SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Hello, entrepreneurs and self-starters. This is Rick Phillips from Yeti, and you're listening to the Startup Sandwich Podcast, the show that unpacks the breadwinning basics, juicy-filled journey, and secret sauce of entrepreneurship. Let's go. Well, here we are, another episode of The Startup Sandwich. In today's episode, I'm going to read this to make sure I don't screw it up. In today's episode, we learn how Alicia Vianga turned 19 years of working in the hospitality industry into an innovative retail business and empowering nonprofit supporters, nonprofits supporting breast cancer survivors. I'm going to put the paper away. We don't need that anymore. This is awesome. Let's learn a little bit about you and what I guess let's start at the beginning. Why that business idea? How did you get started? How did you think to yourself, I'm going to create a nonprofit?

SPEAKER_00: 0:55

I thought, uh, well, hello. Hello. How are you doing? Doing good. It's been a while. It's been a minute. I like this. Me too. I really do. Well, I think for me, I've always I grew up in with business with my from my mom's side and my dad's side. But I also thought in my retail business, there was a gap. We are certified fitter. And ladies who came in to my business, to the boutique, the ones who had insurance felt really amazing, look amazing, walk away, and life begin. The ladies who did not have insurance, they came in. Now they could see, they could touch, they could feel what they need to help them look beautiful and thrive after breast cancer, but they suddenly could not afford it. So that's when I started the charity after breast cancer to help women who have limited financial resources and no insurance to thrive and feel beautiful about themselves after they've been diagnosed with breast cancer.

SPEAKER_02: 2:12

And the immediate thought I have is you would think that the Canadian health insurance would cover that or Ontario Health Insurance would cover such an important thing, but I I'm guessing no, or at least not fully.

SPEAKER_00: 2:22

Not fully. The government does not cover any of the mastectomy bras. But if they had insurance, the women have insurance, then it depends again. Every insurance, as you know, is different. But I'm focusing, and we focus on women who don't have insurance. So usually for these women, that is a lot of money for them. And as a woman, I know what it's like for us to put everybody first. Right. And even for a woman who have kids, you know, sh before she looked after herself, the kids would be come first and everything else comes first. And so buying a spending$500 or$1,000 on herself is something that could seemingly for most people okay. But when you don't have and you have limited, then that is a lot. And you know, hearing the news that you have breast cancer, it is hard enough. And not being able to afford the things that should make you feel beautiful again is a challenge. And on the my watch, um it is unacceptable. And sometimes we just need to do something when there is a gap, do something about things.

SPEAKER_02: 4:04

And that's that's exactly what the world needs, and what nonprofits and charities and even for-profit businesses need is somebody to do something, recognize the problem or challenge and do something. So what year are we talking about that you said I'm going to set up this nonprofit?

SPEAKER_00: 4:17

Oh my goodness. I um I believe it was 2012 we started. So it is, what is it, 13 years now or something like that? I don't even keep track. I just go. I'm the kind of person who don't like, okay, there's something you just go for it. Um but it's um, I think it was 2012. We launched RD at the Toronto Argos game. That was awesome. And since then we haven't looked back, we just keep going. Um to date, we've serviced over 5,000 women on the afterbreast cancer program. Um we've uh are all um serving Canada wide. And every single day we see an average between five and ten women. Now it is um it's hard to see that, you know. Um, but at the same time, it is great to know that that support is there when a woman is going to the hospital and she's diagnosed and she's going in for a massectomy or a lumpectomy. Um, the hospital could send her to a place where she could get the basic things. She she's going to a place where somebody thought about her, thought about what she's going to need in her first stages of the recovery system to help her.

SPEAKER_02: 5:45

It's so important. And I want to go back to this idea that you recognized there was an issue or a challenge in this system. You said, I'm going to do something about it. A lot of people talk about charities and nonprofits being the heart and soul of society. That sounds great. I'm not taking that away from anybody. But there's still a practical application to running a business, obviously. So what did you do in terms of, I suppose, preparing yourself to be uh this particular type of entrepreneur, this particular type of nonprofit uh director or being involved in it. What did you what did you do? Did you freak out like some other entrepreneurs and go, how am I going to do this? Or did you know exactly what to do?

