With Michelle Osbourne, Empowerment Speaker, Self-Image Activist, and founder of Michelle Osbourne & Co.
Michelle Osbourne is an Empowerment Speaker, Self-Image Activist, and founder of Michelle Osbourne & Co. Known for helping women reclaim their confidence and take up space boldly at every stage of life, Michelle brings an unapologetic, intersectional feminist lens to everything she does. A CBC Black Changemaker and shortlisted for the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s Feminist Creator Prize, she’s partnered with top brands like Amazon Prime Video, Dove, and Interac. Her work has been featured on TV, radio, podcasts, and in publications like Today’s Parent, and HELLO!. Whether she’s delivering a keynote or inspiring thousands online with her no-nonsense energy, Michelle’s mission is simple; help women show up loudly, proudly, and without apology.
Transcript
00:00:01 Louise
Hello, and welcome to Season 8 of the Canadian Women's Foundation podcast, Alright, Now What?
Gender equality and justice, where we live, work, learn, and play is the goal, and it makes life better for everyone.
Alright, Now What? remains a space where we ask, how do we move from awareness to action? But this season, we're also shifting the story. Through powerful storytelling, expert interviews, and bold conversations, we'll explore what true equity can look like, especially for those who are too often silenced or overlooked.
The work of the Canadian Women's Foundation and its partners takes place on traditional First Nations, Inuit, and Metis territories. We are grateful for the opportunity to meet and work on this land. However, we recognize that land acknowledgments are not enough. We need to pursue truth, reconciliation, decolonization, and allyship in an ongoing effort to make right with all our relations.
00:01:07 Louise
I'm Louise O'Shea at the Canadian Women's Foundation. Today, we're joined by Michelle Osbourne, an Empowerment Speaker, Self-Image Activist, and founder of Michelle Osbourne & Co. Michelle is also one of our judges for the Feminist Creator Prize this year. Together, we will explore the realities of entrepreneurship. Michelle will share the lessons that shaped her as a feminist creator and why authenticity matters more than perfection and why community matters more than follower counts.
So you are an online creator, an entrepreneur, a communications specialist, a mother, what can't you do?
00:01:46 Michelle
There's a lot I can't do. And I don't do all of that well all at the same time, I tell you. I think one of the things that I've learned is that I can't do it all. And I don't know it all. And especially when you have children, they bring a whole other outlook on life where you have still a lot to work on. So no, I don't do it all. And I used to think that I could. And I think that's one of the things we'll get into the conversation today.
00:02:23 Louise
So Michelle, let's talk about your journey. What came first, starting your own business or being an online creator?
00:02:32 Michelle
Definitely being a creator. It was never my plans to be an entrepreneur. It was actually something that I had to do out of necessity. So I moved to Quebec City about 10 years ago for love, as a lot of people do. And, I met somebody who I thought that I was going to spend the rest of my life with. That relationship didn't work out, but we did have a child together. And so when we split up, I had to figure out a way to support her because essentially the partner I was with was supporting me.
Quebec is a predominantly French-speaking province. I had zero, and when I say zero, I had zero knowledge of French. And so learning how to support myself in a place where I could not speak the language was essential.
And my journey kind of started during the pandemic, as a lot of people's online journeys started during the pandemic. When it first started, we were all online. We were all losing our minds. The George Floyd incident happened, and it came to a point where I was feeling I had something to say, but I didn't know how to say it. And then I found TikTok. And almost immediately, I was drawn to it. And I started my journey there.
And I actually, right off the bat became quite successful. Now TikTok is a lot harder to be successful at, but when the pandemic first started and it was new, it felt a lot easier. And so that's kind of where my journey started. And then along the way, I realized through the pandemic that I had to have multiple sources of income because at the time I was doing contract work as a literacy professional, which is also part of my job. And then I started doing brand deals, speaking, and then that's where Michelle Osborne and Co came about.
So really being an entrepreneur came out of necessity, not out of want. I think entrepreneurship is hard. I think it's not for everybody. And although all of that, it has completely changed my life in a good way.
