“Retail is something that [resort owners] never knew anything about, nor did they ever really want to pay attention to, because they looked at it as an amenity,” says Lee Ann Sauter, founder and CEO of Seaside Luxe. “It was something they had to have – they didn’t expect to make money off of it.”

Seaside Luxe injects resort retail with a shot of life, transforming these monotonous shops into lucrative sources of income by enhancing the shopping experience with exclusive high-end apparel and custom, one-of-a-kind furniture and home décor items.

Each boutique is designed to reflect the environment of the resort, matching the luxury it exudes and complementing the lifestyle of its guests. “Every single detail, down to the fixtures, we design ourselves specifically to match the island, the resort and the client,” says Sauter, who also has over 20 years of experience in corporate retail.

With renowned designers such as Missoni, Emilio Pucci and Tom Ford lining the walls, Seaside Luxe has changed the mind-set of resort owners, revealing an untapped remedy that guests have come to love. As Sauter explains, “It’s literally looked at as something a hotel must have. It’s a new activity that they’ve created for guests in these
destination locations.”

Currently, Seaside Luxe boutiques can be found at the Four Seasons Resort Hualalai, Hawaii, the Four Seasons Resort Maui, Hawaii, and at Terrana Resort and Spa in Palos Verdes, California. www.seasideluxe.com

Not a salt or pepper strand out of place, Mimran appears to live his life under the soft glow of a Floridian sun rather than the harsh glare of fluorescent lights. His navy suit fits like a cashmere-lined leather glove, and his feet look just as comfortable in his signature velvet Church’s slippers. In an industry where image is everything, Mimran gets a standing ovation. The conversation moves to a sleek long table in his contemporary glass office, where all the planks in the runway start to form a story. It’s there, glancing out into the expansive factory workspace reminiscent of a dressed-up New York newsroom, that one wonders how this silver fox pulled such a lucrative rabbit out of his hat.

With more than 300 locations across Canada, Mimran’s semi-eponymous Joe Fresh label debuted under Loblaw Companies Limited in 2006 as its private apparel line that would bring affordable fashion to the masses. Similar concepts had brushed the ears of consumers in the past, but this time the promise of more-for-less was being made by a man who co-founded upscale minimalist brand Club Monaco, which he sold to Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. in 1999. Needless to say, Mimran’s name was literally on the line. Collection after collection, he proved that classic cuts with trendy touches don’t have to empty clutches – not to mention the convenience of paying for peas and a peacoat in one swipe. “Joe is a strong visionary with an incredible talent for thinking outside the box,” says his designer wife, Kimberley Newport-Mimran of the Pink Tartan brand.

In an effort to further relay his message to the masses, Mimran put his unisex collections on the catwalk: an atypical business move that turned out to be one of his brightest. “There was nobody really doing runway at that price point here in Canada and to me it was important because it showed that we’re very credible in terms of fashion, that we wanted it to come from a very real place,” says Mimran. Today, his shows are at the crescendo of Toronto’s LG Fashion Week, featuring top models like Crystal Renn and Tiiu Kuik and consistently garnering crowds with front-row fashion editors from New York and London.

A few years after the inception of Joe Fresh, Loblaw’s announced that its in-house clothing line was on track to becoming a billion-dollar brand. The fiscal forecast foreshadowed the line’s next logical steps: stand-alone stores in Toronto and Quebec, and the precarious decision to test its selling power under a star-spangled banner. “The United States is sort of a graveyard for Canadian retailers, and so it’s always been a difficult decision to make,” says Moroccan-born Mimran, adding that the stigma of failure worries him far less than the thought of not trying. “There’s a limit to how much more we can grow in the market and I think to have reached the amount of penetration that we have over such a short period of time, we would be doing ourselves a disservice in not trying to take it internationally.” Joe Fresh kicked off its American crawl with permanent stores in New York and New Jersey this fall, including a fixture on Fifth Avenue.

If you consider Mimran’s genes, Canada’s flourishing fashion icon fits right in. “My mom was in the business and there was always fabrics around everywhere and she was always sewing and there was a form,” he says of Esther, who made sure her son was the most fashionable in school. His deep brown pupils expand as he remembers himself as the 11-year-old kid with the Beatle boots, Glen Check suit and made-to-measure lumber jackets sewn with love. “There was this amazing, navy suede sweater vest that I had to have – navy suede, can you imagine? I asked my mom, ‘Oh, would you mind making me a navy suede sweater vest with the double-knit back and the double-knit sleeves? She would whip them up for me.”

Busy expanding the runway of his apparel empire, Mimran manages to find time for golf, scrabble, and even sleep. “Kim says I sleep too well. She says a bomb could go off and it’s just incredible,” says the 59-year-old. He also finds time to collect contemporary art, but at 13-by-9 feet, his most recent Julian Schnabel piece is too big for his Toronto home. Perhaps it will soon follow Joe Fresh with a move to the U.S. “That’s what happens when you start to collect, you become a little bit obsessed, a little bit like slippers,” he says, looking down at his feet. It’s a rare moment to see Mimran without his chin up – it’s just not his style.
www.joefresh.com

Before Galen entered the picture, Hilary Frayne – daughter of an appliance salesman – had a vibrant middle-class upbringing in Dublin, Ireland. She was particularly drawn to the work of the Bloomsbury Group,  a famous circle of English authors, painters and intellectuals that included the great Woolf, Vita Sackville-West, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, the artist who created one of her very first pieces. “It was a voyage of discovery through reading that finally brought me to be interested in art,” she says. While working as a fashion model around that time, she caught the eye of Galen, who came to Ireland to set up a grocery chain. He was following suit in the entrepreneurial successes of his grandfather George and father Garfield, who thrived in the food industry. A few years later, the two married, simultaneously sparking a union of art that, among a list of things, would later transmit to their children, Alannah and Galen Jr. “We became very interested in drawings per se, so we started to collect French and Italian Renaissance earlier drawings … In those days it was what one could afford, and we felt very fortunate to have been able to buy them at the time because prices for paintings were crazy,” says Weston, whose last name currently sits second on the list of Canada’s wealthiest, with an estimated net-worth of $8 billion, according to Canadian Business magazine.

