“Who would have guessed that a Catskill gorilla would be the major helper in getting my green business up and running?” laughs local entrepreneur Kathleen M. Boylan.

The gorilla she’s referring to is “Mel Silverback” the monkey-suited comedian seen on last year’s NBC show “Last Comic Standing.” Inside the suit was Boylan’s husband, Winnipeg-born comic Dan Licoppe. “Happy Planet Productions is a partnership that my husband and I undertook to manage his comedy business,” she explains. That business soon evolved into The Waste Reduction Store, now a federally incorporated distributor of compostable and biodegradable products.

“The revenues from (Happy Planet) helped us to take a risk and see if the market was viable for The Waste Reduction Store,” explains Boylan. The couple spent a year gauging the market response, which Boylan says has really paid off. “The two businesses have now officially separated, though we remain married!” she laughs. “And, in 2008 we plan to launch a funny line of green products.”

The Waste Reduction Store is a distributor of compostable and biodegradable products, offering everything from paper products (cups, bowls, paper towels, bags, toilet paper), to corn and potato products (containers, cups and cutlery), sugar cane products (boxes, plates, bowls and trays), and compostable bags.

Boylan says she is targeting the service industry and business world, hoping to convince them to use her products, which are made from renewable resources and can be composted.

“No one manufactures these products in Canada yet,” said Boylan. “We’re proving this is a market for the business community to get into.”

Boylan anticipates that her products will eventually generate compost that can then be sold to the public instead of fertilizers. “Fertilizers are dependent on petroleum derivatives,” she explains. “Composting these products will have a series of positive impacts on our communities and on our health.”

Boylan is working closely with many different stakeholders to support composting initiatives, and with other businesses acting as commission sales representatives to extend her distribution network.

A life-long environmentalist, as well as a women’s health advocate, former international development worker, high school math teacher and CBC freelancer, Boylan is excited about her relatively new role as entrepreneur. She is also pleased that it is all happening in her adopted home of Winnipeg, where she moved from Toronto in 2004.

“I’ve always incorporated the environment in all my work,” explains Boylan. “It links to education, health and social justice. As a woman, environmentalist and mother, I’m committed to proving that business can be done in a way that can change our world for the better.”

For more information about Boylan and her store, visit www.wastereductionstore.com or e-mail Kathleen@wastereductionstore.com.

Women all over Winnipeg are trading their skinny belts for tool belts. But not just any tool belts. Women all over the country have embraced Tomboy Tools Canada, a tool and home improvement company operated right here in Winnipeg.

The company was brought here in 2004 by president Lori Mitchell when some friends working on home improvement projects discovered retail hand tools and warehouse workshops just didn’t cut it. Frustrated by everyday, hard-to-use equipment, Tomboy Tools made it its mission to turn timid women into confident homeowners by teaching them how to use smaller, female-friendly tools to complete their own home improvement projects. These learning sessions put a modern twist on classic Tupperware parties, and are taught by Tomboy Tools home consultants at tool parties.

“You have to see and use the tools to understand how they work and unless there’s someone helping you and showing you how to use them, it can be hard to visualize how to do it,” says Diane Eisler, a consultant in Winnipeg. “That’s the whole idea of a tool party, because there’s lots of things we don’t know about tools. We can share ideas, stories and experiences while learning how to use tools.”

The in-house workshops concentrate on the company’s Tell-Show-Do-Feedback approach. Guests are told and shown how it’s done, given a chance to do it themselves, and then given feedback so they can go home and share their knowledge.

“Learning how to use tools can help conquer your do-it-yourself fears, and it saves time and frustration,” Eisler boasts. “It’s lifesaving because of the epiphanies you get when you realize what you know how to do. You can stand on your own two feet and take care of your own home. It puts women back into the equation of home renovations.”

Tool parties teach uncertain women how to feel comfortable tackling home improvement projects, and include lessons on drywall and plaster repair, leaky faucet and toilet repair, woodworking, tiling and trim molding. This knowledge, according to their website, helps women “turn the places they live into the places they love.”

For more information about booking a tool party or how to become a Tomboy Tools home consultant, visit www.tomboytools.ca or phone 1-877-254-8779.

One of the reasons Eisler became a consultant was because the company defined “tomboy” as ‘“a girl who defines her own destiny.” And for the women out there who want to do just that, Eisler says joining the team can make life easier.

“Becoming a home consultant is incredible, because women can stay at home with the kids instead of putting them in daycare,” she offers. In 2007, Mitchell was nominated for a Manitoba’s Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and although she didn’t win, it didn’t slow Tomboy Tools down one bit.

“Since 2004, the company has become one of the 10 fastest-growing home party businesses in North America,” Eisler says. “There are consultants all over Canada and some of them do up to five parties each week.”

For more information about booking a tool party or how to become a Tomboy Tools home consultant, visit www.tomboytools.ca or phone 1-877-254-8779.

Coming Together to Save Lives

Starting June 4, 2008, two floors of the Winnipeg Convention Centre will be focused on breast health. The 5th World Conference on Breast Cancer (WCBC), put on every three years by the WCBC Foundation, will run June 4-8, 2008.

The conference, held for both people with breast cancer and the friends, family and community who support them, will have over 700 delegates and speakers from around the globe.

“Breast cancer has no borders and affects individuals and their families all around the world,” says WCBCF president Barbara Shumeley. “In addition to female breast cancer survivors, this conference will also focus on men and youth. Breast cancer that develops in men is often associated with a hereditary factor, making it important to all family members.”

The conference aims to inform the public about important risk factors and genetic testing options, while also providing an opportunity for those affected by the disease to unite and make connections through mutual understanding and support.

This conference’s theme is “Heart, Soul, and Science: It’s a Small World After All.” Conference speakers will share their unique expertise and perspectives while exploring a wide variety of topics, including the range of emotions felt by those dealing with the disease. Speakers include: Carol Ann Cole, the founder of Comfort Heart Initiatives, which has raised over $1 million for cancer research; Dr. Lovell Allan Jones, who holds a doctorate in zoology with an emphasis in tumor biology; and Ronnie Kaye, a psychotherapist and author twice diagnosed and treated for breast cancer.

Past conferences have resulted in exciting breast cancer initiatives across the world, including the development of an awareness campaign by the Zambian Women and Shelter group, and the building of breast treatment centres in Egypt, Brazil and Vietnam.

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