0:00

Joining us today is Penny Light , a

0:03

successful visionary and entrepreneur

0:05

.

0:05

The women are usually in some

0:07

kind of transition in their lives or

0:10

they're just looking out on their lives and it's not reflecting

0:12

back on them what they recognize and they're just looking

0:14

for a change . So this is that kick . It's that out of

0:16

the comfort zone ?

0:17

Discover how stepping out of our comfort zone

0:19

raises our tolerance for uncertainty , how

0:22

travel can spark transformation and

0:24

the importance of leaning on mindfulness as

0:26

we navigate the unknown . Let's

0:29

dive in Penny

0:32

. Welcome to the show . It's so wonderful

0:35

having you here .

0:36

Thank you for having me . I'm honored .

0:38

Well , I have to tell people like we are not affiliated

0:40

in business .

0:41

And I've been asked to .

0:42

But what I love is that women entrepreneurs

0:45

are just so open to supporting

0:47

one another , and so you've been so gracious

0:50

as I reached out to you , so thank you for being

0:52

here . Well , we have a lot to get

0:54

to . You're the founder of Grit

0:56

and Grace Clothing , and Grit and Grace Adventures

0:59

, and now Grit and Grace Yoga . And

1:01

next one for you . I

1:03

wanted to just lay the backdrop here . So before

1:05

the pandemic , you ran a successful

1:08

travel company out of costa rica . You

1:11

had to make a difficult decision

1:13

and move back to canada . Yes

1:15

, start us with the catalyst of

1:17

what inspired you to begin

1:19

your journey with grit and grace clothing well

1:22

it was .

1:22

it was in coming back to Toronto and

1:24

going shopping . I lived in Costa Rica for

1:26

six years , so I had flip-flops

1:29

and sundresses and I needed some Canadian

1:32

appropriate clothing , and when I went to Costa Rica I'd left corporate

1:34

, so whatever I came back to was just suits which

1:36

I wasn't wearing anymore . So

1:38

I went shopping and the experience

1:41

I had for now 49

1:43

, I was a few years younger then didn't

1:46

suit what I thought women my age were

1:48

looking for , who were youthful and playful

1:50

. I went to some of the old go-tos

1:53

that I used to go to and the product

1:56

wasn't there and the experience wasn't

1:58

there and the service wasn't there . So it really was

2:00

an itch , a scratch , you

2:02

know . So I basically wanted to create my own closet

2:04

, but I wanted the experience to be something different and something

2:06

special for all women , but particularly

2:08

women our age .

2:10

And can you just talk about the vision of this

2:12

immersive experience as ? You saw , it in retail

2:14

, and what was missing and what you introduced .

2:16

Yeah , I think feeling comfortable and

2:19

, if I might use the word , safe in

2:21

this space while we're trying on clothes

2:23

. I think we're bombarded

2:25

so much as women within , through the media

2:27

, through social media . But this idea of how we're supposed to

2:29

look and how we're supposed to be and you know the

2:31

shopping experience in a lot of large chains

2:33

is , you know , these big open

2:36

change rooms that are open to the entire

2:38

store and there's no mirrors in the change room . So you have

2:40

to come out and you know that whole kind of it

2:42

felt cold and it felt very salesy . Yeah

2:44

, so I wanted to create something . You

2:46

know , there's nothing more fun than getting ready with your girlfriends when

2:48

you were younger , you know you all get ready together

2:51

in the bedroom the clothes get sprung everywhere , so

2:53

creating that kind of living room space . So all

2:55

the change rooms have a couch , all

2:57

the change rooms are big enough to spin in . So

2:59

, you can have like you can . You don't have to come out

3:02

, but you have lots of room to try things on and

3:04

mirrors in the change room so you can stay

3:06

in or you can come out . But

3:08

it's created so that you feel comfortable coming

3:11

out . It's like the whole store isn't staring at you

3:13

, kind of thing .

3:14

What surprised you about what you had to learn

3:17

and kind of overcome through

3:19

that leap , because that's a radically different industry

3:21

.

3:21

Well , it is , but it's . You

3:23

know , so many skill sets are transferable

3:26

and still to this day , every day , I'm

3:29

Googling how do I do this , how do I do this , how do

3:31

I fix that ? So it's really just . That's

3:33

the grit , that's the like . You

3:35

just got to figure it out and I I had

3:37

to figure something out when I came back to Canada

3:40

and I wanted a better experience . So

3:42

thankfully , my partner actually is in

3:44

retail . He's 30 years in the

3:46

secondhand clothing business , so still a little quite

3:49

different . He had a lot to learn to help me

3:51

as well .