Alannah vividly remembers growing up in a house where the walls could talk, particularly in the green language of new realism artist Christo, whose work her parents avidly collected. “Ever since I was a little kid I was surrounded by conceptual art, so I remember writing my final exam at Havergal [College] all about Christo and trying to defend the fact that his art was ephemeral, it was temporary even though it cost millions of dollars to create, and then it was gone within a few days,” says Alannah. She has been lauded as a transformative force in her current creative director role at Selfridges, the high-end British department chain her father famously added to an empire that encompasses Loblaw Companies Limited and Holt Renfrew & Co. in 2003. Coincidentally, it was Alannah who would introduce her parents to the world of contemporary art, which she discovered during her studies at the University of Oxford and subsequent stretch as an arts-beat journalist for London’s The Daily Telegraph. “It’s all my fault,” she says, laughing in her sprightly tone while looking back on her mother’s amusement when she would come for a visit and find video installations in the bathroom. Alannah’s laugh elevates and reddens when she tells the story of the time she posed nude for her friend, artist and photographer Beth Derbyshire. “I posed for her undergraduate degree work and my dad was a little shocked so he ended up buying all of the work … so that was a great introduction!”

With the curatorial influence of her daughter, Weston’s newfound affection for contemporary art would inevitably become the pulse of a private residential community her and Galen Sr. established in Vero Beach, Florida more than two decades ago. As creative director, Weston was at the helm when ground broke on Windsor, a 416-acre “village by the sea.” Consisting of 350 uniquely designed luxury home sites, its complementary grounds reflect Weston’s affinity for architecture and horticulture. Windsor was built by Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, architects of the new urbanism movement, on a verdant barrier island between the Indian River and the Atlantic Ocean. “Everything there was designed by my parents, really carefully, to kind of reflect all the essential human needs. So, of course, it’s a very privileged place, but at the end of the day, no matter how we live we all want to live in communities, we want to live close by each other, we want places to go to eat, to meet our friends, we want to play; we want to be inspired, and I guess art is part of that,” says Alannah, which is why she made a monumental move in adding a not-for-profit art gallery to Windsor in 2002 while filling in for her mother, who was serving her final year as lieutenant-governor of Ontario at the time. Suffused with natural light, The Gallery at Windsor has featured the works of important contemporary artists such as Peter Doig, Ed Ruscha and Alex Katz. Even the Weston family’s eccentric leading man Christo and his wife, the now-late Jeanne-Claude, have been by for a discussion. Of all its achievements, it’s Weston’s newest project that has her on the edge of her seat.

It’s an idea that came to light under a veil of stars at Windsor when the Westons were hosting Iwona Blazwick, director of the Whitechapel Gallery, London’s century-old art space acclaimed for premiering modern icons like Jackson Pollock and Pablo Picasso. “It just flowed over dinner one night,” says Weston of the conversation that led to a curatorial collaboration in which Whitechapel Gallery will bring three annual exhibitions to The Gallery at Windsor. “In a way it’s kind of paradoxical,” says Blazwick. “We are absolute opposites: the Whitechapel Gallery is in the east-end of London, it is the most dense, urban, edgy location you could possibly imagine, you know, the sirens never stop … so this seemed like a really exciting idea to go to a place which was like paradise: it’s tropical, it’s on the ocean, it’s got the most incredible lush vegetation,” she remarks, of an east-meets-Weston partnership that begins December 2011 to coincide with Art Basel Miami Beach.

For a range of reasons that include the scope of her cultural influence and geographical context, the vibrant, rhythmic screen prints and wood block editions of renowned Brazilian contemporary artist Beatriz Milhazes were selected for the first solo exhibition. “One doesn’t necessarily plan for any of these things, they just take on a life of their own,” says Weston.

Such off-the-cuff undertakings may be a recurring thread in Weston’s life, but it’s never before measuring depth that she decides to dive into a blue pool. Whether it was her decade-long tenure as deputy chair of the board for family owned Holt Renfrew, or her notable term as lieutenant-governor where she fought to bring awareness to youth homelessness and women’s issues, every venture is carefully considered.

Her cautionary approach was perhaps most transparent in 2002, when she accepted the ambitious philanthropic post of Renaissance ROM Campaign Chair, pledging to help raise hundreds of millions of dollars in Canada’s largest cultural fundraising movement. “She took a lot of time and interviewed our board chairs herself before she finally committed herself to lead that campaign,” says the ROM’s former director and CEO William Thorsell, adding that once she came on-board she was very willing to work in the trenches. Thorsell recalls many instances where he and Weston would park their car outside a potential donor’s office tower and strategize over the approach they would employ to get that person to make a massive contribution. “We’d come out and high-five after, so you know, I got to know her well enough that we could do this, but it’s not the Hilary Weston most people see. She’s actually got a great wit, she’s relentless, she doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer in the sense that if somebody says no, she’ll say, ‘that means not yet.’” Her effective persistence even made headlines in The New York Times, which applauded her for famously persuading businessman Michael Lee-Chin to donate the $30 million that revolutionized the architectural face of Bloor Street with the Daniel Libeskind-designed Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. “So much of these things are about understanding and respect, because I think that you can’t expect people to give you money, you’ve got to hope it’s a good fit and that they believe that it’s real,” says Weston, who elevated the campaign with a gift of $20 million split evenly between her and her husband, and The W. Garfield Weston Foundation. “You have to learn how to give money away, that is a lesson in itself.” On another philanthropic page, The Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction recently praised its first winning author with a substantial prize of $60,000.

Like acclaimed contemporary artist David Hockney has said, “The longer you look, the more you see.” Watching Weston articulate her passion for the arts, philanthropy and her upcoming Windsor collaboration is a bit like dipping photographic paper in developer and seeing a portrait gradually emerge. Canada’s closest connection to the royal family is an astute businesswoman, exemplary wife and fun-loving mother, who, according to her daughter, is filled with Irish catchphrases and wise advice like, “Always leave a party when you want to stay a bit longer.” In contrast to her descriptive interpretation of the Toulouse-Lautrec piece, it takes Weston a few moments to harness her definition of a happy life. Not for a lack of words, but for an abundance. “A happy life is being curious in life, and learning through your experience and enjoying it as a result of what you’ve learned … I think it isn’t just one thing, because curiosity brings you into so many different areas and you discover so much about yourself by learning through other people, and one’s always seeking the spiritual in life and I think sometimes you find, and sometimes you don’t, that it comes and it goes, but to have them all is really, truly, the sweet life.”
www.windsorflorida.com
www.westonfoundation.org

“The time felt right,” says the 55 year-old CEO of Venture Communications, explaining how her role on CBC’s Dragons’ Den brings a bombardment of queries all searching for that secret to her success. “I was getting asked so often about what it was that I had done that was different, and I wanted people to know that I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way and there was no straight path.”

