Good question. So I went to no. No. It's a great question. Obviously, I'm was one of those kids that was always told to stop talking in class. So, I mean, I guess I always had that, and I think that's a common theme with anybody in radio. I actually, applied and got into the public relations program at Humber College back in the olden days when we had grade thirteen, and we did those surveys, remember, in high school? Yes. And it would tell you what professions they think that you were geared to. Even though for years, you know, as a kid, I would sit there with the microphone or the hairbrush in the mirror and and pretend I'm doing some kind of stand up reporting. I did that when I was five, six, seven years old. My parents still talk about it. I applied for public relations. A month into the program, I was, you know, commuting with some friends that were taking the journalism program. I knew I had to be in the journalism program, went down and talked to the chair. They let me switch the next week, and I took the three year program at Humber, which was newspaper, TV, magazine, and, radio. And, the final year, we had to either do print or broadcast as a specialty, and I really wanted to do magazines. I love magazines. I have I don't know if you can see. I have stacks of magazines. Still collecting vintage Martha Stewart magazines. I can't throw a magazine out. I just love long form writing and and just the beautiful text and, photos that go with it. But my professors came to me, and they said, we think you need to be in radio. And I but you know what? Nancy Burt was right. So I I interned at CFNY, which was amazing because it was Mary Ellen Benager that was a great reference for me. And she told me about a posting in Kitchener, which was five seventy Chime, and Gary Doyle hired me. But, and I also interned at CKO, which does not exist anymore. CKO, All News Radio. Back in the late eighties, they went belly up, I think, in eighty nine. But they were all news radio in Toronto. So I was, you know, able to go out with reporters to Queen's Park and go out to, you know, police headquarters in Toronto, and I was just this is so exciting. So that's what got me into radio. And my first radio job was down in Chatham Kent, farm country. I would do the morning news. I would go out count cover council meetings till midnight, and then I would have to read the farm reports at noon. Didn't know what the heck a one or a two heifers were, but farmers would phone me and go, tell that young lady to slow down. I don't know what she's saying. I was just whipping off these numbers. I had no idea what they were. They were stock numbers. And so those were my early days of radio. But, you know, it it again, it kind of a back way in, but I always really, if I really look back, I knew it involved a microphone and me talking a lot. So and here we are. I'm still doing that.

Yeah. We are. You're still doing it.

Stop. No.

I love it. It's great. I mean, I think it's great that you get to tell your story because, really, in the talk radio space, it's a lot of short almost before sound bites for sound bites. It's kind of that's what you you did in the morning. Right? It wasn't very long, any of the segments that you did.

It yeah. It's changed. It's evolved. You know, when I left, we were doing the news bill. It's still going on, which I absolutely adore. It's a full half hour of information that flips every half hour. But it it's fast. It's intense. It's, you know, filling bits, and it's breaking as we go. I I love it. You know? I think it's such a great format, and I still love it. So, yeah, I'm still a huge fan, and, you know, radio is still on every morning here. So

Mhmm. And now you're teaching it.

And now I'm teaching it. Yeah.

At Conestoga College. So now I'd like to know, so how do you think journalism has changed since you started, and where do you think what do you think journalism will look like in another ten years?

You know, to me, it really started to change with Donald Trump's first term in office. That's when everybody who was out doing really hard leg work to verify information for you were instantly branded fake news because a certain president in the US didn't like unfavorable coverage against him. It's happening again now. So to me, that was the most devastating hit I've never seen against our profession and to, you know, have even local people tell us that we were fake news. And I'm thinking, well, where did you just find out why there were six police cruises at the end of your driveway or why school was canceled today or why your taxes are going up at city hall? Who told you that information? Did you see that on Reddit? We went out and verified it, covered it. We have the clips of the mayor and the police chief. That is not fake news. We are getting you that information and telling you what's happening in local news, which is still very much so important when you look at everything changing now and online. You know, you can get information from around the world, but local news is where we've suffered probably the most cuts across Canada. Bell Canada had humongous cuts months and months and months ago. There's been some recent cuts with Rogers and Harvard and out west as well. You know, it matters. It matters. You need to know what's happening in your community, and that's that's where our new journalists are starting out. That's where the jobs are that can take you to bigger national gigs. But we need it here. We need it in our community. And I'm so scared when I see cuts. It's changing. The modeling is changing, but we are still needing these new journalists that we are pumping out at Conestoga. And I say pumping out in a positive way with with the radio broadcast program and also the journalism program. They're coming out multifaceted. They can do things online. They're shooting video on a scene. When I send a radio reporter out, we're not just getting tape and going live. We're also getting video. We're also coming back and writing a web story. But all journalism is now evolving that if you look at the record, they're putting up video. You know, we're all kind of doing a lot of the same pieces. But to me, we can't lose our local news and our local news coverage. That's what matters. It can't be AI generated. You know, we still need reporters to actually go out and and find and tell the stories. We still need, you know, what journalism is, truth seeking. So that's why I'm still excited and so excited that we're seeing these new bright minds. Like, you know, my class of journalism students this year, my second year radio news students, they get it. They they wanna be out there. They're they're telling the stories on the air. So that makes me excited that there's still a good hope out there even though there's gonna be a lot of fake news, hashtag, you know, over the next four years. I'm bracing for it, but it was it was really devastating. You know, I felt it really personally. Even though he was in Washington and we were here, it just people just seem to throw it out and just have a disdain for for reporters and journalists even though we were telling what was happening. I I get it. In the states, there's some more bias coverage, but I think in Canada, we still do a really good job of fair, authentic coverage.

