By Simone Smith
“As a 2-time immigrant and refugee who came from nothing, I now live rich in support in all areas of my life. Entrepreneurship can do that and more. “
Anna Sinclair Founder & CEO -Total Mom Inc.
I have to admit this right off the jump; I think that this is the first time that we have ever featured a Woman Empowered who is not Caribbean but trust me when I say we have a great reason for that.
There is no denying the fact that women of color face challenges that other races will never be able to identify with, but let’s be real; hardships and struggles in life can be real for everyone, even if you are not a person of color. What is important is to not let struggles determine who you are, and the young woman who I am going to introduce to the readers today demonstrates that having a growth mind-set, focusing on your strengths, and practicing self-compassion can lift you out of any position that you are in.
Ultimately, she has chosen not to allow struggles to determine her; instead, she took ownership of her life and chose to create a positive and fulfilling future for herself and her family despite the many challenges that she faced.
Her work has been featured in: Forbes, Entrepreneur, National Post, BlogTO, Bloomberg, Ottawa Business Journal, Notable Life, and Woman of Influence. She has been interviewed on CTV News, Global News, and CityTV.
Anna Sinclair is an award-winning entrepreneur, early-stage investor, and CEO of Total Mom Inc. She produced Canada’s first and largest holistic festival for moms called “The Total Mom Show” in partnership with some of North America’s largest brands after seeing a lack of support available for moms outside of shopping experiences and meetups.
Recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, top 50 influential women leaders, and Women of Influence, Anna has been featured in Forbes both as a contributor and Business Council member.
Her experience working with over 350+ brands give her the knowledge and experience to touch any aspect of a project from top to bottom. She secured over three million in sponsorship dollars to date through her firm Sinclair Creative Agency Inc. where she advises both individuals and consumer lifestyle brands on branding and business strategy, content marketing, and asset development.
Her focus, mothers: the stay-at-home moms, the single moms, the working moms, and all mothers. Parenting is by far the hardest job in the world, yet many mothers in the African Canadian community are doing this, and sometimes all on their own. Her mission is to help women, especially mothers, successfully start and grow a profitable and sustainable business through the power of community and social equity (your network).
“How do we get mothers back on top,” Anna asked me? “There is a dark reality to motherhood: mental health challenges, sleep deprivation, career instability, hormone changes; there is just so much that we are not told about motherhood. I have a partner, but I can only imagine how difficult it must be having to do it on your own. This is why the work we do at Total Mom Inc. is a necessity.”
Anna was born in the Ukraine, and she is a first generation Canadian, raised in Israel. She lived in Israel during the war, and she will be the first to tell you life was difficult.
“I remember starting school and hearing some of the things that kids in Canada took for granted. I would say to myself, ‘What are these children complaining about?’ They had everything, and there were times that I had nothing. In my mind, the world was not safe; that is how I saw my world. At one point I didn’t have a bedroom, all I had was a little cupboard, and I was proud of the little cupboard.”
Early life for Anna was challenging; her dad and mom brought them to Canada and from the jump, things were not easy. Anna shares with me that they had to stay in the airport for two weeks.
“My brother had to have emergency surgery; this was why we had to move to Canada. I went into high school trying to figure it out. I was struggling to find my identity, but one thing I knew is that I wanted to help people, really inspire people.
One thing that I knew for sure was that I wanted to be a singer, but that seemed unrealistic. My dream was to become a pop singer, but there are no programs for that. I went into the world of psychology. I lived in Brantford at the time, and then I began to focus on my music career.
I kept at it and finally someone noticed my fire; they saw the dedication, and persistence in me. Just like that things started to roll. All of a sudden, I was at Disney, I sold out the Hard Rock Café, everything was going for me, I was ready to take my career to the next level.”
Then Anna found out that she was pregnant.
“This was not a great thing for my career. If a pop singer gets pregnant, you are pretty much done, or so they say. I took a step away from the industry and decided to focus on my family.
A change came when I went to a baby show, and when I got back home; I dumped all the things on the floor. Right there and then I had an introspection moment; all this stuff was for the baby, but what about the mom? It got real very quickly.
I remember trying to sneak out for 30 minutes and how difficult that was. I had to do something for moms, something outside the surface level stuff that you see.
Where are the things that help mom’s get the help they need? I went on a mission to spin off the baby show, and that is how the Total Mom Show came to be. When moms went to this two-day event, it was all about them.”
“It started as a holistic festival, and we had to take this on a national level. The Total Mom Show is now Canada’s Premier multi-city festival just for moms. It is an immersive event experience designed for parents who want to take their well-being and career goals off the back burner.”
“We started to see mom entrepreneurs come out and start speaking out about their wants and needs. I wanted to help moms realize their dreams. A lot of my success comes from believing you will make it; things will happen for you. There are so many ‘What if’s,’ but you have to push past that. You are that person behind what you want to do.”
Total Mom Inc. is also finding ways to ensure that outside the two-day event, parents are getting the help they need to become successful entrepreneurs. They have introduced the Total Mom Pitch specifically designed to work for busy moms.
“It is a chance for you to commit to yourself and to your business. When you submit your application, you are getting clear on where you came from and where you are going. It’s a fantastic opportunity to get clarity and refresh your business story so you can use this info for more grants and other applications!
Winner or not, this is the place to be if you are a busy mom who is serious about growing her business. We are at the heart of the small business communities across Canada serving busy parents and women-led businesses. We are making growing your business just a bit easier so you can truly focus on what fuels your fire.”
The judges are business leaders from corporations large and small. The insights they provide you are invaluable. The judges are here to help you see the cracks in your business and help you succeed! The $50,000 grand prize will provide more
than a helping hand to take your business to the next level. It includes a $10,000 cash and $40,000 value in business products, services, and consulting.
“Empowered women are powerful women. Find women in your life on a mission to make the world a better place and support you to do the same.”
