How Growing Up in a Hair Salon Led Me to The Leader I am Today.

How Growing Up in a Hair Salon Led Me to The Leader I am Today and
Why Your Business Needs a Compass, Not Just a Vision.

There’s a moment in every leader’s journey where the outside looks wildly successful…
and the inside is quietly whispering, “Something’s off.”

For me, that moment had a very specific setting:
Walking across the Granville Street Bridge in Vancouver, having just decided to sell a ten-year-old, award-winning creative firm that most people assumed I would run forever.

My partner Margarita and I had built that business from scratch in our early twenties. We had big-name clients, international awards, and a reputation for being one of the top creative shops in the country.

And yet, as we walked that bridge, one question was written all over my face: “What are we about to do?”

On paper, it looked like madness.
Inside, it was the most honest move we’d ever made.

Where My Obsession With “Making Life Better” Really Started

To understand that bridge moment, you have to go back to where I first learned what business really is.

I grew up in my mother’s hair salon.
It wasn’t a fancy “brand experience” back then; it was a small, vibrant space where people came to be seen, heard, and cared for.

Every morning, my mother would say some version of,
“Today is a beautiful day to make someone’s life better.”

That wasn’t a slogan. It was how she ran her business.

By helping out after school, I learned to read people not just by what they said, but by their silence, their posture, their energy. I saw how feeling understood could transform someone more than any haircut.

Before I ever knew the word “positioning,” I knew this:
How you show up matters more than what you say or sell.

By my early teens, I realized something that would shape my entire career:
If you don’t clearly decide who you are for and what you stand for, the world will decide for you, and you probably won’t like the result.

Building the “Successful” Business That Quietly Broke Me

Fast forward a few years.

Margarita (my partner in life and in business) co-founded our first creative firm in our early twenties. We became known for bold ideas, strong design, and a no-nonsense approach. We worked with iconic brands, won prestigious awards, and were celebrated as a top creative agency.

From the outside:

• We were “killing it.”
• Our work was in demand.
• Our team rocked it.
• Our firm was a success story.

But on the inside, something didn’t feel right.

We were brilliant at crafting external communications (brand identities, campaigns, taglines) but I could feel that many of our clients were missing something much deeper:
A clear sense of who they were and why they existed beyond their products.

We could make them look great.
But we knew some of them didn’t yet live great.

And slowly, I realized: we were starting to feel that way too.

We were busy. We were booked. We were growing.
But we were no longer fully fulfilled.

That’s when the “What have we done?” bridge moment became inevitable.

The Year We Walked Away (On Purpose)

In 2005, we made a decision that shocked a lot of people:
We sold our successful, award-winning firm and pressed pause.

We took a year to travel, reflect, and ask better questions:

• What actually makes us happy?
• What kind of work creates real impact, not just nice-looking brands?
• What do we want to be known for when all the noise is stripped away?

That year, we came to a powerful realization:
Business is not who we are. It’s how we express who we are.

And true success?
It’s not just revenue or recognition. It’s the ability to measure your life by your happiness, alignment, and impact.

So when we came back, we made a vow:
We would never again build a business that looked good on the outside but felt misaligned on the inside.

We would build a business with a clear, unapologetic TrueNorth of its own, even before we had that language.

Designing LeapZone Around a Different Question

In 2007, we founded LeapZone Strategies: a small-by-design firm dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and leaders build brands and businesses that make life better; for their clients, their teams, and themselves.

We structured everything around three flows:
Clarity. Pivotal Shifts. Momentum.

• Clarity about who you are and what you stand for.
• Pivotal shifts to align your actions and business model with that truth.
• Momentum that turns your brand promise into a lived experience, day in and day out, which yield measurable results.

We decided to bridge the gap between business growth, culture, and brand strategy—because in the real world, they’re not separate. Your business performance is your brand.

Over time, this work led me to share stages as a two-time TEDx speaker, to write, teach, and coach leaders across industries, all around a single through-line:
Clarity sells. Confusion kills.