00:04:56 Louise
So let's dig into that a little bit – becoming an entrepreneur out of necessity. What do you think the biggest challenges and barriers are to entrepreneurship these days?
00:05:10 Michelle
First of all, one thing I really want to say, and I said this before, entrepreneurship is not for everybody. And I think social media makes you feel like you have to, or like you should want to do that, right? And I will say at the beginning of my journey, I felt like, yeah, like everybody's doing it, like this is why I'm doing it. But you have to do it because you love it, not for money, because you will not be successful if it's only about money, I'm going to say that for sure.
I really believe in focusing on within instead of external. So that means, you know, doing it because for a purpose, because you want to, not to get external validation for someone to give you a pat on their back. So that's really important thing I want to tell people.
Second thing is consistency. I don't think people realize how success is about consistency. It's not if you're the best at what you're doing, it's not if you're the best looking. The most successful people are consistent. And that is one thing I had to learn in this game to be able to keep going right now. And it's one of the reasons I think that a lot of people don't keep going.
It's like when you go to the gym in New Year's, right? Everybody goes in January and they're excited and they're like, and they give it their all, and they give it their all. And then after two or three months, they're like, I can't give it anymore.
Entrepreneurship is a journey.
It is not a race.
There is no finish line.
And I really think that people think that it happens overnight. It doesn't. I am nowhere near where I want to be. And I've been only in this game for, I don't know, five, six years, not even, maybe three years, actually. And so I probably have a good maybe 10 plus more years to keep going at this. But I think consistency, people don't realize is so important in this game.
You need to love what you do. I think you need to diversify what you do. I used to think entrepreneurship meant, you know, you do one thing, and you need to be good at that one thing. In fact, I think it's even more important to have more than one thing, because if that one thing doesn't work out or if there's no money coming in it, you have these other revenue streams to pull from. And so I think those things are important.
I also think it's really important that it's about the company you keep, people who are uplifting you, people who are cheering you on, because there's going to be a lot of people who think you're crazy. One of the other things is people think that, what are people going to think about me? You need to put the noise to the side about what other people think about you, or you'll never make it in this entrepreneurial game wondering what people think about me, waiting for their validation, hoping for their validation. If you keep thinking, oh my gosh, people are going to think I'm stupid or whatever the case may be, if you cannot get past that, then this is going to be a hard game for you.
00:08:24 Louise
And you are the true embodiment to me of showing up online authentically. And I can tell that when you talk about consistency, this is really important to you. What does it mean to be your true authentic self online as a creator?
00:08:41 Michelle
When I first started being an online creator, I was now looking back, very performative. At that time, I didn't think I was performative. I didn't know anything else other than I'm on TikTok and I want to shake my booty and put on makeup. And sometimes I took hours putting on makeup and trying to think of all of these things. And now I realize that my best self and my best work is just talking about my everyday life and my experiences and sharing them with my community. Because my goal has never been to be the greatest content creator and have the most amount of followers. In fact, I think it's the last thing on my mind.
My goal has always been and always will be about creating a community of like-minded individuals who want to learn how to live their best life. And if you are or not interested in my content, that's okay. If you join and you leave my community, that's okay, because we don't always like the same things all the time.
But I think one of the things about being a content creator, and something I had to learn in the process, is that not everybody's going to like you, and it's okay that people leave. because I leave other people's pages all the time because I realize their content is no longer for me. And I think just being consistent and also reinventing yourself, knowing when it's time to to move on or to pivot in what you're doing and what you're talking about.
So now I think it's really important for me to show me authentically and the freedom 50, well, I'm 51 now, at this stage in my life where I don't want to be performative anymore. I don't want to put on 2 hours worth of makeup and always dance in front of the screen. Although I love dancing, so I will keep doing that. But the thing I'm trying to say is that there's this freedom that comes with being 50, where it's okay that I show up with no makeup and, you know, dark circles under my eyes.