With her back to the glistening city skyline and the golden aura around her iconic red hair projecting an image of absolute assurance, it’s surprising to hear a titan of her magnitude admit any personal shortcomings. But for Dickinson, persuasion isn’t about smoke and mirrors or creating a beguiling, chameleon-like persona. Her method is that of “principled persuasion,” an approach that requires authenticity, reciprocity, and as she makes clear early on, honesty.

She describes a childhood stamped with poverty and a broken home, a personality stacked with self-doubt and apprehension, and a failed marriage caused by her own infidelity. Slogging through a divorce, losing custody of her four children, and unemployed at 31, her past is anything but ideal. “I think people believe that you lead some charmed life and you never make mistakes and that’s how people become successful, and it’s so not true.”

Although flawed, the past is the past, and Dickinson would never let it dictate her future. A year after her marriage ended, she transitioned from a job selling ads for a local Calgary TV station to becoming a partner at a start-up marketing firm known as Venture. Ten years later, she bought out the remaining partner and became the CEO.

However, Dickinson has never been the fire-breathing type. Just as her book, she displays an unexpected openness and a clear contrast to the ferocity displayed by her on-air colleagues. “I always characterized that good guys can finish first, and you can do things in a way that doesn’t step on other people in order to be successful.”

Indeed, Dickinson dodges the ends-justify-the-means mentality of utilitarian businesses to instead lean towards a deontological approach, where universal maxims dictate your actions. To Dickinson, the methods used are just as important as the results achieved. “I think the minute you have to pretend to be somebody else in order to do something is the minute you lose control of your own voice and your own opinion, and I think that sets you up for failure. Because it’s like lying: eventually you get caught.”

Even with financial uncertainty incessantly looming on the horizon, Dickinson feels abandoning your values can only lead to catastrophe. Authenticity is crucial to principled persuasion – part of that authenticity is accepting who you are. “The more honest we are with ourselves, and the more OK with who we are, the less worried we are about doing things to impress somebody, the more, I think, the more people will appreciate and follow us. I really believe that, I do.”

All this boils down to is confidence. As she explains, persuasion entails believing in the person that you are, remembering your voice is important, and never fearing mistakes or failure. Her book echoes this sentiment, noting, “I find it much easier to live with failure than to live with regret over the road not taken.” But even as she explains the importance of strength and confidence, there is an air of fragility floating through her words. In that honest, Arlene way, she acknowledges her mastery of this art is still an “ongoing dialog,” and that fear of disappointing others perpetually lingers in the background.

This vulnerability isn’t necessarily debilitating, however. It keeps her humble, self-aware and away from perceived infallibility. “I always want to be a little bit of a pleaser,” she says, explaining her attitude may be seen as a weakness to some, but it keeps her grounded and gives balance to her life. She always feels the need to push for 150 per cent, staying clear of arrogance and selfishness.

The transparency Dickinson displays is an uplifting departure from the habitually iron-fisted nature of big business. While her book may illustrate the art of persuasion and how to maximize it, the dark days of her past proves that the sun will always rise again, and sometimes it shines unclouded.

www.arlenedickinson.com

“That day was devastating,” says president Frank Luchetta, sitting at a table surrounded by his sister Ida Pusateri, her children Rosanna and Sammy Pusateri and general manager John Mastroianni. The day he’s referring to is Oct. 20, 2011, when Pusateri’s flagship was ordered to close due to a pest issue. “It’s been non-stop, no sleep … it affected everybody. We were all shocked because it’s just something that’s never, ever happened,” says Rosanna, who grew up in the aisles of a company founded by her late father, Cosimo Pusateri. This news was particularly unexpected of a gourmet grocery brand that’s considered Toronto’s crème de la crème. “It was devastating because we let our customers down and we recognize that we have to regain their trust,” Luchetta adds, who was overwhelmed by the support his family received from local chefs, suppliers and loyal customers who called and made public appearances to display their fidelity. Jennifer Montemarano is one of those customers. “I was back the day after they reopened. I think my initial reaction was shock,” says Montemarano, whose been shopping at Pusateri’s for the past 10 years. “I just think everybody deserves a second chance. I know how devastating this was to them, and I know that they will do everything in their power to never let anything like this happen again.”

It’s in these circumstances that a business has to choose a fight-or-flight response that will measure recovery and dictate the future. Standing in solidarity with its burgeoning staff, Pusateri’s reopened three days later with an entirely new outlook on what they would do to not only win back loyalty, but surpass industry expectations. Its road to recovery is paved by a Gold Standard campaign that’s founded on principles of transparency and is committed to quality assurance and customer service. “In our stores and on our products, you’ll now see a gold seal that represents our family’s promise to our customers and friends,” says Luchetta. Their pledge is a commitment to excellence in all categories, something their selective clientele have come to expect.

Another fundamental facet of the campaign is bringing in former York Region health protection manager Dominic Fortuna as Pusateri’s full-time vice president of quality assurance. “I have an opportunity at this point to develop a program that you’ll never find anywhere else,” says Fortuna, who has more than 15 years of government and private sector experience standing on the other side as an inspector and manager responsible for ensuring food safety and public health. His multi-tiered approach includes self-enforcing monthly inspections, refining existing procedures and implementing additional standards to ensure Pusateri’s is surpassing the industry’s current quarterly protocol.

“Out of every challenge comes opportunity, for us that opportunity came while reflecting on our founding principles,” says Luchetta. Cosimo Pusateri began his brand in 1986 with the vision of establishing a fine food retail concept that was non-existent at the time. Toronto foodies no longer had to fly to Italy and France to fill their fridges with foreign delicacies, as they were now exclusively available at Pusateri’s. His idea caught on like flambéed crêpe suzette as many of the city’s top chefs and discerning consumers called on his idiosyncratic selections for rare ingredients, event catering and homemade gastronomy. Suppliers from around the world wanted their specialty products to find their place on Pusateri’s shelves; for many, belonging to the local luxe-mart was a mark of accomplishment. “Cosimo had insight, and that’s what it takes to make successful businesses. I call it the sixth sense, always knowing what’s next. It’s not always easy to find that,” says Vincent Liberatore, whose been supplying his Continental Noodles Ltd. products to Pusateri’s for 16 years.