SPEAKER_00: 6:21

Oh God, no. I freaked out. Um I freaked out. You become the everything because you don't know. I remember I was in Montreal and I got a phone call from um uh um letting us know that we have the charity status. And I was sitting on the window at the hotel going through um, I want to say charity, charity, charity um, I want to say charity village, but it's not charity village, but it's the charity part of um Revenue Canada. And she's coaching me on, okay, so this is what it is now, this is what um your board should look like, and all of these beautiful things. And I'm asking all these questions. Um for the first couple of years, I basically didn't sleep because you are everything. You had a count in the market, and yeah, I'd be um up until two o'clock in the morning doing work. But I was also very fortunate in the sense that I found Yeti who um helps me navigate some of the challenging part of running a charity. Um, doing things that I was doing, but doing it on a different scale, doing it better, not knowing everything that I needed to know. And so Yeti was able to help me through navigate that and help me through it as well. So taking that course and what Yeti have done to help me to make life easier as well, to make it seemingly in many ways, even though it's not seemingly, right? Um, but the fact that I had just as how we um I said I'm gonna start a charity and helping people, that is where I thought in my mind, Yeti came in because I'm doing something. I have no idea what I'm doing. I don't know the rules and the laws and the regulation, even simple thing as my tagline to have somebody confirm that your tagline is the right one. Don't even go thinking about something else because I was thinking about something else, and you guys said, no, your tagline is perfect just the way it is. Don't think about anything else.

SPEAKER_02: 8:54

So sorry, but now you've got to tell everybody your tagline.

SPEAKER_00: 8:57

Oh, making a difference, right? Um and that's what we do. Um so it's after breast scans are making a difference. So that's yeah, it is it's awesome.

SPEAKER_02: 9:09

The uh listeners or watchers of our episodes are are entrepreneurs at different stages from various education and and background and ages, and you know what? So I always try to ask some questions that they might be thinking as well. And so I want to ask you a question about the board. So, as many people may know, uh a nonprofit or charity has to have a minimum of three people on the board, uh board of directors. How did you choose? Uh were you one yourself? Did you pick two others? Like how did you you don't have to be specific in names or that, but just how did you decide who was gonna be at least those three main board members?

SPEAKER_00: 9:42

I think picking your board members are hard because you asking people to work for you or to work for a cause, work for something that you are passionate about, not everyone will see it the same way. However, I even today I met with someone and she goes, I want to join your board. Right? Um not everyone who say they want to join your board are the s or should be on your board because your mission and your vision and what you're trying to do may not align with who they are. Um, a lot of times people join a board because they see, let's say, for example, a social media and you they see things are happening on social media, but they're not thinking about the work that happens behind the scenes. I have been extremely lucky because I have board members who's been with me for over 10 years. And whether they have their own personal stories from breast cancer or their family, or they just too want to make a difference. So I think one of the, as um the founder or executive director for a charity or non-for-profits, one of the most important roles that you have to play is picking your board. I mean, like when, for example, John Tory said, okay, fine, I'm gonna somebody said you need to join, and he said, Yes, I'm gonna join. Um, he was the right fit because he has vision and he has mission and he would take us to places. Be very selective and careful. Don't get into selecting your board without a lot of thoughts behind it. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_02: 11:46

It's excellent advice. And we could talk about picking your board for the for-profit world as well. But I think the nonprofit world is a little bit more interesting because as as you know, and and hopefully our listeners may know as well, the for-profit, yeah, you're a member of the board, you're gonna get some kind of some kind of money out of this, right? You're gonna get some kind of payback. But with the nonprofits and charities, the idea is that the board members do not get paid. I mean, you might get a little bit of travel expense covered, but the idea is you're not you're not getting paid. And so the question has to be why would they do that? What's in it for them? The classic question, what's in it for them? And as you said, we're you have to pick those board members uh carefully and make sure they're fit and use the word alignment. And so it's it's important for that to align with the vision of the organization.

SPEAKER_00: 12:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 12:28

So that has to be clear in your communication, right? What is the what is our vision so that people know how to align.

