Flavia
Your story is quite powerful.
You live in Canada, in Toronto, Canada,
but you were born and raised in Albania.
You had a beautiful life
growing up with your
parents until the war started.
Can you take us back to your
young memories of what it
was like to growing up as a
child in Albania?
Yeah, absolutely.
It's kind of funny that
we're talking about this
today because I woke up
this morning and as I have the
paid version of chat gpt and
I asked that I'm like I
always have dreams where
I'm always running away
because I'm being like
threatened but it's always
in my childhood home and
then I like went into the
war like explained that it
was the war and it was like
like kind of analyzing my
dreams that it's you know
it's trauma that's been yet
resolved which is weird
because as you said like my
I felt like growing up I
had like this simple
beautiful life which was
It was filled with depth,
but not with material depth,
if that makes sense.
We had very little.
It's post-communism when I
was born in 1992.
Albania is very chaotic at this time.
Nothing is really structured.
So five years later,
that's when the war started
due to a Ponzi scheme.
And then a year after that,
there was the genocide in Kosovo.
So for me, all of these instances,
although at the time never
felt impactful because it
was just like I was a child,
I wasn't really aware of
what was going on.
As an adult, I think I'm realizing that
the impact that they had on
me that I never realized as a child.
So as a child,
were you aware that you were
living and growing in the
middle of the war?
Or that's something that
wasn't clear to you when
your parents protected you?
Honestly, I don't remember.
Like,
all I knew is that if we heard there was,
like, the...
there was a certain amount
like a criminal group that
went in each city.
So different cities had
different criminal group.
The group that was in our city,
they had a motorcycle and
it made this very specific B sound like,
you know,
and because I live in a very small city,
I could hear them from the
other side of town.
So
if they were coming in
because I lived beside the
police station and they
would always drive into the
police station to grab arms
because the cops had just
left the police station and
you know there was a lot of
arms there um we would just
know that we'd have to go
inside and I'd have to go
to the washroom because the
washroom had a cement uh
roof while um the rest of
the house had like I don't
know if it's called shekels
but like you know the
little things like this um
so it was just like normal
like oh like we're playing
outside in the backyard
we hear the noise we go to
the washroom and we run and
hide like it was never like
I never really processed
what was happening it was
just like okay gotta go
inside I hear the noise um
but it was definitely we we
ended up moving from the
house um when I almost
actually died because the
they were when they would
come um to get arms from
the station they would kind
of drive down the
the road and just shoot up
in the air because that was
a way for them to create
terror in the community um
but sometimes you know the
bullets would just go everywhere so
This time around,
the bullet came into my
home and I wasn't in the washroom.
So it came through the
rooftop and it hit exactly
where I was sitting.
But at that moment, that exact moment,
my grandma had called and I picked,
I got up to pick up the
phone and the bullet hit exactly.
So it would have hit me right in the head.
So that evening,
my uncle came and we like
took the bicycle and we let,
like we drove, not drove,
what's that called?
Road?
Right.
through the olive fields in
the middle of the night to
like get away from my house.
So that's, that's the dreams.
Those are the dreams I always have.
I'm like running away in the
olive fields from like.
But I, like consciously it, I,
I don't feel that affected me.
It's really weird.
Okay.
Yeah,
definitely some trauma to uncover there.
For every person, I would say,
and I am grateful that this
is not something I have experienced,
but for every person going
through such traumatizing experience,
either
being aware of it or not,
your subconscious
ultimately know something
and remember something.
Right.
And so, yeah, I just, I mean, I've,
I have been in therapy for six years,
so I we've dealt a lot with my childhood.
Cause obviously there's a lot to uncover,
but I do wonder if there
was something that happened
that I can't remember, you know,
or like that I found out.
that it's still coming
because it's a reoccurring
feeling and a reoccurring dream.
I'm almost in my childhood at home.
There is definitely
something that I have to uncover there.