Today, the community fixture has added a couple more links to its intimate independent chain, with locations in Yorkville and its most recent in Bayview Village Mall, bringing the staff total to more than 600. Famous faces that take advantage of Pusateri’s chefs and cuisine include U2’s Bono, The Rolling Stones and Kim Cattrall, who Ida says was seen shopping at the Yorkville location almost daily during her recent stay in Toronto.

With steaming housemade coffees in hand, everyone sitting at the table is confident that the implementation of gold standards and superior customer service will allow them to continue providing shoppers the same exceptional experience that Cosimo envisioned. Heading back downstairs and seeing the eccentric Manoucher Etminan serving his internationally sold specialty breads, as food-preneurs often come in to do, and finding out that 79-year-old Nonna Dina had stopped by earlier to make Hello Dollies for her clients, it’s clear that many of Pusateri’s tender traditions are still in tact. “We look at it as the three F’s: family, friends and food. It doesn’t matter what you do, if it’s a baby shower or a wedding or a bat mitzvah, whatever it is, at the end of the day, the thing that pulls it all together is family and breaking bread together,” says Mastroianni. www.pusateris.com

When the photographer arrives moments later, she has no qualms with his request to privately takeover her upstairs office to set-up, a space Lang jokingly refers to as her “cloffice” based on its acquisition of her wardrobe. The intimate interior of her home is a quiet reflection of what Lang represents: a thriving, unostentatious appeal. This is the Lang that viewers have come to love, especially when rebutting the capital driven claims of her on-air counterpart Kevin O’Leary, who she’s had an on-again-off-again television romance with since the days of Business News Network’s (BNN) SqueezePlay. Part of her job means playing a well-informed devil’s advocate with the mutual fund magnate and Dragons’ Den star, often introducing leftist ideologies to balance the tug-of-war. “It’s interesting, [O’Leary] goes around saying I’m the prettiest communist working on TV. My family thinks I’m really right wing, so it just depends on where you sit in the spectrum,” says Lang, whose father Otto was a respected Liberal force appointed to Pierre Trudeau’s cabinet. Despite their volatile on-air exchanges, Lang defends her colleague. “The thing that is great about [O’Leary] is that he’ll sometimes say the thing a lot of people would say but most of us don’t even dare, and so there’s something refreshing with that.”

Lang, while highly ambitious, admits she’s not a goal-oriented person. It may have a negative connotation, but lacking a life map has proved to be one of her biggest assets. “The only goal I ever had was to be an architect … So the one thing I had set out to do as a specific choice was actually, in the end, the wrong thing.” Ever since that realization, Lang has lived a life driven by intuition. “I just trust the voice, whatever it is, and I don’t think too much about it, I just go with it and it’s worked super, super well for me,” says the 41-year-old Gemini-award winner. It’s that voice that took her to Toronto in the early ’90s, to fill an administrative role at The Globe and Mail, a gig that ultimately launched her journalism career when it evolved to an assistant editor position. Lang still remembers the satisfaction she had from one of her first assignments at the paper, a feeling that continues to drive her today. It was a profile of personal heroism about an 18-year-old boy named Chris MacLeod who was doing remarkable things despite suffering from cystic fibrosis. “I’ve never forgotten the experience of interviewing him and telling his story,” she says, adding that McLeod has since opened his own law firm fighting for Canadians jailed abroad. “Everyone has a story if you just take time to stop and listen to it.”

Lang’s journalism skills later led her to New York City, where she held the business beat for the Financial Post, Report on Business Television (now BNN) and CNN. She returned to Toronto in 2002 to work for BNN, where she spent many years further developing her profile as Canada’s leading business journalist. With several successful years and many strong bonds made, the choice to leave for CBC two years ago wasn’t as easy, but when Lang was approached with an opportunity to broaden her reach and expand her experience by exploring unchartered areas as the business face of the network, she found it impossible to turn down. “From the very first second until today its felt right; something about the place and the people and the way it works, it was definitely the right move,” she says, crediting CBC’s chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge as one of the people who helped smooth her transition.

Lang likely didn’t know it at the time, but Mansbridge had long been a fan of hers and was quite eager to see her join the network. “She’s got a great natural ability to convey a story to an audience,” he says. Since fulfilling her new role, Lang has permeated the boundaries of business, covering hard-hitting stories for The National such as Canadian soldiers adapting to life back home after completing their combat mission in Afghanistan. “She’s obviously multi-talented, she’s not one-dimensional, she has a good sense of stories beyond her regular beat, she understands politics and she looks for the big stories on the international scene that impact not just her area but other areas as well,” Mansbridge adds.

Long before Lang saw the bright lights of CBC’s massive multi-camera studio, affixed with floor directors and that much-discussed glass desk, it was simply her and a wall box camera. “It always just felt like me and this thing, and the thing almost has this personality for me.” She attributes this intimate start to what’s helped her overcome an innate shyness that would otherwise conflict with the idea of speaking to millions of viewers every night. For Lang it’s about connecting with her interview subjects, which in turn translates to the viewers. “It’s just sort of me talking to one person and that one person is every person, I guess.”

The photo shoot captures the Lang that lives at home. In contrast to her formal introduction, she says goodbye wearing blue jeans and a flowing cream dress shirt. When checking her Blackberry a final time, she discovers she’s been nominated for another Gemini. Looking genuinely surprised, she lets out a slight smile. Win or lose, Lang is in it for the long-run. “What I love about what I do is the chance to talk to people, the chance to learn things and help people understand the world better. So to the extent that I can do that, that’s what I want to pursue. What that looks like? I’m not going to start planning now, it’s worked out so well so far.”

Sam Mizrahi is standing at the portico of his latest pièce de résistance: Lytton Park Townhomes. His sleek black Porsche 911 Turbo is parked out front, further boosting the curb appeal of a six-suite structure embedded in 19th century culture and the classical elegance of colonial architecture. Bronzed from a recent jaunt to southern France, the revered real estate CEO is a pinstriped paradigm of the new age developer, a walking 24-hour billboard that takes the brand beyond 9 – 5. He adheres to the mentality of the generation-why not era: those that break from tradition and challenge past ideologies.

