Ali and Lorna talk about all things Bodaciously Bad Ass Entrepreneurism.

About the Guest:

My name is Lorna Ketler, owner and lead body-love enthusiast at Bodacious Lifestyles Inc. 

Bodacious originally started as a consignment boutique 20+ years ago and has grown to now feature the best and most beautiful plus-size fashions from around the world!

I passionately encourage women to fully recognize and appreciate their beauty, their bodies, and their curves! 

Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, and owning it fully is powerful.

After 5 years of living on our boat in Vancouver, I’m now pleased to now call Victoria my home.  

I delight in seeing the world with a fresh perspective. In my 50th year,  I decided that every month for one year I would create “epic” experiences in my world starting with walking 100 km of the Camino de Santiago on my 50th birthday. That completed, I filled my months with big and small experiences including jewelry-making classes, jumping off the back of my boat for a swim (so awesome!), painting workshops, travel, and most importantly, precious time with dear friends. I even started a ukulele class with my hubby.

You can find my brick-and-mortar women’s clothing stores, Bodacious in Victoria & Duncan, BC, online and at various pop-ups throughout the lower mainland throughout the year.

As awesome as the fashions are at Bodacious, what you’ll find when you walk through the door is a fun, safe, welcoming environment where all bodies are beautiful and worthy of clothing that celebrates YOU!

My passion includes helping women really look at their response to the clothes they're trying on. Do they twirl in front of the mirror? Are they smiling?  Are they in love with how the fabric feels on their body?

3 years ago, in the middle of the Covid world, I started swimming with a friend in a local lake. This led to swimming year-round, including when the lake was ice-covered and we had to break through to get in!!

I'm loving my 50's (now closer to 60!) and looking forward to my next grand adventure - yet to be determined!

Lorna 

Bodacious Lifestyles Boutique 

Fabulous Fashion That Celebrates Your Curves

1965 Oak Bay Avenue 

Victoria, BC

102 Craig Street

Duncan, BC

250.385.8169

Facebook @bodaciouslifestyles

Insta @bodavictoria

www.bodacious.ca

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No sleep. Let it sweep you off your feet.

Hi, you're listening to find your joy. If you're looking for ways to thrive rather than survive in a world that can seem rather chaotic, you're in the right place. We will be sharing stories of our own, as well as those from guests who have found ways to bring hope, healing and freedom into places where trauma has impacted them. I'm Ali, author of the art of healing trauma, and I'm here to remind you that life is sweet. Now, let's dive in and find ways to create our joy. Hi, I'm Ali and welcome back to find your joy. And today I'm really excited you are in for a treat because we have with us one badass entrepreneur Lorna Ketler of bodacious. High learner welcome.

Hi, Ali. Happy to be here.

I'm so glad to have you here. I'm, I've been thinking about this for so long. And, and as as is my way I get so excited. There's so many things I want you to talk to about. And tell us all about that I'm, I'm you know, if you see there's a whole bunch of roads that are all leading into a bottleneck of the highway, that's what my mind is doing right now. Because I want to go, where do we start, this woman has so many things that she does. So Oh, my gosh, first, I'm just really glad I know you're really busy. And for you to take some time out to hang out with me. And to do this, I really appreciate it. I'll let you know that some of the things that I think would be really awesome for you to share with our listeners are, well, you are a badass entrepreneur, and you've really weathered a lot of storms and stayed afloat and thrived. You are also a cold water swimmer. She'll tell us about that a little bit later. If you don't know. You're a best selling author. You are a promoter of self love, and body love, and self love champion. I mean, I'm just thinking there's so many things. Let's start with wherever you would like to start. Tell us a little bit about bodacious and how bodacious as your store. And tell us a little bit about that and how it started and Okay.

bodacious is a store. It's also a philosophy, and it's kind of my baby, which is who you're turning 23 this year. So it'd be it was a store that came from the lack of opportunities to shop in an environment that was fun for plus size women. What when it came into being it started as a consignment store. And my cousin and I had this idea. Within a couple of months, we found a location, we opened this store and you know, the rest is history. So for about a year, we did consignment doing plus sizes directly. And within a year, I kind of decided that our consignment wasn't or pre dealing with others pre loved fashions wasn't my gig. Because I'm too nice. Like, if people told me they had treasures, I just believe them. But they weren't told treasures. So like, Okay, we'll try it. And then yeah, we just started working with some local designers and built from there doing new at the 10 year mark, I started I claimed the business as my own. And so I've been doing this on my own for the last, I guess, almost 13 years, have had a lot of incarnations and locations, due to some moving around and family needs and necessities and opportunities and experiences. And now I've landed in Victoria and just about a month ago, I have a second location and Dunkin. So, how's that?

