Kelly Doody
Tattooed on Kelly Doody’s arm is the word “run.”
That representation growing up in the neighbourhood of Deer Run now affirms her philosophy of life: “run, don’t walk.”
Doody, 40, is founder of the digital marketing school The Social School, and the face of small businesses’ successful challenge to city council’s tax hikes. She was also a competitive swimmer for 11 years, including during her time earning an arts degree at the University of British Columbia.
“I was defined by the clock on the wall; it was good or not good enough.”
In 2004, after twice narrowly missing the Olympic swim team, she retired her goggles and launched her first business providing triathlon training.
Speedo Canada hired her to do marketing in Montreal and Toronto, but telling stories is what she felt destined to do. She moved back to Calgary as Page 6 columnist for The Sun, noting: “It brought me back to the city I knew and loved, to people I could relate to.”
But after three years — with layoffs occurring around her — freelance public relations work became her second business, Daily Ink.
She founded Inglewood’s Social School in 2013.
The news that double-digit tax increases would hit small businesses drove this third-generation Calgarian into activism.
She organized a protest drawing 200 small-business owners, helping to pressure council to shift some of that tax burden.
“I was tired of saying nothing, and at least now we have become part of the conversation. Baby steps have been taken, but I’m not sure council grasps fully what it means to be a small-business person, with 67,000 unemployed Calgarians.”
The mother of two continues her entrepreneurial fight — something that in this economy, she says, is not for the faint of heart.
“My house is mortgaged against my business — that’s my family, my kids.”
And about that tattoo. Her next big step will be The Run, a blog to launch this year about running a business and family life.
“Training for the Olympics was not hard at all compared to being an entrepreneur.”