And my best work, I have to tell you, my best work is when I'm in the shower and I jump out of the shower and I just pick up my phone and start talking. Anytime I put like, you know, hours into a video, nobody resonates with it. But when I just have something on my mind and I just got to get it out and I have something to tell you, everybody wants to talk about it. So that made me realize how important authenticity is and was because that's what drives my community and that's what keeps me doing what I want to do because I don't have to think of anything. I get up and I say what's on my mind and that's my content. Literally, that's my content now.
00:11:42 Louise
I love that. And it's, I mean, it must be so rewarding to be in that place where now the feedback from your community is exactly what they want, like your true self, your true thoughts. Tell me how you, you've talked about, you know, the noise and the negativity on social media and in entrepreneurship, the kind of resistance you can face. How do you handle that? How do you, as Michelle, manage that noise?
00:12:16 Michelle
I've been really lucky on social media, even though I'm A plus-sized woman. I would say my hate has been like less than 1%. And I know there's content creators who get a lot of it, especially those who are in the body positive or body liberation space. But when I do get it, I use it as a learning opportunity for my audience. I no longer clap back. And in fact, I think there has been only one time where I've clapped back and had something to say. And I say, actually, your comment, I'm going to turn it into a learning opportunity for my audience.
Because one of the things that I had to realize being a content creator is that not everybody's going to like me and not everyone's going to agree with me as much as I would love them to. And guess what? Not all of my content is for everybody. And I know this because not all of everybody else's content is for me either.
So it's okay that someone thinks I'm attractive. It's okay that someone thinks I'm disgusting. It's okay for me. Some people might disagree, but there's some people I don't like either. And so we're all allowed to be able to feel those ways. Now, do I think they have no time on their hands to have time to talk and type the derogatory comments to people? I really think you have no time. If there's things that I don't like, I keep scrolling. You must really have no time, you have, sorry, a lot of time on your hands, excuse me, to have to do all of those things. But I will always turn it into a learning experience for my audience and truthfully, for myself as well.
00:14:02 Louise
Yeah, that's a really beautiful way to turn it on its head. So, in talking about key lessons and education and bringing things back to your community, what advice would you give to women who are building their own path in whatever industry that may be? What are those golden nuggets that you have to share?
00:14:27 Michelle
I would say first and foremost, know that you don't have to do it all by yourself.
Ask for help.
I feel like we're in a world where, and we've built this, and I was part of it too, where be the strong woman, stand in your power. You can do it all.
I can't do it all.
I don't want to do it all.
And I need help.
And as a Virgo, that was hard for me to admit. I was like, I can't. Like, somebody help me. Sometimes I need to go crawl on the couch and cry and be like, I have so much work to do. I just don't want to do it. Sometimes those things happen. So giving yourself grace.
One of the things that, like I said before, knowing that this journey of entrepreneurship is, it's a journey, it's not a destination. It's a marathon, it's not a sprint. So if you want it to happen overnight, it's not your game. It's not your game as much as you want to be an overnight success.
And I do understand that there are people who go viral almost instantly, I get that, but that's like less than 1%. The masses we have to work. And part of working is being consistent. And I'm gonna, I tell my clients this all the time who come to me and they're like, Michelle, you know, no one's following me. I get one like, and this is happening. And I also say, but you post once a month. People forget about you so easily. Why? Because we have lives to live. And if you keep thinking that they're gonna think about the story that you posted 3 weeks ago, when you barely remember what you had for breakfast is untrue. And that's why I tell people consistency over everything. You don't have to be the best at everything.
Another thing I wanted to let people know is there's room for everybody. Not everyone is going to do it exactly like you. And I think a lot of people don't start their journey because they're like, well, everybody's doing a podcast, I'm not going to start my podcast. Or everybody's doing jewelry, I don't want to make jewelry. But not everybody does it like you. So you have to find your own way of doing stuff.
And what I learned the hard way is stop trying to be somebody you're not. You know, there's a lot of beauty influencers out there that are great – don't follow necessarily what they do. Some of them who are really great, take their nuggets and be like, oh yeah, this is what I like about them, but create your own path because people aren't stupid. They can see when you're insincere. And that's something that I had to learn as I was building my platform. And if you look at my TikToks from day one to my TikToks now, it is like night and day.
