What stories are behind your words? Susie Dent has some answers in this month’s issue of ‘Tell Your Story Newsletter’

October 2024 Vol 6 Issue 10

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):

 Teaching English as a Second Language

Let us help you tell your story!

Welcome Mid-October, 2024!

What does “October mean (to you)? What changes does it bring?Media reports in late September and early October have concentrated notably on social justice and public health issues in our community, and at a time when Saskatonians prepare to vote in upcoming civic, provincial and federal government elections.

On September 30th, we observed the “National Day for Truth and Reconciliation,” to honour the Indigenous children, who (as the Government of Canada acknowledges), “never returned home (from  government- and church-led residential schools), and their survivors, alongside their families and communities.”

Young Indigenous children faced emotional, physical and sexual abuse, and endured the forced suppression of their language, culture and familial relationships. But change has been slow to arrive.

The day has also become known as “Orange Shirt Day,” an “Indigenous-led, grassroots commemorative day, intended to raise awareness of the . . . impact of residential schools [and] to promote the concept that ‘Every Child Matters.’”

In my faith group on September 29th, we donned orange shirts and listened as guest speaker Patti Polowick discussed the need for change: through public apologies to the Indigenous people of SK (and beyond); through our refusal to condemn those who (intergenerationally) struggle with homelessness and addictions; and through recognizing the Biblical and spiritual basis of both truth and forgiveness.

 

And on October 10th, we observed “World Mental Health Day,” an international day (writes the the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union [UFCW]) “to raise awareness of the stigmas surrounding mental illness and the importance of promoting mental health.” Change here, too, is desperately needed.

Globally, close to one billion people now live with mental illness (reports the World Health Organization [WHO]); and the Covid-19 pandemic has further reduced people’s mental wellbeing. Yet mental health continues to be “one of the most neglected areas of public health.”

Efforts need to be mobilized to increase the quality and accessibility of good mental health care–and no place greater than in SK. On its website  (https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-mental-health-day), the WHO reminds us that good “mental health is a universal human right.”

Yet we find ourselves experiencing impoverished (some might say “third-world”) healthcare in a first-world province. Change is needed.

Indigenous healing and reconciliation with settler cultures and the improvement of human mental health are two of the greatest cultural and health-related movements we face world-wide. They demand that we work toward meaningful change (and surpass mere “lip-service”).

Survivors have important stories to tell that can yield change, as we advocate for more respect, tolerance and support than current times provide.

And appropriately, the month of  October is usually a month of seasonal change. As Environment Canada’s forecasts indicate, our current warmer-than-seasonal weather will be displaced at month’s end, by single digit degrees above zero, Celsius.

Yet our days are marked with the turning and falling of gloriously golden and crimson leaves, that bring great beauty to our lives, even as we brace ourselves for the change of winter.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary tells us that the name “October” shares roots with  “octopus” and “octagon,” which originally meant “tenth” in Anglo-Saxon and Middle English—so that “October” designates the tenth month of our Gregorian calendar. That is one of its stories.

But to add to the complexity of linguistic history (a theme popular with this month’s featured dictionary writer, Susie Dent), the name “October” also reflects the earlier Latin “octo” and the Greek “okto” (both of which mean “eight”). So in the earlier Roman calendar, “October” occurred in the eighth month, an earlier story . . .

In keeping with stories of change, in “Article One” this month, I visit a recent book from acclaimed British lexicographer (dictionary writer), Susie Dent, on the meaning of words that have surprising (hi)stories to tell.

In “Storytellers’ Corner,” I cite Canadian entrepreneur and strategist, Arlene Dickinson on how, by exchanging the often harsh thoughts we have of ourselves with ones of self-worth, we can empower our minds and lives.

And in this month’s “Shop News,” I share sundry items of visits, events and news that energized me in recent weeks, making me glad to have exchanged time in my office to engage with peers like you!

What has October brought to you?  Have you plunged into your work, embracing the reality that summer has finally passed? Or have you stepped aside from the daily grind, mindfully, to notice the season’s beauty and distinctness?

And please send your updates and ideas for  future issues of “TYSN.” I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Principal

Storytelling Communications

www.elizabethshih.com

++++++++

IN THIS ISSUE:

 

ARTICLE 1: What stories are behind your words? Susie Dent has some answers

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: Arlene Dickinson on retelling your story of self-worth

SHOP NEWS

++++++++

Article One: What stories are behind your words? Susie Dent has some answers

In her recent book, Interesting Stories about Curious Words: From Stealing Thunder to Red Herrings, Britain’s most popular “lexicographer” (dictionary writer), Susie Dent, shares some of the fascinating stories behind common English words and phrases.

