Barb Stegemann

Keynote Speaker

Barb Stegemann’s Biography

Barb Stegemann’s entrepreneurial vision was formed after her best friend—a soldier—was severely wounded in Afghanistan. Understanding that supporting Afghanistan’s economy was key to building stability for its people, Stegemann launched The 7 Virtues out of her garage on her visa card armed with only a dream to help war-ridden nations rebuild.  Her company sources organic, fair trade essential oils from countries experiencing turmoil (such as Afghanistan, Haiti the Middle East and Rwanda and beyond). Despite addressing complex global matters in her talks, Stegemann uses humour to explain how individuals can use business for good and effect change, both at home and worlds away. A decade later, The 7 Virtues is now an award-winning social enterprise — and the only Canadian brand to be sold through Sephora’s "Clean at Sephora" fragrance space in 16 countries including the USA, Canada, the UK and the EU. A popular keynote speaker, through her inspiring entrepreneurial story, Barb shares powerful messages of triumphing over adversity, and empowers her audiences to embrace their inner disruptor. A newsmaker, Barb first became known to millions of Canadians when she landed a venture-capital deal on CBC’s hit show Dragons’ Den (shark tank in the USA) — the first woman from Atlantic Canada to do so. She went on to become the "Top Game Changer" in the history of the popular reality show when viewers voted for her social enterprise. Since then, Barb and her top selling clean at Sephora fragrance collection have been celebrated in major media outlets around the world, including Vogue, Elle Canada, Fast Company, Forbes, The Cut, Women’s Wear Daily, The Globe and Mail, as wells as CBC, CNN, Bloomberg, and more.  Barb has been named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by WXN; won the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year Award” in the emerging Entrepreneur category for Atlantic Canada; was ranked as one of Profit Guide magazine's "Top 30 Cool and Fabulous Canadian Entrepreneurs"; and was also made the first female Honorary Colonel in the history of 14 Wing Greenwood base, Royal Canadian Air Force, completing her term in 2015. Barb is also the author of the bestselling book, The 7 Virtues of a Philosopher Queen, now in its 8th edition. To learn more about Barb visit www.BarbStegemann.com or her social enterprise www.The7Virtues.com  Or watch the award winning documentary on her story, www.PerfumeWar.com

TOPICS IN DETAIL

Adapt and You Will Succeed. Guaranteed: Embracing a Pivot to get to Profit Best-selling author, Barb Stegemann shares how living the stoic virtues that guided warriors through war and strife for thousands of years stand the tests of time and if followed, will lead you to success and joyful living guaranteed. She shares how wonder instead of judgement will lead you to all of the resources you need. She shares stoic wisdom that Churchill and Aurelius used from Plato and Socrates to Mary Wollstonecraft. These principles apply to our lives today, they just manifest themselves in different ways. The root is following your ethics and the daily practice of the virtues.Barb shares how she too uses this wisdom successfully in her own social enterprise, The 7 Virtues was experiencing retail challenges as many businesses try and navigate the generational buying shift to Millennials. She herself had to adapt and she ended up launching a new contemporary peace perfume line with the fastest growing beauty giant in the world, Sephora.“I wrote a book on the stoic virtues and I still am in awe that if you follow it, these principles will lead you to success and joy guaranteed.”– Barb Stegemann  

The Virtues of Leadership and Success: How to Perform Your Best, Make Your Mark, and Grow Once a single mom trying to launch a start-up from her garage, Barb Stegemann has built an international brand thanks to intuition, innovation, and smart risk-taking. Now she shares her incredible story and hard-earned wisdom, as a CEO who continues to steer The 7 Virtues through both unexpected road bumps and surprising growth.Drawing on the story of her own accomplishments and relevant examples from other industries, Stegemann shares a presentation that’s equally suited to equip leaders and team members with the skills they need to face daily challenges and perform their best. Her message of thoughtful leadership, collaboration, and clearly defined ambition can help any organization find new heights of success, while maintaining the crucial balance of serving others while taking care of ours

Doing Well By Doing Good Barbara Stegemann shares the story of how she launched The 7 Virtues Peace Perfumes out of her garage and on her visa card in Nova Scotia — a brand that is now not only competing with other luxury perfumes, but has created a new movement of Clean & Conscious beauty at Sephora, the fastest growing beauty retailer in the world.With compelling storytelling, she shines light on her approach to business, and explains how social enterprise can be used to help reverse global issues, such as war and poverty, around the world. She shows us that the Return on Investment and the Return on Love are not mutually exclusive. We can (and must) have both together.“Nine out of ten Millennials will switch brands for one with a cause. We have a cause.”
– Barb Stegemann   Branding, Re-Branding, and Winning Over the Younger Market Barb Stegemann dives deep into how to brand to engage the younger market, when it’s time to rebrand, and how to change your image with the least financial impact. Her socially-conscious enterprise has spoken to the young generation, as seen through her perfume line’s success. She’ll show you how to win over this new wave of consumers and help you rebrand for better business.

Turning Dreams into Reality: How I Got my Business to Where it Is Today Barb Stegemann had a dream to help rebuild the lives of farmers in war-torn countries. She didn’t know how and she didn’t know what it would take, but she was determined to make a difference. She identified a method, rolled up her selves and began outsourcing ingredients for perfume from war-riddled countries. Let Barb take you on her journey from conception to international success, all while making a socially-conscious impact on the world. 

Stoic Principles For Business To Thrive During Uncertainty Winston Churchill said, “Never waste a good crisis.” During a pandemic that has drastically halted a great deal of the economy, Barb Stegemann shares in her best selling book how to use the stoic principles used by Churchill and many great world leaders to thrive and advance to a higher level during a crisis. Her own social enterprise saw 600 retail doors shut. By applying the guaranteed principles she teachers to her own business, her company, The 7 Virtues has tripled sales, despite the massive store closures and despite the inability to cross the USA border she  is retailing directly to 110 million Americans on QVC. With plans to launch in the UK, all during the pandemic! There are untapped business opportunities right in front of you. If you are present. 

Philosophy Is The Original Psychology; Keeping Your Mind, Body And Spirit Strong During Adversity For centuries leaders drew mental strength from the wisdom of the great philosophers from Plato to Marcus Aurelius. Philosophy guided leaders through war, strife and hell on earth and inspired them to keep going. Barb Stegemann has curated the great wisdom from the philosohers. 

Self-Love Is Not An Indulgence. It’s A Necessity Barb Stegemann wrote her book, The 7 Virtues of a Philosopher Queen – a woman’s guide to living and leading in an illogical world, to reverse the equation for women, the nucleus of the family to finally put themselves first and then take care of the needs of those around them. She teaches how her company’s natural perfume aromatherapy and philosophy together creates self-guided remedies for the body, mind and soul. Whether you are feeling stuck, lonely or overwhelmed, you are not alone and will find the wisdom in this program become unconquerable.