I spoke at a women's health literacy conference a few weeks ago, and one of the speakers stood up and said, Michelle, I cannot believe how much you have changed from the beginning of your journey to now, from the performative and all the makeup to now let's just have some real talk, like you're my girlfriend and let's talk about it. And so authenticity in this game is so important. And I don't think people realize that.
And know that it's okay also to have a full-time job if you can do it while you're doing this game. Don't think it has to be one or the other. You still got to pay your bills, girl. You still got to pay your bills.
So if you take on other things so you can still do this other stuff that you love, do it until you get to a place where you don't have to do it anymore. Or maybe you don't. Maybe you like having a part-time job or full-time job and you like keeping this as a side gig.
There is no one way to do entrepreneurship.
Give yourself grace and go down your own path.
Don't follow what other people are doing because you know what's right for you.
00:18:45 Louise
I really love that. And also for women to ask for help or anyone to ask for help when they need it. I think there is a real stigma around, you just have to suck it up and do it all. And it doesn't have to be that way. And even as a, you know, as a friend or as a community member, as a colleague, when someone reaches out and asks for help, it's like, oh, they're showing me what they need. And that feels good as someone to be able to support someone else as well. So, I really love that advice.
If you could shift the story on one thing today, an assumption, stigma, bias, what would you highlight and why? What do you want to shift out of people's minds?
00:19:35 Michelle
I think I want to shift the fact that women should be seen as strong now.
We're independent women. We can do our own thing. We're feminists. We're supposed to want to do it ourselves or get rid of the man. And I'm not sure how that helps us in our own journey in terms of feeling like it's okay to not be okay and to ask for help, and not to want to be strong. And sometimes I want to be a delicate flower.
I'm in such a leadership position all day, and I'm talking all day, and I'm motivating people all day, that when I take off my speaker hat or entrepreneur hat, I want my partner to take over and be like, I don't want to be the strong one for the rest of the evening, actually. I just don't because there's this, I think, idea that when you're this boss woman that you want to be in charge all the time and lead all the time and take over all the time. And I think any woman in a position of leading will tell you that when we don't, when we take our leadership half off, we want softness. And we don't always want to stand in our power and we can't always stand in our power.
And I think people who act like they're always confident and always have it together, I think they're lying. So shifting that and making sure that you make sure that rest and recovery is just as important as the hustle.
I did a fascia stretch therapy session with a massage therapist friend of mine named Sarah. And she did the stretch session on me and I came out crying, like bawling my eyes out. Not because it hurt, but because I had spent so many years hustling. Hustling with work, hustling in the gym, hustling with my diet. We're that exhausted. And she was an athlete for many years. And one of the reasons why she got into massage therapy and recovery was because she said to me, when you're a professional athlete, and she works on professional athletes all the time, rest and recovery is just as important or more important than the training and the hustle. And I want people to understand that. I want people to understand that now.
We put so much into working out in the hustle and making sure we're eating right and our vitamins and being strong and building our business. No wonder we're all going crazy because we don't take a moment to rest and recover. So I want people to understand that is just as important as the hustle.
And I think we live in a world, especially with social media, where they make, nobody wants to talk about rest and recovery because you're lazy if you talk about rest and recovery. We should be talking about the hustle. And you can't do one without the other. You just can't. And be a healthy person, healthy, happy person. You just can't.
00:23:25 Louise
Yeah, where's the self-care in that? And what's that teaching the next generation, our children or young people or whoever it may be to just see you go and go and go and go. It's, yeah, I completely agree.
00:23:41 Michelle
Well, it doesn't make me a happy mom for sure if I don't take time because, and one of the things I always tell my audience is give to yourself before you give to anyone else. Because if your tank is empty, how do you expect to give to everybody else?
