How do you stay committed to an idea when the journey takes years of trial, error, and persistence?

In this episode of True Northern Hustle, host Isabel Lee speaks with Inez Cook, owner of Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro, Vancouver’s only Indigenous restaurant, and Salmon n’ Bannock On the Fly at YVR International Departures. Inez shares how a career in aviation led her to entrepreneurship, why she felt called to create space for Indigenous cuisine in Vancouver, and how the pandemic sparked the idea for a retail line of bannock mixes. She also reflects on mentorship, intuition, company culture, representation, and the importance of building “low and slow” when growth needs to be sustainable.

More about Salmon n’ Bannock: https://www.salmonandbannock.net/

What happens when failure becomes the beginning of something more meaningful? In this episode of True Northern Hustle, host Isabel Lee sits down with Anita Grant, founder of Hello Hair, a brand rooted in confidence, representation, self-love, and community. Anita shares how her first venture in the beauty tech space shaped her entrepreneurial mindset, what it felt like to close a business that had become part of her identity, and how motherhood inspired the creation of a children’s book that would grow into a broader product and education platform.

Learn More about Hello Hair: https://hellohair.family/

Sometimes the biggest business ideas begin with a deeply human need to belong. In this episode, Isabel Lee sits down with Andrea Grand, co-founder of Barbet, to talk about how a life-changing moment in her sister’s life sparked the creation of a modern Canadian beverage brand built around inclusion, design, and community. Andrea shares how she and her sister turned a difficult situation into a product with real market resonance, what it took to launch without a traditional entrepreneurial background, and the lessons they learned about mentorship, feedback, cash flow, growth, and staying true to their values while scaling.

Welcome to True Northern Hustle, a podcast from Interac about the real experiences behind running a small business in Canada. Hosted by Isabel Lee, the show brings together candid conversations with entrepreneurs who share the lessons, challenges, and insights they’ve gained along the way.