And then your parents
decided to move to Canada,
definitely a better place
to raise a child.
So do you have any memories
of you moving to Canada?
And how was your early years in Canada?
it was really difficult um
I'm an only child so when
we moved here my parent
both my parents engineers
had to start working in
factories um and not
factories that were you
know in their profession it
was just like a logistics company and um
a company that made tissues
so they were working
12-hour shifts trying to
make ends meet um we grew
uh I grew up at weston and
lawrence which is a
predominantly immigrant
neighborhood um definitely
not super safe all the time um but
Yeah,
it was difficult because I was alone
a lot, like back home in Albania,
even though we didn't have much.
I had my family and I had my friends.
So at least I felt like I had a lot.
When we moved to Canada,
I was alone a lot.
So I had to start using my
imagination to keep me busy.
And that's when I started
writing and really getting
into arts and creativity
because I like had nothing better to do.
Oh, you know,
I can relate to that feeling
because I was raised by a
single mom and she was
working 12-hour shift as well.
So I was alone a lot, you know.
I was eating lunch alone, dinner alone,
and then I would wait in
the evening for my mom to come back.
And so even though I didn't
develop my creative side or
my artistic sides as such,
where I found comfort is in dancing.
So I used to dance a lot and
then I wanted to become a
professional dancer,
but this is another life
and this is another story.
You know, I can relate to your story,
you know,
like wanting to fill that void
with something that you can
do with your body,
with your imagination and so on.
Yeah,
I think I resented my parents a lot
for that period of time
because I feel like they
like dragged me out of the
comfort zone that I had and
they put me in this area and they
they just left me there.
You know what I mean?
Like it wasn't like,
and obviously like being Eastern European,
you don't have the conversation of like,
how are you handling this emotionally?
It's like, you good?
You know?
You live, you breathe.
Okay.
You're alive.
That's okay.
That's good.
That's enough.
So I,
but now I understand why they did it
and I'm grateful.
And, you know, I think, wow,
I can't believe they
actually took such a chance for the,
and like such a risk to
come here and go through
all of the things,
that they went through for me,
because honestly they could
have been in Albany and
they would have been fine,
but I know that it was for
me and I'm grateful,
but I think there was a lot
of resentment that came for
it because of the loneliness.
And you shared the story
with me where your parents,
they would send you,
still send you to Albania,
so you keep that connection
with your roots.
But something that you
didn't know back in time is
that once they had paid
your flight ticket,
they have no money left for
them to spend the summer.
Yeah,
it's funny because I remember exactly,
it was my first time back home.
Since we moved and I
remember exactly what I was
wearing when I got on the
flight and like how happy I
was and like how happy my parents were.
But I didn't know that they
had $100 left for the rest of the month.
And it was like the
beginning of June that I had gone.
So they only had $100 for
the rest of the month after
they had paid for my ticket
and had paid rent.
which was, I mean,
on top of all the debt that
they had that we had to pay
from when we came.
So I mean,
I'm like over here living the dream,
having my little CD player
trying to show off when I go back home.
So I have no idea what's happening.
And so would you say that this experience,
you know, growing up in Albania and,
you know,
moving to Canada and going
through the challenges that
almost 99.9% of immigrants go through,
would you say that it has
forged your drive to
becoming the powerful
professional and
entrepreneur that you are today?
Yeah, I mean, I think as an immigrant,
you always feel like you
have something to prove or
like you have to kind of
make your way through.
You have to make your mark.
I mean,
I'm not sure this is what every
immigrant feels, but, you know,
I've been taught that going
to school and working hard is kind of.
what you're supposed to drive, strive for.
My parents are definitely
not big risk takers,
even though they moved to Canada,
they're not risk takers.
So me opening my own
business was definitely not
something that I learned through them,
but it was definitely the
hard work ethic and wanting
to be great or wanting to
be good at what I did that
I think that drove me from my background.
