Anetha Kashuba

Anetha Kashuba is a mother of six who is a facilitator of personal development. Her goal is to teach and empower women through sustainable life skills and                                                                 community relationships.

Anetha places great value on family and community. She is a mother to five boys and one girl and is expecting her 7th child in July 2017. Her children are all under the age of 10. Anetha’s professional experiences come from her family. She wants to share her passion for empowering women through her business: I’m a Mom 101. Her business will be a hub for women wanting to learn and develop new skills and network with other women within the community.

Anetha was born and raised in Prince George, British Columbia. At the age of 19 she moved to Vernon, British Columbia. Anetha began her career working with children and youth in a church setting. Anetha “married young and put [her] husband through university [all] while having children.” Anetha worked teaching life skills to people with mental and physical disabilities. She explains she “worked … for 5 years,” and “went on 4 maternity leaves.”

After spotting a need in her community, Anetha decided to found I’m a Mom 101.

“I chose this business because I believe there is a lack of community among women in our world today,” she explains. “We’ve lost a lot of sustainable skills and through my life experience of being at home with my kids, I began to feel empowered as I learned how to provide for my family.”

Anetha further explains she and her husband “learned sustainable ways to save money by teaching [themselves] new skills,” including making bread from scratch, planting a large garden, and learning how to process all of the garden goodies into products such as fruit leather, salsa and apple sauce. Anetha says that through this learning, she gained “great self-confidence.”

Using the I’m a Mom 101 business platform Anetha is focused on “[e]mpowering women and motherhood by networking, teaching and inspiring through sustainable workshops and creating women small business.” I’m a Mom 101 will include public and government-funded courses and workshops with onsite childcare, and take home step-by-step instructions. As the instructor and workshop facilitator, Anetha will provide a space for those attending to learn from each other. Anetha explains it “is about building community and building confidence [through] relationships while learning sustainable skills.” She also notes, “[we] all have skills to teach each other and my vision is that I’m a Mom 101 will provide this avenue and network.” Anetha expects to begin providing these workshops in September 2017.

Entering the ACE Program, Anetha’s goal was to “learn the skills needed to be an entrepreneur and to be able to build [her] first business plan.” Anetha describes herself as “an idea brewer,” and she “wanted a place where [she] could learn practical skills to help [her] filter out [her] good venture ideas from [her] bad.” She also explains  she “never embraced [her] Aboriginal Ancestry and wanted to learn more about [the] culture of [her] ancestors.”

Everyone can be an idea brewer but it’s those people that put their dreams into action that are true entrepreneurs.

Anetha’s favourite part of the ACE Program has been “building relationships and creating a new understanding of [her] Aboriginal Culture.” Anetha also describes  the value of what she has “learned … is immeasurable and has equipped and empowered [her] to be confident about [her] business plan.” A key lesson Anetha learned during the ACE Program was “[t]hat everyone can be an idea brewer, but it’s those people that put their dreams into action that are true entrepreneurs.”

Currently, Anetha is working hard with her family to put her dreams into action.  She and her husband are “in the process of building a carriage house in [their] yard with a two bedroom suite above.” Anetha explains the suite “will help finance the building and I’m A Mom 101 will run [out of] the 3 car garage.” In addition to the workshop space in the garage, Anetha hopes to add a commercial kitchen.  Her dream is to operate food workshops and teach others valuable basic culinary skills such as soups, canning and bread making.

In addition to creating a space for I’m a Mom 101, Anetha and her family are preparing for a busy summer! It includes welcoming a new baby girl who is due to arrive at the beginning of July. Anetha notes her “family will have to do some adjusting while [welcoming] her into [the] family.” During the summer, Anetha and her family will be taking additional steps to prepare for the launch of I’m a Mom 101. This will include writing lesson plans and running trial  “workshops to smooth out some of the bumps.” In addition, she will be researching the availability of government grants which will make up a portion of potential income from I’m a Mom 101.

For prospective entrepreneurs considering applying to the ACE Program to take their next steps as entrepreneurs, Anetha offers these words of wisdom.  “You get out what you put in. This program is a great place for learning and acquiring the skills you would need to start your own business. A business program crunched into 3 months – High end learning with all of the meat and none of the fluff.”

We at ACE are excited to see what the future holds for I’m a Mom 101 and are grateful for the opportunity to work with and learn from Anetha during her entrepreneurial journey. Make sure you follow along with Anetha’s new blog featuring a different mom with a different story each week. Make sure to like and follow the I’m A Mom 101 Facebook Page, where Anetha is sharing teaser tutorials for her upcoming workshops.