Alex Moore-Gibson is raising money and awareness for breast cancer through her lifestyle brand
C/O Honey and Glow
When Alex Moore-Gibson opened Honey and Glow to sell her handmade and sustainable bath, body and home products seven years ago, it mainly served as an outlet to unleash her creative energy. Today, it has turned into something greater than just health and beauty. It encompasses messages of women empowerment, community and breast cancer awareness.
Growing up with problematic and sensitive skin, Moore-Gibson had trouble finding products that were both gentle and effective enough to meet her skin’s needs. To address this problem, she began making her own bath and body products using DIY kits her mother bought her. She continued this hobby all throughout high school and university.
After much encouragement from family and friends who received her handmade products as gifts, she opened Honey and Glow as a passion project aside from her regular day job as a teacher. She currently sells lip balm, sugar scrubs, loose-leaf teas and beeswax food wraps.
In 2019, Moore-Gibson temporarily closed the shop to welcome her second son. As Honey and Glow was growing rapidly, it became overwhelming to balance her day job and raise her two sons all the while maintaining Honey and Glow. During her break, at the age of 34, she was also diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer.
Last year, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, she underwent a mastectomy and began chemotherapy and radiation. Although these were some of the most brutal and darkest times, once she regained her energy, she needed Honey and Glow to relieve her suppressed creative spirit and find new direction and purpose as she finished up her treatment journey.
“Once I got through the really dark days and I started to have more energy, I was finding that I had this real energy, creative energy building up inside of me and I didn’t really know how to use it, especially during a pandemic,” said Moore-Gibson.
Honey and Glow recently reopened and is currently offering curbside pick up, online orders and delivery.
Moore-Gibson also started to donate a portion of the sales to Rethink Breast Cancer, a Toronto-based foundation focused on empowering women and families living with and affected by breast cancer. The donation is used for breast cancer awareness programs and events, research, resources and community work.
Moore-Gibson chose Rethink Breast Cancer because the stories of other breast cancer patients, survivors and families shared by the foundation served as a source of inspiration and comfort during her most difficult times.
Integrating her personal story in her work for Honey and Glow became very important for Moore-Gibson. Sharing her breast cancer journey has allowed her to connect with customers and supporters at a deeper level and engage in conversations with others affected by breast cancer.
“Even something as simple as the amount of women that have reached out to me being like, “Today is such a dark day and seeing your face and seeing your hair in a headband is giving me hope” makes it feel so worth it. It makes me want to keep going,” explained Moore-Gibson.
However, sharing her story online wasn’t easy. It took much courage and trust to post her vulnerable side on the internet.
“I’ve always had a very private social media account . . . so I was worried about being vulnerable. But I would say the response has been nothing but supportive,” said Moore-Gibson. “Sharing my breast cancer story has given me even more courage to share more and be more involved and to just keep going.”
The brand has become more meaningful and healing in ways that she could have never imagined. Her favourite part of running and growing her business has been being empowered and inspired by other young female entrepreneurs and building new friendships. Her love for her local community of supporters and like-minded small business owners has led her to do many collaborations and giveaway events with local makers and artisans.
From seven years of running Honey and Glow, Moore-Gibson has learned to believe in herself and to take a chance. She encourages others who may be hesitant to pursue their dreams to take their leap of faith.
Ever since Hina Glazer and Oren Harad moved to Canada from Mexico in 2010, they wanted to find a way to link the two countries. Inspired by how Canadians love to connect with other cultures and travel to Mexico, they wanted to show Canadians the beauty of Mexico beyond the tourist resorts.
They started Artesano Canada, an enamelware and folk art business that puts Mexico’s art in the spotlight.
The name comes from the Spanish word for artisan, but there is another hidden meaning. Glazer and Harad liked that arte means art and sano means healthy, suggesting that the colourful hand-painted skulls and black-and-white enamelware that they sell are good for their customers.
The couple began selling their goods after a 2016 trip to Oaxaca, their favourite region in Mexico. Along with their three kids, they met several talented artisans whose crafts has been passed down to them from their parents and grandparents.