But I don't know, I think maybe
I don't know.
I think it's also just who I
am as a person.
When I focus on something, it's very,
very detailed and intentional.
I don't like doing things
that are not intentional,
especially as I get older
and have more awareness
around the life I'm living.
And let's talk about your work ethic,
because you have quite some
accomplishments under your belt,
even though you are very
modest and humble about it.
You were responsible for the
well-being of a $10 million
asset for WeWork.
And then in 2014,
you joined the funding team
to launch the co-working space East Room,
which is quite popular here in Toronto,
which you helped grow to a
multi-million dollar
business under two years,
which is quite impressive.
So tell us about your journey.
How did you end up managing
multi-million dollar assets
for companies?
By accident today.
Um, yeah, I, the story really goes back to,
I was on a bus and I met
this guy and he was telling
me that he was interviewing for this role,
uh, for this company called So House.
And it was this cool company
that celebrities went to and blah, blah,
blah.
And I was like, I want to interview there.
Why not me?
So I ended up interviewing
and working for Soho for two years.
And that's where I met the
founders of Eastroom.
And they hadn't opened Eastroom yet,
but they liked the
hospitality and the
attention to detail that I
gave them and their family.
So when they were thinking
about opening the space, they were like,
hey,
I think you would be the right person
to run it.
I mean, mind you, I was 22 at the time.
So running anything was
beyond my scope of knowledge.
But honestly,
it really gave me a platform where I
I could try and like, we had it, like,
you know,
I had a little bit more support system.
I had the founders, I had, you know,
I build a team.
I, uh, we had a community that we built.
So that kind of, it,
it wasn't just me that, uh,
accomplished those accolades,
but at the same time, it, um,
it allowed me to understand
that I am capable of building things.
And that's why I am in the
position I am now is because.
I got that try and you know,
once you get that little bit of,
I don't know what you call it,
but it's almost like
entrepreneurship is like
almost like an addiction, you know,
once you get a little bit of it,
you just can't go back.
And I think, you know,
I went to work for WeWork.
And around a building for them.
And it's still it was it felt empty.
And it felt like I was
actually getting demoted
rather than work for a bigger company,
because I wasn't in charge
in the way that I wanted to
be in terms of like seeing
my ideas through, if that makes sense.
Yes, it does.
And for all the
entrepreneurs or aspiring
entrepreneurs listening to us,
and before I ask my question,
it's true what you're saying.
Once you have tried entrepreneurship,
you can't go back.
And I remember having this
feeling as well when I was...
at the peak of my international career,
where I was helping
high-profile people building empires.
And at some point, I was like,
but if I can't build empires for them,
why would I do it for myself, right?
Of course, the journey is different.
And being by yourself,
doing it for yourself,
it's like a complete different story.
But, you know,
you have the drive because
you know you are capable of it, right?
Exactly.
Exactly.
That's exactly it.
And so tell us,
how do you build a
multi-million dollar
business under two years?
Yeah, I mean, it was a lot of culture.
And I think that's something
that a lot of brands try to
accomplish is building
community through culture
and entertainment.
Um, it was by, again, by accident, we,
I had a friend who was a musician and, uh,
one of the co-founders of
Eastroom was like, oh,
I really liked this guy.
And I was like,
that guy let's FaceTime him.
Let's see what he's doing.
And we're like, Hey,
do you want to perform at Eastroom?
And he's like, sure.
Like that looks cool.
Like I'll, I'll do my release party there.
And that kind of spiraled
into us getting a hundred
thousand dollars from the shoe company,
Timberland.
to put on shows.
So then we were able to
source international talent
and source upcoming talent.
So we became a platform for new music.
And that brought in,
that was our experimental marketing.
Like we didn't spend any
money on digital advertising.
I don't think they still
spend any money on advertising.
But it was through building
the community that we were
able to bring awareness to
the business and then fill
the spaces of the co-working space.
So community was...
community is key for anything.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Community is the base of everything.