Those of us who communicate for our living (I teach English-as-a-Second Language) are not surprised to know (as Languagelinks.ca reports) “that over half of the English language comes from French and Latin.”  In fact, “more than 60% of our vocabulary has its origins in France.”

And when we read the work of Susie Dent, it’s not hard to imagine her as the heroine of Pip Williams’ recent popular novel, The Dictionary of Lost Words, a plausible but fictional telling of the work of late Victorian and early 20th-Century lexicographers who developed the first-ever edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

Describing her career of researching and writing dictionaries, Dent cites Eric Partridge (Britain’s “20th-century chronicler of slang expressions”) as saying there are “more imagination and enthusiasm in the making of a good dictionary than in the average novel.”

Dent cites a favourite anecdote, also from Partridge–of an elderly Englishwoman who, after borrowing a dictionary from the public library, returned it with the comment that it was “a very unusual book indeed—but the stories are extremely short, aren’t they?”

In Interesting Stories, Dent brings together hundreds of her favourite eclectic histories of English words, whose criterion for inclusion was only that the stories “might elicit an ‘ah!’, an ‘of course!’ or maybe even a ‘what!’”

Dent writes that “curious minds will always need curious words,” so learning languages, such as English, including the fantastic words that she collects, need never be boring.

Here, this month, are ten of the favourite words Dent chronicles in her book:

(1) “Long time no see”: “A mock traditional greeting to a person one has not seen for a long time. It is a form of Pidgin English based on Chinese “hăo jiǔ méi jiàn.”

(2) “Wotcher”: “A late 19th-century alteration of the greeting, ‘What cheer?’, or ‘How are you?’”

(3) “All one’s geese are swans”: “To overestimate; to see things in too rosy a light. All one’s children are paragons, and whatever one does is, in one’s own eyes, superfluous.”

(4)  “Booby”: “A species of ‘gannet’ (large seabird) is called a booby because of its apparent stupidity. The Spanish bobo means ‘silly.’ It was this that gave rise to the idea of a ‘booby prize.’”

(5) “As mad as a March hare”: “Hares are unusually . . . wild in March, which is their rutting [mating] season.”

(6) “A Leopard cannot change its spots”: “A person’s character never changes fundamentally. The allusion is to Jeremiah 13:23: ‘Can the Ethiopian change is skin, or the leopard his spots?’”

(7) “Teddy bear”: “A child’s toy bear, named after Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt (1858-1919), who was fond of bear-hunting. Roosevelt was shown sparing the life of a bear-cub in a cartoon drawn by C.K. Berryman in 1902 as a spoof on the president’s role as an ardent conservationist.

In 1906, The New York Times  published a humorous poem about the adventures of two bears named Teddy B and Teddy G, in Roosevelt’s honour. The names were then given to two bears newly presented to the Bronx Zoo, and manufacturers seized on the event to put toy bears called ‘teddy bears’ on the market.”

(8) “Higgledy-piggedly”: “Jumbled up in a confused mess. The word first appeared at the end of the 16th century and may have been inspired by the slovenly reputation of pigs. It is an example of what linguists call a ‘reduplicative compound,’ in which two words are paired on the basis of their sound, and one of them tends to be a fanciful add-on.”

(9) “To get someone’s goat”: “To annoy a person. The expression, an old Americanism, is said to relate to a practice among racehorse trainers of soothing a nervous horse by putting a goat in its stall. Someone wanting the horse to lose could sneak in and remove the goat. The horse would again succumb to an attack of nerves and would not run well. But one can irritate a person by constantly butting in, and this may be a more likely reference.”

(10) “Dogsbody”: “Someone who does all the menial jobs that no one else wants to do, typically a young person or trainee employee. The term dates from the 1920s and was originally applied humorously to peas boiled in cloth on board ships and subsequently to a junior officer.”

And now it’s your turn: Do these “curious” stories about words appeal to you? How much of a role does storytelling (more broadly) play in the languages you speak and write?

 

++++++++

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER . . . . 

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER

This month: Arlene Dickinson on retelling your story of self-worth . . . 

From entrepreneur extraordinaire, Calgary-based Arlene Dickinson  (Dragon’s Den investor and Canadian strategist) . . . comes some other words we can tell ourselves–these in keeping with the advancement of all entrepreneurs, but women, in particular:

“The next time you stop yourself from enjoying life’s moments, doing something new and exciting or putting yourself out there, because you don’t like your body or your looks, here’s a new short tape”– a change to your  personal story –“to play in your head”:

“I am more than good enough.
I am beautiful exactly as I am.
I can’t wait to show myself what I can do.
I am uniquely and proudly me.

And then, thank your body for its strength in getting you through the days and nights and for keeping your spirit alive.”