I think it's interesting that you that you that reverberation reached to the local level, and then you talk about local cuts and disappearing. And then you just mentioned a little bit ago that you started in Chatham Kent. And if there's no place to start for young journalists, how do they get a career then? Right?

Yep. And the radio stations, there are two in Chatham. They're still thriving and doing really well. So that gives me a lot of hope, because that's where you have to go and really make your mistakes. Right. Not that I haven't made mistakes over my thirty plus years here in, you know, Waterloo Region, but, you know, you you need you need to start out and you need to have a community support for sure. The community needs to want to have that that coverage and that radio station there as well. It has to have be supported.

Retirement is a funny thing. Some people count the days dreaming of lazy mornings and open schedules. Others don't. They step away only to find themselves stepping into something entirely new. A second act, a reinvention, a so called retirement that turns out to be anything but. What began as a simple side project turned Lisa into a full fledged flower farmer and an entrepreneur. So how does a side passion bloom into a career? And what does it take to step away from a lifetime in one field and start over in another? Surprisingly, it all started with goats. So let's talk flowers, fake retirement, and second acts. You talked a little bit about how the flowers sort of grew on the side and then sort of moved to the center. But before that, what why did you decide on flower farming as your second career or as a side gig to start?

Yeah. I don't know if I was consciously, you know, pre pandemic when we decided to to move to the country. My big thing to my husband was, I think I need some goats in my life. So that's kind of how I I said, we really need to buy a farm property. So so we have a a two acre property just outside of Saint Mary's. You know, we're surrounded by farmland, which is incredible, but we're still close enough to enjoy, you know, the beautiful town of Saint Mary's. We're close to Stratford. We're close to London. And you know what? When we moved here before the pandemic, this is, like, this is almost what people brag about now. Right? It's not your new car. It's like, we got a family doctor. I've just talked to a friend of mine who recently moved just from Stratford to Saint Mary's, still trying to get a family doctor in this area. We were so lucky. You know? I don't know if it's because we we lucked out. We knew some some neighbors who let us name drop them or I don't know. We we just hit it at the right time. We were able to get a family doctor. So to me, that is the most awesome gift, when you can land in a community. We felt settled. I'm very thankful for my family doctor in Waterloo who is now retired, but we had tremendous health care in Waterloo Region. But moving here, you know, we got settled with the two acres. We got our family doctor. Life was good. Started to to really grow. You know, I was always into gardening and started planting and planting, but then it just became there's something more going on here, and it just gradually, again, involved. It wasn't, you know, consciously in five years, I'm I'm gonna retire from radio. I'm gonna have a flower business. It was more little bits at a time and gaining a little more steam and getting a more, solid foundation and and getting some business skills, which I'm still trying to do. You will find this out very quickly, Amy.

But

it was it just gradually took on a life of its own, and then I got more serious. Started, taking some courses. And during the pandemic, I I went and got my degree from the Cambridge School of Flowers and Floral Artistry. So I kinda knew how to put together the flowers more professionally, but also growing as well. So growing in itself is an ongoing, learning experience as well. But, yeah, it just it really evolved, but I didn't have a true game plan, which I don't know if that was good or bad. Maybe me not knowing was probably the best time to just jump in and do it and see see what happened. And, you know, little pieces have come together, and they're still coming together.

