I think setting those benchmarks, you know, in the mid lifespan of our business really helped us. I also think it it's interesting because it's something that all business owners entrepreneurs, I would say business leaders as well face. When we're just starting out, we say yes to everything.
Everything, every everything. Regardless. And we're either building our book of business, we're building our portfolios, we're building whatever we're building So we say yes to everything. And sometimes it's really hard for business owners to shift that and to shift instead of, the business running you, you running the business.
Yep. And having like tools, like a measuring stick, I think really helped you and Jesse have the luxury or give yourself permission to be able to say no to things. What was it like for you, because I know it was probably very scary, but what was it like for you and Jesse when you said no to something that you've always said yes to, even though you know what, you shouldn't be doing it.
You finally said, no, I'm so sorry. We're gonna pass. Yeah. I mean. Initially it was really hard and a few times I walked back on it and then I learned very quickly that was a wrong decision. So it was like, I shouldn't say it. We're gonna say no, we're gonna say no. Someone convinces us to do it still.
We get in and we're like. This was a bad choice. And I think just being bit, a few times really hard. It's like, again, your gut's like, this is not worth it. It's not worth your mental health or your physical wellbeing or your reputation or, the brand. 'cause the other thing too is sometimes you're saying yes to these things and it impacts the bigger picture and it impacts how people perceive you because you are too busy to execute it well or it's not enough money to do what they're wanting you to do.
Mm-hmm. And so we've kind of learned over time, it's just it really, it isn't worth it for us anymore to make those kinds of sacrifices at this stage mm-hmm. in our business. And everybody has their different measuring sticks. Right. There could be many measures in those financial sticks.
There could be a financial measure, there could be a culture measure, a fit measure, you know, a portfolio builder measure. There's lots of different ways that you can measure. You can measure it, but finding your own measuring stick I think is really important. Yeah. What what's it like, I wanna talk a little bit about like the pressure, the power and the creative hustle that you're in your world.
What's it like and is there a difference between managing big brands and smaller brands in terms of like, Do they get more challenging the bigger they get? Do they get more challenging? the smaller they are? What's your experience with managing brands?
Yeah, so it's definitely evolved over the past couple of years, but I would say now I. And it, I can't always tell if it's a brand thing or a budget thing. Maybe a bit of both. But smaller brands with the smaller budgets or big brands with the smaller budgets are always the harder, you know, I know that sounds very obvious, but what becomes difficult, especially in production, is it still takes the same amount of time to do a small project in a, like a big project, a $50,000 or a million dollar project, they're usually done still in two to six weeks, depending on, how much lead time you get.
So you're having some same elements too. Same elements, same. At least for us, it's the same process with our company. So it, unless it's a really great, like marketing tool or brand builder, or like you said, book builder. It's really hard for me to take on some of those smaller budgets now because it's just, it's hard to do a lesser job.
That I'd say like is the hardest part. And there's always big expectations. They still want the same things. They still want the same number of outputs. They still want all the bells and whistles and all that stuff. So that's where it becomes a little challenging. But then with the big brands, I feel like you can make less mistakes.
That's always the challenge, is you're always in an interview every single shoot you do, because there's a million other production companies behind you that they could be looking at or choosing. So it's always an addition. It's always an interview all the way up to file delivery, which is something that. I'm finding increasingly more interesting and, and difficult is you could have the best shoot in the world that goes perfect. Everybody loves it, but if the post-production process sucks, or if you make a mistake right at the end, that's the last thing that they remember. So having that consistent, you know, level of service from start all the way through to the very end, like that can be 2, 3, 4 month time periods.
Sometimes like that gets really hard. Like you get really worn down sometimes. There's definitely a lot of fatigue in trying to manage that. Yeah. You know, Working with the caliber of brands that you do, that also allows you to work with the caliber of talent that you do. So what is it like working with a-list talent?
Without losing yourself? How do you stay grounded because you're in this like you catapult into this, magical world, and then you come back into reality and then you catapult yourself back into it. How do you, do that without losing yourself?
Because it's so easy to get seduced by by that. It is. But I think one of the things that we learned, and we learned very quickly with production companies, with talent, with directors, with photographers, every single person is replaceable. It doesn't matter how good you are or what you bring. If you're a bad person, you're a bad person.
