STYLE BY SARAI | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY JUDE LEE
Women of Vancouver (WofV) is a monthly editorial featuring stylish and professional women in Vancouver. Jason Sarai recently interviewed Clio De La Llave for this exclusive in-depth photo editorial.
What do you do for work?
In a nutshell, I focus on creating meaningful and lasting relationships online. I am the founder of Booje Media, a boutique Digital Marketing agency in Vancouver. Our main objective is to build our clients’ online presence by ensuring they have a consistent voice and image and that their brand is represented accordingly, but most importantly we build an organic, quality based audience on their social channels.
Since we are boutique, I tend to wear many hats on a daily basis. My main roles include business development and strategy building for our clients – and not to mention, keeping up with this fast paced and ever-changing industry!
What made you start Booje Media?
I have always had the urge to work for myself, and after realizing that the large traditional marketing agency wasn’t for me, I jumped at the chance to dive into social media when it was on its rise as I saw such opportunity for the growth of these communication channels. Being young and perhaps a little naive about the realities of entrepreneurship, I jumped in with both feet and have never looked back. After all, what was there to lose – other than time and money? I knew the experience I would gain would outweigh the loss of either if that were the case.
How has the company evolved since you started it and where do you see it going?
When I started Booje Media, I only offered social media strategy and maintenance services. In the past three years, we’ve expanded our services to become a fully integrated digital agency, offering our diverse collection of clients entire digital marketing campaigns that communicate online in the more efficient and effective way possible. The best part of seeing Booje Media evolve has been to see my team grow and bring such incredible collaborative talent and ambition to our clients.
Where do you see yourself in five and 10 years?
I am not sure whether I should admit this as I know business owners should have a five and 10 year plan, but I haven’t focused on that yet. Maybe it’s due to how quickly this industry changes or maybe it’s due to the fact that I am enjoying the organic growth of Booje Media at the moment, but for the next couple of years my focus is to align Booje Media with businesses that we believe in and that will benefit from what we do.
We’re already so fortunate to be working with some amazing brands, not to mentions the incredible people behind those brands, and just look forward to continuing evolving and working on some really creative online marketing campaigns that really connect and engage our audiences.
What charitable organization do you work with?
We worked with MoRide Canada in the fall – a team of three awesome guys that cycled across Canada and successfully raised over $150,000 for Movember. I am now helping build brand awareness for a cancer that is not often talked about – oral cancer – with An Evening to Conquer Oral Cancer. The last two years have been extremely successful and is growing each year with the support of many great people including Jake Hogarth from Hedley who performed at the first Annual event. There is nothing more rewarding than being part of a committed team that is truly dedicated to making a difference!
I am also on the Vancouver Opera’s committee for the Young Patron’s Circle. This charity is meant to bring awareness about the arts among a younger audience in Vancouver. This has given me the opportunity to immerse myself in an art culture that was unfamiliar to me. It has been an amazing experience to learn about the Opera and transfer some educational aspects to others, and not to mentioned I have enjoyed meeting all the YPC members. It has been some of the best networking that I have done in the city.
How did you get involved with this cause/organization?
I personally know the chair of the committee, Brenda Currie, and her passion and dedication for this cause these last three years has been admirable. Our team is hoping to help Brenda spread awareness of this often overlooked type of cancer.
How do you find working with friends and family? Do you recommend others to follow suit?
I get asked this question a lot since I’ve hired some close friends and even my very own sister. Some people thought I was crazy, but I knew these people inside and out: I knew their strengths, their work ethic and their attitudes. One of the toughest things about being a business owner is finding the right people to hire, but I feel like I’ve landed the jackpot as the people I work with genuinely care about me and about Booje Media’s continued growth as well as the success of our clients. That’s something that is really tough to find and cannot certainly cannot be taught.
Whether I would recommend others to follow suit would depend on many factors, first being whether you personally know people that have different strengths than you do and would be the right fit for the role. Secondly, whether you are confident that you can separate your personal and work relationships. Obviously it’s important to always have an open line of communication in any work setting, but I believe this to be especially true when working with close friends. All I know is that I feel fortunate to go to work every morning to create, collaborate and grow Booje Media with some of the people I respect most!
Peter Wilds Design | 51 Powell Street, Vancouver
How did you hear about Peter Wilds Design?
I found out about Peter Wilds Design by walking past his studio in Gastown. It’s very hard to miss. The first time I walked past his studio I stopped and admired the room for at least five minutes. Everything about the way it was decorated was perfect! I love a very white space when done properly, and this room had the perfect touch of black and beautiful decor pieces that brought the room to life. It sparked my interest & right away felt the need to look it up online.
What do you like about his company?
