Designing a More Sustainable Jewelry Industry ft. Elaine Kim Smith & Leslie Hoolaeff (Lover's Tempo)

Don’t get me wrong. I love hearing about sustainability at companies of all sizes. But to be honest, what really inspires me is seeing smaller companies tackling social and environmental impact not because they have to (due to shareholder or governmental pressure often seen with larger corporations) but because they want to. There is something so special about a business curious about how to do business better, and open to working with their stakeholders along the way.

And it is this very mindset that drew me to our next guests, co-founders of Lover’s Tempo: Elaine Kim Smith and Leslie Hoolaeff. 

Elaine's love story with jewelry started with a booth at a maker's market at her university in Vancouver, Canada. Her Dad helped her set it up, complete with twinkle lights and an immersive experience hosted by Elaine. Over a decade later, Elaine's ethos of beautiful design, magnetic experiences and a little romance has carried on as the Lover's Tempo team grew to include her visionary business partner, Leslie, and over 500 cherished retailers who carry the brand worldwide. Today, their tight-knit team of creative women spend their days finding new ways to spark delight from their studio in Vancouver, Canada.

On this episode, we discuss the company's sustainability journey, including their sourcing practices, sustainable packaging, and carbon neutrality efforts. Elaine and Leslie also share their experiences with B Corp and Living Wage certifications and how they carefully select their community partner organizations. They also dive into what I think is so unique and inspiring for our listeners: their Full Circle Artist Program, which repurposes end-of-life jewelry materials into new art pieces to promote sustainability and support local artists. Finally, we look at the surprising parallels between entrepreneurship and sustainability and how both are ongoing processes without a clear end, requiring patience, perseverance, and the ability to lean on others for support.

Not only is Lover’s Tempo jewelry absolutely gorgeous, but so are the personalities of Elaine and Leslie. The way the two of them approach business and life with a sustainable and abundant mindset is incredibly inspiring and I know that you are going to love hearing from them on today’s show!

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[Host: Lauren Scott] Our listeners of The Resilience Report are going to get double the value today because we have not one but two leaders joining us from the incredible company Lover’s Tempo. We have both Elaine, their CEO, and Leslie, their COO, joining us. So, welcome Elaine and Leslie!

[Guest 1: Leslie Hoolaeff] Thanks for having us!

So, admittedly, being in the sustainability space, you hear a lot about the fashion and clothing angle. Admittedly, I find we hear a little bit less talk about the environmental and social consequences of accessories, and specifically jewelry. Knowing that it's not all over the media, was there a specific catalyst moment that made you realize that you wanted to integrate sustainability into Lover’s Tempo?

I think the interesting thing about the story of our company and how we came to be is that we both had values relating to sustainability in our lives and ourselves personally. When Elaine and I decided to partner, Elaine had already been doing Lover’s Tempo for years prior with a lot of sustainable mindset to the way that the business was operating. But then, you know, my values were aligned with that, and that was part of, I think, why we connected so well on what a vision for running the company together in partnership could look like.

[Guest 2: Elaine Kim Smith] Another thing is one of our core values is abundant thinking. We say we're lifelong learners, we're curious. And so, I think when we started thinking about our business through the lens of sustainability, we saw, like, okay, well, what is our impact on the planet? We don't know those answers. Where do we stand? As you mentioned, you see a lot of media on fashion companies, and we had no idea where we stood. So, I think we did the best we could, you know, doing things that are a little bit common sense like less plastic and less waste—the simple things you can do. But we really wanted to know more, and we thought, how do we make this a bigger part of our business? We kind of felt like, if we want to make it a bigger part of our business, we need to know more.

Which I think was one of my favorite things in learning more about your company. I think sometimes, as leaders, we get a little bit of paralysis by analysis. We get scared and think, if we can't do it perfectly, we're just not going to start. That includes sustainability. So, I love that lifelong learner approach that you've taken, and certainly, that has applied to some of the components that you've used, including the very hot topic, which is gold. It's a hot topic whether it's investing or wearing. In terms of sustainably sourcing it, you definitely have taken a lens when it comes to both traceability and the ethics side of your gold product and use. So, what has that journey looked like? Was it researching online? Was it speaking to peers? What has that journey looked like over the years for Lover’s Tempo?

Yeah, I think it was really certifying through B Corp, which highlighted for us how much gold, you know, like being in fashion jewelry... I don't like... I have to say it didn’t really come top of mind when we thought about sustainability. When we went through the B Corp certification process, we understood that transparency in the gold supply chain was a top priority. It felt super daunting and very challenging for a business of our size. We are a very small company, and so we thought, “Oh wow, like, you know, we have our hand in the mining business?” It just didn’t even occur to us, and so it was one of those things that felt daunting, like you said—paralysis by analysis. We didn’t know where to start; we didn’t know what to do.

