VIDA Series | Margaux Zanetti

Introducing – The VIDA series; featuring real women who each share a story around an experience of change or growth that they recall, and how it was an important part of their growth along their journey.

The second of the series is Margaux Zanetti. Margaux is the community lead at the Toronto-based Counter Culture Agency. We have been friends for several years now – and believe me when I say, I am grateful to know this woman. Ever since first meeting, Margaux has been such a sincere supporter of Cadette – visiting me at every local market and pop-up I take part in. She is a true advocate for local brands, makers and artists, and it's ladies like herself (that stand for sustainable shopping) that inspire many of us makers to keep pushing forward. More importantly, Margaux is truly a genuine, kind and honest soul, through and through; and she has generously opened up about the challenges she has faced along her journey. One thing that we discovered to have in common, early on, was that we both lost our mothers to cancer, during our teens. I'm so thankful to Margaux for being honest about this unparalleled experience of change that she encountered in her life, the parental shoes she had to fill as a result, and how she continues to persevere:

“The biggest change in my life happened when I lost my mother to breast cancer during my first year of university - I was 17. Being the eldest child, I was forced into taking on some of the more 'parental' tasks in both my life and my sister's, who was 14 at the time. I decided to make the most of my uni years, so I started networking, got a part-time job at a startup, and started a blog. At the time, I felt like I had no net to fall back on, that I was alone in my journey. That way of thinking was great for the hustle, but it's exhausting. Recently, through therapy, I've started working on switching my thinking - although I don't have my mom anymore, I do have a big support system that will always be here for me.” – Margaux.

(Margaux in the Vida Necklace – an organic, blooming form to represent the beauty of continuous change and transition along one's life journey).