Yeah. So I just don't work with bad people, and we try not to like that is just our number one. Like you could be the most talented person in the world, but if you don't treat me with my respect, if you don't respect our client's needs and wishes, we are in this, to be successful and to make money.
But I, I don't need to put myself through that and I don't like to put crew through that. I don't like to put my team through that. So that's always number one for me. And I find when the vibes are great and when everyone's getting along and people are moving, in the same direction, it's the same thing.
It's same as the partnership and everything we've been talking about, if we're all moving in that same direction, that's when the magic happens. That's when the best things are, produced. If you get somebody on there with an attitude and everyone's as writers and waving their demands around and all of this stuff, and making life difficult, like the paddock doesn't.
Good. So we've, aligned ourselves with a number yeah, a number of different people across, the world now. Um, Used to be just Canada, but now globally who we just love and we promote and we help support, and then they support us. They bring us on projects and we bring them on projects.
And we're not in a place right now where we wanna represent talent or bring anybody onto a formal roster. That's one of the things that makes our company. Unique is we work with everybody and we find the best talent for the creative. But it's definitely, yeah, definitely one of those things where we've weeded out all the, all the bad apples as much as we can and just work with people we really love and enjoy.
Do you think that applies, so that's like an external lens. Do you think that also applies with your internal lens and how you've built, the park team, the park way over the last little bit? Yeah, that's been a huge focus for us. I'd say between 2024 and 2025. We experienced like a, as you mentioned a pretty big growth trajectory in the last last couple of years.
And we were just finding that it was really. Tough to have a team that would grow with us. And that was one of the things that we're internally really working on right now is, Jesse and I have worked really hard to attract these types of clients and speak the language and be in the room. And I think a lot of times, because we come from a non-traditional film background, you know, like we understand the language of the corporate cultures, we understand the goals of these projects, and it's not just creating something beautiful.
We've done that for 16 years. We have so many spec projects and creative projects that we've done over the years. But I think really what we're focused on now is, is execution and executing, at an excellence that is that global standard. So yeah, building up team members that align with that and believe in that and wanna grow with us at the same speed has been really crucial.
Really crucial. Is like the caliber of your people internally. They are your economic engines. They drive and propel your organization forward. Yeah. It's a challenge. The people piece is the I believe the hardest piece to wrap your arms around when it comes to business. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent sure.
Listen, what's a shoot? What's a project that nearly broke you and how did you recover? Oh, man. She's I don't wanna talk about that one. Oh, I don't wanna talk about that one. No, I'm just thinking of like, oh, my client exclusivity. I'm gonna use my own project. Yes. Um, As an example, just to keep all my clients happy out there.
Yes. I, I think honestly, working in fashion was some of the hardest. Things we ever done. Really? Yeah. Whoa. Tell what this day. Yeah. Some of the fashion shows and events that we did, like the productions that we have now, probably the biggest jobs that we had, maybe 150, 200 crew members which is a lot, that's a lot to manage.
Um, It's a pretty big team. It's not film levels, but for commercials that's quite a significant amount. But on our fashion shows, sometimes 1200 people, 1500 people. And then your backstage staff. Again, of a couple hundred and event staff. So you're dealing with the guests, you're dealing with the designers, you're dealing with, the models, the talents you're dealing with sponsors.
Yeah, you're dealing, so there was so many partners in those events. And you could never just focus quite on what, like there was always somebody that wasn't happy. And I remember specifically our 10 year anniversary event, and Jesse begged me not to do an outdoor event. And I was like, Nope, we gotta do it.
It's our 10 year show. We're gonna go big, it's gonna be memorable, it's gonna be the biggest event that we've ever done. And it was, and it still is. And it achieved all those metrics. But the only thing we didn't plan for, we planned for rain, we planned for sun, we planned for wind, we didn't plan for lightning.
And we were shooting on a metal. Bridge over top of a huge body of water. And the day of the show, it was lightning storm the entire day. Mm-hmm. So we couldn't set up, we couldn't do anything. And we had to push the show a day which was a miracle that we even made that happen like that was.
