Marissa is the Pink Work Boot Lady in her footwear circles and known in the business world as a woman with moxie. The meaning of “moxie” is the ability to face fear with spirit and courage. Moxietrades leads with a photo of her in a tutu with the headlines “I am a Mom, I am a Wife, I am Brilliant, I am Strong, I can Build S#!T!” She is the founder and President of Moxie Trades Ltd.; a company that is a threat in the safety footwear industry. The company’s first product was the Iconic Pink Work Boot. Today, Moxie Trades offers a complete line of safety footwear, apparel and hardware accessories made exclusively for women and distributed throughout North America. Her mantra is “Dream Big, Think the Impossible, Love Passionately and Give Generously.” With the birth of her kids, Carter and Frankie (Francesca) she decided to pursue her mantra and ditched her high heels in her corporate job for work boots in the trades’ industry. She returned to school to study the skilled trades. As part of the program, certified safety gear like work boots were required; yet searching high and low she could not find anything that was remotely comfortable or fashionable. On the first day of the program, all twenty two women bought men’s work boots. This marked Marissa’s “aha moment.” Her entrepreneurial instincts kicked into high gear and she made it her personal mission to fill this gap in the market, not a niche as she will clearly argue. In 2008, Marissa pitched her business on the CBC’s, Dragons’ Den and partnered with oil and gas tycoon, investment banker and philanthropist; W. Brett Wilson. Marissa has appeared on several national and regional outlets including; Cityline, Steven and Chris, CBC’s Made in Canada, CBC’s Sunday Night News, CTV Edmonton and CTV Calgary, SHAW Calgary, Breakfast Television Toronto, BT Edmonton and BT Calgary. Marissa has been featured in numerous publications including Style at Home, Canadian Living, Builder’s Architect, Mompreneur, Toronto Sun, Toronto Star, Globe & Mail and the National Post. Marissa started to align with Habitat for Humanity, became one of the Women’s Build ambassadors and has donated over $25,000 in fundraising and product donations. Additionally, she has sent a truckload of boxes full of clothing, work boots, blankets and kids shoes to Haiti. Her family sponsors children with World Vision. In her local community, she sits on a steering committee designed to boast the economy in her town and is an active committee member with the Whitby Chamber of Commerce. Marissa is a mentor to women in business and in the skilled trades. She is a regular speaker at local and national events across Canada. Marissa has found her moxie and she wants everyone to find their moxie too, she’ll dare them.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 22:01:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015