I have these conversations with my clients all the time. I can't time for them for exercise. I can't time for myself. I said, listen, dopamine, that feel good hormone that sets you up with motivation, it's the highest in the morning. Is it hard to get up early before everybody else? Absolutely. But I do know because my motivation is highest in the morning, I'm going to put it into myself. That means I'm going to go for a walk at 6 in the morning because after that, my day goes to everybody else. It goes to my work, it goes to my child, it goes to my partner. And if you think I'm going to the gym at 7 o'clock in the evening and I'm going to be motivated to do it, my dopamine tank has been depleted. So I've had to discipline myself to get up, to prioritize myself before I give to anybody else. Because if I'm just giving it to everybody else, how am I going to take care of people when my tank is empty? It is impossible.
00:25:15 Louise
We need to add wellness coach to that list at the beginning that I reeled off there of all of your strengths and expertise. Yeah, I'm really going to sit with that one. I mean, I have a three-year-old and I feel you in terms of topping yourself up and giving yourself space before everyone else, because it's so easy to just let the world creep in and take that up from you rather than taking that for yourself. So yeah, thank you for shifting the story on that. I think it's no matter what you do, what industry you're in, who you are and who you're responsible for, it is that element of self-care that's so important.
00:25:58 Michelle
Yeah, I think it's so important. I see so many people even giving to their phones before they give to themselves. We wake up, let me check my phone. How do you give to your phone before you give to yourself? So I don't check my phone first thing in the morning. I get up, I put on my workout gear, I go for my walk, I come back, get my family ready, then I pick up my phone. How are we giving to our telephone before we give to ourself?
00:26:29 Louise
That is great. Yeah, that is great advice. And so we have the Canadian Women's Foundation has the Feminist Creator Prize, which you are a judge of this year, which recognizes digital and online content creators. What prompted you to say yes to us?
00:26:51 Michelle
Listen, as soon as you guys asked me, it was like an emphatic, yes, Because, you know, in the political climate that we are in now, the world we are in now, women's voices are being silenced more than ever. And I think the Creator Fund is a way of recognizing individuals for their courage to do the work that they do and to encourage them to keep going. Because if we are not cheerleaders for ourselves, who is going to cheer for us? And so I think it's really important.
I think it was a really important thing that I said yes to this initiative because I have a daughter too. I would love for her to be a feminist creator or someone who gives back to the community, which she will be. It's inevitable. It's going to be in her because she lives with me.
But I think the work that people are doing to bring the voice for those who don't have a voice, who don't know how to have a voice, who can't have a voice, I think it's important for us to recognize those who are doing the work. And for me, it was a no-brainer to be a part of that process, like a no-brainer.
00:28:29 Louise
Alright, now what? How can each of us take action or get involved to support entrepreneurs, online creators, women in this space? What would you tell us? How can we take this further?
00:28:48 Michelle
I think sometimes people think that you have to buy their product or service and able to support a creator. And if you are able to, that is amazing. That is perfect. But just sharing creators' material, interacting with their videos and commenting, liking, those things go a long way. Because if you are someone who's not a creator or who doesn't know how to use their voice, sharing their content so other people can see it, really helps the creator.
And I think one of the things in content creator land that is a big conversation now is the question of why doesn't, why do strangers support creators more than their family and their friends? And that was kind of one of the things that I had to struggle with. I was like, you know, my family, my friends never interact with my content, but I have these strangers high-fiving me and interacting. And so I had to realize that perhaps my content is not for them. And recognizing that there's over 8 billion people in the world that it could be for and not taking offense to that.
So really just doing things like submitting someone for the Feminist Creator Fund, like sharing their story, like talking about what they do. Those things go a long way in order for a creator to be seen and heard and ultimately be successful.
00:30:47 Louise
Thank you for helping shift the story on safety, leadership, justice, power, and rights. You can visit canadianwomen.org today to learn more and stay connected. We believe everyone should be able to exist without fear of harassment or abuse. You can help make that a reality. Text SAFE, S-A-F-E, to 20222 to give $10 and support women, girls, and gender diverse people throughout Canada. Small actions can lead to big changes. We appreciate your support.
