After high school, I moved to the big city of Halifax and worked for free for different tradespeople. I was poor, and fascinated by and addicted to construction. It was daunting. It was 1995, and it was like, Holy shit, there’s only men in this industry. On top of that, I figured out I was gay—what a resumé! So I did what I still do today: I show up, and I’m me.
Back then, mentorship was not at the forefront. It was kind of like, get outside and get the stink blown off ya, and hope things happen. What did I know about scaling a company? Nothing. And who was I going to ask? I just kept working and working until finally I went, I’m good at this. And that’s where the name Freshco came from—because I was the fresh face, the only woman in the industry.