SPEAKER_00: 12:35

You could also, because I do this all the time, and I interview people. It is important. I would sit just having casual conversation, they have no idea they're being interviewed or not. And you could tell easily whether that person will be a good fit for the rest of your team. One thing I always see as well, my board member, my job is to protect the charity and protect my board members. I am their champion. I will protect them. So there is absolutely nothing in appropriate that I would allow to jeopardize people's, these people's reputation and their name. And so the people I am bringing on boards, they have to, that has to be their pillar as well. And it's not just to be in front of a camera and to say, I am on a board. And I've seen people who just sit there because they want to be on a board and that's it, but they have no idea what a board means, and they're working board. It isn't easy. It's not for everyone. So interview people, have conversation, maybe go out twice, three times.

SPEAKER_02: 13:53

Take it seriously.

SPEAKER_00: 13:54

You have to take it seriously.

SPEAKER_02: 13:56

Yeah. It's it's great advice. There's uh it's funny, whenever I read the official uh advice or almost instructions by the government about picking a board, they're always like, do not pick anybody you know, do not pick any family and friends. And everybody I know exactly picks family and friends, at least in the beginning, because you want to work with people that you know and you trust. Uh of course, as a as a company grows, you you you have to meet other people. And I love the fact that you're doing the interviews and once again looking for that alignment. There's a culture fit, there's a skills fit, and there's whatever workload you decide, they have to be on board with that. And that's great. And you even have politicians or ex-politicians on the board. So a variety of people with different skill sets.

SPEAKER_00: 14:34

Yes, it is important. And um, well, I'm a politician myself. I just ran in the federal election and I ran provincially as well too. But I think these are people who usually have visions, right? Vision for the city, vision for the province, vision for Canada. Um but the right set of people and the right set of politicians as well to like anything else.

SPEAKER_02: 15:04

Right. Well, we have to talk a little bit about politics. Uh what attracted you to get into politics, or um was it something that just came about that fell in your lap, so to speak? Tell us a little bit about your journey into politics.

SPEAKER_00: 15:17

My journey into politics is it's funny, my my life is is is um is does its own thing sometimes. But I grew up in politics and I didn't realize like I it didn't even dawn in me, you know, growing up um from the island, and um my dad was always in politics and he would be um campaign managers for different politicians. Prime Minister would come to our house like nothing, they'll just show up. My dad will be gone for weeks because he's campaigning. It never dawned on me until one day I called my brother, my older brother, and he said to me, Oh, you're f you're following dad's footstep. And I go, What do you mean? Because what you forgot that we were always in politics, you were able to walk into um the prime minister's office without booking an appointment. I'm going, oh, great. It it didn't even dawn on me. But for being in the charity world and knowing that in politics you could make a difference in people's lives on a larger scale, you could affect changes. That's what really attracts me to politics. Um, in a charity, you could you could do so much. The next step is in politics you'll do so much more, whether it is provincial or it's in federal. And um that, yeah, that's what really attracts me to politics is making a difference, continuing to make a difference in people's lives.

SPEAKER_02: 16:56

And I love that you said that because there's a lot of people, and I guess I'm generalizing, that don't see politics that way, or maybe they're a bit jaded or cynical. A lot of young people say, what's the point of voting, or they're all the same. I mean, I'm sure I said the same thing, and then as we get older, as as life does happen and we get older, our perspectives change. We do realize that that uh there is some actual use for governments and and what if, and and how do policies affect me or my business or my charity or my neighborhood? So I think that's fantastic that you are going at it and saying, how not only am I going to affect society from a charity's point of view with uh breast cancer survivors, but now I'm gonna go it at it from a bigger community point of view. So what is your ultimate end goal with politics? I'm assuming that you're not done, you're gonna keep going. So what what is it you want to maybe is there a legacy you're looking for? I know I'm asking a big question here, but I'm just curious about your vision when it comes to politics.

SPEAKER_00: 17:51

Yeah, um I don't think about the legacy. That's not um what I think about. I I mean, like you asked that question, it never dawned in me about a legacy. But what's important for me is not to give up. Um as you're right, I'm I think I'm a different kind of politician, and I'm told that all the time, you're not the typical politician. Like even a couple of days ago, one of the executives from the party was say uh said the same thing to me. What we liked about you and what we like about you, big you are different. You know, you're not your typical politician, and you really care and you ground it and you grassroots. Um yes, I will run again. Um when the opportunity comes up, I will continue to stay involved in politics and um in the party in itself. I am the ex one of the executive directors for the Conservative Party. Um I will continue to do that. I will continue to work hard on the ground for people. It doesn't necessarily um have to be around politics, but I will continue to work for communities on every level, local and federal as well, too. So um politics like law, I'll those are things that I I really enjoy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 19:18

