On the roof-top playground of The Slayte, it really did feel like the sky’s the limit during the second annual Boost breakfast that Linebox Studio COO Melissa Reeves hosted yesterday for dozens of women business leaders and entrepreneurs.
A quick elevator ride up to the 12th level took attendees to an inviting lounge connected to a scenic outdoor patio, all designed to bring people together. Linebox Studio, an award-winning Ottawa-based architecture firm, worked closely with the developer, CLV Group, to turn the former vacant federal office building on Albert Street into a 158-unit rental apartment building that offers its tenants a long list of attractive amenities.
With the nation’s capital now home to more spare buildings than other Canadian cities, adaptive reuse projects have an important role in the future of downtown Ottawa, said Reeves in identifying a “cool and interesting” opportunity to get creative in how these available spaces can be used going forward.
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“Ultimately, that’s what Boost is about,” continued Reeves. “It’s about bringing together a small and curated group of women business leaders to share ideas and see what’s happening in the city, to make new connections hopefully, find ways to do business together, and just get inspired by everyone in the room.”
Reeves is also a board member with the Ottawa Board of Trade (OBoT).
The gathering, which wrapped up in under two hours, was catered by Leanne Moussa’s Working Title Kitchen, located at AllSaints. The arrangements of fresh flowers from Kat Kosk‘s Blumenstudio on Wellington Street West complemented the aesthetic appeal of the space.
The two guest speakers — Free Form Fitness CEO Ashley-Ann Lawrie and La Vie Executive Health Centre co-founder, president and CEO Reham Sannoufi — shared their career stories. They also spoke on the topic of preventive health.
Lawrie openly shared how challenging the pandemic was on Free Form Fitness, a personal training centre that works directly with each client. She found herself at her lowest point as the success she’d worked so hard to build came “crashing down”. Said Lawrie: “There were a lot of tears, a lot of uncertainty about where the business was going to go.”
Free Form’s facilities, which remained closed for months, shifted online during the pandemic. The trainers really missed working closely with their clients, said Lawrie.
Free Form Fitness has five locations throughout Ottawa. “I couldn’t just sit there and wait for something to happen,” said Lawrie of how she reached out to Sannoufi, who shares her commitment to wellness promotion. They formed a new collaboration. Free Form’s sister business, Sain Personal Training, provides customized fitness training and expert guidance to clients of La Vie, a private health care clinic.
“The comeback is always better than the setback,” said Lawrie, whose encouraging message struck a chord and echoed across the room.
Boost was packed with notable businesswomen, including Altis Recruitment co-founder and CEO Kathryn Tremblay, Pure Kitchen and Pure Yoga co-owner Amber Stratton, and TAG HR COO Priya Bhaloo, who’s the board vice chair of OBoT.
MARANT Construction’s Jennifer Cross and Mastercraft Starwood’s Kristen Buter, who together created the City BuildHERS series for women in construction, architecture and design, were there. So was Nancy Graham, chapter chair of the Women Presidents Organization, and such well-known small businesswomen as Elizabeth Kilvert of The Unrefined Olive, and sisters Oresta and Laryssa Korbutiak of Oresta Clean Beauty Simplified.
“I want to start every morning like this, surrounded by the energy and support of a group of amazing women to get your day going,” the consistently upbeat Patti Murphy, executive director of YSB Foundation, told the room. She was invited to highlight the services provided to young people by the non-profit organization, in the areas of mental health, shelters and housing, justice and employment.
YSB takes an “umbrella approach” that allows the organization to wrap its services around a young person “often at the most critical time, often at a time when things feel really dark,” said Murphy. She was joined at the breakfast by Amara Harris, who shared her YSB story with the room.
In their remarks, Lawrie and Sannoufi spoke of the need for individuals to prioritize health, especially as they get older. “We spend so much time working toward retirement, getting our financial situation ready for retirement, but we don’t think about our health and what that’s going to look like as we age,” said Lawrie. “As we age, we lose muscle, we lose our grip strength. So, making sure you have some type of muscle-building and strength-training incorporated into your workout programs is key.”
La Vie has two locations in Ottawa: one at Brookstreet Hotel and another on Queen Street. Sannoufi spoke with pride about their new flagship location in Oakville, near Toronto. It wasn’t lost on her that Toronto was where she and her physician husband Hassan first arrived when they came to Canada in 1997 with $7,000 to their name. They didn’t know anyone, either. The high cost of rent drove them away, initially to Montreal.
The room heard how the couple put in the necessary effort and refused to give up, despite the obstacles. Sannoufi began studying for her executive MBA when she was pregnant with their third child while Hassan trained to become a doctor in Canada, working in emergency rooms. He’s founder and chief medical officer at La Vie. He was motivated at an early age to save lives and to prevent illness and disease after his own father almost died from life-threatening heart disease. Hassan had been only eight at the time.
Sannoufi said she has “huge respect” for Canada’s hospitals and the “amazing” care they provide. “We are absolutely not against the health care system. We appreciate and contribute as much as possible; we give back,” said Sannoufi (the couple gifted $120,000 to the Queensway Carleton Hospital at its recent charity breakfast, with a commitment to continue their philanthropy). They’re originally from Syria.
But, doctors are busy and don’t have the luxury of time that La Vie can give its patients through complete medical assessments, said Sannoufi . “A five minute appointment with the doctor is not going to tell you anything. We do have the time.”
Staying on top of one’s health is key, Lawrie reiterated. “Nobody’s going to do it for you, and you have to take control of it.”
caroline@obj.ca