I thought, “I'm not a bench jeweler that’s buying little bars of gold where I can go and ask someone where this came from.” So, we kind of did what you need to do—we had to start. We started speaking with our plating manufacturer partners in South Korea, with whom we have a lot of longstanding relationships, and we just started to ask, “Where do you get your gold from?” A lot of times, they were really shocked that nobody had ever asked before. I think that was... it was a little bit disheartening because they weren’t like, “Oh, here, we’ve got the certification that you need.” But at the same time, it really showed how important it is to be the ones asking those questions because not a lot of people are.

We’re talking, we have our relationships, and these are large-ish gold plating manufacturers that do this for a living. The fact that nobody ever asked them where their gold comes from... it kind of encourages us that, like, okay, we are making a difference here. This is, in a small way, the way that we're going to make a change and make some waves and make some noise. Leslie was always... I really, really appreciate her support because I speak Korean, and I do all the manufacturing and the production, but it is my second language. So, to be asking difficult questions to stakeholders who have much larger businesses than us, like, you know, we're the small little customer asking these big questions, it felt a little bit like David and Goliath in the moment, you know? We're asking for big things, but it was important. So, Leslie would always stand behind me and say, “You know, we don’t need the answer right away; we don’t need that certificate in a month to say that we've done it and we're done.”

It’s, like you mentioned earlier, really just starting, and then you have to keep going. Over the last couple of years, we've learned a lot. South Korea produces a lot of their own gold, which is reassuring to us because all the answers we were getting were, “We use Korean gold, we use Korean gold.” Through my research just in general about where conflict gold comes from and what the actual issues are, knowing that most of our suppliers are using Korean gold was reassuring because the largest refinery in Korea is actually listed on the London Bullion Market Association. They have a good delivery list that outlines ethical suppliers of gold. So, you're kind of piecing together bits of information and putting it together because nobody’s going to come to you and say, “Here it is, you’re done, here’s your certificate.” So, it is pounding the pavement and finding those answers, and even, you know, like today’s podcast with you, it’s constant reminders of like, “Hey, let’s brush up, let’s find out more information,” and it just never ends. So, I think that’s the answer to the question—it’s a big topic, so there’s a lot to cover.

A lot of asking questions and people being like, “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” and then how to kind of keep nudging them along and be like, “Well, let me, you know...” Finally, like in 2023, you finally went to Korea and were like, “Take me to the plating house and let me see how it’s made.” It was sort of like constantly running into walls and then being a little defeated and regrouping and being like, “Well, what could we do to get past that hurdle?” It was a continual process that we’re still a part of, but you kind of have to learn how to not get bogged down by the “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Well, I would love to double down on that a little bit because I think what is so important is bringing your suppliers, your whole value chain, along with you. So, how have you navigated that? It sounds like with this particular supplier you were able to have those conversations. For other suppliers, do you feel like it’s a conversation you were bringing to them, or what does that look like to be collaborative and trying to raise everybody up altogether?

It feels good. I think a lot of them, at first, they get a little bit resistant; they get their backs up because they think that they’re either doing something wrong or you’re looking for something to catch them in. Then, when you really come together and they find the answer that, like, “Oh, we’re getting Korean gold” or whatnot, I think it’s just enlightening for them. You kind of collectively breathe a sigh of relief that you’ve come to the same conclusion. I think that is the thing—you're kind of trying to show them that you’re asking these questions not because you’re trying to point a finger at anybody, but you're showing them that it’s something that you value and it’s something that you’re trying to understand. I think that a lot of the times, they just want to sign off on a piece of paperwork, or they think that it’s something they can just pass the buck on. When we... I wouldn’t go away, like Leslie said—I literally showed up at the plating facility, and, you know, we’ve done a lot of asking questions. Yeah, it takes you through a journey, but I think it’s about humbling yourself and knowing that nobody’s trying to point fingers; we just want information. I think that really helps people come along the journey and even understand for themselves. One of our suppliers was like, “Oh, it’s so cool, I learned how much gold Korea produces; it would be silly for anyone to import gold into Korea.” You know, information for everybody that they wouldn’t have known otherwise.

I think one thing that can happen is that nobody likes to feel stupid. So, when you ask people questions that they don’t know the answer to, they can kind of get defensive or uncomfortable. I think we have probably felt that way at points in the business. I remember years ago, someone commented on an Instagram post being like, “Where do you get your gold from?” It was in the early days of our business, and Elaine and I were like, “How do we even answer that question? That’s a lot.” But like you said, humility or being humble—I think we’re getting better at being like, “You know what, that’s a great question, and I should figure that out, and it’s going to take some work.” So, I think when we encounter that same resistance or discomfort from our suppliers, it feels familiar, and we can be like, “No, no, no, we’ve been there, it’s okay, this is hard, let’s figure it out together.”