Dickinson concludes from her own experience that it’s not easy for entrepreneurs “to drown out the insecure thoughts” that run through our minds.

But she says: “Keep rehearsing these lines” and you will revise those thoughts–and with them, your story!

++++++++

SHOP NEWS:

This month, I am especially thankful for the collaborative articles I have co-authored with fellow women writers of “Saskatoon Freelancers’ Roundtable.” The fifth of our pieces appeared in this fall’s issue of  “Freelance” magazine and online ezine, publications of the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild.

Thank you to Ashleigh Mattern, Julie Barnes, Adele Paul and Ashlyn George for the collaboration.

Our final article addressed issues of “time management.” And our group looks forward to writing collaboratively again, in the future. Perhaps we will then include our group’s photographers and designers.

++++++++

CORRECTION from last month’s (September) issue!

The Praxis School of Entrepreneurship’s 30+ year, “startSMART” program is not ending, as I earlier reported, but is instead changing shape through a new online network for January, 2025.

Alumni of the past 30+ years are cordially invited to a “refresher” socializing and networking potluck, with date and time forthcoming, early in 2025. Stay tuned!

And please let fledgling entrepreneurs in your circles know that powerful training and community building opportunities through the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship are coming soon!

+++++++++

I have been deeply moved this month by a visit I made to Rev. George Yando, of Prince Albert, who served as a spiritual advisor and interim minister (five years ago) to my faith community (St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church).

During a recent visit, I was touched by Rev. Yando’s continued humanity, warmth and empathy for others, even in the face of his own terminal illness.

Sometimes hospital visits become visitations, in which the visitor themselves is transformed.

Thank you, Rev. Yando.

++++++++

Special thanks this month to WESK’s CEO Miriam Johnson, and WESK team members, including those I spoke with–Program Lead, Jenelle Yochim; Brand Manager Michael Betteridge; and Client Services Manager, Cara Cote, for developing a “speed networking” format for “YXE Connect” on October 9th.

All entrepreneurs were given 15 minutes in each of four sessions to ask questions and network with service providers.

The service providers included representatives from representatives from Saskatoon’s legal, financial, banking and other advisory services (who also deserve our thanks).

The smaller group format  enabled ambiverts (like me) and introverts and newbies (whom I met) to speak more openly and engage more deeply with others, thereby extending the event’s “connective” power.

I look forward to seeing what the WESK team does for YXE’s November meeting to encourage engagement from our diverse entrepreneurial community.

Thank you, WESK!

++++++++

I’m happy to share that my ESL/EFL training organization, the TEFL Org (formerly known as TEFL Scotland) founded in 2008 by EFL teachers, Jennifer MacKenzie and Joe Hallwood, celebrated its 16th anniversary on October 9th!

TEFL Org has recently been awarded the label of a “B-Corp Certified business” for “meeting high standards of social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability” in business. TEFL Org has won numerous awards, including the “Queen’s Award” in 2022.

The company “has trained over 185,000 TEFL teachers [including me], who have entered the industry as confident and capable educators” (www.Tefl.org)

Here’s a birthday video about TEFL org:  Congratulations on 16 great years to Jennifer, Joe, Alan, Carl and the entire TEFL Org team!

There are always new businesses or events to promote and new people to thank.  But this is a “wrap” for mid-October!

++++++++

ABOUT US:

Between 2011 and December 2018, Elizabeth Shih Communications chronicled the stories of B2B marketing and communications on the Prairies and across the country.

Effective January 1, 2019, I rebranded as “Storytelling Communications.” I now help new and economic immigrants to secure  contracts or find better jobs by improving their language skills. And I also write and edit “legacy stories” of businesses in our community.

Interested in learning more? Please contact me through my CASL-compliant website (www.elizabethshih.com).

After I receive your message, I’ll be pleased to discuss projects with you!

Please visit my website for more information (www.storytellingcommunications.ca).

On “knowing our worth” with Jade Bonacolta

Head of North American Marketing for Google Cloud (for Media, Entertainment and Games), Jade Bonacolta, recently blogged on the importance of “knowing our worth.”

For those who repeatedly say “sorry” when no apology is due . . . she writes:  “Our words create a reality. The more we unnecessarily apologize, the less confidence we show (to ourselves and to others). And if we say ‘sorry’ every time we simply speak up on a work call or bump into a table, it actually dilutes the power of the word when we DO owe any apology.”

Bonacolta suggests these alternatives:

(1) “Sorry for rescheduling” —–> “Thanks for being flexible!”

(2) “Sorry to bother you” —–> “Thanks for carving out time.”

(3) “Sorry for venting” —–> “Thanks for listening.”

(4) ” Sorry for running late” (by 1-2 minutes) —–> “Thanks very much for waiting”

(5) “Sorry I had to take that call” —–>”Thanks for your patience.”