3:52

When you developed this name , what

3:54

? What was the value set that you thought about

3:56

?

3:56

That we're all made of stories of grit and grace

3:59

, and if we've , when we share them , we

4:01

discover that and you know how do we get through

4:03

anything in life ? It's with grit , yeah

4:05

, and hopefully a little bit of grace , sometimes , not

4:07

always , but as much as we can .

4:10

When it comes to confidence and watching kind

4:12

of women walk into the

4:14

store . Have that experience

4:17

. What have you learned about women

4:19

and their bodies and confidence just through that immersive

4:22

experience ?

4:23

It's interesting . Interesting because you do sadly

4:25

see how women are so influenced

4:28

by what the media

4:30

is telling us we're supposed to be or look

4:32

like , and I think , sadly

4:34

more so , this filtered world

4:36

we live in , I , you know , worry about our young girls

4:39

. Yeah , so they do come in and have this

4:41

, this idea of what they're supposed to

4:43

look like in the clothes that they put on , or

4:45

even how they're supposed to fit and sizing

4:47

. And you know , it's interesting

4:49

when we explain to women there

4:52

was a time in fashion where everything was fit to you

4:54

. There wasn't sizing , there

4:56

was always a seamstress . And

4:58

we offer tailoring for that purpose

5:00

. Yeah Right , but we've moved to this world where

5:02

they're trying to , like , put all women into

5:04

one size and that's not a realistic

5:07

thing to do . So you

5:09

know , they come to the store and it's interesting to observe

5:11

that and and kind

5:13

of teach them a different

5:15

way of looking at it . And once they kind of have

5:17

that aha moment , they're like oh , and then they're more

5:20

willing to try on things they might not

5:22

usually wear and sort of just stepping out of their comfort

5:24

zones a little bit . Yeah , it's fun . And

5:26

then they get excited when they come to the change room like super

5:28

happy and excited and like I never thought I could

5:30

wear this . It's so rewarding

5:32

.

5:33

Well , that kind of segues me perfectly

5:35

to this topic that

5:37

I really wanted to dig in with you on , which is venturing

5:40

into the unknown and stepping

5:42

outside of our comfort zone raises

5:44

our tolerance for uncertainty , and

5:47

I grabbed that from your website . As soon as I read

5:49

that , I was like , oh , this is amazing

5:51

. I'm imagining this is woven through several

5:54

of your businesses . Can

5:56

you just go into that lesson

5:58

for all of us a little bit and what your experience

6:01

has been with it ?

6:02

we're in a comfort crisis . There's a

6:04

great book , new book out I don't know if you've read it called

6:06

comfort crisis . Actually , um , he

6:08

delves really deep into it . But we're not actually

6:10

designed to live this perfect

6:12

. Our rooms are the perfect temperature , our

6:14

roads are perfectly smooth . For the most part

6:16

, we we're never uncomfortable . We're not actually

6:19

designed to be that way and what happens is we get into

6:21

this like mindset of repeat . We're kind of

6:23

on this hamster wheel and 95%

6:26

actually this is a stat of our life

6:28

is spent on repeat , which is

6:30

shocking . That means only 5% of

6:32

our time is spent in a conscious state . So

6:35

I am a huge believer that we have

6:37

to kick ourselves out of that repetitive

6:40

, because it will it . It inspires

6:42

creativity , it inspires mindfulness

6:46

, for example . You know to be more

6:48

in the in the moment . So when we step

6:50

out of our comfort zones whether we're going

6:52

on a trip or just taking a different route somewhere

6:55

and noticing something different , or

6:57

putting on an outfit you might not normally

6:59

wear , that inspires us

7:01

. You know , you sort of sit up a little bit taller and you

7:03

get to express yourself a little bit more and

7:05

you're more mindful and more in the moment was

7:08

that the catalyst for the travel ?

7:09

like the grit and grace uh adventure

7:11

experience , like when

7:14

did you start that ?

