Margaret McEachern emphasizes the importance of keeping art programs in schools, youth entrepreneurship, and building Canada into a creative nation.
“It’s really important to learn those [art and design] skills. In addition to that, add into a school curriculum, classes on establishing and running a business. We can’t, as a country, rely on big business to provide us our jobs. It doesn’t happen anymore.”
McEachern is a crafty ‘artrepreneur’ who has been knitting and weaving luxurious merino wool sweaters and accessories from her retail store, Knit Pickers on Canada’s far east coast. This passionate entrepreneur has also been commissioned by the Canadian Pavilion at Walt Disney World’s Epcot Centre to design and knit a line of maple leaf sweaters and accessories and has served on numerous boards and committees, including the PEI Cultural Sector Council as Vice-Chair, and on the Marketing Committee of the Central Coastal Tourism Partnership.
In this week’s #StartupPodcast, Rivers and McEachern dive deep into the world of retail, as Margaret talks about starting up a brick-and-mortar location, the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship on Canada’s east coast, and finding and securing working partnerships that provide the necessary building blocks to expand an already successful business.
The Startup Canada Podcast Show is a production of Startup Canada, a grassroots, entrepreneur-led movement to bring together, celebrate, and give a voice to Canada’s entrepreneurship community. On the podcast, award-winning entrepreneur host Rivers Corbett speaks with the movers and shakers of Canada’s entrepreneurship community to give a glimpse into the future of business, and share insights on everything from social innovation to the future of work, investing, and why we need to think bigger to take our businesses global. Join Rivers Corbett for new episodes every Tuesday airing at 10 AM ET for lessons, trends, and opportunities in entrepreneurship from Vancouver to Fredericton; and Israel to Peru.
You can find every episode of The Startup Canada Podcast Show at www.startupcan.ca/podcasts/.