I run Buds Cutting Gardens, doing garden maintenance with a special focus on growing flowers to be cut and taken indoors. Where possible I involve my clients in their gardens, sharing what I know and learning what they love best about their spaces. It’s entirely rewarding. I chose to work in gardens after a first career as a sailor of tall ships, a realm that offers similar draws. Since starting to work as a young person I’ve loved being an integral part of a team, working hard outdoors, and especially walking the long road to mastery.

Biography:

Leigh Mitchell is a passionate relationship marketer and storyteller with 20 years of corporate marketing and community development experience, specializing in challenging brands to create more meaningful social impact within their business operations and activities. Looking for more personal meaning in her work beyond just the bottom line, Leigh set out to help those in need through her own business activities. She quickly realized that not only could she make a difference with her business but others could also. Her stories of hope and the spirit of giving were contagious. This is when the#SocialforGood movement was introduced to her community through launching an annual conference  in 2015. Studying the impact of socially responsible businesses, she found ways in which profitable businesses could find more engaged audiences when advocating the benefits of  their purpose driven mission based business planning and activities. The theory is the more money we make, the more sustainable change we can bring to our communities.  Consumers agree with this theory – 67% of them prefer to buy from socially responsible companies. Leigh is drawn to connecting her community across North America and in person throughout Canada. Her career has led her to successfully work with major brands such as GM Canada, Microsoft Canada, TELUS,  Johnson & Johnson, Maple Leaf Foods, TD Canada Trust, Staples Canada and Random House. Leigh has been featured on CBC Radio, The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and in other media and has been a featured speaker at the #SocialforGood Conference,  Blissdom Canada, The Wellness Business Summit and has served as a judge for UPS and Microsoft Small Business Contests.

Leigh is also the Founder and President of Women in Biz Network and passionate healthy living advocate (after a 15 + career in health promotion), yoga junkie and self professed techie nerd. When she isn’t blogging or tweeting, you will find her outside, biking,  hiking or running in the great outdoors while also excessively Instagram-ing photos to Facebook when no one is looking. Leigh has extensive education in marketing with certificates in not-for profit and corporate marketing, project management and has 15 years experiencing working in a variety of marketing campaigns developing traditional, experiential and digital marketing success stories.

Leigh Mitchell has been featured on CBC Radio, national newspapers, Women’s Heart Journal for Business and has spoke at Blissdom Canada – Canada’s first social media conference for women. Leigh also serves on the board of directors for Parent Education Network.

To connect with Leigh Mitchell please email her at leigh@womeninbiznetwork.com or on twitter at @womenbiznetwork

I am the mother of two beautiful girls, Rio and Reine and the founder of Core Expectations. We are Toronto’s only full service wellness team that delivers personal training, abdominal rehabilitation and other support services to pregnant women and new moms across the GTA.