getting to be on tv, thanks to the ontario lockdown that never ends.

i”ve gotten to be on tv a bunch of times now due to the never ending ontario lockdown. the beauty / personal care industry has been forced to be closed over 300 days now as of today and we’re not planned to be open again for another 4 weeks. because we’re canada’s and of course ontario’s biggest (and best!) beauty bar companies, i get asked to comment on this situation a lot.

this is how it usually goes down.

they make an announcement about the lockdown that of course somehow disadvantages the personal care industry yet again, then someone from one of the networks (bnn, cp24) emails us and asks if i’d like to be interviewed that night. i of course jump at the opportunity – a) to get our message out and b) as the face of THE TEN SPOT® it’s part of my job to say yes to any press.

i then find out the time and the how to of it (skype, camera settings, audio how to ect). the last 4 spots have been 8:00 pm on a friday night! so it makes weekend plans a bit hard, but like i said, it’s my job, so frankly i’m just grateful and delighted to get the opportunity no matter what else i’ve got going on. and b) it’s covid lockdown so the only plans i’ve got is a bottle of wine.

i then type up some note on what i think they are going to talk about or ask me. little tip here: usually you get about 2 or 3 sentences in an entre spot if you just stick to answering what they ask. my approach is to kind of ignore their question or at least answer it a bit and then i just go off and say what i’ve scripted for myself. in fact, i’ll show you what i mean:

here’s the script i wrote out last night:

“it’s baffling and frustrating and frankly negligent of the government to keep our industry closed.

you’ve got packed patios and retail open with no contact tracing in place + certainly not nearly the health and safety measures our industry has always had in place and has even enhanced.

personal care business of which over 85% are women owned have been closed now for 301 days and will remained shut for another 4 weeks – if we are even allowed to open then.

Ontario has failed the sector and is leaving working women, entrepreneurs and members of the LGBTQ2+ and the other minority communities behind by leaving us in limbo and keeping us closed.

THE TEN SPOT has beauty bars in 10 states and provinces in canada and the us – all of which are in operation and have been for months now. this is an ontario problem of our industry being shuttered and our businesses closing and our women and our minorities suffering with zero proof our our instrty being more high risk than others.

at this point, if we have the freedom to choose to shop in doors in close proximity and be on patios, can i not as adult make the choice to get my personal services done in a safe environment – like every other province or state right now.

because the fact is this industry is going underground and people are doing illegal services (which i can’t even blame them) but if you don’t and you do as you’re told you as we are doing – we’re getting abused the most in this. “

and here’s me saying it all:

see! got it all out! a bit fast, if i dare say, i need to learn how to speak slower. but my message got out!

here’s another one!

the script:

we have 38 locations across cnd and usa. the majority our our bars are in the gta and so this means those locations have mandated by the government to be shut down for a total of 8 months.

frankly i understand the govt is trying to protect the public and we support that.

but we’ve been unfairly lumped into the last phases of openings in the summer we opened along side indoor dining where masks are removed and the exposure is so much hirer.

but given that we are governed by public health and have had strict health and safety standards in place well before covid – we should have been at the forefront of the businesses allowed to reopen. and the data shows this.

only .3% of cases were attributed to the personal care industry and yet we’re somehow considered dangerous! No other sector that is currently open even comes close to our low numbers.

in addition when we’re finally addressing the importance of equal opportunity for female entrepreneurship – and in the beauty industry, 81% of the business are owned and operated by women – and since the first locked 20% of these business shut down, and it’s excepted that at the very least we will lose another 20%. this hurts women more than other groups.

i’m not sure the government considered those nuances when putting us in the wrong category.

and that’s why we started beauty united and to give our industry a voice.

i think this one of the best good new stores to come out of covid. beauty industry competitors came together to educate the government on the fact that our very large industry was overlooked and unfairly characterized.

now we get to open and our businesses at least have a chance of survival again.

and the spot where i just spouted off my scrip: