S01E04 Annette’s Story: She Already Has a Plan

I wasn’t planning to release an episode this week.

But when I saw what happened to Annette, I sent her a message the same day. Because some stories are too important to sit on and Annette Smith is one of those people who makes you feel less alone just by being honest about the hard stuff.

Annette is the founder of Lip Service Beauty, a Grimsby-based handmade beauty brand she built from absolutely nothing, starting with lip balms she mixed at home and gave to friends, selling on Etsy before she even had a website.

She’s a certified aromatherapist, a cosmetic formulator, and someone who left a corporate district manager career not because it was safe, but because she couldn’t ignore the pull toward something that was actually hers.

In the eight years since, she’s been through things that would stop most people cold. A winery fire in 2022 burned the building down overnight while thirty makers had left everything inside. Insurance didn’t just write a cheque — she had to fight for a full year to be paid fairly for the handmade hours in every product she lost. Then COVID. Two Canada Post strikes. A tariff war. And this week, hackers stripped her entire Meta presence — personal and business — down to zero.

What I wasn’t expecting was how clear-eyed she was about all of it. No spiral. No wallowing. She talked about protecting your energy the same way you protect your business, why “if it’s not a heck yes it’s a hard no” is more than a mantra, and what she’s building now that the noise has been stripped away.

When I asked what she wants to be remembered for in her community, she didn’t hesitate: community over competition. And the way she lives it — 75 to 80 brand collabs, charity partnerships, showing up for other makers the way they showed up for her this week — it’s not a tagline. It’s just who she is.

Find Annette at lipservicebeauty.ca and on Instagram at @lip.service.beauty.

Because your story matters. 🎙️