Well, sometimes not knowing allows you to jump in because sometimes if you knew it was coming, you wouldn't do it. So Exactly. Helpful. And so you've been doing it for a little bit, and you talked about the flowers, and then you sort of referenced there's so much other things as an entrepreneur that comes with doing that than just the flowers. What are some of the entrepreneurial lessons you've learned since starting Cherry Hill Blooms?

Well, I had to change my insurance. If if you're doing a no. For real. Like, something you wouldn't think about. If you're doing a business out of your home, a lot of, your your home insurance does not cover business based out of your home. So I had to change to full farm insurance. On top of that, have special event coverage for liability so I can have a thousand people on my property if I want. I won't. But for you think about if I'm doing workshops or I'm hosting a business after five event or a team building event, I need to make sure people are covered and I'm covered having them on my property. So even things like that, just thinking about, is my insurance in the right spot? Am I properly registered for everything? You know, even when I was in my early days of doing my flower deliveries, you know, again, great women entrepreneurs and mentors to me go, you know, Lisa, receipts would be a good thing. If I wasn't doing formal receipts, I'm like, oh, yeah. Yes. You know? I hadn't quite gotten there. Yes. I probably you know, I I could use a little more training and mentorship when in terms of the, you know, the accounting, and I'm still working on that. Like, this winter is gonna be let me get more of a proper website, business model or you know, I wanna set some better things up for tracking and, you know, just not old school accounting. So, yeah, I still have a lot to learn, but I'm getting I'm getting by. But I know I need to get on to the next the next ladder rung for sure on different levels and reflect back on what was the win, what did I really mess up on this year, how can I make it better next year?

Well, and that's how we grow. We get comfortable where we are. And through entrepreneurs then go, well, now I gotta go up and be uncomfortable again. So that's how that's how you learn. And through that experience, what have you enjoyed most about the various roles you now play?

Definitely, as I say, outplaying in the in the field. You know, planting is is is is like a a leap of faith. Right? You're putting seeds into the ground or tubers into the ground, virdallias, or, you know, little baby lisianthus plugs, And you're thinking, please, you know, I need you in July and August. This is my money going in the ground. So there's a lot of hoping. Right? There's a lot of looking up at the sky. There's a lot of Farmers' Almanac. There's a lot of talking to the neighbor farmers. There's a lot of, okay. We moved to some raised bed scenario, so I will not have flooding in this area. Then why did my my peonies, which I invested heavily in, flood out again for a second year?

Oh.

You know, even though I moved them right across to another field area. Why did that all of a sudden flood? It hasn't flooded there for three years. So, yeah, there's been, some great learning moments. You know, I think I'm more in tune with my land, my soil. And then, you know, mother nature will just pop by to give you a little poke and say, hey. Forgot about that. What are you gonna do now? And then my ducks are swimming. Right? My ducks are having a brand new pool for a good week. So, yeah, there's been lots of there's lots of, oh, yeah. And then the joy of, you know, harvesting at six thirty in the morning when I go out when everyone is still sleeping and the dog comes out with me and we get the goats out for the day, and I'm just out in the field pulling my my trolley, cutting my buckets, and there's so something so beautiful about that. I just and even harvesting in the evening when I have a big order and it's starting to you know, the sun is setting and the, you know, the bees are still sort of buzzing around. And, you know, there's something about that, and that's like, okay. This is the best. And then you have the flooding or the Japanese beetles or, you know but there are daily moments of, wow, this is pretty amazing. And flowers are gorgeous. They bring joy. So, yeah, how can you not be excited being around flowers?

No. They do bring joy. And then from an entrepreneurial standpoint, as long as you can find joy every day, even if it is in the flood, that's that's really the key I find is

that you have to enjoy all the parts.

Right. At least you can see the ducks finding the joy, and it's not doom and gloom all the time. And then I think it lends itself to success with that kind of attitude.

Yes. Exactly.

So we've talked a little bit about the radio and the flowers, and you've gathered all of this experience over the years. I'm curious because you've been a leader in both the corporate environment and now as an entrepreneur. How have you approached leadership differently in each environment?