As he swings open the solid oak door of the 3,500 sq. ft. luxury model suite and treads across a natural hardwood foyer towards the dining room, a sense of belonging is palpable. Mizrahi’s voice echoes through the halls of one of two remaining unoccupied residences as he proceeds to reflect on his adolescence, the days when his family exposed him to grand environments from around the globe. “What I really took note of was how beautiful these small little details really were that at the glance of an eye would go by.” The early introduction to European elements and ancient traditions left Mizrahi with old-world reveries that would linger. Today, his peripheral design awareness continues to be ignited by a deepened infatuation with international architecture; weaving the amorous elements of Paris, Prague and Florence into Toronto’s polychromatic fabric. “You have to breathe soul into the home,” says the 40-year-old, who exhaled his initial fervor for design more than two decades ago.

Mizrahi was in the midst of developing his first real subdivision in the summer of ’89, when Canada’s housing market was anxiously resting on the edge of an eroding economy. To boot the anticipation of an impending pop, he had the added pressure of competing with a neighbour who was simultaneously working on a similar project. “That was where it really sparked, it was the catalyst in terms of the passion,” he says. Under the sweltering sun of those summer months, he also received a valuable business lesson, one that would amortize over the next 20-plus years. “What I found was to create product so that even in recessionary times, you can still monetize it, you can still sell it because it’s superior to everything else.”

Three recessions later and Mizrahi has become known as a leader in sustainability through Energy Star Green House Certified practices and adhering to the internationally recognized standards of ISO 9001, a demanding quality management system that’s scarcely seen in the housing industry. As for his opinion on the current state of the market, no news is razor-edged enough to burst his bubble. “I think you create your own market,” he says, adding that Canada’s real estate industry is insulated by a superior banking system and large immigration rates that he believes will continue to carry the economy. In good times and bad, the design builder whose become known for having an obsessive-compulsive dedication to documenting every project detail, is faithfully married to his craft.

Admittedly not immune to life’s challenges, Mizrahi says that when turbulance strikes, he simply puts his pilot cap on to soar above the clouds for some aerial insight. “When I’m up there, I feel like I’m a bird, and it gives me a different perspective on everything. I look at the city in a different way.” This foreshadows his ambition to aim even higher for his next endeavour: 133 Hazelton Residences, a 38-suite luxury condominium in the heart
of Yorkville.

The imminent upscale project is the talking-point of his next meeting, one he’s suddenly rushing off to. Standing back on the portico to bid adieu, Mizrahi willfully leaves the keys behind. With the roles reversed, he somehow manages to say, ‘My house is your house,’ without a single utterance.
www.mizrahicorp.com

This room-rousing gift most recently manifested itself at The University of the West Indies Benefit Gala on March 26, 2011, where Lee-Chin was being awarded alongside Canada’s former governor general Michaëlle Jean and Olympic champion Donovan Bailey for his contributions to Canadian and Caribbean communities. It was early evening and hundreds of top educators, entrepreneurs, politicians and even our best-known environmentalist awaited the arrival of the night’s honourees in the candlelit VIP section of Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel. When Lee-Chin entered the room to the live vibrations of a grand piano sporting a black bow tie and dress shirt with crystal cufflink buttons, there was a palpable change in climate.

Seconds after unleashing his famed Cheshire cat grin, suits and gowns surround him as if he were the neighbourhood ice cream truck on a sizzling summer day. Any observing cocktail server could see how Lee-Chin’s cosmopolitan charisma could carry him to the top, but it’s only when speaking to him privately that you realize how unshaken he is. “To me, being honoured is a continuation of my aspiration to be a role model in my society, in my community, to give hope that anyone, irrespective of where you are starting from, can accomplish whatever your goals are,” says the silver-tongued 60-year-old, courteously repeating my name throughout the conversation.

When we meet the following week on a rainy Thursday morning at Portland Holdings Inc. in Burlington, Ont., Lee-Chin looks leisurely in a crème cashmere sweater and sandy beige slacks. Upon entering the privately held investment company’s mighty headquarters, you instantly get a sense of the amalgamation of work and play that’s become a cornerstone of his persona. From the capacious glass foyer that features a tropical koi pond with waterfall, to the bronze “Polar Bear and Cub” sculpture by Winnipeg artist Leo Mol, and “The Fisherman” painting by Jamaican artist Barrington Watson, it becomes clear that I am walking in Lee-Chin’s wonderland. “If you don’t have passion for what you’re doing, you should get out of what it is you’re doing. Conversely, if you have passion, then work isn’t work,” he says, settling into a time-worn armchair in a regally embellished room.

Though Lee-Chin appears at home in his corporate castle, undercurrents of his modest beginnings are ubiquitous. “I never forget where I’m coming from, and I don’t want to,” he says. Mark Strutt, who was hired by Lee-Chin in 1995 as a full-time artist-in-residence, seconds this sentiment. Strutt, who produced more than 60 paintings during his seven-year tenure, evokes a distinct memory of when Lee-Chin’s roots were poignantly apparent. “One time he found a photograph in a newspaper that reminded him of when he was a child. It was an image of a little boy climbing into an old galvanized water drum. He asked me to do a painting based on that because he said, ‘When I was a little guy, there was no hot water.’” The art-washed walls whisper intimate details of Lee-Chin’s life.

Growing up in the tiny town of Port Antonio, Jamaica, little Lee-Chin was raised by his teenage-orphan mother, Hyacinth, who worked three jobs to support them, including one as a bookkeeper at a high-end hotel owned by a member of Canada’s esteemed Weston family. “She set standards, very high standards, and not only that but she led by example. So saying is one thing, but acting it out every day, every minute, is another,” he says, of his No. 1 role model. When Lee-Chin was seven, Hyacinth married Vincent Chen, who had a son of his own before having seven children with Hyacinth. Since his family didn’t have the resources to send him to university, Lee-Chin got a job as a bellhop on a cruise ship, and then as a lab technician at a bauxite aluminum plant to save enough money for his first-year tuition. He applied to the engineering program at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. with a back-up plan of buying a Triumph TR7 convertible top if he wasn’t accepted. “I still haven’t bought my Triumph,” he jokes.

