GeoLyn Mantei

My vision for an organization started in 2012 and focused on helping women heal through trauma, specifically sexual violence.

At that time, I had recently left my husband and my business – my first entrepreneurial venture – in a small town in beautiful British Columbia, Canada relocating to my prairie province of Saskatchewan with my then two and four-year-old children.

Due to the nature of our separation, I was made to believe that it was because of the trauma I had experienced as a child and teenager that caused our failed marriage and instigated the arguments that, over the years, became more volatile and eventually physical.

 

GeoLynMantei_Saskatchewan

Photo was taken in a field of rapeseed in prairie province of Saskatchewan for launch of Seeds of RAPE

In the summer of 2012, I began work on Seeds of RAPE with a vision of helping women overcome sexual abuse and rape, with guidance and support from female experts in various fields like nursing, psychology, and law, to help women Recount. Accept. Protect. Evolve.

The vision never came to fruition.

Instead, for the next eight years, I was enthralled in a lengthy custody battle fighting for my young children and, during this time, working through the recent diagnosis of autism and moderate developmental disability of my daughter.

Fast forward a few years, I was back in British Columbia, struggling to start over. My first business and all assets were gone. I could not secure a job in the sales field, which was all I knew, and chose to start another business building off the success of the first, which was a community publication. This time though, instead of print, I expanded into the digital world.

As much as I was reluctant to take on the stress of working for myself, never knowing when the next client or money would come, I needed the flexibility to work on my own schedule to accommodate the visitation times with my children. The necessity to pay the escalating legal bills, attend hearings in Supreme Court, and ensure my kids had the resources they needed were my driving forces behind QuickShot Media, a digital media company, and eventually Moda Partners, a boutique digital marketing agency.

During this time in 2016, I enrolled in a program by Chantelle Adams, called Centre Stage Live. It was a program designed to help find your voice and teach you to take the stage to tell your story. I had spoken over the years, more in my early twenties, on bullying and abuse with my mother, who was a teacher in Saskatchewan, and knew that was what I wanted to do again.

I had a story. A couple. But, I didn’t have the courage or words to tell them.

It was at the retreat with Chantelle and a dozen other incredible women that Muddy Stilettos was born, but the timing wasn’t quite right.

  • There were a few more obstacles I had to fight through.
  • A few more court hearings to attend.
  • I needed to move ahead without fear or embarrassment of my divorce or the story that people didn’t know or understand.
  • I had to prove that I could survive on my own. Build my own business. Pay my own bills and not be dependent on anyone.
  • I needed more than $17 dollars in the bank and to attend to collectors I’d been avoiding for years.
  • I needed a message that was true and authentic.

…And it finally came, although it took a few years. More than a little trial and error. But it came.

With it came a realization that it isn’t my story but every woman’s story. And through words and sharing, every woman can find comfort or offer inspiration to another that may be on a similar path.

In turn, I wanted to offer support through a platform of showcasing women-led businesses and a support model that would allow us to give back to organizations and create bursaries and scholarship programs that support women around the world encompassing the Muddy Stilettos values of strength and resilience, who may need a little monetary support to help her along her path.

Although the journey has been long, I’m so grateful you are here, along with the incredible women who have shared their stories, and a huge thank you to the contributors of the Community who help create content to share with you.

If you have a story you’d like to share, a cause you’d like us to support, or a topic you’d like to contribute to; please reach out.

We’d love to hear from you.

I look forward to joining you along the journey as we all make our mark, in our Muddy Stilettos.

GeoLyn Mantei