“So the traditional art is art that's been made for obviously many years… [and] most of the artists are born into it… We went to a resort a few months ago and… we saw many of the skulls… painted like American sports teams. So that's the difference. I could cry right now when I tell you this. And there were artisans making them but they were not making their grandparents’ art,” Glazer explained.
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For this reason, Artesano supports traditional Mexican art. The business currently works with two families of artisans in Mexico, with whom Glazer has a personal relationship with. They are a fair trade company as Glazer is strongly against taking advantage of others. She pays the artisans their desired price because she believes only they know what the products are worth.
Last November, Artesano participated in in Ontario Public Interest Research Group’s Fair Trade Fest at McMaster University Student Centre Atrium. They sell their products both online and in markets across the greater Hamilton area. Their online store ships worldwide and they have a shop at St. Jacob’s Market in Waterloo.
Glazer and Harad intended to run the business on the side, but their business grew and Glazer now operates Artesano full-time. Prior, Glazer was a self-employed translator, but has never owned a business. While the process has been hard for her and her family, it has also been very rewarding and led to several new skills.
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“[I]t's hard to try to put your name out there and your brand… [E]ven if people respond, it's not an easy journey but you learn so much about yourself. It's amazing… [Y]ou used to do one part of the business… and that's it. Nowadays we start these small businesses. We're not social media experts and we're not sales experts… but we do all that… So it's a challenge,” Glazer said.
Glazer credits her fellow vendors and entrepreneurs in Hamilton for making the process easier. The warm entrepreneur community provides tips and a support system for her and her family as they juggle life and work.
The city has also been very supportive of Glazer and Harad. Last November their van, filled with $5000 of product, was stolen in downtown Hamilton. While the goods were not recovered, they still hear kind words from Hamiltonians to this day. They have also found support in their neighbourhood, with kind neighbours who will look after their children if needed.
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The city’s sense of community, thriving art scene and rapid growth make it a wonderful fit for Artesano. As the business grows, Glazer aims to continuing travelling to Mexico and meeting other artists. She wants Artesano’s products to connect people around the world to the rich culture of Mexico.
“I really like the ceramic skulls because they represent so much about Mexico… Day of the Dead is the most important celebration of the year and skulls are such an important part of the Mexican culture… I would love to see us help people learn more about Day of the Dead which we try to do in our social media. And you know Mexican traditions in general, just… extend this knowledge to everyone who's interested,” Glazer explained.
The business is also a way for Glazer to keep her children connected to Mexico, even as they grow up in Canada. She considers Artesano a family business and would love to see it passed down to her children. Like the artisans they collaborate with, Artesano might be around for generations to come.
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The story of the Hamilton start-up business is familiar at this point; an innovative, usually young person finds a gap in current available technology, urban planning or philanthropy, fills the void and makes a name for themselves in the city.
Rosalie Loney’s trajectory is different. She moved from the Guelph area to Hamilton with her husband and then three-year-old daughter about two years ago. Loney had a background in theatre and costume design, and was looking to start a business where she could use her creative skills from home.
Inspiration struck when Loney realized that her new neighbourhood was home to a bra-making supply store, right in the middle of the Ottawa Street textile district. Bra-makers Supply, owned by Beverly Johnson, is one of the few shops that caters specifically to the lingerie-designing and making market, and over the past 20 years, the shop has enjoyed international renown.
“I discovered all the cool materials and thought I could maybe make bralettes,” said Loney. “They’re really simple and comfortable so I tried making a few. And it took me a while to perfect the design, but when I finally [did] and I was wearing it, I was like, ‘oh my goodness this is so comfortable. I don’t want to wear anything else’.”
Armed with lace, elastic and a finely tuned set of measurements, Loney started her company, Rosalie Wynne.
Loney draws much of her inspiration from her own experiences shopping for lingerie.
“I have so many memories of shopping for bras,” she said. “Even like, as a teenager, shopping for bras with my mom and… going to La Senza and feeling like [I] must have been the weirdest shape because nothing ever, ever fit.”
When Loney launched Rosalie Wynne, she took her time becoming well-versed in bra sizing and the typical issues people experience with mainstream companies. Typically, bralettes are sized extra small to extra large, with each cup size matching its band size. It is difficult to find a bralette with a small band but, say, an extra large cup.