After a successful year as a civil engineer freshman, Lee-Chin had to figure out a way to summon the money for a second term. When scholarship requests were overlooked and laying sod on the campus landscaping team for the summer only brought in $600, he chose to do something bold. He wrote a letter to the prime minister of Jamaica, who at the time was Hugh Lawson Shearer. “I decided to take the bull by the horns: ‘Sir, it’s not reasonable to expect to be able to harvest if you don’t sow,’” he recalls writing. Shearer responded, telling him to stop by the next time he’s in Jamaica, and Lee-Chin optimistically spent $400 of his slim savings on a two-way plane ticket. The bull statue that sits on the table behind him suddenly becomes significant. He presented his marks to Shearer’s permanent secretary, and flew back to Canada with more funds than he initially dreamed of. “They gave me a scholarship, not for $2,000, but for $5,000 – per year for the next three years. So I had excess money that I was able to remit back to my family to help them,” he says, telling the story with wide-eyed enthusiasm.

This experience taught the then-20-year-old a lot about taking risks, validating the famous phrase, “ask and you shall receive.” Not long after graduating, Lee-Chin was seduced by the financial services sector and started selling products on behalf of a company called Mackenzie Financial Corp. When he spotted an opportunity to purchase company stock, Lee-Chin fused the same intrepid approach he used to get his tuition dollars (with a few new salesman skills) to convince Continental Bank of Canada (now HSBC) to lend him half a million dollars. It worked. “So I bought Mackenzie in the summer of 1983 at the equivalent price of $1 per share.” Four years later, the price rose to $7 per share and his initial $500,000 turned into $3.5 million. And that was just the beginning.

Lee-Chin swiftly became a force in the investment world, mastering the art of maximizing returns. “You can’t avoid risk, you mitigate risk, and in this case, my investment philosophy has always been [to] buy things you understand,” he says. AIC Limited was another company he evidently understood, and in 1987, he acquired the mutual fund firm which not only put him on the map, but also on Forbes’ “World’s Billionaires” list for several consecutive years. Though the company went from less than $1 million in assets to amassing more than $15 billion under his leadership at its apex, the recession had its repercussions and Lee-Chin made a tough decision to sell in 2009. As the towering six-foot-four titan of Portland Holdings Inc., his company now owns a bevy of major businesses here and abroad that span from the National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited and Columbus Communications Inc., to CVM Communications Group and Medical Associates Limited.

Today, he’s a father of five and one of Canada’s most benevolent businessmen whose numerous endeavours include the indelible $30 million gift to the ROM, $10 million donation to the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and $3.7 million towards Hyacinth Chen School of Nursing in Jamaica. “Mike is one of the most generous persons I know,” says G. Raymond Chang, fellow philanthropist, friend and director of wealth management firm CI Financial Corp. Lee-Chin met Chang more than 40 years ago and often takes his pal on jaunts for both business and pleasure on his private jet and helicopter. “He has a big heart, and I’m not referring to his public gifts. I’ve seen him open his home to a friend with terminal cancer for an extended period. He has also never forgotten his Jamaican grounding,” adds Chang.

Even the artist who was commissioned by Lee-Chin back in ’95 considers himself lucky to have met the mutual fund magnate. Strutt still vividly recalls the first time he walked into Lee-Chin’s office carting a sampling of his realist oil works. “Right away he wanted to buy some … He asked me why I was selling them for so cheap and I said, ‘well you know, who am I? I’m not a famous painter,’ and he said, ‘well, if there’s anything else I can do for you let me know.’” Little did Lee-Chin realize that his simple gesture would launch Strutt’s career and lead to a near decade-long bond. “Imagine seven years of just painting and not having to worry about anything else. Not many painters have that. It gave me time to master my craft and it gave me an income to feed my family,” says Strutt, who has since garnered enough acclaim to fulfill his long-time dream of opening an art gallery in his hometown of Hamilton. “I can’t say enough nice things. Mike is happy, charming, impeccable, warm … He’s a very multi-dimensional person – you can talk to him on any subject.”

It’s not surprising then, that Lee-Chin’s affection for the arts flowed into the palms of the ROM. Before making that massive $30 million commitment back in 2003, he had a pivotal heart-to-heart with Ontario’s former lieutenant-governor and Renaissance ROM campaign chair Hilary M. Weston. During the exchange, Lee-Chin asked Weston – whose family name has become synonymous with philanthropy – why she wanted him to be the primary benefactor. Her response is what sold him. “I told him, ‘because you belong to a new generation of people who came from different parts of the world to settle in Canada, and you have had great success. You are an iconic figure and an example for future generations. My family represents history, but your family is about the future of Canada,’” says Weston. “That is why he agreed to donate $30 million to Renaissance ROM. He was only glad that I didn’t ask for more because he would have given it!” According to Thorsell, his donation went far beyond the establishment of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal and Hyacinth Gloria Chen Crystal Court. “He really made a statement that this major institution belonged to everybody and everybody had a role in it, everybody was welcome there,” he says, adding that Lee-Chin was just as much a fundraiser as he was a fund giver, inspiring several other Canadian immigrants to follow suit.

A humble Lee-Chin admits to giving himself a proverbial pinch every day. The physically fit investor is acutely aware that his path was an improbable one, filled with more blessings than bumps. “I was born in an era that gave me an opportunity to own a pair of shoes. Had I been born 250 years ago, I would have been owned – I would have been a slave. So I’m very, very aware that my being here has many factors that I had nothing to do with. I’m also very, very aware that there are many people that were born the same day, who were born to parents not by their choice, who didn’t guide them, who didn’t make them confident, in towns and cities and countries that immediately put them at a disadvantage,” says Lee-Chin, who was awarded the Order of Jamaica in 2008.

So there’s a reason why Lee-Chin is so extroverted; why he opts for a couture coat over an invisibility cloak; why he isn’t shy to give speeches and share his story. “I just want my life to be an inspiration to everybody who aspires,” he says. For fear of complacency and subsequent failure, he never forgets the bullish outlook and boyish aspirations that brought him here. Instead of following a conventional paint-by-numbers plan, Lee-Chin coloured outside the lines, proving that being an anomaly is far more fulfilling than being ordinary.    www.portlandholdings.com

Rule of Three: Michael Lee-Chin
No. 1 Make sure that your attitude from the
get-go is that, ‘everything I do as a young person, I’m doing it with the eventual goal of building the most sensational legacy that I can.’ Start building that legacy from as soon as possible. Most people don’t think about legacy, so one should look at legacy as a work in progress and focus on, ‘What do I want for my legacy? What do I want to be known for 100 years from now? Or do I want to go by as a nobody? I didn’t add any value to society and I was just a number.’ Legacy is important.