I love that approach; I feel like it’s very collaborative. I’m sure part of your journey, as in many companies, is looking at packaging. I think it’s also a very hot topic right now. I know that there have been different iterations that Lover’s Tempo has considered over the years. Is that something that you feel like you’ve had progress on and that you can share with our listeners?

Yeah, I mean, the packaging piece is definitely the one that has the most optics. People really look to that right away. You're looking... you’re getting an order from wherever online, and you’re hoping that you can recycle all the pieces of the puzzle, and you don’t want a bunch of waste. I think there’s a lot of consumer awareness on that point. Since before I was even a part of Lover’s Tempo, paper packaging has always been our standard because of its ability to be recycled. So again, that’s kind of just one of the great values that Elaine had already baked into the company that’s carried forward.

Recently, we’ve transitioned all of our paper packaging to be FSC-certified recycled paper wherever possible, making sure that all of our larger packaging, like boxes for shipments and things like that, contain recycled content. That was a mission of the last couple of years. Then the other packaging piece is, if you ever come into our warehouse, you will see that there are thousands upon thousands of small poly bags that contain all of the jewelry, which is unfortunately a necessary evil because with fashion jewelry, it does need to not be exposed to oxygen in order for the product to stay looking good and sellable. We’ve been on a quest to find the perfect replacement for single-use plastics. There are a lot of packaging products that get sold with labels on them that are phony and really mean nothing and are just still plastic, even though they say something nice on it. Elaine and I value abundant thinking and curiosity—we’re really never satisfied with just checking the box. We really want to know why—why is this better, why is this biodegradable? So, Elaine definitely went on a mission to get to the bottom of that and found a product that is bio-based and biodegradable that we feel really good about, to migrate all that throughout the rest of this year.

It’s so important to dive in deeper on some of those claims, and one of the ways to do that is certainly to align with different certifications available. We mentioned B Corp at the top, and I definitely want to dive into that because our listeners write in with a lot of questions, so I want to pick your brain on that. But there are a couple of others that you’ve aligned with, one that I’m actually less familiar with, and I would love for you to share, which is that you’re a Living Wage Employer. So, I can kind of read between the lines as to what this means, but I would love for you to share a little bit more as to why you’ve chosen to make that part of the process and what has that journey looked like for your organization.

Yeah, so Living Wage Employer is kind of a movement sort of thing, similar to B Corp. Obviously, you can probably, as you said, read between the lines and understand what it is, but a minimum wage standard exists on a government level, but it really doesn’t account for the reality of what it costs to live in any particular community. The cost of living fluctuates whether you live in Vancouver, where we live, or if you live in Calgary, or Toronto, or Montreal, or anywhere. There’s a big difference in what life costs there. So, we have always kind of had an ethos of, like, we should pay people well so that they are content to be living here and working for our company and feeling really good about their lives.

But through the B Corp certification process, we were introduced to the idea of the Living Wage Movement, which is a body that evaluates what it costs to live within a particular area and sets a fair living wage. So, it’s much higher than the minimum wage. In BC, it's around $15–$16; the living wage in Vancouver is almost $26 or it’s over $26—I can’t remember the exact number, but it’s around $26. So, it’s a significant jump from what the bare minimum is to what people should really be paid in order to be comfortably living. Again, this is one of those values that kind of existed in the company before we discovered that there was a name for it and that it was this, and now we can certify with that. So, all of our employees have to be paid a fair living wage for where we operate our business, and our independent contractors as well. So, that’s kind of our bare minimum of what we pay people, which is $10 an hour over the bare minimum wage according to the government.

Another certification that you worked with is going towards carbon neutrality, and I believe the organization you worked with is Carbonzero. I work very deep in the emissions space, so I’m always very curious to find out more about what that process looks like for individuals and companies because it can certainly feel very daunting when you look at all of the different factors as to where our emissions come from. So, what has that looked like for Lovers Tempo? How did you get started, and what have you learned along the way in terms of your emissions?

Well, when we worked with an independent consultant to get a bird’s eye view of sustainability in our business overall, carbon neutrality came up as something as a goal to work towards. So, when we decided that becoming carbon-neutral certified was an objective, we first wanted to find a partner that was a Canadian company because we like to support other Canadian businesses whenever possible. We also wanted them to be using the... the way that carbon... I’m sure you know, but the way that carbon neutrality organizations work is that they take the money that you give them, and they invest in things that are going to remove carbon from the atmosphere. So, we wanted to work with an organization that was doing projects like that within Canada, which again then created more jobs and more opportunity and helped our local economy. So, we found Carbonzero. They’ve been an amazing partner, and if you’re looking for someone to certify with, I would highly recommend them. The process is on an annual basis —after our fiscal year ends, we’re doing our accounting year-end, and we’re doing our carbon year-end at the same time. It takes about seven weeks, a couple of hours a week, with a few team members and myself. We have to catalog everything in the business from what our products are made out of to how they are shipped in and out of our office to how our employees get to and from work every day because all of those things are the business’s demands that create carbon. So, it’s a lot of data entry and a lot of spreadsheets, which is totally my favorite part of business—the spreadsheet part. But it’s been really enlightening. We learned that air travel is actually our largest contributor to carbon output.