I think that's awesome. And so, so many things that come to mind for me, first of all, tell me again, the line that you said about the lack of fun what? In plus size stores? What was what was it the there was a one sentence there?

I'll probably won't remember exactly what I said. But there was a lack of opportunity for fun shopping experiences.

Right? And I think and I know I've told you this before but you know, you're I mean, you're my friend I am a customer I mean I I've been to your many locations over the years as you have the ebbs and flows and your moves and family requirements and all of those things. And the one thing that I'm always that I always you know, I can almost get theory about it is walking into bodacious is like you It's a philosophy I get that because it really is, it feels like more like I'm gonna vote to go for tea or, or wine and cheese party with girlfriends like it's, it's sitting around and and if feels very safe and forum well, for humans in general and then that say then that the next of that would be women next and then and then add to that plus size women or bodacious women or however we want to say that the it can feel less than safe less than fun, I don't really want to try anything on because I'm gonna look like crap anyways. And that is completely non existent in your store. We find in

this store that says this is a body Hate Free Zone. Yes, we try to find things to celebrate. You know, I know we all struggle with that the, you know, loving or even accepting ourself. And you don't always have to love every part of our body, but just accepting it for what it is. And just being in an environment where it's not about finding your faults and finding the thing. You can celebrate or at least enjoy or make you twirl or your eyes twinkle, or whatever it is creating.

I love that. And the other thing that's really wonderful to me from the well, there's so many things here there's so many layers is as a as an entrepreneur, you didn't get stuck in the mindset. I like the things that when I first met you, I think your store was in Gibson's I think that it was in Gibson's and then you moved and the store moved, and you were in Falls Creek, or Granville Island, and Granville Island. And then you did things like you did pop up stores, and you'd come to Victoria and you'd go to different places. And it's just as constant, your this. It's just like a person, it really is, I can see that it's like a baby, because it's not, you know, my store is at the corner of third and Main. And if it doesn't fly there, that's it. I'm never going to do this again. I think that that's a really good. That's a great experience for you and for your customers, but also for maybe upcoming entrepreneurs. How did you come to that, that you weren't going to just Okay, now, I'm not going to do this anymore? Because I'm moving like,

Well, I think I've always known and seen and experienced the need for it. You know, I have women who come to my store from all over well, I could see the world, I guess if they're traveling and they're coming. And most of the time, they tell me there's nothing like that where they come from, you know, and so there is a need for that energy for that celebration for that for that woman that maybe can't walk into just any store and have that experience. So that drives me. So it's, you know, that fills my cup that fills my bucket, if I get to go and have those experiences with women who are just super happy that you're even there and that you exist, that that's a pretty great feeling. So the more I can have that feeling, you know, it feeds me to do it more. Right? If I can only call myself.

Yeah, yes, that's right. It is a thing. Because yes, and you've have amazing staff, and you've always had amazing staff. And sometimes people want Lorna.

Yeah. As you know, I am the face of my brand. And I you know, I kind of veered off from that for a long time. And I thought I was done. I thought I wanted to do something else. And and, um, you know, I don't forget to talk much about COVID. But COVID brought that gift of me and my business and my passion back because yes, again in a full way, right. Like I had, I had to let my staff go, I had to just figure out how the hell I was going to survive. Yes. And so I had to step back in and so now, I yeah, I experienced it all in a different way. And I remember my wife and I remember my passion and I get my cup filled on a more regular basis because I'm there in my business more. Yeah,

yeah. And I think that a lot of times a lot of people are saying, you know, COVID just a locked down in general. Obviously, there's going to be impact for people. That's going to be very far reaching. You did really fun things during You made it. Why you made a pandemic fun girl? You did you were possible. You did distance personal shopping. You did mail outs. You did all there was so many personalized things that you did you. You did. People could shop online and if they were local, you would actually drop it off to them. And a distance Hello. You kept it all legal, and safe. And fun.

And yeah. And I did a lot of solo kind of happy dancing in the store trying to keep Yes, right.

It was awesome. It was

it's funny. I finally did a live yesterday. And I haven't really been able or felt compelled to do lives since then. I think I just said been I did it a lot. And I was just raving like the real person will contact. Yes, yeah. Anyway, it was kind of funny to real.

Yes, that was another thing you did, whether it was Facebook Lives or tech talks or whatever you you. You showed the you didn't just show the items because you never just show you model them. You danced. you giggled, you had fun. You chatted with us. It was beautiful.

But yeah, it was a lot less lonely when I can. Yes. See some Yeah. So

yeah, yeah. And so. So it sort of also I don't know, I don't know, which came first the chicken or the egg. But the self love champion that part of you. That, I mean, you're available to do talks. For that you, you do retreats, you oh my goodness, you do fashion shows, you are always giving to the community. But part of a small part of what you do in that is a self love champion. And so what what does that what does that mean? A self love champion, besides the obvious that it conjures up for all of us?