I don't know if I'm showing leadership right yet in the in the flower field. I mean, that would be awesome. I'm learn I'm learning from leaders. You know? One of the great things about technology is is the land of YouTube. I have connected and watched or followed on Instagram, so many flower farmers from around the world. You know? I'm tuning in on a weekly basis to this amazing woman in the UK to Erin b with Florid Farms that, you know, has her show now on, the Magnolia Network. She's kind of like the, I say, the Martha Stewart of flowers. But she was the one that said, you know what? I have two acres of land. I I I've I've done this. I'm growing these dahlias. I've got this business plan, and she shares it with all. You know? And she has a regular, school and workshop. The flower business, I find, it's mainly women driven. There are men in the business as well, but it feels like it's a real sisterhood and they share. Like, there's this great woman, you know, just outside of London, Strathroy, and she's she's got a successful flower farm and now a a florist, shop in town. But she was she did a great post on making sure you're pricing yourself and you're making a profit. You're not you know, this isn't a hobby. You're making money. This is what your stuff is worth and your time is worth and her pricing models. And she openly shared all of that. And I'm like, this probably just gave me so much boost instead of waiting another year or two to figure out I should have been charging more. And people will pay more, but they are worth it. Local flowers are grown here. They're not sprayed. They're not chipped in. If I'm cutting them and harvesting this morning, you will have a beautiful bouquet for a good week. They're not gonna go slimy in two days like something you bought at grocery store. Lisianthus could last two to three weeks even in a vase. Wow. You know, local flowers rock. They really do. And they're just they're just amazing, You know? And studies show flowers bring joy. There's been Harvard studies on the power of flowers. You know? But just just having a local flower is so much better on so many levels.

It it I mean, flowers do bring joy. Even if I'm worried about them dying, I do love flowers.

Yes. Your orcas look beautiful.

Well, it sounds like such an open and, inclusive and helpful community, which is not often found for all entrepreneurs. So I'm it's so nice to hear that because you don't hear those people all the time. So I love to hear the joy. I I'm curious though, outside of receipts and flooding, what was the time that you felt the scourge in either of your careers, and how did you overcome it?

Oh, there's a good question. Radio. I think radio has been a continuing evolution. There's there's, you know, there's always a a new struggle or setback or, you know, market numbers. I mean, radio is still heavily based on your bottom line. It it's a local you know, it can be a local business, but we're owned by big corporations, and we need to make money. How do I get paid? Thanks to clients who buy radio time, buy commercials. That's what, you know, pays our mortgages. That's that's what keeps me on the payroll when I was at five seventy. And and how do you keep good clients? You have good ratings that show when they're investing and getting that commercial on the air that, you know, it's getting out to their audiences, and you have to keep that product strong to deliver those results. So even though I'm on the air talking about news and what's going on in your community, especially in a morning show, we're still very much a personality that if I'm not delivering, I could be replaced. And and that's the business of radio, you know, a personality is you still have to be able to draw an audience. So that's a lot of pressure on a daily basis, but the morning show really do carry the rest of the radio station. If your rate your morning show isn't successful, you know, you need to keep your ratings up for the entire day and keep them high. There there's a lot of pressure that goes with that. So once you get to a morning show level, it's not just I'm coming in and doing a great job and telling you what's happening. Are we performing, you know, on a bigger level and and making bigger people happy to keep me in my seat? So that was an ongoing challenge, and, you know, you always wanna have a big team with you. You wanna have a roster of reporters. Always trying to make sure you've got a full deck is is a challenge. So I would say that and early mornings. And and flowers are the same. I mean, I have I'm not playing. Right? This is I'm putting money in with the hopes of of making money come back to me in a bigger way. You know, I'm I'm hoping for a profit at the end of the day. Yes. I love playing with flowers, but my love of flowers also has to propel why I'm investing in, you know, big cartons of tiny lisianthus plugs to be shipped in from New Brunswick or, you know, expanding my tubers or, you know, expanding my fields and and doing different things. You know, at the end of the day, you still, you know, you still have to make a living or pay, you know, pay yourself. And it's learning to do that in a more strategic way, especially with the flower business and say, my flowers are worth it. The work that I've put into this, I've been out in the field all day. You know, this is why this bouquet cost this compared to that really crappy one that's got food coloring in it, at the grocery store. Right? Yeah. So it's it's it's yeah. There's there's lots. There's lots of challenges, but I keep coming back. Right? I I kept waking up every morning to commute and to work for my love of radio and and connecting with my listeners, which I adored. And now I have, I guess, my flowers in the crown that listen to me. I don't know. They keep coming back. They do have

incense flowers. Yes. It does.

Probably. I mean, I talk to my ducks and goats and stuff like that. So, yeah, they must hear me too. They probably hear me swear at the Japanese Beatles. So yeah.