Loney herself experienced this problem and used her business to create her own solution. Over the course of eight months, she developed dozens of different cup and band sizes and combinations to ensure that anyone can find the right fit.
“Part of the problem is that when you’re selling bras retail, from a profit side of things you can’t have such a huge range of sizes,” Loney explained. “It’s extremely costly to actually stock that many sizes. And some of them may never sell so that you’ve got inventory that’s dated and you can’t do anything with it.”
To combat the issue of dead stock, Loney has adopted a labour-intensive but economic solution: she still makes every item by hand, to order.
“That way… people can get the right size but I don’t have to stock all of it, I just stock all my components,” she said. “So I can just take that band size and that cup size and put them all together and that doesn’t take too much time anymore.”
Loney’s one-woman show has caught the attention of Hamilton’s entrepreneur scene. She is currently enrolled in the city’s Starter Company Plus program, which offers education in all areas of owning an independent business. Loney sees the opportunity as a worthwhile way to strengthen the fundamentals of Rosalie Wynne.
“I finished my business plan and submitted it [at the beginning of March]. It was incredibly helpful to write everything down in such a structured way. I feel much more confident in what I’m doing and I also saw some areas where I needed to become more focused and clear.”
In the near future, Loney hopes to simplify her online ordering process, where the majority of her business is centred. Limited sizing is available at Hamilton boutique White Elephant, but she aims to include at least one bralette in each cup and band size she stocks. This way, shoppers can find the perfect combination, even if the store does not have the right two sizes together.
Ultimately, Loney has two goals for each item she sews: comfort and beauty.
“I really want women to feel empowered, to be comfortable and confident in their own bodies and to know that you can be super comfortable in your unique shape, whatever it is, and you can also look gorgeous.”
While Loney sees her business continuing as an independent enterprise for the time being, she has big dreams for Rosalie Wynne.
“In the next few years I’d love to grow my company into a small team here in Hamilton that continues to manufacture everything in house,” she said.
Rosalie Loney has, in her own way, carved a niche for herself in Hamilton. She has found her perfect fit, and continues to help others do the same.
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As a child I often lingered around the outskirts of my family home’s tiny kitchen, careful not to exceed the imaginary boundaries my mother had defined. I watched quietly as she bustled in the kitchen, chopping and stirring ingredients for several dishes at once, in what seemed like a random and complicated series of motions.
As I grew older, my mother lifted her boundaries and invited me into her space. She tried to teach me, but it didn’t take long for me to come to the realization that I simply wasn’t good at cooking.
My mother never strictly adhered to recipes but our dinner table was graced with delicious dishes, whereas I relentlessly relied on calculated measurements and somehow managed to make pasta barely edible.
I never explored with ingredients or improvised, partly due to my inability to reach the spice shelf for most of my life, but mostly because I was stubborn. I had to learn to try new things, make mistakes, follow some rules and mix others up to finally make a dish I was proud of.
Along the way I also learned to embrace my heritage and native land. I often find myself adding olive oil to everything, a nod towards the olive trees that make up Palestine’s landscapes and my grandmother’s homemade extractions.
Every recipe I am sharing is inspired by my mother’s traditional cooking, with my own twists to make them easier to prepare and incorporate the kinds of flavours I love. I encourage you to try one out, improvise and make it your own.
I like to call this a Middle Eastern pizza that can be enjoyed at any point in the day.
This dish is inspired by my mother’s ‘Kebab Hindi’ recipe. It’s a meatball and tomato sauce dish that can be served over rice or bread.
A salad that’s high in protein, flavourful and easy to improvise with.
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Even though starting a new year with a renewed sense of direction can be refreshing, a dispirited little voice ends up convincing me that my attempts at turning my life around will end in bitter disappointment.
From this comes my love-hate relationship with New Year’s resolutions. I even marked the beginning of this year with a picture of Dr. Evil making air quotes around ‘new year, new me’ hastily pasted over a printout of my class schedule.
It wasn’t until I started learning about habit formation that I realized my approach to resolutions was all wrong. I wanted to create big change in my life, yet I had no tangible idea of what I wanted to change nor the motivation.