No. 2 Secondly, passion: Be committed to a cause, because every great person is a disciple of a cause. Having a cause is what will have you bounce out of bed at 5:30 every morning and drop dead on your pillow at 11:30 every night and wake up and be enthusiastic and tap dance to work because you have a cause. Having a cause will give you passion. So when naysayers lash you, no problem, because your cause will give you passion, will give you commitment, it will enable you to persevere through whatever negatives or air pockets you may face – and you will face negatives and you will fall into air pockets.

No. 3 Have a belief system, have a strong value system. Live by your values. Values make decision-making very easy: black or white. And don’t be afraid to be bold! Most of us are too tepid. Don’t be afraid to be bold.

While this is just one soaring example of the brotherly phenomenon, they aren’t the only birds of a feather that have flourished together. There is an impressive roster of others that spans from The Jackson 5 to the Warner Bros. and the Fisher men of GM to the Marx boys.

So why do some duos take flight while others can’t get off the ground? As a professor at Toronto’s distinguished Schulich School of Business and senior consultant for The Family Business Consulting Group, Kelly LeCouvie has become an authority on the topic. “There are advantages in that you have known this person your entire life, you know their strengths and weaknesses, and instinctively brothers typically want to protect each other and support each other,” says LeCouvie, who has also had experience watching three of her four brothers work in the family business together. “There has to be mutual respect and there has to be a high level of trust … Where we’ve seen sibling groups fail is often where people feel that information has not been shared with them, so transparency is really a critical success factor,” she adds.

Dolce Vita Magazine is dedicating this feature to divulging the personal and professional secrets of those who have mastered the business of brotherhood. From Trump siblings Eric and Donald Jr., to Canada’s own Dean and Dan Caten of luxury fashion house Dsquared2, red-hot restaurateurs Michael and Guy Rubino, graphic artists Phillip, Richard and Jody Murray and chefs Nicola and Fabrizio Carro, these stories aim to illuminate the challenges, triumphs and unbreakable bond of brothers.

Twice the Trump: Trump Brothers
Effortlessly perched atop the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, Eric and Donald Jr. have learned how to soar in the corporate world’s skies without ruffling each other’s feathers. In the case of the Trump brothers, this is mainly a testament to their famous father, international real estate developer Donald J. Trump. “We grew up playing with Legos on the floor of our father’s office listening to him make deals, and then joined him together on construction sites following him around and taking it all in,” says Donald Jr., 33.

As executive vice presidents of The Trump Organization, Eric and Donald Jr. work together to help expand and accelerate the company’s real estate, commercial, hotel and golf properties as well as collaborating on new projects and advising on The Celebrity Apprentice. Considered the next generation of their father’s colossal enterprise, along with sister Ivanka, the Trumps have proven to function effectively as family and fellow co-workers. “I have seen some family relationships crumble due to conflict in business. For us, we continue to see this as an advantage and as a positive. We are lucky to have a great relationship and really enjoy working side-by-side each day,” says Donald Jr., whose first job with his brother was chopping up fallen trees and mowing fields in Westchester, New York. “It wasn’t glamorous by any means, but we loved every minute of it,” says Eric, 27.

So why do these two flourish where others sometimes fail? While Donald Jr. attributes their triumphs to the unabashed ability to ask the other for advice, Eric believes it’s more to do with having an immense amount of mutual respect and always keeping airwaves open so issues are immediately addressed.

As prodigy of one of the most renowned real estate empires in the world, the Trump brothers have the towering pressure of perpetuating a legacy. “The brand is the single, most important invaluable aspect of the company, and there is no one more incentivized to help safeguard it then us, as it is our last name,” says Eric. www.trump.com

Double Duty: Caten Brothers of DSquared2
Madonna, Cameron Diaz, Lenny Kravitz, Justin Timberlake, Eva Mendes and Christina Aguilera have all donned the cool, cutting-edge cloth conceptualized by luxury Canadian fashion designers Dean and Dan Caten of DSquared2. It takes true talent to take a label from the true North to a global stage, and in the case of this Toronto-born design duo, it admittedly takes the talent of twins. “We’re so similar and we know each other so well. We can communicate very quickly without even speaking and we’re steps beyond people we’re working with because we understand each other,” says Dan of his relationship with brother and business partner Dean.

With their eminent fashion house based in Milan, Italy, the identical inventors have built their lucrative brand on innovation and provocative runway presentations; one of which saw international supermodels Naomi Campbell, Eva Herzigova, Karolina Kurkova and Fernanda Tavares exiting a pink private jet before parading down the runway with the swagger of Mick Jagger. Despite the Caten men’s current level of success, it’s taken the intense tie of brotherhood for the hosts of Bravo’s former reality fashion series Launch My Line to skyrocket to such improbable heights. “There’s an extra sense of assuredness and confidence because you’re in tune and you’re two,” says Dan, who designed under Diesel and Gianni Versace with his brother before bringing DSquared2 to life.

With careers that are catalyzed by creativity and inspiration, Dean and Dan have learned how to capitalize on their unique connection. Whether it’s finishing each other’s sentences at a social soiree, waking up in the middle of the night to discuss dreams, or spending a 10-hour flight drafting designs, the blessings of being twins in trade is telltale. “When things have to get done quickly maybe for a show or something, we’ll divide off. We don’t have to be together because I know he’s doing what I would have done and he knows I’m doing what he would have done,” says Dan. While one might expect conflict to arise from such extreme closeness, Dan insists that their fights are few and far – likely an ode to the pair’s shared vision and family values.

Reflecting on their astounding journey, Dan evokes the evolution of his relationship and DSquared2. “We kind of never really fit in growing up and I think our bond is as strong now that we don’t need to fit in anymore. It’s OK, because it makes us stronger being brothers and makes us a force to be reckoned with. I think that’s why superheroes have partners.” www.dsquared2.com

Two Peas in a Pod: Rubino Brothers
When siblings depart together on a business venture, a major benefit arises from the fact that each can rely on the other to responsibly tackle  separate aspects of the business. Canadian restaurateurs and business partners Guy and Michael Rubino have perfected this recipe, creating a harmonizing relationship that complements the talents of the other.

For the Rubino brothers, their polar-opposite personalities allows each to flourish in the environment they find most comfortable. “There was never an issue of Michael wanting to be in the kitchen and myself wanting to be the frontman in the front of the house,” says Guy, who has led each kitchen of their various restaurants. “It’s very defined as to whose role was going to be what.”

