BARB PARROTT was still undergoing radiation therapy last year when she decided it was time to run for a civic election seat on the Vancouver School Board.
“I always wanted to be a trustee, and I realized the time was now, so I went for it,” she says. “I was not about to hide the fact that I was in chemotherapy as late as September. I decided to be as public as possible about it.”
She went on to win her seat.
A long-time, highly respected advocate for teachers and students in numerous educational leadership roles such as President of VESTA (Vancouver Elementary School Teachers Association) and BCTF Executive Committee Member, Barb was also a committed Reading Recovery and Learning Assistance teacher in both Langley and Vancouver school districts before she retired in 2009.
“It’s exciting and enriching to get my brain going again,” she says, referring to her new role. “I love doing the research.”
Barb, also a lifetime knitter, engages in weekly sessions with five friends doing just that. “It’s fun to create something and it’s easier to sit and do things while you’re talking,” says the inspirational leader, mentor, teacher and now school trustee.
DEBORAH PELDSZUS and her sister DIANE, after a pilgrimage to their native Lithuania in 2016, decided to take their heritage forward and create the concept of “slow fashion,” referring to the longevity of garments.
They founded Linen Farm, a sister enterprise that designs 100% stone-washed European linen wearables in Canada, manufactures them in hand-crafted all-women companies in the Baltic states, and ships the end products to Canadian retailers, including the Vancouver and Toronto Art Gallery gift shops.
“Linen, which grows in northern European countries, is a strong fabric you can use for a long time,” says Deb, referring especially to the third-generation handmade linen tablecloths she and her sister inherited from their grandmother.
The sisters, former sales-and-marketing and interior-design skilled professionals, live in BC (Deb) and Ontario (Diane).
“We are on the phone almost daily,” says Deb, previously a sales rep for Canadian Art Prints. She acknowledges that they both initially faced the “risk-and-fear factors” of starting a new business at this time in their lives, but she adds that both factors diminish as you grow older.
“You have more confidence in what you know,” she says, describing how, once they took the plunge, “their creative juices just started to flow.” That includes collaborating with the Vancouver Art Gallery Gift Shop to create Emily Carr printed linen scarves. “It felt right,” says Deb, “so we went for it, and we love what we’re doing.”
For more information, visit www.linenfarm.com
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