Charles Duhigg, author of the New York Times Bestseller The Power of Habit, breaks down habit formation into a cycle of three steps: a cue, routine and reward. But if habit formation was that easy, then you’ll still find the Pulse packed after January.
Human nature is complex and researchers are still trying to unpack exactly how habits are formed, but according to Prof. Ayesha Khan from McMaster’s Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, Duhigg’s cycle is a good place to start.
“It’s important to develop a good habit. I think sometimes we go through life aimlessly not knowing the strategies that help us be our best selves. … What I think it ultimately comes down to is having some sort of system or some sort of strategy to be able to implement the things that actually help you be successful,” explained Khan.
The recipe for forming habits is not clear-cut but it has some essential ingredients, such as starting small, defining a time and place that makes the activity itself convenient to practice, and most importantly, finding a pleasure component that drives you.
These strategies can be applied to all of your resolutions, whether it is making a habit out of flossing, preparing for a marathon, regularly meal prepping, or in my case, learning a new skill.
“Not only should it be positive, but also something that brings this element of excitement and fun, and I think you’re more likely to stick to it. But you also have to sit down, reflect and be creative,” said Khan.
Feeling that my creativity has been hindered lately, I decided to give myself two weeks to implement a cue, routine and reward in order to pick up sewing. I set aside one hour every morning to learn all about the skill and practice with an end goal of making a t-shirt from scratch.
“If something feels good, you are more likely to repeat it,” Khan explained. “The trick I think is to figure out what is the pleasure element of it that will help you go back on a regular basis. In the case of [learning to] make a t-shirt, maybe the gratification that you feel after you make the t-shirt is [the reward].”
Your dentist complimenting your freshly flossed teeth, the endorphins that kick in while training for a marathon and the satisfaction of having saved a little bit of money by making your own meals can all be motivating factors that reinforce habit formation.
Each person has to find the right reward that will work well for them, but sometimes it isn’t as easy to find pleasure in a task. Khan decided to practice mindfulness meditation last year after reading studies on how it can lead to fundamental changes in the brain, but she had a difficult time defining the pleasure component.
“Most people use breath as an anchor for paying attention. … You’re able to have a little bit more clarity of the thoughts [and feelings] that you are having. … I was really intrigued by this idea and who doesn’t want to have a better system to maintain their attention,” said Khan.
“Initially I wasn’t able to figure out a reward, until I found an app. This app would show me the number of mindfulness minutes that I had on a regular basis. I’m not a competitive person but I do like to see progress.”
Khan was captivated by seeing her mindfulness minutes grow. She wanted to see the numbers rise, so she continued to meditate, until it eventually became a habit. The reward led her to practice day after day. In fact, in the past two months, she’s garnered over 1,300 minutes.
As for myself, the concept of learning to make something that I can wear was my reward. It made me eager to watch online tutorials during my one hour sessions and I was overcome with excitement during my tour of Fabricland as Tracy, the sales associate, took me from rack to rack teaching me about different materials.
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Perhaps I got ahead of myself while getting lost in the beautiful prints on cotton, rayon and polyester because as soon as it came to actually making the t-shirt, the experience was nothing short of a disaster.
I dedicated a great deal of time making templates of my t-shirt on paper, only to realize that eyeballing a few of my measurements would lead to disproportional sleeves. Cutting is also not my forte as exemplified by the unintentional v-neck.
I was still hopeful as I pieced everything together in Needlework, a fabric shop and creative workspace on James Street North — that is, until it was time to add the sleeves.
Somehow I managed to sew them on with extra material peeking out all around the armhole. My co-worker suggested they looked like ruffles as I stood over my floral mess, contemplating whether I should laugh or cry. I laughed and started all over again.
“You have to appreciate that habit formation is super complex and there’s no one formula that you just have to do. This also means that you’re a little compassionate towards yourself when you’re not able to form a habit. You have to re-strategize or you say, ‘I’m going to begin again,’” advised Khan.
Understanding how habit formation works brings me one step closer to setting and successfully reaching goals and resolutions. Even though the t-shirt would’ve been better off as a misshapen tank top, I learned from my experiences, and I’m proud of myself for setting a goal and seeing it through.
Here’s to more t-shirts in the future!
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