Season 1; Episode 16: Events, Emails, and Entrepreneurship

Meet Jade, an event coordinator, business owner, and community champion. In this episode, Jade and I discuss how she became the owner of a hotel and events venue, her business planning events for non-profits, the values of volunteering in your community, getting tested for ADHD, and being one of the youngest Rotarians in Chilliwack.

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Jade and I met a few years ago when I was the Editor-in-Chief at The Cascade and booked a booth at Jam in Jubilee, an Abbotsford Arts Council festival she was hired to organize. Jam in Jubilee is a quintessential community event in Abbotsford; every Thursday night in July the community gathers in Jubilee Park to listen to up-and-coming Fraser Valley artists. Surrounding the park are booths with food vendors, and local businesses and non-profits. I was just wrapping up my position at The Cascade and wanted to get our name back out in the community after our COVID hiatus, so tabling at Jam in Jubilee was the obvious solution. While booking this table, I met Jade, a force of energy and a deep well of passion for her Fraser Valley community.

When I started my job as program coordinator for a climate change action program, a big part of my job included networking with other climate action groups in the Fraser Valley, which led me to join a few meetings of the Chilliwack Rotary Climate Action Committee. To my surprise, Jade was on this Committee as well, as a Rotarian and eager climate activist. Throughout my program coordinator job, I ran into Jade as I tabled events at community events that she helped organize, like the Chilliwack Climate Fair and the next Jam in Jubilee.

Jade has a fascinating career journey, so I was so excited when she agreed to be on this podcast to take me step by step through how she went from organizing events at a hotel in Richmond to opening her own event planning business to now owning her own hotel and event venue in downtown Chilliwack.

In this episode, we talk about:

Her involvement in the Chilliwack Arts Council and the Chilliwack Mural Festival
Her connection to District 1881 and how she met the Algra Bros
How she ended up owning an events venue and hotel in downtown Chilliwack
Counting the cost of owning a small business and how to secure start-up costs, all while dealing with student loan and credit card debt
Why banks don’t give loans to first-time business owners
The importance of finding a niche market in a community when starting a business
What is her day-to-day life of owning and running an events space
The highs and lows of going into business with her husband
Starting her own sole proprietorship events planning business specializing in organizing events for non-profits, like Jam in Jubilee, Mill Lake Music, the Abbotsford Arts Council’s Arty Awards, Archway’s Cultural Diversity Awards, and Tourism Abbotsford’s Taste of Abby
How Jade got started as an event’s planner by accident
Attending hospitality and events planning school and her role planning events for a hotel in Richmond
The values of volunteering and networking
Her passion for the environment and sustainability and her involvement with Globe Forum
Incorporating sustainability into events planning
How COVID de-railed some of her plans and how she expertly pivoted in her business
The scoop on the only job she’s ever gotten fired from
Trying to juggle multiple passions at once
Being on the Chilliwack Pride Society board and helping planthe Chilliwack Pride Festival
The book that turned her life around, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Psychedelics and mental health
Getting tested for ADHD and how to get diagnosed as an adult
Her self-care strategies
How to build strong community connections
Being the youngest Rotarian in Chilliwack

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