Gratitude is good business
These five women have tapped the gratitude vein to help build their careers, communities, families and personal lives. As such, they were the perfect presenters for this week’s Gratitude is Good Business event at Kelowna’s Rotary Centre for the Arts.
Janice Taylor of Mazu, Renee Merrifield Wasylyk of Troika Developments, Kelowna city councillor Gail Given, Paula Hann of Interior Health and Insp. Laura Livingstone of the Kelowna RCMP are all appreciative of what they have, what they’ve achieved and the positives the future holds.
They are thankful, ready to show appreciation for others and know kindness is the best way to get kindness in return.
Don’t forget working hard and smart, because that’s part of the success equation, too.
Taylor’s Mazu is a social media platform for kids and families to connect with others with similar interests, including being fans of professional sports teams.
Merrifield Wasylyk is one of Kelowna’s few women developers, who has built her reputation with communities such as West Harbour and Green Square and office buildings such as Lakeshore Medical and Upper Avenue.
Troika’s latest venture is Terreno, a collection of 150 condominiums and townhouses on the last undeveloped parcel of land on Dilworth Mountain on the eastern slopes overlooking Mill Creek.
Given was just elected to a third term on Kelowna city council.
Gratitude is Good Business was put on by Third Space Life Charity and the UBC Okanagan School of Nursing.
The event also celebrated Third Space’s Gratitude Project, the initiative held each October inspire thankfulness and honour unsung heroes in the community.
Third Space’s Family Fun Day at the RCMP detachment earlier this month attracted 1,500 people and it also held the Gratitude Games at Global Fitness.
Third Space also provides counselling, mental health programs and addictions recovery help.
True Leaf
Everything is on schedule for True Leaf Medicine’s cannabis cultivation and production facility to open in Lumby this fall.
The first phase includes a two-storey, 9,000-square-foot campus with grow area, laboratory, plant extraction, processing and packaging.
A 16,000-square-foot wing for marijuana cultivation will follow.
True Leaf is different from the other cannabis companies that are producing pot for medical and recreational human use.
“We look forward to adding legal medicinal cannobidiol (CBD) products for pets to our existing line of hemp-seed based supplements for dogs and cats,” aid True Leaf CEO Darcy Bomford.
The supplements are called True Hemp and come in chews, dental sticks and supplement oils for pet and are sold in more than 2,000 stores across North America and Europe.
However, True Leaf does have two divisions, True Leaf Medicine and True Leaf Pet, so it also has products for human use.
True Leaf is in the final stages of approval to become a licensed producer of federally approved medicinal cannabis for the Canadian market.
True Leaf touted itself as an economic boost for Lumby, the hard-hit logging community of 1,700 northeast of Vernon.
The company is hiring locals for both construction and production and the plans for its 40-acre site has the full support of local government.
Top 10
For his customer service, work ethic and leadership, Garrett Jones of Valley First Credit Union has been recognized by Canadian Insurance Top Broker magazine as one of its top 10 under 40.
Jones is based in Kelowna and is the regional manager of commercial insurance.
Jones also lends his expertise and support to the Okanagan Young Professionals Collective and Okanagan Community Food Bank.
Manufacturing month
Manufacturing is just as important to B.C.’s economy as mining, forestry, tourism and technology, according to provincial Jobs Trade and Technology Minister Bruce Ralston.
“(Manufacturing) is an area of our economy that does not receive nearly as much attention as it should,” said Ralston.
“From the Peace region to the Kootenays, manufacturers are creating good jobs for British Columbians, adding value to our natural resources and raising the export value of products.”
Ralston toured the province during October’s Manufacturing Month in B.C.
His stops in Kelowna included KF Aerospace (formerly Kelowna Flightcraft), which is the Okangan’s largest private sector employer with 800 workers, and FormaShape, which makes fibreglass products that end up in waterslides and gas station facades.
Steve MacNaull is The Okanagan Weekend’s business and wine reporter and columnist. Reach him at steve.macnaull@ok.bc.ca.