But especially here,
you talk about experimental marketing,
but Eastwork is a co-working space.
So the primary objective was
probably not to to seek
like entertainment or, you know,
to create revenues from entertainment.
But the opportunity just
popped up and you were able to seize it,
right?
Yeah.
We just honestly, at the time, we were
all young while we opened
East Room in 2014 or like early 2015.
Coworking wasn't a thing in Toronto.
WeWork wasn't here.
There was the only coworking space,
I believe, at the time was CSI.
So when we built the space,
we knew that we wanted an
aspect of the whole house to it.
We knew we wanted that hospitality,
high touch, creative,
entrepreneurial spirit in the business.
And at the same time, we
The guys were 24 and 26 and I was 21, 22.
So we had no idea what we were doing.
So we thought,
let's just throw things at the wall,
see what sticks.
And if it sticks, it sticks, you know,
and this, this,
the way that we received
the sponsorship from
Timberland was we DM the guy, like,
we're like, Hey,
you work in Canada for Timberland.
Do you want to come by one of our shows?
And he came and he was so impressed.
So then he gave us the money to expand.
Wow, that's amazing.
And this speaks to, you know,
the idea that we hold
ourselves too much because
we overthink things.
Exactly.
And I think what I did great
working for Eastroom was I
took every opportunity.
I spoke to every person I knew.
I try to activate my entire
community with my own business, I think,
because it's mine.
And I don't feel as I don't know, you know,
you're always you always
feel like you're an imposter.
Right.
So I feel like because it's mine,
I'm afraid to ask for the
same things that 21 year old me did.
So let's talk about your business now.
You are the founder of Everyday Chemist,
which is a cosmetic brand,
but you also have your own lab.
So tell us more about your idea,
like where the idea of
owning a lab and starting a
beauty brand started,
because it sounds to be so
far away from the
experience you have had as
a professional woman.
Um, so, uh, let's,
this goes back to actually,
this goes back to East room.
I had all throughout growing
from when we moved to Canada,
I started getting eczema.
Then when I was in high school,
I started getting acne,
which got way worse when I was 20, like.
By worse, I mean like embarrassingly worse,
like to the point that
sometimes it like stopped
me from leaving my house.
So then I had to go on Accutane.
And then when I did Accutane,
my lips were so dry.
They were like being they
were peeling by the hundreds every day.
And I tried every lip balm
in the market and nothing worked.
And my mom was working as a
cosmetic scientist at the time.
So I ended up asking her to
make me something because I
was not finding any relief.
And for the next eight years after that,
I would hand out these
little jars like this,
these plastic jars with lip balm on it.
And I would just hand them
out to friends and family.
So when COVID hit, I was like, hey,
I've always wanted to build
a cosmetic company.
I've always wanted to do
something with my mom.
Let me start the
direct-to-consumer line with zero money,
zero experience in e-commerce, zero...
you know, like, no experience whatsoever.
So I took it, I decided to do it.
And at the same time,
I was also taking courses
for human design thinking through IDEO,
a partnership that they did
with acumen Academy.
And part of the courses that I was taking,
they were like,
don't put all of your eggs in one basket,
you should diversify your
what you're investing in.
So you you know, if things go wrong,
you have another
So I was like, you know what,
why don't I start another
company that I also don't
have experience in,
which is helping other
entrepreneurs like myself
develop great products.
And I'm so grateful that
that happened because EC
Studios has become our main
business now where
we help entrepreneurs, you know,
develop great products.
So that's our business is twofold.
EC Studios functions as R&D
studio where we develop,
we support small batch manufacturing
And we also support any
design or copywriting or
anything that our brands may need.
And then from the direct-to-consumer side,
Everyday Chemist has kind
of taken a sidestep where
it's become our proof of concept.
And with Everyday Chemist,
we only release products
that we believe have made a
significant change in the market,
whether form or function.