Like Getting oh permits on a weekend and pushing the permits and rescheduling all the tickets and getting the information out. And we got hate mail. People were like, I'm here one day from London, England and I'm not gonna be here tomorrow and you've ruined my entire trip. Like I came all the way here for like, we got I have never received so horrible emails at once just because I pushed a show because of weather.
And why didn't you have a whole indoor location rigged up with $200,000 of equipment in your back pocket? Like why didn't you afford that? You little non-for-profit fashion organization and it was just, yeah, and then I left for Australia two, like two days after the show and it my entire trip just emails people wanting their money back and how dare you?
And like it was really hard. It was really hard emotionally and especially 'cause there was so much love and effort and volunteer hours and. All that. So I think we really got a tough, tougher skin after that event and a lot of the shows and I think through that too, like we did learn to start pushing back and saying no and not accommodating so many requests and I ideas and all of that.
And I think still to this day, I think that event was one of the ones that one, and we did another shoot in a parkade or not shoot a fashion show in a parkade and, we didn't expect, like none of us really knew how dirt, like it was dirty, but we were like, oh no, it'll be fine. But it was two levels down and underground.
And then the week after, we were all coughing up black soot and our staff got so sick and all we just didn't even think to wear masks. 'cause it was fine. Like when you were down there after the fact that you realized, oh my gosh, we're breathing in exhaust for, I was very young by the way, for, I, I wouldn't make that decision again for like 23, but yeah, so yeah, some of those early fashion shows were pretty rough.
We definitely learned the hard way. Oh geez. But not to do. I love the fact that you can look back and just laugh now. Yeah. A hundred percent. And that's why it is funny, like whenever clients get stressed out or directors or photographer they're like, oh my gosh, we're not going this, the sky is fallen.
It's no, everybody's safe. This is advertising, we're making pretty pictures and perspective. It's a blessing that we even get to do this work. Like we don't I think really doing those early shows have helped. Jesse and I keep our cool, and a lot of situations we've seen.
Yeah. Other people just crumble and we're like, no, this isn't, this isn't the worst case. This isn't. As hard as you think it may be. And we also actually, I'd say something unique about our company too is we got a lot of our start doing a lot of tourism campaigns and outdoor shoots, really remote mountaintops, spaces with no internet, no water, no bathrooms, all that stuff.
And so we specialize now in doing kind of those remote locations and that is something that we have carried with us and we've noticed even working in other markets and other places, especially bigger cities, that they don't do that kind of shooting. Find ourselves just being a little bit more prepared and organized and understanding of the risks.
I'm doing these kind of more remote shoots. So yeah, definitely a lot. I mean, You could ask me a million, million stories We've done a lot over the years. if we focus on, on you and like your current edge, what's the next thing that you wanna work on that you're not quite good at yet?
What do you wanna work on next? What's that thing for Kara next? I think it's what we were talking about earlier where you're like, how do you do this and how do you do that? I'm like, that is a work in program. I think it's, honestly it's really making sure that. I am strong and healthy.
Like I really give a lot to my family and my work at my detriment all the time. And I'm finding, I'm starting to get to an age now. Not that I'm super, you know, not that I'm over the hill or anything, but I am finding that it is taking a bigger toll on my health. And that is something that more and more I'm recognizing is when I'm healthy, when I'm good, when I'm strong, my team is healthy and strong, the people around me, my family, everybody kind of feeds off of that.
So I really have to continue to focus on carving out time and carving out space to make sure I'm in a good place. So that's, that's really what's next for me. And I know people would normally say, oh, this to, you know, grow and double the company and triple that. But I'm starting to just really recognize that if I don't have a good foundation, this continued growth, that it's not gonna matter.
You know what's gonna be left? To enjoy. Kara, what's the worst advice you've ever been given? Ooh, worst advice. It's a hard question. That's the worst advice, but it's just a, an attitude I think in our industry. Where a lot of time we either get from, like when I was working in wardrobe, like the producers or the production houses or, or now it's clients or directors where they're just like, turn around and they're just like, make it happen.
