This August 20th — my 68th birthday — I'll stand on a stage at BMO's head office in Montréal and tell a room of Indigenous entrepreneurs the truth about how I got here.
The Canadian Council for Indigenous Business invited me to give a 7-minute "Lightning Talk" at their Indigenous Business Networking Event, alongside my friend Thawennontie Thomas. I said yes before they finished the sentence.
Here's a little of what I'll share.
I didn't build a straight line. I built a series of comebacks.
At eighteen, a skating accident nearly ended my life — and I had to learn to walk again. I got back up, and poured everything into design: a career that reached QVC, Walmart's George line, Cirque du Soleil, and more than $300 million in sales.
At fifty-four, a serious illness nearly took me. I got back up — and out of that fight I built Cydney Mar Wellness.
And then, when I least expected it, I lost everything to bankruptcy. On paper, it was all gone. I got back up and rebuilt from the very bottom.
Three falls. Three times back up.
My old skating coach gave me the line I've lived by. I once asked him, "How many times do I have to fall before I land my double axel?" He said: "Until you land it."
But here's what I most want the founders I mentor to hear: I didn't keep getting up because I'm made of steel. I kept getting up because I eventually came home to who I am — and because I learned that security is not the opposite of ambition. It's what frees you to make brave, clear-headed decisions.
That bankruptcy taught me the thing I now build my whole practice around: founders rarely struggle to make money as much as they struggle to plan around it — what to pay yourself, when you can safely leave the day job, how to carry a tax bill. When you're not lying awake about the roof over your head, you make far better decisions about your brand.
That's the work I do now, and honestly, it's become my legacy work: helping founders turn the idea in their hearts into something real and financially sound — something they're proud of and that also lets them sleep at night.
If you're holding an idea, or dusting yourself off after a fall, my DMs are always open. (I even built a free workbook to help you score an idea in about five honest minutes — reach out and I'll happily share it.)
And if you'll be in Montréal on August 20th, come find me. CCIB's event runs 4–7 PM at BMO's head office, 119 rue Saint-Jacques — free and open to everyone.
You can register here → [CCIB event page].
When one of us rises, we all rise.
— Cydney
100% Aboriginal-Owned · Proudly Nlaka'pamux, Coast Salish