“Be like a flower survive the rain, but use it to grow,” said Minhas.
Our eight episode is all about the resilience, drive and determination of Lindsay-Noel, an entrepreneur from Toronto, Ontario. Lindsay-Noel was a Canadian national gymnast headed towards the 2012 Olympic games. After a devastating accident in training, she was paralyzed from the neck down for life.
“The biggest thing I’ve learned is that there’s so much life after tragedy,” said Lindsay-Noel. “I'm here and I'm going to make the change that I feel like needs to be made and really scream from the rooftops. Because people with disabilities are just not one thing, we are so multifaceted, we have different needs, and we deserve to have as much of a life – and a healthy and happy life - as anybody else. And I will do everything in my power to make sure that happens.”
After her accident, she persevered through adversity and earned a degree, graduating from Ryerson University in Radio and Television Arts. Today, Lindsay-Noel is a motivational speaker, disability advocate, and council member of the Premier’s Council on Equality of Opportunity.
She also owns Cup of Té, which was featured on Oprah’s Favorite Things List 2020.
Her company started from her love of teas, and grew out of her podcast, Tea Time with Tay. During her podcast, she would talk about another brand of tea.
“I knew if I talked about a product consistently, I can probably get them to sponsor me and go from there,” said Lindsay-Noel. “And eventually, as my audience grew, I reached out to [the brand] hoping they would sponsor me. And I never heard back.”
That snub, from the other tea brand, led directly to Lindsay-Noel starting her own company, Cup of Té.
“If they didn't want to sponsor me, I'll make my own tea,” she said.
As owner of Cup of Té, Lindsay-Noel, was recently announced as the Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the Black Business and Professional Association Harry Jerome Awards, Canada’s most prestigious award celebrating black excellence.
“I think that being a person of colour and being a black woman in business, it’s ‘oh, wow’. And then you have a disability and they’re like, ‘oh my gosh’, it's as if I'm like a unicorn or something out here,” said Lindsay-Noel.
“Opportunities come every single day but if you're not prepared for them, you won't be able to optimize them,” she says.
Taking on life and looking to make personal and professional improvements one day at a time is something that host Minhas would agree with.
“My life motto has always been [be] 1% better every day before you go to bed,” said Minhas.
You can listen to the full episode here or on your favourite podcast streaming app!