And you're like, okay, we'll figure it out. Let me take that away. And it's you explain why it can't work and they're like, I like, it's just like stone cold. I don't care. You deal with it. And I think maybe a worse advice or worse attitude is taking that, and being like, okay, yeah, I have to make it happen.
I gotta frantic, we gotta lose a bunch of money and, and run around and do it. And I think I can't remember what producer had told me, but like that kind of moment of just being, instead of agreeing to, saying yes right away, like always saying, let me take that away. Let me think about it.
Let me come back to you. And then coming back with solutions that actually work for you and the project and the budget versus right away being like, yeah, we'll do it. We'll do a hundred percent. We'll make it ha It's no, let me internalize that. Let's see what's possible. Like, I don't wanna say a firm, no.
Like, That's also been bad advice. And people are like, you gotta set your boundaries and you gotta like, firmly set your ground. It's like that doesn't work either, neither, it doesn't work very well with these bigger brands that are used to getting everything. Yep. But when you go back and you're like.
Yeah, absolutely. We can make that happen. It's gonna be an overage of X amount or we could approach it this way and there's no overage. Or if we do it this way and if we, sacrifice, this shot for this shot or doing it in this way, we'll be able to get everything that you want. It just might not be in the same quality or in the same, you know, level that you're looking for.
Maybe we use local talent or local photographer versus someone internationally like, like all those sorts of things. So they feel like they still have a choice. They feel like they still get a win, but you're also controlling it in the background. So that worst advice, behavior, attitude actually turned out to be the best.
Yeah, I love that. what's one thing that you wish new founders knew? you look back your career with your partnership with Jesse, what you thought was Park when you first started 16 years ago to what it is now, what's the one thing that you wish new founders knew? That it's not better.
It's different being a founder. and I always tell people this, it's not better than working for somebody else. It's different. You have different benefits and you have different sacrifices, and you have different, it might not be as exciting and intense and, flashy, but sure got work-life balance working for somebody else in a lot of ways or a lot of companies.
Or you can find a career where you have that work-life balance. You won't ever well, not, won't ever, it's more difficult as an entrepreneur. I also often tell people right away, right off the bat, to read the E-Myth. I. That was a book that has always stuck really, really hard with me. And I think just the biggest thing is every entrepreneur I've ever spoken to gets to a point where they're just bacon pies.
They're just like, like for me it was fashion. I love fashion. I wanted to do wardrobe, and I wanted to like, you know, style closed my entire life. And it just became a grind, like in and out all the time. I was making no money. And it was just the slog. And until we started building up a team underneath us, we didn't really start to see the success that I was looking for and the, the balance that I was looking for.
And then also like the processes that could take us to that next level. And I think a lot of people really get stuck in that first, beginner level or that, you know, those first five years are at the worst. They're worst for everybody. Everybody's always in that. And I don't even argue, honestly, the first.
10 to 12, or really, I consider anything under 10 years. Still a startup. I'm, yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah. I'm a starting percent. Oh my gosh. Yeah. We started our conversation with the beautiful Ella Ola. I like to call her that. Let's finish with it. And so what is one thing you want your daughter to know about ambition?
Because she'll be listening to this. I know, I think that, in the end it does pay off. It's hard, but I think life isn't ever intended to be easy and things are gonna continue to evolve and change throughout your entire lifetime. As I said, things. As we were talking about before, they're not always better. They're different. And I do feel like in the evolution of business and, and even the evolution of what your ambition is and what it's towards is different.
But at the end of the day, it still gives you purpose. And I think that's something to just carry with you. I love it. Thank you for spending time with me today. I so appreciate you. I, I'm so glad you're in my life. Me too. Well, Thank you for everything that you've always done for us and for believing in us. And for really we have to thank Jesse because Jesse brought us together and it was fashion that brought us together.
'cause we happened to be wearing, I was wearing the top and she was wearing the bottom. And we, yes, it was a street. Kind of a, Hey, you got great style. Hey, you got great style 'cause we're wearing the same thing. And look at where we are today. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. No.
Always have so much gratitude for Jess for that. And this has been just an incredible relationship and you're stuck with us forever. So you Oh, you're stuck with me forever. Ha. Thank you, Kara. No problem. No problem. Thank you Allison, and definitely look forward to seeing this come out.