How did I get to become a business owner? When you start to look back you realize you always had the qualities of an owner. The decisions I made throughout my career brought me to where I am today.
Jan 30, 2026
A lot of owners have stories showing their aptitude from when they’re young, I’m no different. Mine wasn’t a lemonade stand or a fundraiser, it was selling my artwork. I was 8 and I loved to draw. I had the idea one day to try and sell them, using the money to buy candy at the store, like any 8 year old would. I priced each of them at a different rate depending on how detailed and ‘good’ they were. I went knocking on doors on my street offering the different pictures for sale. I sold a picture at each house I went to, I had a great close rate even then.
When I came home later, telling my parents what I did they weren’t as happy as I was. They made me go back to each house and return their money. I can only imagine now how good of a laugh all the neighbours had. I guess I learned that day about rebates and credits as well.
I was always trying to do something new or different as a kid. I started a running group at my public school, measuring out the route and tracking everyone’s kilometres. I started a St. Patricks Day parade on my street getting all the neighbourhood kids together. In high school art class I wanted to take over a space to create an art installation, something that had never been done.
This continued into my professional life. Everywhere I’ve worked I was always wanting to change something for the better. I’ve never been one to get instructions or a process handed to me and not think about how it could be improved. I would always raise my hand to work on a special project or join an internal group, knowing that I thrived when things aren’t status quo.
It’s not all roses though, being a person that doesn’t sit quietly in the back and nods their head can also get you into trouble. Many times I came up against people that didn’t like this style, they wanted things their own way and wanted me to fall in line. We didn’t last long working together and that’s okay. I’m about change and moving forward, improvements, always evolving. That’s what makes me happy and when I perform my best.
I had been working in Toronto for 10 years at small and large agencies. I was living in Burlington and was approached by a recruiter to join a local small digital agency. As an avid cyclist trying to find enough hours in the day for work, life, and cycling was difficult so cutting out the commute to work was a real bonus for me. I really wanted the job and was so excited when it was offered to me. Let’s not talk about all my co-workers and industry friends that called it my retirement job. In the end, it was anything but, I think of it as the start of my next chapter.
It’s at Direct Access Digital where I met Don MacNeil and Chris Masci. Don was the President and Chris was running the day-to-day opps. I promised myself I wasn’t going to do things my way and I was going to learn and sit back and enjoy a slower pace doing great work for clients. By this time I was burnt out after working day and night at Dentsu Media on a stretched team.
Then it happened. I needed to do a presentation for my client to propose a new opportunity. So I put together a presentation how I typically would. This got noticed, it wasn’t anything they had ever seen, it wasn’t the way they did it before. Chris noticed the work and from that one presentation, things changed. I was asked to help out with a new business pitch, I was asked my opinion on other projects. My low key agency job had changed.
From Don and Chris, I learnt how to run a business, forecasting, budgets, client contracts, book keeping, employee contracts and policies. I realized it was something I really enjoyed. I was part of agency decisions, changing the structure, working on business development, creating process for the agency. It was an amazing few years until it ended. The agency lost the biggest client and was going to close.
Chris and I went to lunch one day and he asked me to start a new agency with him. He’d be laid off, I would stay on and help with the remaining clients at Direct Access Digital until the final closure. He would get started full time on our shared business and I would be helping when my tasks were done for Don and the remaining clients.
Chris had ran a few businesses before and knew about the legal aspects and financials. This was an area I wasn’t as knowledgeable on so I focused on the brand, marketing, and clients.
We decided on the name tempo digital. The word tempo meant something to both of us, a cycling term, and a Magic term. It’s also steady which is something we wanted the business to be and how we wanted our client relationships and delivery to go. I developed the brand and started working on all the assets we needed. Chris worked with the lawyers and accountants and started business development.
We complimented each other, Chris liked to talk and dream, I like to build and deliver. He’d get the meeting with potential clients, I’d do the pitch decks and prep, he’d take the lead in the meetings, and then I’d take it from there, negotiating the contracts and onboarding before handing off to the team.
Once the business was up and running, I started to get more involved in the areas I didn’t know. The accounting, the legal aspects, and we always did the business planning together. Our goal for tempo was simple, to grow. Grow the tempo digital business, the brand, and our clients business. We didn’t have a stop point in mind, a figure to work towards. We always trusted we’d know when we got there.
After Chris passed away, I was faced with a lot of decisions. What to do with the business and what did I want to do?
I eventually decided to close the business and for my next venture, work solo. The aspects of being a business owner that appealed to me were all about doing things my own way, having flexibility, not trying to fit into what someone else wanted.
Working directly for clients allows me to set my own rules, do what’s right for them not what’s right for the business. I can be creative, I can offer solutions that aren’t rubber stamped by someone else. I can focus on delivering excellent work for clients because I have the time for it.
I’ve always loved working in Advertising and Marketing and when I was running tempo digital I felt too far away from making an impact for clients. Now I’m happily running my own business as a one woman show and focusing on delivering business results for my clients, both creatively and analytically. It couldn’t be any better.
Grow your business,
with Tempo Media Agency.
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