Great. I'm going to swing back to your uh charity after breast cancer. And a good sandwich, as we know, has sort of the bread and it has the the the meat or the the vegetables inside. I want to talk a bit about the structure of your charity because uh a lot of businesses and especially nonprofits start with a vision. Like we will feed the hungry children, right? Great. But that that's not the business, right? That's that's not a functioning business, that's a vision. So what I want to know is a little bit more about tell us a little bit more about what is it that after breast cancer it does. So a little bit of the of the products and service it offers, just give people a little bit of an idea of some of the structure of it, please.

SPEAKER_00: 20:04

So it is simple what we do, and it is simple for some people, but it's extremely impactful. When I say that, so a woman loses her breath, we provide the breast prosthesis, we provide the mastectomy bra. What that does is I've seen it all. I've seen in the middle of summer where a woman would walk into our boutique or um into the office with rocks in her bra, socks, rice, a sweater that is draped over her shoulders covering the missing parts. Having a prosthesis and a proper bra allows her to look, feel, and wear clothing. She doesn't have to concern herself with is somebody looking at me? I am not even. I can my husband is not, I'm afraid to show myself. I am afraid to go to an event or a wedding or a bad midspore or um even going to work, going to the groceries on a Saturday. And I say it might be simple, but it's impactful. That's what we do. I've seen where a mom and a daughter and her grandchild well mother, grandmother and child come in. Three of them have breast cancer. I see the tears, the tears of happiness, because finally they could wear clothes that they were not able to wear. I heard um a woman said to me, Now I could stand in front of the mirror and look at myself because I could not. We also provide a care kit. Um, so every time somebody's diagnosed, the hospitals will send them to us, and we provide things like a seatbelt so that when she's coming in from the hospital after her surgery, that seat belt, because in Canada it is the law to wear a seatbelt. So now there is something that cushioned her from the seatbelt and the surgery that she just had. We have everything in there to help her when she gets home through her first stages.

SPEAKER_02: 23:05

So you have great connections with hospitals and other care clinics. When you speak, my my my aunt had uh breast cancer uh many years ago. I'm sure there was a lot less um opportunity for modern-day prosthetics back in the back in her day. But I do remember that story. Um when you speak about this, what I'm thinking about as well is the is the the confidence that women must have to deal with, getting, taking a hit and then having it restored. Do you offer any resources or connections for mental health or any other type of besides the physical? Because it it sounds like that's a lot of the benefit of your organization, is providing that confidence again, too.

SPEAKER_00: 23:44

Yeah, and we always say to thrive. And I remember one of my ambassadors would always say, After breast cancer is the only charity that puts celebration and breast cancer in the same sentence. Um we do, we work with places like Shopper's drugmart. We were doing a lot of educational workshop, and I call it from the inside out. You know, how to what kind of uh uh vitamins to take, you know, like I didn't know like you shouldn't be taking grapefruit juice with your medication, so learning things when her nails are gone and her eyebrows and her eyelashes and her ashy skin. Those are things that we work with, um, the breast cancer survivors with and provide an educational workshop. We did stop a bit, but we will be getting back into all of the educational um workshop. The mental health about breast cancer, it is tremendous. So we will be focusing on that as well, too. Talking about the sandwich, um in we all know uh during the pandemic, during COVID, where um we had all of these um buses where you go and you get your vaccines and stuff like that. I want to be able to go into communities, all kinds of communities, and make it easier for women to get this. My biggest goal is also to remove the barriers when it comes to screening. We all we hear the saying all the time that early detection saves lives. But what are we talking about? Where is early? You know, I have women who's in their 20s and in their 30s and stuff like that. When you remove barriers, it makes it easier for women to go out and get their screening whenever they want, no matter what, however they feel to do it. So right now we say, okay, fine, 40 years in and older, there is. But then again, it there is that whole sense of um barriers that needs to be removed.

SPEAKER_02: 25:57

And it's also, I'm also thinking that uh the men have to know this as well. They have to be aware, they have to be comfortable to talk about it. They have to be aware of resources as well, because it's you're in it together, right?

