We absolutely love seeing mothers and daughters come together to build businesses like Marife and Sarah from The Groggy Owl have. The Groggy Owl is a handmade jewellery business based in Oakville, ON. We asked this mother-daughter business duo some questions about their business partnership, what it’s really like working together as a mother-daughter business and any tips they have for up and coming mother-daughter duos. Enjoy!
How did your business come together? Share a bit about your start in business.
- The Groggy Owl started as a creative passion turned business. Originally, The Groggy Owl was a one-woman show run by myself, Sarah. Making jewellery was something I had done for the longest time as a hobby. I was looking for ethically-sourced jewellery with a specific aesthetic, and thought – why not make my own? From there The Groggy Owl was born. About a year after starting The Groggy Owl, my mom joined me as my business partner. She has always been my number one support, and I am so happy to work with her as a team.
Why did you decide to work together?
- As The Groggy Owl grew, I realized I couldn’t keep up by myself. My mom has always been extremely supportive of The Groggy Owl from the beginning, and was already an amazing help especially during my busy craft markets. Her becoming my business partner kind of just happened naturally. In addition to my mom being a very creative person, she has always been entrepreneurial herself, having started her own sari-sari shop in the Philippines when she was young. Working together just made sense, and I couldn’t imagine a better business partner. The Groggy Owl wouldn’t be as successful without her.
What’s one thing that contributes to your success as a Mother-Daughter duo?
- We are both very creative and hard-working people, and both bring our own set of strengths to running The Groggy Owl. It’s been great brainstorming new collections and creating new designs together because of this. More importantly, it’s wonderful working with someone who genuinely cares about your well-being. My mom and I are very close, so I’m really thankful to work with her. Running a business is not without its challenges, so I’m grateful we’re in this together, especially during high-stress times.
What’s your favourite moment working together so far?
- We have SO many favourite moments working together: from our many craft shows, to late-night jewellery-making while watching our favourite Filipino dramas, to building our own displays, to renovating our studio space ourselves, to celebrating over the success of our first collaborative collection. It’s been great.
What advice do you have for other Mother-Daughter business partners? Is this something you would recommend?
- Working with anyone can be challenging, so it’s important that you are understanding of each other, mother-daughter duo or not. Remember that you’re there to support each other, and that you’re a team.
Mother – Share your favourite thing about working with your daughter:
- My favourite thing about working with my daughter is being able to spend more time with her. I have always been a creative person, and I am happy my daughter is too. It’s so nice to be able to share that with her. We have bonded over arts and crafts since she was a little girl, but of course as she got older, life gets busier. I’m really enjoying all this extra time bonding with her while making jewellery together for our business.
Daughter – Share your favourite thing about working with your Mother:
- I love working with my mom. Working with my mom is really great cause we compliment each other’s strengths. I especially love being able to bond with her over a shared creative passion. We’ve always been close, but there was a time before The Groggy Owl when I didn’t get to see her much, having moved away for school and being unable to come home for summers due to work. Even after moving back home, I was busy working at my previous office job. The Groggy Owl has been such a cool way to bond and spend time together. I’m very thankful. She has sacrificed so much over the years for our family. She has such a kind and generous heart. My mom is honestly just an amazing person, and I owe a lot of my success to her.
We hope you enjoyed getting to know this amazing mother-daughter business duo and local Canadian shop. You can check out their shop here.