One of the things you spoke to was accessories in the realm of sustainability, and one of the things we’re really grateful for, being a jewelry company, is that the actual product is not a huge... it’s small, it’s tiny, it doesn’t take a lot of space, and the materials that we use aren’t generally huge carbon outputs. Air travel is. So, it’s helped us rethink the way that we travel. Elaine and I used to be like, “Let’s go on a business trip, yay, and we’ll build this place together!” Now it’s like, “Well, no, you should go, and I’ll go to the next one because we don’t really need to double our carbon output.” And as much as it’s fun to fly business class, it is a lot worse for the environment to be flying business class. Not that we’ve ever been in a place where we could be business-class traveling, but learning about that has made me kind of cool my jets on ever wanting to do that because I don’t need to sit in a bigger, comfier seat to put out more carbon.

So, if you are traveling business class and you’re looking for a way to reduce your carbon output, consider coach. Buy your snacks, bring them on board, make a friend.

It definitely always makes me feel a little bit better sitting in coach when I’m flying and thinking, “Well, our seats are closer together, so our output is lower.”

Yes, so, and then to get to an organization that we’ve mentioned a couple of times, so B Corp. This is one that has come up certainly with a couple of previous guests, but again, as I mentioned, our listeners seem really interested, and I think it’s because of how much credibility B Corp has regardless of what industry you’re in. So, it’s been a couple of years that you’ve been working with them. Maybe, what made you choose to work with B Corp, and then what has that process looked like?

We learned about B Corp when I was just kind of standing on the school playground talking to somebody randomly while watching my kid climb on a slide. I hadn’t heard of the B Corp movement at all before, but I was talking to a parent of one of my children and telling them about the way that Elaine and I run our business and the things that we believe in and the things that we value, because I’m very proud of it. They were like, “Oh, are you a B Corp?” I was like, “What? What’s that? What do you mean?” Elaine and I have always kind of used the phrase, “We want to do business better.” That’s kind of the way we described it when we first became business partners and tried to align on values. But once I heard that the way that we were doing business actually had, like, a whole movement where people wanted to do business better like we do, then I kind of became obsessed. I’m a hyper fixation person, and so B Corp became my obsession for a bit. It was great because there’s much subjectivity to “better,” right? If I think we’re doing something better because we feel that way, but who are we to discern whether we are or not? So, finding that there was this movement with these rigorous standards of what it is to be “better” and that aligned with what our values were was really exciting. The concept of B Corp is putting people and the planet over profits and that business should not come at a cost to humanity—it should be an aid to our human experience. So, I think knowing that it was aligned with the values that we already had and knowing that it would help us be better and meet an objective standard was really valuable.

Yeah, I was going to say, like, I had heard about B Corp before, but as a very small business, you kind of always think that that’s for other people. You kind of always just assume, like, you see B Corp and you associate it with, like, Patagonia or, you know, like the bigger names. I think that Leslie was the one that, like, as she said, she gets hyper-focused. She looked into it and realized that, you know, it’s for all businesses, and we were already doing a lot of things, which is kind of... it just made sense for us to, like, go for it. When it started for me, it was... you know, I always have that imposter syndrome because I started the business from my, you know, basement suite apartment making jewelry, like, you know, in my kitchen. So, I kind of always just thought, “Oh my, that’s not for us.” And, you know, through this process, like, just the certification process, and like we said, knocking on doors and asking about gold and asking these big questions—it was daunting. But then it also gives you the confidence because it breaks it down, and you learn, and it’s not like they’re asking for the world right away. It took us, what, how long was it, Leslie, two to three years to get through the process to actually be ready to, like, submit our application and check all the things that we needed to do? It’s like two to three years of asking questions and building our business to be certified, and it takes time, but it was so worth it because we learned so much along the way, and we had a framework. That’s the beauty of it—you’re not alone. You’re given a framework, you’re given guidance every step of the way, and so it was really important in even just forming business practices, not just sustainable practices—they kind of went hand in hand.

Yeah, the framework is useful too because it almost helps you relax a little bit. When you don’t have the framework, you’re kind of like, “Nothing is ever enough, I have to find this,” and it can be really overwhelming. Whereas when you have that structure, you can kind of go, like, “Okay, I am doing these things, and I feel really good about it. These are some things I should be here, and I’m here, and I’ve got to work on that,” but it gives you some... it’s not as nebulous and subjective; it’s concrete, and you can work towards it.