SPEAKER_00: 26:07

As a family, as a community, it's not just you know, what's the But men get breast cancer as well too, and that is something they don't always talk about. So last year at my gala, I had Matthew Nell's Beyoncé's dad, who's a breast cancer survivor, come up and talk about male breast cancer. That is, I know it is not as big as women, but again, when men get breast cancer, it's usually it's a little bit harder because they don't have tissues and they don't have chest and they don't have the the breast as much as women do, so it's usually the harder part. Right. The harder.

SPEAKER_02: 26:44

Yeah, it's a whole world. I want to ask you and uh I hope this isn't an unfair question. But speaking of startup sandwich, as you know, uh a good sandwich has a secret sauce, right? Some sort of special sauce. And so with a business, we like we tend to think that the secret sauce is some sort of innovation, something that makes it special. If you had to put your finger on what makes after breast cancer special or unique, what what would it be? What's your secret sauce to the success?

SPEAKER_00: 27:09

Wow. That was a good one. Thank you. Oh my gosh, look at you. Go.

SPEAKER_02: 27:14

Practice that one.

SPEAKER_00: 27:15

You did. The secret sauce is, I think, our board, our people. Um what they these are the men and women that work really hard behind the scenes to raise money to um to make sure that we don't have a wait-in list. Um it is it might be cliche, but it is the truth. It is our hard-working people, uh hardworking interns and the volunteers and the board, the team, the team behind after breast cancer, because we would not have been as successful as we are. And I don't like saying that word, but we wouldn't have been where we are today to help so many people without the structure, the guidance of the board. I mean, like, if there is a challenge, I know I could pick up the phone and call any of my board members and ask them questions and they'll be there.

SPEAKER_02: 28:20

And I I'm just gonna assume that the uh the board strength comes from understanding the the vision and the alignment that we talked about earlier. So it's it's a top-down approach. So good for you to make sure that you have a clear vision and there and uh getting the right people on your board so that you can use them as as you see fit and as society needs them. Very good. I've got two more questions for you. Uh this one is looking for the next six months or so, one year, anything interesting happening with that charity you want to mention? Is there any growth, any opportunities, any events? Anything we can tell our audience to keep an eye on?

SPEAKER_00: 28:53

Yeah, I mean, like our Pink Diamond Gala is coming up and it's always the last Sunday of September. We are we like to say we kick off breast cancer month, which is in October, with our Pink Diamond Gala. So anybody's listening, always check that out, uh Pink Diamond Gala. And as I said, um just putting together, oh, we just actually had our She project. So every year I take 12 Breast Cancer Survivor and I create a calendar. So that will be coming out as well too. But I'm really, really, really excited about next year going back to the basic educational part as well, too. You know, to help uh these beautiful women, how to deal with challenges. So Right.

SPEAKER_02: 29:45

And the the the chance to talk, to ask questions, to get mentorship even before. Very good. Uh my last question is just simply if people want to reach out to you or learn more about your your organization, anything would you like to share? Little bit of we'll share some social media, but if there's any couple uh sites in particular you'd like to mention now that people can reach out to you or after breast cancer, please let us know.

SPEAKER_00: 30:08

Yes, it is quite easy. It's afterbreastcancer.ca um social media. So we have Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, our website, um, and then just me, Alicia at afterbreastcancer.ca. Send me a quick email and I love um chatting and meeting people and talking and just hearing. That's how we all grow together, right?

SPEAKER_02: 30:35

Well said. And you and I haven't seen each other for a number of years. So what a great opportunity to to see you again. We were thinking it was maybe 2019 or so, 2018 or 2019, that you attended the Yeti nonprofit program. So it's really, really nice to see you again and to catch up and to learn more about what you've been doing. And uh thank you so much for joining us for this episode of the Startup Sandwich.

SPEAKER_00: 30:57

It has been a wonderful experience, and Yeti is close to my heart, and I take it with me everywhere I go. So um, when people are good to you, you be good to them back. And you guys have been really instrumental in my growth. So thank you very much. It was a pleasure seeing you again. Lovely being here.

SPEAKER_02: 31:18

Thank you, Alicia.

SPEAKER_00: 31:19

Thank you for watching.

SPEAKER_02: 31:20

And be sure to subscribe on YouTube or wherever you check out your podcasts. Until next time, keep turning small bites into big wins.