7:15

so ? So I had live life , flight adventures

7:17

. So I've been doing this for the

7:19

travel for 10 years . So the

7:21

rebrand , the relaunch was to

7:23

it just made sense . I had this amazing

7:25

database of incredible women through

7:27

grit and grace clothing , so it made sense

7:29

to rebrand it under that name

7:31

and bring it back to life . And it's

7:34

my true passion . I mean , I love

7:36

the stories and I love what

7:38

it's providing to women and the connections that

7:41

are being made . But I think

7:43

the real experience of getting out of your comfort

7:45

zone and traveling and seeing the world and connecting

7:47

people in those moments is is

7:50

so powerful and more my passion

7:52

. So it was actually more . I was

7:54

looking out at my life and what was

7:56

reflecting back on me . I wasn't recognizing

7:58

myself in , so it was my

8:00

whole . The change from living

8:02

in Costa Rica to coming back to Canada was

8:05

more than just just the move

8:07

. I did it not knowing

8:10

it was permanent . We all thought the pandemic

8:12

would last a week or two or three months

8:14

, but you know three years . Thought

8:16

the pandemic would last a week or two or three months , but

8:18

you know three years . So

8:22

I didn't . It wasn't on my own terms , so I left my house full of everything , and

8:24

when you live as an expat , you create a family . So , you know , I had a great network

8:26

of female friends , um , and

8:28

I had my work and all of that . And

8:31

then I stepped into instant new business

8:33

, instant parenting . So my

8:35

partner has two young kids and I don't have

8:37

children of my own . So that was a lot

8:39

. All you moms out there are killing it

8:42

, um , and instant

8:44

cohabitation . I lived alone and

8:46

loved it . So you know , I

8:49

was living a life that was very much me and

8:52

then had to step into all these other roles

8:54

that I was figuring out partnering

8:56

, figuring out step parenting , figuring out business

8:59

figure . I was just figuring things out for so long

9:01

that I yeah , I guess it was

9:03

a breakdown . And so my therapist said

9:05

to me well , well , when was the last time you

9:07

looked out at your life and recognized yourself

9:10

? And I said , when I was sharing my love of

9:12

travel . She's like okay

9:14

, so do that , so

9:17

, do that , so do that . So Grit

9:19

and Grace Adventures was born in

9:21

January . I want to say now , and

9:24

what happens like ?

9:24

how many women join ? Like , give us

9:27

a little peek into this . What is

9:29

this experience ?

9:30

I cap it out at 10 women , just because I like to keep

9:32

it as super intimate as possible . Yeah

9:34

, I don't like to call them yoga retreats . We move

9:36

our bodies every day . There really are more adventure

9:38

retreats and kind of

9:40

the overland experience . So we don't go to one place

9:42

and stay in one place . So Morocco , for

9:44

example , is we . We

9:47

caravan through the country and luxury SUVs

9:49

and do two nights , two nights , two nights , two nights . So the

9:51

women are usually , yeah

9:53

, rh , yeah , they're in

9:55

some kind of transition in their lives , whether

9:58

it's like nearing retirement or just entering

10:00

retirement , divorce , soon

10:03

to be empty nesters , or they're

10:05

just looking out on their lives and it's not what they reflecting

10:08

back on them , what they recognize , and they're just looking

10:10

for a change . So this is that kick , it's that out of

10:12

the comfort zone moment that

10:15

helps people , I think , then reflect and

10:17

go home a changed person

10:19

in some shape or form .

10:20

And is this ? Because , like we're just in

10:23

travel , we're transported into

10:25

everything that does not look familiar

10:27

. None of it looks familiar , and so you're kind of forced

10:30

into that state of mindfulness , day

10:32

after day after day .

10:34

Yeah , when you're traveling's

10:36

unknown and and and usually

10:39

something will go wrong , a flight

10:41

will get delayed , or we we

10:44

rolled into the sahara desert . We were short one

10:46

tent because the the camp

10:48

had accidentally rented it out to

10:50

an airbnb thing

10:52

, and so that was me that had to like go to spend

10:55

the night in another tent , you know , but you

10:57

have to very quickly adjust

10:59

. So people are just like you're

11:01

forced into the moment , you're forced into

11:04

a mindfulness and you're forced to pay attention to

11:06

what's around you , whereas here , when you're on that

11:08

repeat you don't , you

11:10

miss so much .

11:11

Do you find , when people return , are

11:14

they able to hold that skill

11:16

? It's tricky .

11:17

I do get a lot of calls , I you

11:19

know . Sometimes it's immediate reflection

11:23

, sometimes it's a year down the road . Someone will

11:25

message me from a retreat and they'll be like hey , penny , you

11:28

know it's just hitting me now . What

11:30

shook me up then ? What needed to come out ? So sometimes

11:33

it takes a little while for it to like percolate

11:35

and you know they'll come home

11:37

and they'll look at their lives around them and

11:39

make minor changes or slight changes

11:41

, sometimes big changes .