(6) “Sorry for jumping in” —–>”I have an idea that may help.”

(7) “Sorry for the mistake” —–>”Thanks for catching that!”

(8) “Sorry, I don’t get it” —–> “Could you repeat that? I just want to be clear.”

(9) “Sorry does that make sense?” —–>”I’m happy to answer any questions.”

Give these a try in your next entrepreneurial exchange and you may find everyone around the entrepreneurial table feels better respected and so better enabled to do great work.

And now it’s your turn: Do you apologize too easily? How will you integrate these alternatives into your work?

On teaching the English language: How can we open doors for Saskatchewan’s immigrants?

IT was one of those rare days when you wish you’d just stayed in bed . . . I had invested more than due diligence in writing a talk on workplace preparation that I was booked to deliver. But when the day finally arrived, everything seemed doomed to fail.

I arrived early at the venue where I was registered to speak on a panel, since the location (a historic church) was new to me. The organizer had given me a street address but no further details. I was aware that talks in this particular series recurred throughout the year, often without much organization. So I entered the door marked “public” (not the one marked “church”), intuiting that would be wisest: this was a weekday, secular presentation.

That was my first (and huge) mistake.

I found myself in a large and well-lit church hall with a rickety table and a few old metal chairs. No one was there. My watch now showed that the panel would start in 15 minutes. So I pushed further into the building to find the right room.

I tried all of the six doors available in the hall. All but one was locked. The only one that did open was a storage closet, stacked high with ramshackle furniture. In the same corner, I found one final door, marked in large and ominous black stencilling: “Danger: Do Not Enter.” The intensity of the sign (words and printing) made me stop and respect it.

(photo credit M. Nunzio)

Looking around desperately,  I heard only crickets!

I tried to call the organizer on my smartphone, thinking that he’d given me the wrong address or at least could redirect my search. But he was out-of-the-office, leaving only voicemail.

By now, some 20 minutes had passed and still no one had appeared. I felt chilled, as it was a blustery, early winter day and the large hall wasn’t well-heated.

The only human I saw took the form of a caretaker—a dour-looking, wizened, old man–who entered the hall by the same doors I had used, picked up one of the chairs and exited the same way. He seemed skittish.  When I shouted after him, the only response was the metal clank of the door closing behind him.

My anxiety had now risen to the point that I didn’t think to leave and instead try the “church” entrance. But, in an effort that some would have tried earlier, I tested the door marked “Danger.” I grabbed the handle, fearing the outcome. But to my surprise, the door gave way and I immediately felt a swoosh of warm air and heard the bustle of an administrative office.

“Do you need help?” inquired a middle-aged woman, who resembled a young Miss Marple. She seemed unaware that I’d just crossed a forbidden doorway. When I explained that I was trying to find a workplace preparation panel, her eyes widened and she pointed to a new room, saying: “Well, it’s just through there, dear. But you’re very late. They may soon be done!”

Exasperated, I rushed through the door and sure enough, the second speaker was well into her talk. Both she and the first panelist, neither of whom I’d met before, looked up and scowled. The first speaker whispered furiously to me: “We’re nearly done!” The audience of nearly 100 threw daggers with their eyes. My anxiety and anger started to morph into rage.

And then, in what seemed only a single breath, my turn came. I dropped everything except my notes and introduced myself, saying: “I’ve spent the last half-hour in an adjacent room, looking for you all and only found you moments ago—by crossing through a door marked as “Danger: Do Not Enter.”

Several in the audience gasped as I spoke and then nodded warmly back to me. Clearly I hadn’t been the first to “get lost” in this old and inhospitable space. But no one had changed the signage! I made a “throwaway” attempt at humour by saying I’d been trapped in a re-enactment of both the Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter.

Once my and others’ upset abated, my talk went very well.  A full discussion followed. I grew calm enough to engage and noticed a high number of visible minorities in the room, some of whom could have been newcomers to Canada, years before, as my late father once was. (But I did make a mental note to update the organizer and the church administration that better signage and directions were urgently needed!)

Looking back on that ill-fated afternoon, I remember feeling as though I was a lone survivor in some gothic  novel (or, as one of the speakers said, an episode of “Mr. Bean,” without the slapstick humour). The feeling that I was utterly alone in a strange and unwelcoming space was overwhelming.

That feeling must be like what newcomers endure when they first arrive in Canada—some without many (or any) contacts or context to help them. Even if they (and their papers) are prepared; even if they’re poised to start a business or take a job; they often get stuck in the preliminaries, sometimes finding no one to explain, much less, advise.

I felt some of the desperation newcomers describe, when they fear they’ll lose the right to stay in Canada, to build safe and productive lives for themselves and their families.