 The other thing I want to speak to about it is, you said, I can’t remember the word you used, but there are a lot of different certifications out there, and they all have kind of different values. I think that something to be leery of as a consumer is, like, know what you’re... there are a lot of labels they can put on products that actually mean nothing, and B Corp isn’t one of them. That was something that we really wanted to make sure of when we were pursuing this certification—we get emails sometimes from people being like, “Hey, do you want to buy the I’m the Best Business Award?” for sale. Like, you can... there’s a lot of BS out there, so just make sure that if you’re going to invest the dollars and the time and the energy into a certification, that it is something that has rigor and authenticity to what it’s doing.

I love that you bring that up. Actually, both of you are talking a little bit about being a smaller organization, that going to feel like a huge task, and it might just be easier to pay for one of these certifications. Certainly, as somebody who’s also in marketing, I do want to warn any of our listeners that there are strict greenwashing guidelines coming in Canada and in the U.S., and especially in Europe. So, be conscious of that when you’re choosing your certification. 

For those listeners—and we have quite a few entrepreneurs who listen—so, let’s say they’re an entrepreneur from a small or medium-sized organization, they want to go after B Corp certification. It sounds like it might be a multi-year process to even get to that first submittal. What would you recommend being the first step or two that they take?

I think just diving in with the B Impact Assessment, the tool that they provide that gets you started, is really easy to navigate, it’s organized. Just get started is what I would suggest—jump into it, start filling it out. You don’t have to have all the answers right away. You might learn that you’re not there yet and that you’ve got work to do, but like Elaine said, I think it was, I did the assessment, and then we did a year where we were like, “These are all the things we need to be better at.” Then I submitted the assessment, and then it was another year and a half before we actually got certified. But just get started—it seems scary and overwhelming, but you can chip away at it. There’s no timeline set in the sand. Just jump in.

Yeah, I think that’s the thing—it’s like, if you’ve got your values, you hold them close, and even if you don’t get certified right away or if you’re not ready to even apply, I think, you know, having those values, like going through the Impact Assessment and understanding what it takes to get certified, kind of helps you create that framework, right? As an entrepreneur, you’re kind of starting from a blank slate, and if you already know you’ve got your values, you hold them close, like we said earlier, it’s giving that framework so you can really rest easy knowing that some of those values that you hold make a difference, and you’re working towards something as opposed to being like, “Everything is an option.” You’ve got a very clear path on what your options should be or what they should look like. 

Going through that process is not only useful in terms of getting certified, but it’s really going to improve your business as well. A lot of the things that were surfaced going through the certification were glaring omissions in the way that we operated our company. We didn’t have good policy documentation for our staff, which we kind of were like, “Oh, we’re a small business, you know, it’s fine, we don’t need that.” But like having clear policy and sharing that with our employees has made things clear and easier for them to understand. Clarity is kind, and you need to be able to give that to your employees. It also helped us get a better framework for how we engage with employees about employee welfare and make sure that they’re happy and fulfilled in their jobs. So, it will shine a light on some of the things that will make your business run better and feel better, even if you don’t get certified.

That’s all so true, and I’m going to steal that statement of “Clarity is kind.” I think that’s so important, and clarity to our consumers as well. One thing that I love that you had on your website—because I care a lot about the end of life of our products—is that you have something called the Full Circle Program. Can you share what this is and just the details? Because I was digging into it a little bit, and I just think it’s so innovative and certainly something that you don’t see in the space. If you can share more about that?

Yeah, the Full Circle Artist Program really did come from addressing that aspect—the end of life of our product. As Leslie mentioned, like, you know, we are in jewelry; we're not creating a ton of waste. Our product is quite small. We learned that most people don’t just throw jewelry in the garbage—they donate it, they give it to friends. So, we felt really good about that, except we wanted to have an answer to, like, what is the end of life of our product, and how can we use that to complete the cycle? But also, we kind of wanted to engage... art has always been near and dear to my heart. I started this company as a creative and always kind of felt like that was the core of what we do—we are creative and artistic in our endeavors. So, we thought, what a cool way to kind of address both things through one program.

So, we thought about, okay, what if we could sponsor an artist—a local artist—to use some of our end-of-life either supplies, materials, or jewelry itself that’s been damaged by consumers or during the manufacturing process to spark conversations about sustainability, end-of-life consumerism, but also to kind of put that twist on it and talk about arts and being creative? Because I think sustainability sometimes, like, you know, being an entrepreneur with our values in sustainability, it feels heavy sometimes. There’s a lot of work that can be done—there’s always more to do. And at the end of the day, though, like, we kind of wanted to do something that made it feel more approachable and also just to support artists. We live in Vancouver, it’s much like Montreal—a very big, vibrant creative community. So, we just kind of thought it would be the perfect blend of some of our values, and it has been an incredible experience for everyone.

