BEAUTIFULLY INSPIRED: AN ENTREPRENEUR GIVES BACK TO HER COMMUNITY
Rene L’Heureux is a proud resident of North Battleford, Sask. It’s where she was born and raised, where she carved out her first career in the financial sector, and where she planted roots. It also served as the backdrop for L’Heureux’s most daring leap: the launch of Beauty Spot Lash Bar, an eyelash extension studio that’s the first of its kind in the region.
It began in 2016 as a small home-based business, but with a growing clientele and expanded services, a downtown storefront is now home for L’Heureux and her team.
What prompted a self-proclaimed “farm kid” to run a venture in the beauty sector? L’Heureux isn’t sure, but running her own business was always in the cards. “I’m very independent, I’m fearless and like challenges,” she says. “I was never going to work for someone for long.”
Another inevitability was her company’s significant commitment to giving back – a focus that would find L’Heureux honoured at the annual BMO Celebrating Women event in Saskatoon, in the category of community and charitable giving.
“It’s always been a part of me,” L’Heureux says. “I’m incredibly proud of the place that I came from – I love Battleford. And it’s really important to give back as business owners, as public figures.”
Every month, the company donates services and cash prizes or volunteers with an organization in the community. Ideas for how and where to give back are determined by clients themselves, many of whom are regular visitors to the lash bar. “They give us inspiration,” explains L’Heureux. “This is how we show we’re listening.”
It’s how she fell upon the idea that led to her recent honour. A nursing student who came into the spa told her about an initiative that helped children counter loneliness: the Buddy Bench. Originally conceived by a child in the U.S., the Buddy Bench is a colourful wooden bench placed in playgrounds that encourages lonely children to take a seat, thereby inviting others to engage them in play. With the help of Discovery Co-op, which donated all the wood, and a client’s husband who volunteered to build the benches, L’Heureux eventually had 11 Buddy Benches stationed at every elementary school playground in North Battleford.
Now L’Heureux is already planning the next big community project, and she hopes her success will encourage other business owners to pursue their own charitable initiatives.
“A lot of smaller businesses think that only large corporations do all the [charitable] work, but it doesn’t have to be big dollar amounts,” she says. “You don’t have to be a huge business to make a difference.”
YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A HUGE BUSINESS TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.