Self communication. Right? Yes. Interesting insight about the radio side though because if you're owned by a big corporation and you're the morning morning show host, I think a regular person might think that local advertising or local numbers wouldn't affect you in any way. So that was that's an interesting behind the scenes challenge.

We are so you know, for community support on so many levels, that's what keeps a radio station going. But we as we have to have the product to appeal to you and show that we're delivering for you as well. So, yeah, it's a hand in hand relationship. But, again, it's so community based, so local. Right? The beauty of local radio.

Yeah.

It's a win in the community for on so many levels, but it also what helps keep me in my job too, if that makes sense.

It does. No. It was it was a great insight that I didn't even consider. So that was that was good to know. So then on the other side, what does success look like for Cherry Hill Blues?

I would say every year as I kinda reflect back, which is a great time to be doing it. Right? Early December when we've got so much snow on the ground right now, and I

Yeah.

Was little I'm not gonna lie. Like, five days ago, I was still pulling some tubers up and putting them away in my basement for the winter. So

Wow.

There was still some stuff I was getting to. So success looks like I have a bigger customer base now. You know, I get tremendous feedback. I know when my flowers go out somewhere, they're part of someone's either celebration or remembrance or, you know, party or just, you know, to bring someone joy when they're having a rough day. To know that I'm a very small part of that. There is a a true, piece of success in that for me. This year, we formally got our Bloom stand up and running on our property, And I've been amazed by the people that have traveled to come just to buy my flowers there and also to know that they're for sale in downtown Saint Mary's at the flower mill brings me great joy as well. Success just looks like I can celebrate where I am this year compared to where I was last year and that I battled a few more, you know, flower demons. And I've made some more contacts, and I've gotten some better flower advice or I'm improving on something we tried last year. And I already know that I have people waiting for my flowers come spring next year. So I guess that's what success looks like, and I'm covering my costs and seeing a profit at the end of the day. Yeah. It's taken a couple of solid years to just, you know, I think we're just going up now a little bit more. So so I'm seeing you know, it's it's been worth it from that point of view, but, you know, I'm not ready to throw it in. This is I'm in it. You know? I'm not walking away from this. So I guess that's success to me.

Oh, well, that's great. And I I mean, it sounds like you're moving in the right direction, and it sounds like you've built something wonderful that lots of people, have interested and wanna keep coming back for. So congratulations.

Thank you.

So before we go, I'd like your broader perspective on a couple of things. So through your various experiences and all your careers, what do you believe is a significant barrier to women leaders today?

That's a really good question too. I think it's it's it's, the cheerleaders the cheerleaders along the way. You know? We're not competition at the end of the day. It's just nice to know to have another female there saying, you know what? This is this is a great idea. You know what? Try this. Or, hey, we're gonna show up for your event. You know, or I'm gonna connect you to Amy who does a podcast. You know, I've got some great female leadership around me that have been, you know, just great girlfriends, great cheer I think cheerleading, you know, is the word because it can propel you forward. Right? And as I always say to my students, feedback will push you forward. It's not a critique that's pushing you down. So getting feedback and and having a cheerleader to cheer you on while you go to that next step, I think those are the two the two pieces that you need, for any small business. And, obviously, you need a customer base. So I am so thankful for no. I you know, my regular customers are that that keep coming by or keep ordering more or just, you know, pop by and say, can I you know, we're talking about doing this next year, and can we get this many buckets? Or just so you know, I've got this event coming up. Can we kinda pencil you in now to talk about it? You know, I'm already that I'm already in someone's thoughts now. Yeah. That means the world to me.

Well, that's really good advice. I think for anybody at any stage of their career, I think feedback and cheerleaders is definitely components to successful entrepreneurship. So thank you for sharing that, and thank you so much for sharing all your stories. It was so lovely to meet you, and I'm thrilled that you made time to be on the podcast.

I can't believe we haven't met before, Amy. So I'm so glad we're meeting this way, and, I look forward to, following along on your podcasting journey. So I love that you're doing this, and you're a great example for me to, share with our students as well. So so thank you for connecting us.

Yeah. It's been great, and I look forward to coming to Saint Mary's in the spring and look at all the flowers and take some home.

I would love that. We've got really frilly, frilly, fancy tulips coming up in the spring. Find a lot of them in the last month, so you need to come by in the spring for sure.

Voices of Leadership is part of the Bespoke Productions Hub network of independent podcasters. If you are interested in partnering with us as a sponsor or if you have a podcast of your own, please visit bespoke productions hub dot com for more information. This episode is hosted, produced, and edited by me, Amy Schluter.