MEET THE OWNERS OF HIBOU DESIGN & CO.

This is us – but a little younger – with our friend that introduced us on the left; Christina, Eugenia, Korina

Korina had just had her first child and I had a 5-month old when we came up with the idea of creating Hibou. It happened while we were walking through the mall with our infants – typical – and we were discussing Korina going back to work and having little to no time to enjoy with her new family. She knew that she wanted to eventually do something else that would give her the freedom to create her own schedule and be present during key hours of the day when your family needs you most.

At this point, I had already been working for myself for several years, however, I’ve always wanted to partner with someone. I felt like it would push me to be consistent and grow the business as well as have someone to share the triumphs and challenges of running a business. The difficult task was finding someone who would make the best partner. I knew Korina had always played with the idea of going into interior design so, I asked her if she would be interested in partnering up.

It was definitely a risk, with our friendship on the line, but I knew Korina had an exceptional work ethic and she had done an amazing job decorating her own homes. She’s always been creative and we’ve always been able to communicate easily with each other. She risked the career that she created for herself at Telus and I think we can both agree that it’s paid off.

Since then, we couldn’t be happier with our decision. Not only do we see each other every day at work, but our husbands are close friends, our daughters are besties, so we tend to spend a little too much personal time together as well. We even vacation together! That’s when you know you have a good dynamic!

This is us at our last tradeshow in Vegas

We do however differ in many ways, Korina is more business minded and taught me how to make real money doing what I love. I take risks and Korina plays it safe. I’m the spender, she’s the saver. I’m more interested in bringing in new business while Korina’s focus is the numbers and how the business runs. Where we’re similar is that we’re both equally passionate about interior design! We compliment each other and we’ve learned how to work through our disagreements because there definitely have been a few given our different characters. That being said, I can’t imagine this business ever working with someone who was more like me.

Business aside – Korina just moved into a beautiful home in Laval Sur Le Lac with her husband Patrick, her daughter Mila and she just gave birth to her second child, a beautiful baby boy named Liam. I also have two little ones, Sophia who’s almost three and Billie who is turning one this month. I live with my daughters, my wonderful husband Alex and our darling pup Bailey in Ville St Laurent.