I think I will I try to walk the walk as much as I possibly can. I wear a bikini when I'm swimming not because I think I look fantastic in a bikini. But it feels better because I want less clothing on my skin when I'm in the water. So number one, but I also want to show women that they can just wear whatever they need to wear to allow them to do the thing they need to do. feels beautiful when you do it, you know, so that yeah, walking the walk as much as I can. I don't, I don't always love my body. I don't, you know, always celebrate all my bits and pieces. But I remind myself every day and the more I talk about it, the better I feel and the better I think other people feel and and see that I'm doing it. I had years ago now I went to Greece and I, you know, you have these visions of what you're going to the whole aesthetic of grace is all about the aesthetic, right? I mean, it's the crystal clear waters and the set the beaches and, and I had this vision of what I would look like in Greece. And I, my friend took a picture of me jumping off a boat. And it wasn't I'm gonna cry. It wasn't what I wanted to look like, I didn't I wasn't didn't fit the aesthetic of my dream. And I thought I had to stop fixating on that. And I had to remember the experience. Because the experience was, I'd say, top five on my bucket list. Right? So if I if I fixated on the fact that I didn't love how I looked in the photo, I loved how I felt in my body and that moment, yes, to just let the rest of that go. And I shared the picture. And I told that story. Because I felt that that was really important. makes me cry. I'm not sure why. But yeah, so I think I think you know, we fixate on the rules and looking into the mirror too much. You know, like, it's a one dimensional, quick look at your body that it's not what people are seeing when they look at you. You know, they're seeing your smile and your essence and your, you know, your beautiful heart and, and all the other physical pieces too. But it's all put together into a piece of you. Anyway, um, I'm not ranting, but I might be.

No, you're not even close to ranting. It's beautiful. You're passionate about what you're sharing. And the two things that come to my mind. I'll say first is I remember that picture very well. And I just thought how beautiful you looked. Isn't that funny? It looked fun. It looked so free. You looked beautiful to me. I never either. Had you not said that. You had that feeling when you saw the picture. It would have never entered my mind because it was absolutely because the picture showed how you felt in the moment later was just your interpretation of course of it, but would that we all do. And that reminded me If I had just to our friend Andy Kate, he was just playing at the indigenous music festival. And so I went up there and I, I was dancing on the grass. And David took a picture of me. And I sort of he said, Hey, and I, and I looked, and I, you know, does this kind of little pose, and I was backwards and, and I was so happy and that it was magical. And it was beautiful. And then I saw the picture. And it was a full length picture. And I'm almost 64 I'm not 24. And I'm not a small. And I saw I lost for a moment, the joy I felt. And then I said to myself, and true, Lorna fashion. Yeah, no, I'm not losing this. And I posted that picture, because that picture was fun. And that's the picture everyone's liking. Oh my gosh, she looks so beautiful. Oh, vocal, you know, they're saying these things. And I'm thinking what you have no eyes. But it's then now I'm starting to love that picture. Mm hmm. And I love that you're sharing that because what we saw what I saw on that picture? I, I saw the joy. And you are so beautiful. And I actually really love you and your bikini. Well, thank you. Yeah, it's

no was like this this expectation?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, but it's so the whole self love movement. Now, some of what you do through doing retreats and women's events, really does celebrate all of that. And it invites others in to celebrate that. When you have your Well, we haven't had the annual for a little bit because me because this whole COVID thing. But when you had your annual it was a fashion show. And there was it was just a glorious and wonderful event. And you always give back to women in need.

Yes, that's super important. Yeah. And the sad part about well, it's generally it's the transition house here. That that is even more of a need than ever. So yes, yeah. So it is important, I think to well, you know, to give back and do and, yeah, if, if we could only all do more.

Right. Right. And until we

need to do less. Exactly.

We can do some more. Yeah, yeah. I, I just I love the things that you that you do. I love the way that you create, and you reinvent yourself. And you are always a champion for. For others. That's this seems to just be how you're wired. I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to ask if you'll be willing to come and we'll do a second session. And I'll stop this one here. And then and then we'll, and then we'll and then we'll read. We'll then for everyone listening, this will be over until next week for us. We'll be back in like one minute. And if that's okay with you, I would love to do that. Because there is there is more things that we need to dig up and I end dig up well. We haven't got rid of any bodies or anything but yeah, maybe at that. Anyways. Thank you so, so much for for hanging out. And for those of you listening, thank you so much for joining us today. This is Ali and do find your joy. We'll see you next time.

Thanks so much for joining me today. If you found a piece of your joy in this episode, I would love to hear about what came up for you so that we can continue to grow the impact of this show. Thanks again. See you soon and remember find your joy