As an English-as-a-Second Language teacher (ESL), I’ve taught learners based all over the world, teaching them the language and cultural skills they need to unlock doors in inhospitable spaces.

And I encourage economic immigrants to keep trying to find the “right way” to build their lives in Canada. Sometimes, when every last option has been exhausted, they may have to take a risk by trying a door that forbids entry.

In the absence of support, wouldn’t the greater risk have been to return through the main door and go home, losing the opportunity to contribute?  Or to wait, passively (in limbo), in the first empty hall where I’d been, where no progress would ever come?

Thankfully, a gateway through such impasses and obstacles can be found through clear and comprehensible English language skills.

As I tell my students, cultural and entrepreneurial values matter. And my purpose as an ESL instructor is to share both of those, while I teach “bread and butter” grammar, syntax and pronunciation skills (i.e. listening, speaking, reading and writing). My goal is to explain as part of my teaching.  And then I refer them to legal and policy experts who can advise them on their immigration matters.

As the audience discussion that followed our wobbly panel that day, our communities benefit when  outsiders bring their knowledge and questions.

I’ve taught local newcomers whose lives improve, as their language skills do—even though the doors they first found were locked.

The better their English language skills, the stronger their resilience to push through misadventures and overcome barriers to success. At a time when career-oriented, economic immigration to Saskatchewan (and to Canada, overall) is declining, I can attest to the inspiring nature of the lives and skills these newcomers share . . . .

But for now, I must run.

I have some doors to unlock and a few misleading signs to paint over.

********

Are there economic immigrants in your circle who need to improve their English skills? Please let me know! I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Fed up with sugar addiction? Meet the Canadian entrepreneur who dissolves it, in this month’s issue of ‘Tell Your Story Newsletter’

September 2024 Vol 6 Issue 9

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):
Teaching English as a Second Language
Let us help you tell your story!

Welcome Mid-September, 2024!

Enduring record-breaking heat in much of Saskatchewan last weekend (September 6th to 8th), many Saskatchewanians gleefully restored our summer clothes and sandals to the fronts of our closets!

Along with a life-long friend and her family, I observed one of those “dog days of summer” at the annual Broadway Avenue Street Fair! The street’s shops and many artisans’ booths sold beautiful items of textiles, wood and jewellery that were particularly wonderful to behold.

But with the drop in temperatures that have followed, most of us feel that summer is now over.  The shortening of daylight hours is already appreciable. And yet, the start of a new program and school year has brought a spring to my step, even in these challenging economic and political times.

How are you living this new season, good reader?

One of the greatest joys of mid-September is that it marks the time for one of Saskatoon’s largest entrepreneurial gatherings, the annual Raj Manek Mentorship Program Banquet. This year–the program’s 28th–the business community returned to Prairieland Park, to hear an inspiring keynote conversation with Canadian entrepreneur, Tara Bosch, founder of “SmartSweets.”

Did you miss the banquet and want to catch up? Or is it new to you? Keep reading: this issue is for you!

In “Article One, I feature highlights from that inspiring interview with Tara Bosch, hosted by CTV journalist (and perennial emcee), Jeff Rogstad.

Then, in this month’s “Storytellers’ Corner,” I feature part three of a series on Latin terms to know and use! These “should” be used playfully in the classroom or boardroom, or else you may meet resistance (haha)!

And in “Shop News,” I acknowledge some of the wonderful industry of mentors, peers and clients in my network.

Local writer and woman leader, Linda McCann, recently blogged on “the promise of September”:

“It’s a time to reflect on the desires of our hearts and the longings of our souls, as we consider the months ahead . . . . September has always held a special promise, even in the most challenging times. It brings the anticipation of a harvest, the start of a new school year, reconnections with friends and fresh opportunities for learning. It’s also a time to walk in nature, savouring the changing colours, scents and sounds of this abundant season.”

Whether you’re criss-crossing the province, country or globe on business or personal ventures, or whether you’ve returned home after a summer (vacation) away, I wish each of you that awareness of September’s “promise” and “abundance.”

Whether savouring locally made pizzas and soups at Christie’s “Il Secondo”; a last mouthful of summer’s sweetness at Beppi’s Gelato; whether opening a new novel by a (perhaps local) favourite author . . . . or simply treading, with a beloved friend or pet, our leaf-strewn Meewasin Trail . . . may you live this new season with renewed energy, purpose and optimism, faithful readers.