And that’s when the concept of Brand TrueNorth™ crystallized.

Why TrueNorth™ Became Non-Negotiable

Here’s the hard truth I’ve seen over and over:

The slowest way for a business to die is with a team that’s lost its sense of direction.
Not because they don’t care.
Not because they’re not talented.
But because the core (the soul of the brand) is not clear, shared, or lived.

That’s where your Brand TrueNorth™ comes in.

Your TrueNorth is not:

• A slogan
• A logo
• A pretty vision statement on the wall

Your TrueNorth is your strategic identity made practical:
It’s the internal compass that guides how you think, decide, hire, communicate, and lead, especially when things get chaotic.

When your Brand TrueNorth is clear and embodied, it answers questions like:

• Who are we beyond what we sell?
• What do we do that no one else can quite do like us?
• What conversations are we here to lead in our industry?
• What do we refuse to compromise on?
• Why are we the first, the best, or the only logical choice for our right-fit clients?

Without that clarity, “alignment” is just a buzzword.
Teams end up working hard, but not together.
Marketing runs, but it doesn’t resonate.
Leaders make decisions in a vacuum instead of from a shared, strategic identity.

With TrueNorth, everything changes.

What Happens When a Team Actually Has a TrueNorth™

When a business has a clear TrueNorth (and lives it) the ripple effects are real:

• Hiring gets easier. You attract people who genuinely believe what you believe, not just those who want a job.
• Retention improves. People show up with pride because they know what they’re part of.
• Decision-making simplifies. Your TrueNorth becomes your filter for yes and no. If it doesn’t align, it doesn’t get your energy.
• Messaging sharpens. You stop sounding like everyone else and start sounding like you.
• Positioning strengthens. You move from just “being in the market” to owning your lane as The First, The Best, or The Only.

This is what I wish I had understood in the early days of our first firm.

We were successful, yes, but we didn’t have a fully articulated TrueNorth guiding every choice. Our vision was strong, our work was strong, but the internal compass wasn’t explicit or shared enough.

And when that’s the case, growth starts to feel heavier than it needs to be.

Why This Matters Now More Than Ever

Today’s business environment is louder, faster, and more crowded than ever.
AI is changing how people search, buy, and make decisions. Teams are more distributed. Markets shift overnight.

In that context, vague vision statements are not enough.
“Work hard and be good people” is not enough.
Even “have a strong brand” is not enough.

You need a TrueNorth:
A precise, lived, strategic identity that your entire organization can navigate by, no matter how loud the world gets.

In a noisy world, clarity is not just an advantage.
It’s survival.

If This Story Hits a Nerve, Read This Part Twice

If any part of my story feels uncomfortably familiar.
If your business looks successful from the outside but feels foggy, fragmented, or heavier than it should on the inside.
That’s not something to ignore.

That’s your inner compass telling you:
“It’s time to realign.”

You don’t need another random tactic.
You don’t need to work harder.

You need to get clear on what truly matters, and design your brand, your culture, and your growth around that.

That’s the work of TrueNorth.

Ready to Explore Your Own TrueNorth™?

If you’re reading this thinking,
“We’re doing well… but we could be doing it with more clarity, more cohesion, and a lot less friction,”
then here’s your next step.

I created a Needs Assessment specifically for leaders, teams, and brands who are serious about leading in their space, not just surviving in it.

It’s the first step to booking an Impact Call with me.

On that call, we will:

• Pinpoint where your brand is clear, and where it’s quietly drifting
• Identify the gaps between what you say you stand for and what your clients and team actually experience
• Assess honestly whether we are the right strategic partner to help you define and embody your TrueNorth

No fluff. No pressure.
Just a candid, no-BS conversation about where you are, where you want to go, and what it will take to get there.

If you’re ready to stop operating on “success by default” and start leading with intentional, aligned impact “from the inside out”
start by filling out the Needs Assessment, and we’ll take it from there.

Your TrueNorth is already there.
My job is to help you name it, claim it, and lead with it.