I think people who work in our company love the experience of... you know, we do the call-out, we get the applications, we get to see so many cool artists that are in our area when they go and submit their application, and then we get to go through the process of working with them for a year. We get to see their faces when they pick up the materials, and they’re like, “Oh my, it’s like Christmas when I open the boxes and saw, you know, it’s just so cool.” Then from their perspective, it’s been really neat to see how excited they get. They love kind of challenging themselves with working with a completely new material. It’s just a way... it’s a time for them to kind of flex their creative muscles as well. So, it was kind of just an idea that I had, and it’s been a really beautiful part of our journey in terms of sustainability because it allows us also to kind of broach that conversation with our customers in a more natural way because we’re talking about our product. Sometimes it feels like, again, there are great companies out there like Tentree where their whole mission and brand and product is kind of rooted in sustainability. And for us, in the beginning, it felt like we were a bit out of left field being like, “Oh, we’re a fashion jewelry brand, we just make products,” and it felt like, “How do we come across this conversation in a more natural, authentic way?” Because, you know, there's who we are as people, but then who we are as a brand, and it felt a little bit like greenwashing to be a brand that all of a sudden started speaking about sustainability even though it wasn’t as natural and apparent in our overall brand, you know, brand voice.

So, I think the Full Circle Artist Program really was kind of like the key moment where we were like, “This is the way we can really incorporate so many different values that we have, speak about sustainability from a very authentic place, and kind of inject it into our communication in a way that felt really authentic and approachable to our customer that didn’t feel so daunting and heavy.”

I know another community connection that you had is through a specific collection that you’ve done. You’ve done the Riot Collection where you’ve worked with the QMUNITY organization. Can you share a bit more about this? Then I would also just love to pick your brain for our listeners who are thinking about creating partnerships with certain local organizations and are trying to figure out, okay, well, who do we partner with, whether it’s donations or collaborations? How do you think about that when you work through the different collections?

Yeah, that’s a great question and something that we had to put a lot of thought into over the last couple of years because we’ve done a fair bit of this now. The Riot Collection specifically started when a customer reached out to us. We had this little gold necklace that was a rainbow shape, and they were like, “You should make this an actual rainbow necklace and give back to an organization.” We were like, “We should do that! That’s a great idea!” So, once we started that product development, we were like, “Okay, well, what organization do we want to support?” Some of our team members did research to find different organizations. When we are looking to partner with other organizations, we do a lot of research—we read about them, we really value transparency, we want to make sure that our values are aligned. So, we found a couple of really good contenders for this partnership, and it was a tough choice, but we ended up deciding to partner with QMUNITY largely because they were local and the types of services and supports that they provided were really meaningful to the people that were receiving them. I actually know people—my neighbors included, some other people—who had told me about QMUNITY and what an amazing resource they were for their family members. So, when we decided to partner with them, we really liked the youth programs that they offer, the counseling services, and they have some great programming for seniors and older adults, which you maybe wouldn’t necessarily think of. The fact that 2SLGBTQIA+ older folks run into obstacles later in life, like when they are going into a care home or things like that, there are other factors that impact their ability to feel included in their spaces. So, having resources and queer community support for them is really meaningful. We loved all the different work that they were doing. We vetted them through our kind of value alignment process, and we saw a lot of alignment. It’s also just a lot of fun to partner with an organization that’s so ingrained in the Vancouver queer community. They have amazing events, there are really lovely people there, and it’s been really rewarding for me as a queer person and also as a parent of a gender-diverse child. It’s just been really nice to have this partnership with this organization that our business gets to give back to but also does things that I can see having a meaningful impact on people’s lives around me all the time.

I would say too, I think one of the things that you were asking is, how, if we would suggest, how to find an organization? I think Leslie has demonstrated it’s like, you know, organizations that are doing important things and meaningful things are obviously top of mind. But also, we look for organizations that have a lot of transparency on how their funding is used. That is something that is super important to us because we know that, you know, like any business, charitable organizations can have a lot of bureaucracy. There are different levels of quality, and so we do like to make sure that every dollar that we raise or donate gets used wisely. So, we like to kind of challenge by looking into their business practices as well.

There’s a website that we’ve referenced before for larger organizations when we’ve done fundraising and giveback called Charity Navigator that does a lot of that work for you. For small local organizations like QMUNITY, that doesn’t show up on there, but if you’re looking to donate to a bigger company or partner with a bigger charitable organization, I should say, that’s a good resource to check and see if they’re on there.

Thank you for those tips. I think those are fantastic just to kind of get that baseline. You also mentioned a partnership that you had earlier on, or at least a collaboration where you pulled in an outside consultant to kind of help start with the sustainability journey. Is this something that you would recommend for those entrepreneurs who are listening or maybe even leaders of small to medium-sized organizations that have decided, okay, we really want to take sustainability seriously, we’re not 100% sure how to do it? Would you recommend that consultant format, or maybe even as a first step before hiring somebody just to do sustainability? What are your thoughts on that process?