As McCann reminds us, there will be both “challenges and gifts” in this new year, just dawning.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Shih
Principal
Storytelling Communications
www.elizabethshih.com

++++++++
IN THIS ISSUE:
→ARTICLE 1: “Fed up with sugar addiction? Meet the Canadian entrepreneur who dissolves it, in the 28th annual Raj Manek Mentorship keynote address”
→STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: Six more Latin terms that everyone “should” know (part three)

SHOP NEWS
ABOUT US

++++++++

Article One: “Fed up with sugar addiction? Meet the Canadian who dissolves it, in the 28th annual Raj Manek Mentorship keynote address”

The 28th Annual Raj Manek Memorial Banquet was held last Tuesday evening (September 10th) at Prairieland Park, featuring a keynote interview with Tara Bosch, the Vancouver-based Founder of “Smart Sweets.”

Influenced by an “unhealthy relationship with sugar” as a teenager and by kitchen-table wisdom from her grandmother, some 20 years ago, Bosch began to research the damaging and widespread health effects of sugar. She then founded the first confectionary company to address the need to vastly reduce sugar, creating a recipe for gummy bears (and others followed) that
were the world’s “first candy [to] kick sugar.”

And Bosch didn’t stop there. She has rapidly become a global leader in what she describes elsewhere as “pushing back on foods with excess sugar.”
Her vision is of consumers who can “live their best lives by giving them the choice to kick sugar.”

Bosch has also pioneered “Bold Beginnings,” an entrepreneurial accelerator that brings “six to eight women entrepreneurs from all corners of North America to Vancouver,” to compete for a $100K investment in their startup.

Through what she describes as an arduous journey, Bosch has found much success! She was named Ernst and Young (EY)’s Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2019), one of both “Inc” and Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30,” and has received numerous other awards from the likes of “Entrepreneur magazine,” “Business Insider,” The Bank of Montreal (BMO), and
“SmartSweets” distributor, Whole Foods.

Only four years after launching “SmartSweets” from her basement, Bosch sold it for $360M, with herself as majority owner!

So, I highlight here some of Bosch’s testimony and journey to make “smarter candy” to “better her community and herself”:

• Bosch’s business started with her wish to end “the silent epidemic of sugar in our country’s candy aisles.” As a child, she said: “candy was my thing. It brought joy and love until my teenage years, when excess sugar made me feel bad about myself and my body image.”

•She was spurred on to change that “unhealthy relationship to sugar” when her “Oma” (her grandmother and childhood best friend) told Bosch how much she regretted having consumed “too much sugar” in her lifetime.

• At the same time, Bosch consciously chose a niche with the most “radical value”—weight watchers who needed low-sugar treats. She simultaneously worked to make”SmartSweets” high in fibre, to add to its nutritional value.

• Bosch laments that food manufacturers target consumers’ “bliss points” – the combination of sugar, salt and fat that addicts children through their tastebuds. Virtually every food product in the supermarket intentionally contains (unhealthy) sugar —and Bosch knows that change is an uphill battle.

• She says she “wanted to create a community around sugarless eating,” and she has succeeded.

• Bosch says she “leveraged scrappiness of what was available to [her],” reading food science journals, accessing knowledge online and by “cold contacting people on LinkedIn,” many of whom were willing to share 10 minutes of their time, when she was honest and clear about her motives.

•She didn’t hesitate to enlist colleagues in the same business accelerator she was in, tech start-up people, as her candy taste-testers.

• Bosch advocates for “being honest about yourself, knowing both your strengths and your weaknesses.” She advises us to use experts to support you in those weak areas, as she assembled “a team of people who were smarter than I was.” Similarly, she brought on a COO as a “people leader,” who had run Starbucks and Lululemon, and who fostered a woman-focused culture to sustain the business. That kept the challenges of sustaining
growth from “draining [Bosch’s] cup.”

• Bosch acknowledges that start-up life saw her oscillate “between a pit of despair one day,” to a high, like” serendipity,” the next.

• To try to level out those extremes and to stay motivated, Bosch used (and recommends to entrepreneurs) a spreadsheet to track each day’s successes, whether big or small (“micromoments”). These moments can create “mind fuel” by keeping you aware of even incremental progress. For instance, if someone on her contact roster simply opened an email from her, she’d record it as a “win.”

• “All challenges are opportunities in disguise,” Bosch says. Some days involve “climbing a high mountain, but something magical lies just around the corner.”

• Bosch says in her work now, she “normalizes self-doubt, imposter syndrome and insecurities that all entrepreneurs face,” especially women. Therefore, she maintains gender parity on her board and keeps the executive team at “SmartSweets” 85% female. A further 80% of the company’s employees are female. Bosch says that shared and conscious vulnerability can become a form of strength.

“Think BIG” and let that goal subvert your fears and doubts of how you’ll get there. She said that mastering your fears allows you to tap into limitless potential.

• Remember, though, that “money is not a ‘why’ deep enough to take you through all the tough days.”

