In today’s fast-paced world, mastering productivity has become a necessity for success. As we navigate various roles and responsibilities, women leaders are at the forefront, sharing invaluable insights and strategies to optimize efficiency and achieve our goals. We had the opportunity to meet with four inspiring entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, uncovering their tried-and-true tips to maximize productivity and drive success in both personal and professional spheres. Whether you’re a seasoned executive, an aspiring entrepreneur, or simply seeking to enhance your daily routine, read on as we glean wisdom from these trailblazing women and unlock the keys to peak productivity.
Mary Oliviera, Mary’s Brigadeiro
Mary Oliveira, the visionary founder of Mary’s Brigadeiro, embarked on her entrepreneurial journey in December 2014, armed with a dream to spread happiness, joy, and fun through the art of chocolate creation. Originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, Mary’s passion for chocolate and Brigadeiros flourished in the cozy confines of her mother’s kitchen, affectionately known as ‘Dona Branca’. It was here that Mary learned the cherished family recipes, techniques, and the invaluable lesson that a love for great food elevates every culinary experience.
Drawing inspiration from her upbringing, where Brigadeiros symbolized shared moments of laughter and camaraderie among friends and family, Mary sought to recreate these cherished memories in her new home. In Brazil, Brigadeiros are synonymous with happiness, gracing everything from casual get-togethers to elaborate celebrations with their irresistible charm. Here she shares her best tips to maximize productivity within her business!
— I’m constantly meeting with corporate clients, visiting strategic places around the city and even travelling to Ottawa to meet with Ministers for Small Business and New York to run a chocolate workshop as a chocolate ambassador Callebaur company. My Mac keeps up with me all the time without having to stop to charge and switching between locations, in person and virtual, and it fits in my shoulder bag and it light to carry.
— QuickBooks is just one of the many apps that support my business workflows. I am able to quickly create a new invoice with the customer information that was sent to me via email.I love using TouchID to sign easily. I can quickly copy and paste from the Excel file they sent me, which I actually just open up in Numbers which already comes on my Mac, and input the information into the invoice.
— My MacBook Air is so thin and light that I take everywhere with me and it has enough battery life to last all day. It’s so powerful when I am multi-tasking between tasks that it saves me time and is really the centralized hub of my operations. The way I look at it is, the cost of Mac is an investment for time management, the return on my investment is my time which cannot be replaced!
Angelica Georges, Student Content Creator
Angelica Georges, a fourth-year student at Concordia University in Montreal, is the creative force behind That Relatable Student, a platform dedicated to providing organization and productivity tips for fellow students. Drawing from her own experiences as a high school student in need of support, Angelica launched That Relatable Student during the pandemic, aiming to assist students in staying organized, motivated, and connected.
Since its inception, That Relatable Student has seen explosive growth, particularly on TikTok, where Angelica’s relatable content resonated with viewers, amassing an impressive one million followers within the first six months, and doubling to two million within the first year. With an audience of 2.3 million on TikTok and 830K on Instagram, Angelica continues to reach students worldwide with her positive and helpful content, offering guidance and support from one student to another. Here are her tips to boost productivity when doing content creation.
There’s so many ways you can personalize your Mac to help you stay organized – and motivated! Here’s a few things that I love to do:
— Organized Desktop Background, Add Webapps to your desktop, Add Widgets to your desktop, I’ve even change Folder Colours and Cursor Colour to match the vibe, cause why not!
— “Summarize” feature – summarize any text with a right click (Right Click > services > Summarize)
— Now, a lot of students don’t know that it’s easy for anyone to summarize a long text on Mac. I use this for summarize an article while I’m looking for source material for an essay, among other things. To do that I have turned on the feature through System Preferences. And when I’m on an article > Right Click > Services > Summarize and voila.
— Continuity Sketch and Continuity Markup via iPad (Press space bar on a document > Turn on Bluetooth > Press Markup > extend to iPad)
— There are several Continuity features that make it easy to work across devices seamlessly. I will be sharing two with you that I love using.
— So first there’s the Continuity Sketch and Continuity Markup feature where you can make live edits to your document via your iPad using your Apple Pencil. I love this when annotating or studying a document in a group setting, or even for presentations.
— Sidecar: Using my iPad as a monitor (“Screen mirroring” > “mirror or extend to” > “iPad”)
— Whenever I’m studying on the go — in a coffee shop or on campus in the library I love to use my iPad as a second screen — it so easily integrates as a monitor and allows me to mimic my at home setup no matter where I am.
Lesley Hampton, Fashion Designer/Model/Stylist/Public Speaker
Lesley Hampton, an Anishinaabe artist and fashion designer, focuses on mental wellness and body neutrality in fashion, drawing from her global upbringing and Indigenous heritage. Renowned in the industry, she’s been featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 and hailed by VOGUE. With collaborations including Toronto Raptors and Nike, she advocates for Indigenous entrepreneurship and diversity in fashion, speaking at prestigious institutions like Parsons School of Design.
Her designs have graced renowned events worldwide and adorned celebrities like Lily Gladstone. Among her accolades are the 2023 Young Aboriginal Entrepreneur Award and the 2021 Fashion Impact Award. Through her artistry, Lesley reshapes fashion’s narrative, inspiring inclusivity and representation. How does she do it all? Read below.
— Mac has been in my life since undergrad with my first MacBook Air and its portability, battery were essential travelling across campus.
— Safari — I have so many tabs because I have to work on so many things at the same time. Because I wear so many hats I have to organize my day to day.
— Canva – My team and I frequently collaborate in Canva. We upload images to Dropbox and we’d pull them into Canva. A typical project that we were working last week for instance was editing together the 2024 campaign images with text imagery for wholesale/retail pitch deck or for pitch decks for my styling work.
Our photographer sent us a selection of 5 thumbnails from our shoot in January. This was my favourite image. But we wanted to also add the date the collection would show. The Title of the collection as well as crests that indigenous fashion arts sent for marketplace and runway. So I’m going to go ahead and do that. This is actually something that I use to do in Photoshop, but being able to collaborate in Canva allows it way easier for my team to make suggestions or collaborate real-time with me while I’m editing photos.
— The campaign image is just one example, this same workflow is how we also worked on different pitch decks for styling.
Tina Nguyen, XXL Scrunchie
Tina Nguyen, a mural artist turned entrepreneur, found inspiration for her oversized hair accessories while painting. What began as handmade scrunchies for herself evolved into XXL Scrunchie, sparked by a Christmas gift for her cousin. From her parents’ basement to a 2700 sq ft warehouse, Tina leads a team of 10, making thousands smile worldwide. Yet, XXL Scrunchie remains a family affair, with Tina’s parents contributing love and support. For Tina, art is happiness—whether on murals or in creating beauty from fabric. She believes in consistency, hard work, and living life to the fullest. With #gobigorgohome as their motto, Tina and her team remind us: We’re all born to be XXL. Read below for her best tips at work!
— Mac plays a role in the marketing and logistics of my business. And it works beautifully with iPhone.
— Don’t mind me, I’m just going to set up my phone to film me packing an order:
— You can pack and pick product using the Shopify app and Shipstation. And create content with iPhone and Mac at the same time — Airdropping to Final Cut Pro to edit videos.
— We cross post on all our platforms to make the most of our work and get more eyes on my small business.