11:43

Well , and I think in your website the thing that I loved

11:45

, it says exploring our hidden capabilities

11:47

within us . Now , I

11:49

love that idea for our everyday

11:51

living . Obviously , it's heightened

11:53

during travel . Can you share

11:56

a little bit about maybe

11:58

some of the stories that you've encountered for

12:00

yourself where that door has opened

12:02

for you and you didn't even realize you

12:04

? Had that capability .

12:06

I'll use my experience in Africa . It's

12:08

I mean , it wasn't a trip , I did go

12:10

live there . I was living in

12:12

Botswana in the middle of the bush , documenting a pride

12:14

of lions with a film crew for a year , and

12:17

every time I say that it seems ridiculous , but

12:19

it's true . It's such an incredible opportunity

12:21

. But

12:24

I came from a strong corporate world , so I was working for some Fortune 500 companies

12:26

where what you wore , the purse

12:28

you carried , the shoes , where you ate

12:30

, like a lot , mattered . That didn't really matter

12:33

, but mattered . And I was 34 years

12:35

old , I was young . Mm- to

12:38

this world with no electricity , no running

12:40

water , no mirrors Literally

12:42

, the only mirror was on the side of the vehicle

12:45

which I would catch a glimpse of . There was no room

12:47

for vanity , and

12:49

I came from a world where I believed

12:51

beauty was external , and

12:54

this experience taught me that beauty was from within

12:57

. So it changed me

12:59

literally on a cellular level , that

13:02

what was inside of me

13:04

was way more beautiful than anything on

13:06

the outside . It didn't matter what suit

13:08

, shoes or purse I was carrying

13:11

, or car was driving , or restaurant

13:14

I was eating at , and with whom it's so

13:16

freeing was that your experience so

13:18

freeing when you get there ? yeah

13:20

, it's incredibly's incredibly freeing

13:22

. You know there was no phones . Yeah

13:24

, you know I wasn't attached to

13:27

this external appendage

13:29

we now have of our cell phones , which

13:32

was really nice . And

13:34

then watching the animal

13:36

and not being the top of the food chain

13:38

for the first time , I mean we

13:40

walk around pretty safe here , you know where

13:43

you know . So I had to listen very intently

13:45

for warning signals . I had to look near

13:47

and far constantly . My earring and my eyesight both

13:49

improved just from being

13:51

in nature and and having

13:54

to be aware and alert at all times , which

13:56

was pretty magical . Being silent

13:58

, when are we ever , when

14:01

are we ever , quiet enough to hear our own thoughts

14:04

, which is scary for

14:06

some people . And then can also be pretty magical

14:09

because you can let the shit go

14:11

that you realize , if you

14:13

stop to hear yourself , you realize

14:16

how much damage some

14:18

of those thoughts might be doing or how unimportant they actually

14:20

are . So you start to let it go and

14:22

you allow in what matters

14:24

, what ?

14:25

practices do you do

14:28

every day to kind of keep this potency

14:31

alive ?

14:32

It's so hard , I'm

14:35

not going to lie it

14:37

is so , so hard

14:39

and as an entrepreneur , it's

14:42

I'm too busy to do this , I'm too busy to do that . And

14:44

when I do step away

14:46

from everything be

14:49

it a walk in the woods , yoga

14:51

, solo yoga , meditation

14:53

in the morning , journaling it

14:55

blows my mind . And

14:58

it shouldn't surprise me , but it

15:00

always does remind me that

15:02

, wow , I have a whole

15:05

other set

15:07

of creativity going on that I can't

15:09

access because I keep saying I'm too busy

15:12

or I keep on this grind . But

15:14

when you step away from all of that , it's

15:18

natural . It just comes naturally it's

15:23

natural .

15:23

It just comes naturally . There was a lot on your website as

15:25

I was doing my research for this show and I just screamed at me , yearning

15:28

for more than the ordinary

15:30

. Yeah , I mean , you put that right

15:32

on your website . Why is that such

15:34

a value for you ? Where do you see people

15:37

stopping ?