• So, don’t keep family at bay: Bosch has since added a three-year old daughter to her family, as well as several dogs and cats, all who remind her of the importance of being compassionate, kind and of seeking “lightness,” or happiness, whatever the challenges of entrepreneurship bring.

• Following the example of her COO (Cindy), Bosch urges us to respect the lives and schedules of mentors, collaborators, colleagues and staff, by being and keeping on time when in meetings and at events.

• Bosch also urges entrepreneurs to leverage government programs (e.g. debt protection and fundraising) that we’re blessed to have available to us, in Canada. (“SmartSweets” manufacturing headquarters remains in Vancouver).

• Bosch sold “SmartSweets” in 2020 for $360M at the age of only 29 but continues as its founder.

• After Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point, Bosch says: “It only takes 1000people to start a movement.” This is what she led “SmartSweets” to create.

• Since then, she has launched a business incubator called “Bold Beginnings” in North America, which offers a $100K award to help women entrepreneurs learn “they are infinitely capable”: she urges women to apply at  BoldBeginnings.com

• Bosch says that when crises arose (such as losing her manufacturer, 20+ years ago), she finally “gave up the problems to a larger force than [herself]” and remained “thankful to have the opportunities [she’d] had.”

• It’s hard not to wonder and imagine what future ventures lie ahead for this plucky, resilient and inspirational entrepreneur.

• Bosch’s creativity in devising methods to keep her mind and spirit strong through the most harrowing of entrepreneurial days is remarkable—and commendable! Even the names she’s given to her pet cats and dogs come from TV and movies, reflecting some of her irreverent spirit. (In the long-distance interview with Rogstad, Bosch’s cat Tarzan briefly stole the show.)

• So, if you’re a reader of business success stories, be sure to add Tara Bosch of “SmartSweets” to your list! Her own “lightness” illumined the evening of the 28th Raj Manek Memorial Banquet for hours (and over the social media that followed, too).

• As a leader, Bosch has said that she “is wildly passionate about empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs,” believing that “their big impact vision are needed more than ever before in the world.”

And now it’s your turn:
To join in the work and successes of the Raj Manek Foundation, please consider this your invitation! Visit www.manekmentorship.com for more details on monthly seminars and annual networking events.

++++++++

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER . . . .

 

 

 

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: Six Latin terms that everyone “should” know
(part three)

The online editing website, Grammarcheck.net, recently published a list of 60 Latin terms that “everyone should know.” The latter claim may be a tall order, given that most writers and editors younger than 45 have not found Latin offered in Saskatchewan’s primary or secondary schools (although that changes at the university level).

But setting aside the perennial debate of whether Latin should still be taught to children, I suggest that numerous Latin terms are (or can become) recognizable, even to non-specialists.

And using such terms can create subtlety in our spoken and written word–and, maybe some fun, too?

This month, here are six more terms to recognize and enjoy:

(13) Curriculum vitae (C.V.) –“A formal resume.” (e.g. “Please submit your curriculum vitae for the HR Manager’s position.”)

(14) De facto—“In fact.” (e.g. “The neighbourhood is de facto segregated.”)

(15) De jure – “By law.” (e.g. “In some countries, women are granted de jure equality with men, but the day-to-day experience is much different.”)

(16) De novo – “From scratch.” (e.g. “The judge ordered a trial de novo after the first trial.”)

(17) E pluribus unum – “Out of many, one.” (e.g. “The US motto, E pluribus unum, reflects the country’s diverse makeup.”

(18) Ergo – “ Therefore.” (e.g. “He is a hard worker; ergo, he will succeed.”)

Do you have any favourite Latin terms or stories of people using them?
Please write in; I’d be delighted to hear from you.

++++++++

SHOP NEWS:

Following the introduction and “Article One” of this issue, you won’t be surprised that at the top of this month’s entrepreneurial news is my thanks to the organizers, mentors and proteges of the Raj Manek Mentorship Program (RMMP), for their dedication to personal and professional growth, across our province.

The Raj Manek Foundation and Mentorship program is based on a wonderful immigrant’s, and immigrant family’s, success story: the late Raj Manek Sr. settled his family in Saskatchewan, following globe-crossing ventures from his birthplace in Kenya, to the UK, later, Inuvik, the Northwest Territories, and finally, Saskatoon.

Special thanks go out again, to the Manek family, Kanchan, Raj Jr., Sona and Kinjal Manek for tirelessly preparing and launching another year’s remarkable networking banquet.

And the dedication of many mentors for another year ignited or rekindled connections, in a collegial, encouraging and generous environment.
+++++

My professional, personal and long-term thank you goes (of course) to Monica Kreuger, Founder and Chief Visionary Officer, of the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship. As my long-time mentor and advisor (some 10 years!) through the RMMP, Monica has shared with me dozens of mentorly conversations and discussions, which have broadened my outlook and helped me to foster resilience.