Yeah, we reached out to somebody locally, and it was an immense value for us. I think that was the first meeting where we were like, “Okay, we’re going to take this seriously, so let’s invest some dollars into learning more.” Finding out that, you know, it was kind of, like I said, the lifelong learner, the curiosity part that really sparked that need to bring someone else in. It was amazing—it was really eye-opening to kind of see our business with that lens of sustainability. It was where we learned about the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the fact that sustainability has such far-reaching facets. It’s not just about the planet or the environment, as you would maybe assume. Things like hunger, education, gender equality—it was such a great resource for us, not only to look at how to make our business more sustainable, but it gave us a little bit of a report card, real data on where we stand as a business. It was also a really big educational tool for us. Like we said, things that were already important to us, like gender equality and education—things that are not typically associated with sustainability—were brought to the forefront for us. So, it really gave us a lot to consider within our business. So, I think if you are able to, it’s a really great place to start just to give you a bit of a report card, some educational tools on how to look at your business.

I think that was where we learned about the air travel being our... we kind of thought, “Oh my gosh,” you know, when we started, we thought like fashion brands, like, what are our products and, you know, where’s the waste, and how much plastic should we, you know, are we using in the business? But it was really eye-opening to speak of that, like, you know, one less flight in a year would make more of an impact on our business than, you know, polybags that we’re using to protect our jewelry, which is also important for our business because you have to look at the things that you need to do to maintain your business, right? So, it was really eye-opening to see the levers you can pull in order to make a bigger impact, which is why I think we went that route because we wanted that real data. We didn’t want to just do the thing where it’s like, okay, we’re going to get rid of all the plastic, and now everything is recycled. Meanwhile, we’re flying all over the world, you know, producing more carbon. Because I think that’s essentially one of the pitfalls we didn’t want to fall into—just going based on what looks good and what our assumptions are. We wanted to make a real difference and, you know, address those problems.

I think being a business of our size—and I’m sure this is the case for a lot of small to medium-sized businesses—it’s just really not realistic for us to have an employee in the company that has the level of depth of knowledge in this regard. Elaine and I are both passionate about sustainability, but we don’t have an education in how all of this stuff works. I think as an entrepreneur, you’re juggling so many other balls in the air, to be like, “No, I have to be an expert in everything sustainability,” is a big ask. So, I think relying on a really key partner that you trust to know what they’re talking about, that can kind of marry their awareness and understanding of sustainability with your awareness and understanding of your business, and find, like Elaine said, those actual impactful solutions as opposed to just what seems like it’s going to look cool.

It’s so great to see that progress and kind of maturity over the years. Elaine, Lover’s Tempo actually just celebrated your seventh birthday, so happy birthday on that front. Coming up to this important milestone, I would love for each of you to weigh in on this. Are you working on any projects right now that just genuinely excite you and that you can share? I know sometimes there are NDAs and everything like that involved, but if there’s anything that you can share with our listeners?

I think for me, I will say we’re in the process of opening and moving into a new headquarters. Like I said, Lover’s Tempo was started in, you know, my basement suite apartment once upon a time, and right now we’re currently renting an office. Over the years, we’ve kind of been looking for a permanent kind of future home for Lover’s Tempo, so we are in the process—the base building is getting occupancy permitting, and then we will be working to build our dream home and then moving in within the next few months. So, that’s something that is exciting for us, and again, it’s one of those things where we let our designers know as we build the space that we want to keep sustainability in mind. We’re not really sure what that’s going to look like as we build, but again, it’s one of those things where we don’t have the answers, we don’t know what it is, but we put it out there. I think it’s important that everyone involved in our project kind of, like, maybe it perks up their ears, and they go, “Oh wow, yeah, that is important, and what are the ways?” Then it kind of starts a little bit of a chain effect where they will then go, “Oh, what are some things that we can consider because sustainability is important to Lover’s Tempo?” Then they’ll learn from that and then hopefully be able to apply it in their business as well. 

So, yeah, I think that’s definitely the biggest thing that’s exciting us these days. Not many other things on the horizon with that one breathing down our necks.

Understandable, understandable. That’s so exciting though, and I love that you bring in other members of the team too to kind of be able to see the process but then also be able to spark interest on those different areas. You did mention it a little bit earlier that sometimes working in the sustainability space can feel a little bit heavy. To be honest, I’m the first person to raise my hand on that one. How have you found over the years that you’re able to kind of refill your own cup or put your own oxygen mask on first so that you can come back and continuously recommit to this work?

I think I’ve never felt that heaviness more than I did at the beginning of this year. It was just kind of all... so many different things were coming to a head at once. It was like things were feeling really daunting and overwhelming, and it just so happened that it was right before the B Corp Champions Retreat happened in Vancouver that I was able to attend. That was such a flip switch for me, where I went from being like, “Oh, I don’t know if I can do this,” to being surrounded by an amazing community of like-minded business leaders that are like, “We have to do this, and this is how I’m doing it,” and kind of like, you know, it was a lot of therapy in a way of like, “Wow, this really is hard, and we’re all struggling with it,” but also seeing the success it’s created and the impact that it’s had. So, surrounding myself with other people that were on the same mission felt really good, which is great. But I think the other piece of the puzzle is finding that balance for drive with this purpose work and self-care, and understanding that you can’t fill the cup of sustainability if your cup is empty. So, taking that time and space to care for yourself and balance your mental health and well-being against these really heavy and important projects because if you deplete yourself to the point where you can’t do it anymore, then it just ends. So, that’s not good for the work either.