Michael, who graduated from Sir Wilfred Laurier University with an honours degree in business administration, has always been more business-oriented while Guy – who spent five years training in various kitchens across North America before opening their first concept restaurant Zoom Caffe and Bar – was always the creative one. The combination of business and art has culminated in five successful restaurants – including Ame (Japanese for “rain”), a Japanese relaunch of their previous venture Rain – and a popular television show called Made to Order.

But it’s not just the mastery of their individual roles that has seen their careers shimmer. Like the other siblings mentioned, there is simply no substitute for the fraternal bond brothers share. “The beautiful thing about having a business relationship with a sibling is the fact that the trust factor is always there,” explains Guy. And while disputes may come between unrelated business partners, it’s just too hard to stay mad at your brother. As Michael adds, “when you are a brother or a sister or a family member, at the end of the day you will forgive the other person for what they said.”

For nearly 25 years, the Rubino brothers have been dazzling the Toronto dining scene with their various culinary exploits and always entertaining television series. After many years dedicated to food, this dynamic duo is exploring other avenues of interest. This summer, Guy is “taking a break” from the restaurant industry, embarking on a tour with his band, BMD. Michael, a father of two, is looking to try several new Internet-based ventures while ensuring their restaurant continues to deliver their trademark excellence. Although they are parting ways for now, these two entrepreneurs still share many interests and remain close. “Because of the similarities in the things that we like to do,” concludes Guy, “it naturally lends itself to spending more time together.”
www.amecuisine.com

The Murray men of Imagenation: Murray Brothers
“The passing of our father was the key catalyst in us starting Imagenation,” says Phillip Murray, of the graphic art design company he founded with his brothers, Richard and Jody. If it weren’t for the profound entrepreneurial spirit of their parents, these three brothers might not have been propelled to transform their passion into a profession.

The Murray men’s New Zealand-based business illuminates their nation’s indigenous Maori culture, which their father raised them to be proud of. “Family, community and our cultural identity are the sign post reminders on the path that we travel,” says Richard. Maori influences are evident in every Imagenation project, whether it’s the incorporation of elements like water and fire or the graphic interpretations of traditional facial artwork, known as “moko.”

With pieces ranging in price from $200–$150,000, their new-media designs have caught the eye of clients from around the globe, including Adidas, Samsung, Vodafone, Novotel Hotels and even New Zealand’s government agencies. The Murrays were most recently commissioned to provide interior and exterior designs, artwork and cultural visual interpretations for a new $26 million community facility with the intent of transmitting Maori stories and history.

With each brother possessing a distinct skill – Richard is the artist, Phillip is the marketer and Jody is the web expert – they redefine the art of creative collaboration. While the clear division of roles has certainly benefited their business, the occasional crossover tends to be their biggest source of conflict. “The most common disagreement is when we stray across into each other’s field of expertise. For example, myself telling Richard how to design or Jody telling me how to sell; this leads to many healthy discussions on what’s good and what’s not good for our business,” says Phillip. “We need to rely on and trust each other and that creates a stronger bond and makes it special,” he adds.

Their unique venture is an impressive illustration of the imaginable beauty of brothers in business. With a shared vision and culture, Phillip, Richard and Jody teach us to not only imagine the possibilities, but actually pursue them. www.image-nation.co.nz

Double Your Delight: Carro Brothers
Having a brother as a business partner brings an element of trust and security that can be quite elusive outside the family circle. So, if being related is a bonus, then having a twin must even better, right? Nicola and Fabrizio Carro think so. “Being brothers in business is good, because you protect your family,” explains Fabrizio. These visually matching men have pooled their distinct cooking talents to flambé a mesmerizing menu and bring a little taste of Italy to mighty metropolises of America.

Born and raised in the Alessandria province of the Piedmont region of Italy, identical twins Nicola and Fabrizio found their love of gastronomy at 13. After spending several years separated – travelling, training and honing their skills – the pair took the U.S.’s eastern seaboard by storm, opening their first Quattro Gastronomia Italiana restaurant in Miami in 2006. “We chose Miami as the location because it’s very trendy and [there’s] a lot of potential business,” recalls Nicola.

After rocking the shores of South Beach for four steamy years, the two decided to branch out and open a second location in New York in 2010. The Big Apple meant adjusting to the tastes of the posh populous and squeezing into the already tight culinary climate. “There’s a lot more competition, there’s a lot of different kind of clientele,” says Fabrizio, who is the head chef of the New York Quattro. “People are looking for a little different style of cooking, which is not better, no, it’s just different.” Although this expansion meant tapping into new demographics, it also meant parting ways. As Nicola explains, Fabrizio was responsible for setting up their New York location. “I was just the support.”

Distance may separate them, but blood is thicker than water – and apparently geography as well. “We still call each other every day, three or four times – for business, for food, for anything relating to the restaurant,” says Nicola, who remains in Miami, running their original Quattro. Fabrizio adds, “We share information by e-mail, phone calls, and we see each other often – once a month. We lead our kitchens separately now, but we share the same project, so it isn’t that difficult.”

Due to the outstanding food and service their establishments exude, both Quattro locations won the 2011 Five Star Diamond Award from The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences. With this kind of success, it’s easy to see why they stay so close. “I can change him with nobody else,” says Nicola. “If I have to choose, I’d choose Fabrizio, 100 per cent all the time.” www.quattromiami.com, www.quattronewyork.com

Raised with his five siblings by his mother in a dilapidated apartment in Chicago’s projects, Gray understands that nothing comes easy. “You have to work at it, no matter what it is that you’re good at doing. You have to do the research, you have to practise, you have to study, you have to burn the midnight oil. You have to educate yourself in your particular field, you have to, really at the core, know your business and your value and employ it.”

Gray’s history is littered with success, including his purchase of Innercity magazine, serving as the youngest member of the board of advisors for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, and becoming an international best-selling author with the book Reallionaire (2004). All these accolades are the product of Gray’s insatiable drive to succeed. “Whether you work in a Fortune 500 corporation or you’re self-employed, you’re still providing a service – you are your own product and your own staff.”

Although he’s accomplished so much in such little time, Gray continues to push forward. He is the spokesman for a number of charities, and runs his own publishing company. Farrah Gray Publishing is releasing books by iconic figures, which include CNN anchor Don Lemon and Bubba Knight, a founding member of Gladys Knight and the Pips. Gray has become a synonym for success – there is just no telling what this young entrepreneur will do next.

www.drfarrahgray.com