BCBusiness

SOCIAL CUES LICENCED TO GRILL Tickets for the all-you-can-eat, all-you- can-drink food fest Brewery and the Beast (hitting Victoria September 22) aren't cheap, but Instagram giveaways are a win-win for the brand and its followers by Alyssa Hirose Graphic Content If you don't have a beautiful hi-res photo to share on social, an eye-catching graphic design will do just fine—this snappy ticket-themed giveaway yielded plenty of comments, no camera required. 370 likes 1,462 comments Meat Cute Partnering with a creator (in this case, Vancouver-based Laura Ullock) helped amplify this giveaway and boost both accounts—participants needed to follow both Ullock and Brewery and the Beast to enter. 4.9k comments 305k views Slurp and Turf Biz-to-biz collaborations help strengthen professional relationships while they introduce your brand to a new audience. A deal between BATB and just- launched non-alcoholic drink brand Say It Ain't Soda had IG users buzzing. 1.2k comments 8.9k views 58 B C B U S I N E S S . C A S E P T E M B E R 2 0 24 After graduating from UVic with a bachelor's degree in applied sciences, Chiang ran two successful flower busi- nesses: Blooming Buds in Coquitlam and Port Moody Flowers. She also co-founded two nonprofits: Shop Local Port Moody, which supports inde- pendent businesses, and Asian Impact Society, which spreads awareness about racial injustice. By the time the opportunity to take over Woods arose in 2023, she had sold her flower businesses and graduated from SFU with an executive MBA. "It's serendipitous because when I [first] walked into that space... something happened. I just fell in love," she remembers with a smile. "And then, all of a sudden, it's for sale a few months later. I felt like I needed to leap at that chance." The company's vacuum- distilling process keeps tempera- tures low and extracts "fresh and clean" flavours from botanicals like grapefruit, orange and warm wood, says Chiang. Everything about the business appealed to her: the space, the drinks, even the name. "I live in Anmore— [people call it] 'village in the forest.' And I very, very much resonate with that," she notes. Combine that love with her readiness to prove people wrong, and it's no surprise that Everest was on Chiang's bucket list. Hard as it was, she's glad she did it, and she feels especial- ly proud to have surpassed her own expectations on the trek. "On that last day, we had already hiked to the base camp, but for some crazy reason, our guide was like, 'Tomorrow, at five o'clock in the morning, we're going to go to the highest peak and you're going to over- look base camp.'" "So we got up at five. We get outside, and I want to just run back inside my sleeping bag... it was so cold," she recalls. "Halfway up, one of the young women that we had met was hobbling back down with her guide in tears." At the top, Chiang was elated—and exhausted. "I was so excited and happy, but I had no energy to show it. I couldn't even breathe," she says. "The joy was something that I couldn't explain and the view was phenome nal. And the peak of Everest, it felt like it was right there." Now, when she thinks about the hike, Chiang realizes how much of it is applicable to busi- ness. To get through something difficult, "you need a lot of grit," she says. "A lot of the time you need to just shut your mind off and keep chugging along. Even though it's those tiny little shuffles, those tiny little baby steps, if you're moving forward, you will get to where you want to be—especially when you know your end goal." To p l e f t : A d a m B l a s b e r g

• Cover