With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1501233
BOTTOM: SINCERELY CELIA STUDIO 44 BCBUSINESS.CA JULY/AUGUST 2023 3 3 UNDER D I A M O N D I S I N G E R AGE: 29 Director of advocacy, Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada LIFE STORY: She hasn't cracked 30 years of age, but already Diamond Isinger has a CV that would make many practised pols blush. In the early years of the Trudeau administration, Isinger served as special assistant to then-International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, followed by a couple years in the Prime Minister's Office as special assistant on Canada- U.S. relations. Since returning to Van- couver in 2018, Isinger has held a slew of key public affairs roles—working for the BC Council of Forest Industries, the Trial Lawyers Association of BC and, since last year, Co-operatives and Mutuals Canada ( CMC), which supports the policy priorities of 7,000 small, medium and large co-operatives and mutuals across Canada. As CMC's director of advocacy, Isinger says her primary role is convening experts and highlighting best practices to co- ops—as well as creating awareness amongst policymakers as to what co-operatives do. Her time in Ottawa undeniably helps. "I help cut through the bureaucracy, identifying issues where they may be having public policy challenges—such as financing, regulatory issues or dealing with different federal departments—to understand where they can best access support," she explains. Be it politics or public affairs, Isinger says that a commitment to community is the throughline in her career: "Being raised by a single parent in North Burnaby, we were very involved in our community—and we relied on those people supporting us as well." She extends that sense of duty to her work with the Girl Guides of Canada, where she serves as B.C. chair. BOTTOM LINE : Isinger is shy to point to specific metrics of her advocacy success, but notes that she's helped many co-ops and mutuals find funding for federal programs. In one example, Isinger notes that CMC was able to open up $400 million of funding for community services organizations, which previously hadn't been available to co-ops. –M.O. C A S S I D Y W A T T AGE: 25 Founder, Cassidy Watt Artistry Collective LIFE STORY: Cassidy Watt always wanted to work in hair and makeup, but she didn't think it would be a real job for a long time. "As a teenager, I'd always say I wanted to do makeup for people and I'd get laughed at," she says. "Like, Oh, you can do that for fun, but what's going to be your real job?" Watt, who grew up on a farm just outside of Kamloops, went to university for a couple of years before deciding to try and pursue a career in makeup. "My family wasn't happy," she recalls. "Every- one was like, You're crazy, that's never going to work. I just always knew that being an entrepreneur was for me." She got a job at makeup giant MAC Cosmetics as a manager and started taking on a few weddings and clients on her own. In 2019, she officially launched Cassidy Watt Art- istry Collective. It started small, with just Watt handling all the emails and social media and growing her business mostly through word of mouth. One of her first jobs was with a designer who went on to be featured in Vogue. Watt did the hair and makeup for that shoot. "There was a lot of networking and a lot of focus on social media," she says. As she expanded, there was "some pushback. People said they just wanted Cassidy. But now I've been able to make sure my brand is over- arching. They'll say, Okay, I can't have Cassidy, but I can have Cam, she's trained her, I've seen her on the social media. Then they'll book with us." BOTTOM LINE : Today, Watt has a team of around 20 that does weddings, graduations, events and photoshoots. The company has also branched into education—the first edition of its training academy gradu- ated 18 students earlier this year. The academy is in the middle of its second intake and Watt is on the lookout for a new space. "We're burst- ing at the seams," she says. –N.C.