The Praxis School of Entrepreneurship, where I taught business communications (2017-2020), and trained as a startSMART participant (2018-19), is undergoing invigorating change in its training opportunities for entrepreneurs, across all sectors, through a new, online network.
So December will mark the start of the final cohort of Praxis’ 30+ year, “startSMART” program, whose facilitation and content will be transformed in new dimensions and offerings. Stay tuned to learn more about this transformation!

So if you (or someone you know) has a business idea they have long pondered, wait no longer! Contact startSMART program administrator, Elaine Mantyka, at (306) 664-0500, so you can begin planning your business before the program and the year 2024 close!
+++++
On the networking front, I’ve enjoyed talking with “Table 35,” a group of women entrepreneurs named after the table where we met at last spring’s gala of Women Entrepreneurs of SK (WESK). We took a summer break, but plan to reconvene for camaraderie and conversation shortly.
Many thanks to fellow entrepreneurs, Suzanne Anton, Keshia Gamola and Sandra Miller, for participating in the early summer. It was great to see Sandra at the Raj Manek Banquet last Tuesday night!

+++++
Special thanks go to my French ESL student, Eliane, who lives south of Paris, for recently graduating from my language classes, after sharing nearly two years of spirited English language conversations, over italki.com.

Eliane and I have discussed the Arts, including opera, classical and popular music, literature, film and television, and shared life experiences working and travelling in our different corners of the world. I will miss our weekly discussions a good deal and wish her all the best.
+++++
Thanks also go out to both my IT consultant, Jordon, and to my bookkeeper, Heather, for assisting me so fully in recovering many records, after an equipment failure in late August.

Both have been attentive to detail and highly skilled in showing me the needed changes, for which I am grateful.
+++++
Thanks to my editing client, Greg Gilroy, retired Saskatoon Transit driver, for hiring me to edit his memoir–a legacy document that collects stories from Greg’s 32+ years as a bus driver, in an ever-changing (and challenging) environment.

I’m grateful to Greg for staying open to the “edits” I’ve made on a book whose publication will be his long-term “dream.”

+++++

Thank you to my valued colleagues Ashleigh Mattern and Lenore Swystun, whom I’ll join in conversation this winter about “Communication in an Age of AI.” We’ll meet, along with co-host Christina Cherneskey, on local CFCR radio’s “Civically Speaking.”

We’ll discuss ways that AI is affecting our businesses (especially language learning) and I look forward to the discussion!
+++++
And on the topic of AI and training, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also thank Montreal-based, English copywriter and coach, Nick Usborne, for his monthly Facebook events, where former students of his “Futureproof Copywriting” course (me included) discuss the nature and applications of AI.

Nick is generous and thoughtful and I appreciate his encouragement as we strive to be “Humans in the loop.” He recently said that “AI is not a Frankenstein,” and that the best way to avoid such an outcome is by curating and setting limits on what we do with it and how.

++++++++
And a final “thank you” goes to American sales and marketing coach, Jennifer Darling, who shared her “Storytelling for AI” workshop with me and other communicators, last week.

Darling’s model for turning personal experiences into scintillating marketing material is not totally new to me but is powerful and will transform some of my blogging and newsletter-ing work.
++++++++
There are always new entrepreneurs to promote and new people to thank for their interest and support. Please share your stories and acknowledgements with me, for future issues.

But for now, this is a wrap for mid-September!

++++++++

ABOUT US:
Between 2011 and December 2018, Elizabeth Shih Communications chronicled the stories of B2B marketing and communications on the Prairies and across the country.

Effective January 1, 2019, I rebranded as “Storytelling Communications.” I help new and economic immigrants to get better jobs or secure better contracts by improving their English skills. And I also help individuals and companies to tell their legacy stories.

Interested in learning more? Please contact me through my CASL-compliant
website (www.elizabethshih.com).

After I receive your message, I’ll be pleased to discuss projects with you!
Please visit my website for more information (www.storytellingcommunications.ca).

Language teachers, academics, copywriters (and others) take note: Artificial Intelligence need not be our “Frankenstein”

Cal Newport is a computer scientist whose books and interviews are great for cutting through the “noise” about digital tech in our lives.

In this age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), he doesn’t believe that language instructors, academics and copywriters, web designers (amongst others) will become categorically redundant, although AI is already changing the nature of our work.

AI  will be similar to the dawn of the internet (some liken AI to the discovery of electricity)– It need not become our “Frankenstein.”

Here’s a helpful interview Newport gave last June, on the bigger picture of where AI is today and where it’s going.