So with lip grease or lip balm,
we believe from a function perspective,
it's the best that's out there.
For healing and moisturizing
and all those things.
And then for a silky water,
it's a unique format.
It's half oil, half water.
Doesn't really exist in the
industry the way that we've done it.
So that's kind of our thesis there.
And so I feel like whatever
crossed your mind.
Like this is something that you can do.
So you have like this strong
self-confidence or this
strong self-belief that you
can achieve whatever you
set your mind to.
It's both like, it's,
I don't know how to explain
it because it's like that exists,
but then there also exists this, like,
I'm not good enough.
And I think that feeling of
not being good enough is
what also creates this.
I am, you know, it's me and my therapist.
I was talking about this.
It's like,
it's two sides of the same coin.
You know, it's, it's two extremes.
I'm trying to find balance
because I do live in these extremes.
It's both like, it's like, I am great.
And I'm going to,
do the greatest things in the world.
And then the other part is like,
I'm never going to get anywhere.
Like I might as well just give up today.
So it's like you go,
it's very frustrating having to navigate.
But I think what you are
describing is just like the
roller coaster of an entrepreneur,
because like I feel the
same and I'm sure like a
lot of entrepreneurs
listening to us can relate to this.
Well,
one day you feel that you are on top
of your game.
You are the best.
You are going to move mountains.
You have the best idea in the world.
And
and everything,
and the following day
you're crying yourself out.
You don't know what's
happening and you don't
feel like you are capable
of doing anything.
And the following day again,
you back at it again, I mean.
Yeah.
And I'm glad,
I'm just gonna turn to my
computer to talk.
Um, it's a universal experience.
I think whether you're an
entrepreneur or you're just an employee,
I deal with this, you know, we hire young,
um, females, mostly we work with, uh,
by design and by, you know,
not by design.
It's the cosmetic world.
Um, mostly female, like,
especially in the area that
we're kind of working in,
there's a lot of females
that are interested in.
So we get to work with
really talented young females.
And they all feel like
they're not good enough.
And I see that from them.
And then I also see that from my mother,
who's an expert at what she does.
She thinks she's not good enough.
And I'm like,
does anybody feel like
they're good enough?
Wow.
So that's interesting.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This is a,
this is an internal battle that
we have to fight with ourselves.
I don't know why my,
my computer's not charging.
Give me one second.
It's on red.
No worries.
Um, something.
Okay.
I heard the dung now is starting.
Now we're back.
Um, yeah, which, and that's why I,
you know, I,
I like the mentor a lot and we,
a big part of what we do is
we give back in terms of
giving discounts to women
entrepreneurs or giving
opportunities to female students.
Um,
and something that I always tell them
and tell my mom and tell
anybody around me and tell
myself is it's a choice at
the end of the day,
not feeling good enough and
feeling like you could, you're great,
but you could be better.
They're the same.
They're the same,
actually just a different
way of looking at the same thing.
So, you know,
you could wake up and be like,
I just want to be better.
And that's, that's great.
That's,
that's a positive way of looking at
the world.
When you feel like you're not good enough,
you're already putting
yourself at a deficit.
So you're not, you're stuck in a hole.
So I always try to tell them, you know,
it's just the way that you
look at the world that
really changes your experience of it.
Very true.
Change your perspective on
things and it will change like the world,
the way you see the world indeed.
Something that we haven't talked about,
going back to your immigrant journey,
is what do you feel is the
biggest challenge that you have faced?
As an immigrant?
Yes.
Honestly, a lot.
I feel like I'm trying to
find words for it, but
I, you know, I never,
I could never go skiing.
I could never, my grammar's not great.
It's still not great.
I don't speak a single language properly,
whether that's Albanian,
English or Italian that I speak, um,
slightly.
Um, it's, I feel like you as an immigrant,
you're kind of this like
soul without a home.
You're always in one place,
always you're missing home,
no matter where you're going.
