Meet Altitude’s Inspiring Founders: Catherine Winckler, Founder & CEO, MindfulGarden

There was never a moment that I ever imagined a future in which I would NOT be in charge of my own destiny as an entrepreneur. Even as a kid growing up in a classic suburban family neighbourhood, I was the one who said, “Forget the lemonade stand — I’m going to start a housecleaning/dog walking/gardening business and go for repeat customers.” Summers, I was charging 10 cents an inch gutting trout at my uncle’s trout farm, where I learned how to give ‘value add’ to the customer. “Why not spend that little bit extra and take home the fish you just caught, prepped, and got ready to put on the BBQ with no fuss?” By university, I was trying out a lot of jobs, including writing prospectuses for a few high-flying stock exchange companies, while writing classified dating ads for Vancouver stockbrokers on the side. Again, it was a repeat word-of-mouth side gig that taught me a lot about building a brand. After graduating, I took a job as a contestant ‘wrangler’ for a game show company. My job was to ‘matchmake’ the perfect contestants for each show.  

“This dubious skillset turned out to be invaluable and accompanied me into the future as I built fantastic teams in my various companies including a marketing company, digital design agency, and now, MindfulGarden, a digital health company that is proving to be the culmination of everything I’ve learned on this long and winding entrepreneurial journey.”