Thursday, September 8, 2011

Gals We Admire: Kara Downs

Photo by: Judy Chee


Small business owner Kara Downs loves that her career allows her to network and build interconnecting relationships amongst her friends and business contacts. She concedes that it's not always easy to make ends meet in her field, but Downs believes that persistence is the key.

Name: Kara Downs
Profession: Small Business Owner of Queen Bee
Twitter handle: @Dolly_Pumpkin

Describe your typical work day, from start to finish
Vegan breakfast with my super punk rock boy, then off to my personal assistant position for the awesome family I work for part-time. Home to take my son to percussion classes—then usually crafting, working on social media and events planning for my other baby, Queen Bee.

When you were a kid, what did you want to grow up to be?
I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was growing up. I realized that despite how much I would get to help animals, the times when I couldn’t would devastate me.

What do you enjoy most about your job?
I truly enjoy networking and building interconnecting relationships amongst my friends and business contacts. I feel so fortunate that Queen Bee has brought so many amazing people into my life.

What do you find to be the biggest challenge in your profession?
Retail is always a challenging field to be in, making ends meet is not always easy. I do believe that in time though, given enough love and faith people will "get" what you do.

Do you believe you had a "calling" for your profession?
Working for other people, in a conventional setting so to speak, has never worked for me. I probably work more now than I have in my whole life, but I love what I do and it allows me the flexibility I want for my son.

What are the three most important pieces of career advice you would give to other Canadian Career Gals?
Plan ahead. Research the field you want to be in and make sure you’ve covered yourself financially as it will save you a lot of stress in the long run.

Persistence is key, anything worth having won’t come easy.

Love, love, love what you do! It’s the only thing that will get you through those times when it all doesn’t seem worth it.

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