Issue link: https://canadawidemedia.uberflip.com/i/812937
F rom her home in halifax, n.s., Barb stegemann could be on the phone with a supplier halfway around the world and have her daughter's favourite casserole in the oven at the same time. as founder and Ceo of the 7 Virtues, running her fragrance business from home lets stegemann grow her company and still spend quality time with her family. "it's living the dream," she says. "i don't get in my car and drive to a location two hours away. i can get up at 5:30 in the morning and walk down the hall to my office, grab a decaf and start working. i really love the serenity of that." and it's a lifestyle that completely fits with the company she founded nearly a decade ago. the 7 Virtues makes fragrances using fair-market natural essential oils sourced from nations rebuilding after war and conflict, such as afghanistan, haiti, rwanda and countries in the middle east. all the fragrances are vegan and free of phthalates and parabens. the farmers who supply the oils earn as much as two and a half times the income of the next crop, enabling them to purchase school uniforms for their children and build homes. Born from tragedy as stegemann explains, she was living in B.C. when a friend was wounded serving in the Canadian military. she visited him regularly in the hospital for a year and told him she would take up his mission of peace. stegemann picked up a pen and wrote her first book, the best-selling the 7 Virtues of a FOUNDATION perFUme For peAce a halifax-based entrepreneur runs her flourishing fragrance business from home By JEREMY DEUTSCH