15:38

It's fear-based , it's a sense of worthiness

15:40

. I so come from that . I have

15:42

no problem sharing a very personal story . I

15:44

don't come from a traveling family at

15:46

all . I didn't get on a plane until I was

15:48

18 . And then I didn't really travel until

15:51

I was 21 . My first trip was to Italy . Not

15:53

a lot of money growing up and abusive . I'm

15:56

actually estranged from my birth mother , so self-worth

15:59

is something I've struggled

16:01

with my entire life . I think

16:03

like one of my earliest memories was wanting

16:06

more . That I knew , not

16:08

that I wasn't happy with what I had , but I knew that

16:10

there was potential out there

16:12

. Fortunately , I had a great set of friends

16:15

at a young age , so you

16:17

know , who came from good homes and their parents were great

16:19

influences . I spent a lot of time in those

16:21

homes , so I was seeing this , like you

16:23

know , and one family was British . They

16:25

had accents Like it was this foreign

16:27

, like otherness , if you

16:29

will , and I wanted the

16:31

otherness in my life

16:34

. So I always desired something

16:36

more , maybe to my detriment

16:38

, to be honest , it's you know what's around

16:40

that corner , what's over that hill , but it's

16:42

fed and the , the desire

16:44

to see more of the world is fed , the desire

16:46

to do more and um , and I don't want

16:48

to say I don't have a fear of failure , I

16:52

do . I think . You

16:55

know , even with my stores , it's not a

16:57

great time right now in retail . It's actually really

16:59

difficult for small business and I think to

17:01

myself if this doesn't work , what will people think

17:03

? Yeah , but then I have to remind

17:06

myself that , like I tried

17:08

, yeah . The alternative would

17:10

have been still working in corporate

17:12

, you know , having

17:14

small talk around a cooler , not sitting here with you

17:16

having this beautiful , meaningful conversation . And

17:19

if it doesn't work , I tried . Yeah . And

17:21

I'd rather that than not .

17:23

I just got chills when you said that , penny , because I know there's

17:25

a lot of women entrepreneurs that listen to the show . That's

17:28

the , the narrative we all

17:30

have . Like I hear that in my head

17:32

too , you know . But yeah

17:35

, I tried at least I tried .

17:37

I like to ask myself what's the alternative .

17:40

Yeah .

17:41

You know , and when you really reflect on that question

17:43

, you realize that this

17:46

is what I'd want to be doing stuff

18:02

.

18:02

It's not more things , it's not the next level . What's this life that I can lead

18:04

that's somewhat unconventional , that gives me permission to do things a little

18:07

differently ? Yeah , do you

18:09

think that we are on the cusp of a

18:11

revolution here ?

18:12

I think we're on the cusp of a revolution . I

18:14

honestly and I fun fact

18:16

, somebody just told me this and I don't know where

18:18

just

18:24

told me this and I don't know where . I can't quote where it came from that

18:26

young women are following us now . So our followers

18:28

are actually young

18:30

girls . They're tired of

18:32

the filtered world . They're tired

18:34

of the whatever it is they're seeing on their

18:36

instagrams . They want

18:38

to follow women our age who

18:41

are doing things like this . That's

18:43

the cool factor , that's the inspiration

18:46

, that's the and there's a lot of us right now

18:48

and we're a very unspoken

18:50

to demographic who

18:53

are finding our voices . Look

18:55

out , yeah , and we're speaking

18:57

up and we want to be heard and we want . We also want to

19:00

be spoken to from a , a marketing

19:02

perspective too . They're missing this

19:04

demographic . You're hearing all this stuff about

19:06

perimenopause and menopause and

19:09

we're not our mother's 49-year-old

19:12

. When I look at a picture of my

19:14

mom when she was 49 , we are very

19:16

different looking . We're more youthful

19:18

, we're more active , we're taking better care of ourselves

19:20

, we're healthier and we want more than

19:23

the ordinary . Yeah , I think

19:25

it's amazing that these young girls are looking

19:27

to this now and

19:29

not that .

19:32

Well , Penny , if people want to come for a Grit and

19:34

Grace retail clothing experience , can

19:37

you just share where your stores are located so people

19:39

know ?

19:39

So we have a seasonal store . The first store was Solville

19:41

Beach . That

19:45

opens actually this weekend . Long weekend closes thanksgiving , so it's a summer

19:47

store fast and furious . Uh guelph was the second store . That's at

19:49

24 wilson uh street

19:52

in guelph downtown and then 170

19:54

ozington street in toronto .

19:56

That's the newest and great , immersive

19:58

experiences for people to you

20:00

know , gain , gain new perspectives , push

20:02

their comfort zone , try on clothes

20:04

and feel the confidence . Yeah , thank

20:06

you for being here .

20:08

Thank you for having me . Yeah , amazing .

20:10

It's been a joy . Thank you for joining

20:12

us . Don't forget to follow us on Instagram

20:14

and LinkedIn , where we transform the wisdom

20:16

from our podcast into practical tips

20:18

, tools and takeaways for your leadership

20:20

journey . Find us at gritgracepodcast

20:24

. See you next week .