And I think the way to do that is to give yourself grace and space and time to slow down and relax, but also to build a really great team of people around you. I think Elaine and my partnership has been amazing in my life, both in this sense and in every sense, that sometimes, in life, it can get overwhelming. We’re both mothers of two young children, and we’re juggling entrepreneurship and raising kids and all of these things, but we do a really great job of checking in with each other. When one of us is at the end of their rope, we’ll be like, “Okay, I’ve got some love to give, I’ll pick you up today,” and then kind of flip-flopping maybe the next week and being the one that needs the support. Then there are some times where we’re both at the end of our rope, where we just kind of go, “This is just hard, and we just need to take a step back right now and come back to this another time.” So, giving yourself grace, surrounding yourself with an amazing group of people—our team as well, our employees are also really key in that support system. Doing it alone would be really hard; doing it in a community within your company and in a broader community makes it a lot easier to shoulder that burden.

I think too, entrepreneurship and this work in sustainability are kind of like... they go hand in hand where there is no end. I think as a small business owner, in the beginning, I always had this illusion that when I got to this point, I was going to be done, you know? Then you get there, and that line just got further. I think that is the same in our sustainability work. For me, it kind of reminded me of what that exhaustion felt like as an entrepreneur, to kind of always be waiting to feel the satisfaction of reaching the end. Then, you know, it’s seven years in, there is no end, and that’s kind of the way that we look at our work in sustainability—is that we have to just be comfortable with that feeling that there is no end. Once you accept that, I think it’s easier to understand the pace at which you need to kind of go. There will be ups and downs, and you’re going to lean on people along the way, but it’s kind of just like this lesson in patience and perseverance—understanding and being accepting that, you know, you’re never going to achieve an end. Nobody’s gonna say you’re done, so just surrounding yourself with people so that you can kind of lean on people along the way and accepting that it’s a long journey with no end in sight.

I think we’ve talked about, when we did a lot of work on the brand side, about how we wanted to speak about sustainability in our company. We talked about it being a journey—it’s not like a milestone; it’s not some sort of end goal that we’re going to get to. We use the language “planting the seeds for a sustainable future.” It takes... you have to plant the seeds, and you have to let them grow, and it’s not going to be done. It’s an organic thing that’s an ever-changing process.

Well, I would love for our listeners to be able to follow along with that process. Where would you recommend they check out, obviously to see all of your sustainability work, but also to see your incredibly beautiful jewelry? So, where would be those best places?

I guess online?

Yeah, online. You can follow Instagram; it’s where we post a lot of updates as we’re going along. If you subscribe to our email list, you’ll be kept in the loop about all things Lover’s Tempo, including our sustainability journey. You can read more about how we exist as a company and our sustainability at loverstempo.com.

Thank you so much to both of you. I find your approach so refreshing. You’re both so curious about sustainability, and I love that abundant mindset—it’s exactly what this movement needs. So, thank you for all that you’re doing. We do love to end every episode with the same question, which is, what do you think it will take for businesses and leaders to be resilient going forward?

If you’re talking about resilience in the collective resilience of humanity, I think one of the big pieces of the puzzle that’s missing, to be frank, is accountability for larger corporations. I think we see small businesses being resilient all the time, especially over the last four years. I mean, it’s been curveball after curveball after curveball. I don’t feel like... I think that all of the small businesses that I know are being resilient every single day, and I would love to see the consequences and the accountability for larger corporations be more.

Yeah, I think I agree. You know, I think the last four years have been so hard on small businesses, and we’ve seen the stories recently. Actually, just last week, we know that about the wildfires in Jasper. We had one of our small retailers there just email us a story that they lost every single thing that they owned through the fires, and their email to us was talking about how their business was still standing, their main priority is to open their doors, and to ensure us that they were going to pay their bills. And for us, it’s like, if that doesn’t show resilience, I don’t know what does. So, I think from a small business level, we see that resilience of small business owners getting up and opening their doors and doing what it takes to make it happen. We really just need to see change on a larger scale—some support at the government level, larger corporations, you know, to kind of boost our morale because we’re doing it every day.

You certainly are, and thank you for all that you’re doing. It has just been incredible, honestly, learning about Lover’s Tempo and what you share. Whoever’s doing your marketing, I don’t know, but one of you and your team is phenomenal, so hats off to them. But thank you so much for joining us today and sharing a little bit more about what you’re doing.

Thanks for having us, Lauren. It was really nice to have this conversation.

Thank you.