I love the way that Peter has done a beautiful and consistent job at branding himself. His showroom, website and logo all have a very clean yet sophisticated look with similar colours and tones. I love how Peter’s studio is such an innovative marketing idea. This is not the traditional way to brand yourself but it’s absolutely effective! I have a love for beautifully decorated spaces and I think it’s brilliant how he has placed his show room where we can all see and enjoy his talented work!
Granville Island
What do you like to do when you visit Granville Island?
What I like best about Granville Island is to get a coffee and croissant and walk around the market. Vancouver is such a health conscious city and has a lot of local and fresh goodness to offer. I am not a huge cook, but I feel that Granville Island inspired me to do so because it is the perfect place to shop for delicious produce, wild seafood, cured meats sourced from all about the world at the butcher Oyama Sausage Co. & quality cheese from Benton Brothers Fine Cheese.
One of the best things about summers in Vancouver are all the great patios that come out when the sun is out to play! Granville Island has some beautiful spots with stunning ocean and city views. Some of my favourites are Dockside, Sandbar and Bridges.
What do you recommend everyone to do or try when visiting Granville Island?
Don’t let the crowds overwhelm you. Get an ice cream cone, sit on the steps outside and watch the boats go by.
Outside of work, what do you do in your spare time?
I like to stay active, and my favourite way to do that is boxing! I enjoy pushing myself every time I go and I can’t help but feel liberated and strong every time I leave the class (watch out!). I also really enjoy yoga, and learning how to meditate is next on my to-do-list. I have a personal goal of reading one book a month and try to rotate between a business book, a biography and a fiction.
What I enjoy most is spending time with my friends and family and ideally doing something to enjoy this insanely beautiful city we live in! I love Vancouver and try to take advantage of living here as much as I can.
What does a typical weekend look like for you?
- Fridays: Events, birthdays, dinner with friends
- Saturdays: Healthy smoothie (like every other morning), boxing, work and get up to something fun in the evening!
- Sundays: Sleep in, Yoga, spend time with my family and my beautiful baby sister, Beau!
In the summers I love to do weekend getaways to Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast or the Okanagan if possible.
Homer St. Cafe and Bar | 898 Homer Street, Vancouver
What do you like about Homer Street Cafe?
My mom is French (and wonderful!), so a part of me feels connected to France when I am there. The beautiful decor, and stunning tall white beams at Homer Street Cafe give me a feeling of nostalgia for childhood trips to visit my grandparents. I just love the ambiance. The food’s great too, of course!
What do you recommend everyone to try at Homer Street Cafe?
I always order the soup of the day and have yet to be disappointed! I would also recommend getting a cheese and meat platter. It heightens the French experience! The chick-pea dish is great to start with as well.
How do you think people would describe your style?
I think probably ‘classic.’ I like an elegant feel – I believe everyone should have a white crisp collared shirt, a power suit, jewellery statement pieces & of course a fabulous fun outfit with a touch of personality.
What’s your view or advice on style when it comes to social media and for your clients? What impact does it have?
Style is very much a part of our everyday work at Booje Media. We are big believers that branding plays a big role in the success of a company and our job is to recreate that brand online. It’s important that our clients express their brand and their style through their voice, culture and content. After all, there is a reason why image-based social networks Instagram and PInterest have been the fastest growing social networks in the last year.
In business, first impressions are important, and style definitely plays into that. When meeting with a new or existing client my goal is to look put-together and polished – with a twist of comfort and creativity (hey, social/digital media is fun after all!).
I think it is important to display your professional side through your style – it shows to a client that you pay attention to detail.
What does style mean to you?
There is a quote from Coco Chanel I love that applies to style as much as fashion: “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” I think style is everywhere, and the beautiful thing is everyone can interpret it in their own unique way.
Style reflects the different angles of your personality & lifestyleI and I feel this is true to me because I have different sides to me when it comes to style. My “professional Clio” looks consists more of neutrals, silk, blazers, boots and heels. I am a big fan of the equestrian look and I love a woman in a power suit!
As for “Personal Clio”, I love comfort, pops of colour as well as a lot of navy and grey. Summer fashion is my favourite because I love wearing summer dresses and pastel colours! And yes, I am definitely guilty of wearing Lululemon more often then I should.
THANKS CLIO DE LA LLAVE, FOR BEING A STYLISH WOMAN IN VANCOUVER!
WOMEN OF VANCOUVER TEAM
| JASON SARAI producer / editor / stylist |
STYLE BY SARAI stylebysarai.com @StylebySarai |
| JEREMY JUDE LEE photographer |
JEREMY JUDE LEE PHOTOGRAPHY jeremyjudelee.com @judelee |
| EMILY CHENG hair & makeup |
EMILY CHENG MAKEUP & HAIR emilycheng.ca @emilycheng_makeup |
Women of Vancouver is a monthly editorial featuring the most stylish and professional women in Vancouver. WofV is currently being released exclusively on Vancity Buzz.