So it feels like this, I don't know,
it really defines who you
are as a person.
And also, you know,
not having money and having
just like a lot of my
friends that grew up here,
at least they're starting
from a place where their parents have,
you know,
they've built the building
blocks for them to go ahead
and do other things.
I feel like not having money
and also my parents didn't have time to,
you know,
talk about philosophy after
dinner because they were
working or they didn't have
time to bring me to piano
class because they didn't have time.
So they didn't have money to afford it.
So I feel like I'm, you know,
I missed out on a lot of
things because we didn't
have the resources.
And then also I'm missing
out on a lot of things
because I always feel
homesick if that thought
kind of comes back around.
Yes, 100%.
The interview is coming to an end.
And the last question I like
to ask all my guests is,
what would you like to be remembered for?
Oh, wow.
You did not prepare me for this one.
I've been thinking a lot
about this lately because of course,
working in the cosmetic industry,
it's an industry of cents and dimes.
People are looking at
numbers and it is definitely a cent game.
And I don't want to play in that world.
I want to build great
product for consumers.
And that's kind of what I
want to be remembered for is that
No matter what I do,
it's done with intention
and it's done with
integrity because I feel
like as an entrepreneur,
those lines can get blurred
really quickly if you want to succeed.
And I don't want that to be my life.
I'd rather do things with
integrity and intention and
create great products
rather than be successful
if those are like the two choices I have.
Yeah,
and I think we are seeing it quite a
lot recently,
especially for the
successful gurus and
successful people who have
built their empire of
success out of the Instagram,
which is something different.
But my point when it comes
to integrity is now it's
falling all apart because
this is not sustainable.
like being fake or
pretending or you know
scamming people or just not
being um not going things
with a good intention yes
you may win a lot in the
short term but in the long
term it will always fall apart
I don't know.
It's hard.
It's hard because I, I would like to, I,
you know,
I'm a big believer that most
people are good and good wins,
but it's not always the case.
Unfortunately, you know,
there's unfortunately, yeah, we're,
we're at the mercy of
greater forces beyond our control.
So we can only get ahead as far as,
you know, we, we can by being great,
by being good.
But I think, you know,
being intentional and being like,
I don't know.
I'm hoping that that matters.
And that's something.
It does.
It does matter.
Yes, it does.
And we need more people like you.
Otherwise, the world would be a sad place,
even though that is not
really wonderful wherever you go.
But yeah, we need more people like you.
So thank you so much for your time, Flavia,
and for sharing your story with us today.
Is there anything else you
would like to add?
No, I mean, I yeah, no,
I think like maybe a piece
of advice for everybody out
there that's an entrepreneur.
When you're when you fail,
just keep going.
I think failure is a part of it.
So I think being resilient
and being consistent is
probably the keys to success.
But it does take a lot of
courage and self-belief to do it.
And sometimes you just have to fake it.
really that's interesting
you know because I often
say like don't fake it
until you make it because
it's not sustainable I
don't know because
sometimes I do feel like I
have to be delusional to
believe in myself in the
way that I do when things
are not panning out the way
that I wanted them to you
know what I mean it's like your brain
of not seeing the not
remaining in the bad.
So you're like, I'm actually great.
I'm going to do this.
It's okay.
Like, you know, like fake.
And also I think a lot of
the fake it till you make
it has to do with becoming that person.
You're not faking it.
You're just becoming the
person you want to be
before you're there.
know yeah from an intro pers
introspection perspective
yes I feel like the way I
see fake it until you make
it is more like you know
pretending like towards
other people that you are
someone that you are not
rather than your
perspective which is like
tricking your mind and you
know having positive
self-positive talk to say
like oh but you can do it
you are doing it and you
have what it takes to making it happen
So it's a different perspective.
Yeah, definitely.
I mean, the world is how you look at it.
Yes, exactly.
Thank you so much, Flavia.
Thank you so much, Darine.
