OUT For Business Youth Entrepreneurship Cohort 2021 – Tim Campbell-Smith, Strategist
The CGLCC Youth Entrepreneurship Program empowers LGBT+ entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 39 by providing them with support and tailored guidance to help them establish or grow their own businesses. The one-year program has four components:
- networking
- access to funding
- building business skills
- mentoring
Launched in 2017, the program helps a new group of young entrepreneurs each year. Each week, we will be spotlighting a member of our 2021 OUT For Business Cohort.
Thank you to our program partners: TD Bank Group, Scotiabank, Higgins & Burke Naturals, City of Toronto and Shopify.
Meet Tim! (Pronouns: they/them)
Tim Campbell-Smith is an award winning social media marketing strategist for impact driven organizations based out of Guelph, Ontario. A generalist by practice, Tim focuses on the whole business, with one eye on the organization and one on the social media. From ads to YouTube analytics, Pinterest strategies to community collaborations, Tim loves weaving stories of impact and benefit while bringing people together. Tim now lives in Puslinch with their husband, family and dogs.
What drew you to this program and what are you looking forward to most?
Mentorship doesn’t really exist for people in the knowledge transfer industry (coaching and consulting), and, mentorship doesn’t really exist in the queer community. A program that not only offers, bust fosters AND celebrates both was too good an opportunity to pass. Learning from a queer mentor who’s also in knowledge transfer and professional services will only make my business better in ways no other program would.
What does having access to a program like OUT For Business mean to you?
Having access to a program like OUT For Business means two things: first, it means improving my business in an authentic way where, for the first time, being queer is seen and validated as part of my experience (and not hidden away). Second, it means being part of something larger, showing people the professional queer community is alive and well.
Why do you think it’s important to support LGBT+ businesses?
Being an out, queer person in business is still a relatively new concept, and still even shunned in some places. Supporting queer businesses shows that there is a place for everyone in business and the world, that you can be different and get ahead.
What inspires you?
In my business, my mom inspires me. After years of doing this and not understanding social media or business at all herself, she’s finally getting what I do and thinks it’s cool, and that keeps me going. She doesn’t understand my world but sees me doing well and keeps cheering me on.
Interested in learning more? Click here for more information about our OUT For Business Youth Entrepreneurship Program.
