B renna MacNeil was born in Inverness and spent the majority of her childhood growing up in Western Cape Breton. Despite not feeling like she was creative artistically, she described herself as always being a very curious child who was never afraid to ask questions. “I feel like with creativity, you need to have a childlike curiosity about life. And I feel like I still have that,” said MacNeil. At the age of eleven, she became interested in photography after being gifted a camera by her grandmother. Growing up on the beautiful island of Cape Breton, she took advantage of the amazing landscape by taking scenic photos. In her twenties, she would print and glue her photos onto cards. MacNeil would then go into a shop on Central Avenue called The Bear Paw to sell the cards. The shop owner, Alice Freeman, supported many local artists in Inverness. “She was very supportive of me whenever I brought in cards or prints. So that’s where it started for me was with photography and cards and prints” explained MacNeil. On her journey to owning The Corner Store by missbrenna, MacNeil was able to use her curiosity and ability to think of engaging questions within her different career paths. She studied for a Bachelor of Public Relations at Mount Saint Vincent University and landed her first PR job in Halifax with the Sisters of Charity. While working at Sisters of Charity, she conducted interviews and wrote their newsletters. She then taught English as a Second Language for two years in Korea alongside her husband, Brandon. “I was trying to think of interesting ways to engage with my students,” says MacNeil, who included thought-provoking questions within her English lessons. While in Korea, she taught various age groups from children to business professionals. Brandon continued with his ESL career for many years, but MacNeil felt her path needed to take a new direction. After returning home from Korea, MacNeil went back to school to study Graphic Design at NSCC. During a brief period in between an internship at an advertising agency and becoming a graphic designer for Dalhousie University, MacNeil saw an opportunity to self-publish a Q&A book she created as a school project. When she first came home from Korea, she took some of the questions she used in her lessons and made a party game out of them. This became an icebreaker at small parties to get to know the group. But the questions and game became her first creative project putting words and visuals together. “The book was called twentythree . There were 23 questions. And I thought 23 is a time when you’re really learning about yourself more, what you want to do, and who you want to be. And these questions really created a connection,” described MacNeil.
“I feel like with creativity, you need to have a childlike curiosity about life. And I feel like I still have that.”
a simple but classic silhouette shape of Cape Breton Island. It was during her maternity leave in 2013 that MacNeil began to use her design background on apparel. She saw the need for Cape Breton to have a modern, signature product for locals and tourists to wear with
to order and if she would be able to sell it. That would all change with the help of one customer.
On Christmas 2019, Mary Janet MacDonald purchased a large order of hoodies for her grandkids. Unaware of her
pride. MacNeil delivered with her first Captain Cape Breton t-shirt. Quickly followed by her Squaredance and Cape Breton Crew designs. These logos hit the markets initially as a side project. She loved being able to keep her day job while creating Cape Breton content.
background, MacNeil decided to gift MacDonald with an apron as a thank you for her order. Little did she know Mary Janet MacDonald would wear that apron on the launch of her online cooking show ‘Tunes and Wooden Spoons’ during the pandemic in the spring of 2020. MacDonald grew a large social
Filled with photos, questions, and answers from 40 different people, it took 6 months to transform a school project into a self-published book. She then went on to sell over 200 copies and put on a couple of book launches. Shortly thereafter, MacNeil secured a full-time Graphic Design position at Dalhousie University. While doing design work for Dalhousie, MacNeil enjoyed attending markets as a casual vendor. She started by selling cards with photos of Cape Breton on them. Then turned to printing a scenic calendar, along with designing
“Everything fell into place in a way that it was almost like a movie. It was amazing. I didn’t know all the steps, but I’m not afraid to ask the questions.”
SPOTLIGHT MAGAZINE ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • VOL 24 ISSUE 5 53 In June of 2020, MacNeil and her husband moved back to Cape Breton for the summer and worked remotely. Due to the pandemic, the Mabou Farmer’s Market decided to open media following, so this bright red apron with MacNeil’s Cape Breton Crew logo became popular very quickly. MacNeil went from the usual 20-item orders to ordering hundreds. She shipped them across Canada and the United States.
By 2019, MacNeil noticed more people wearing her brand. With a lot of family and community support, she was able to sell her products in a couple of shops in Inverness and Brook Village. In 2020 when the pandemic hit, she thought this could be the end of her brand. She was very conscious about her spending and how many items she ordered in the spring for summer markets. But with the lockdowns, there was uncertainty of how much product she would need
“I was trying to think of interesting ways to engage with my students,”
52 SPOTLIGHT MAGAZINE ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • VOL 24 ISSUE 5
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs