Madeleine Shaw

December's speaker will be Madeleine Shaw, a social entrepreneur, writer, 
mentor and gardener. Madeleine will share her incredible and inspiring story of creativity through the lens of the global theme ‘cycle’.

In 1993, Madeleine began making a collection of reusable menstrual products and in 2000 co-founded Lunapads, a founding Canadian B Corp credited as being the progenitor of period underwear. Lunapads (rebranded as Aisle in 2020) was one of the earliest ventures in the world to commercialize reusable period products, champion respect for the menstrual cycle and advocate for sustainable menstrual equity, catalyzing the category’s recent growth into a billion dollar marketplace. She currently serves as a Mentor in Residence at SFU’s Charles Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship and as an Entrepreneur in Residence with Purppl and is a longtime member of the Coralus and Social Venture Institute impact venture communities. She is the author of The Greater Good: Social Entrepreneurship for Everyday People Who Want to Change the World and regularly publishes personal essays on Medium and Substack.

As usual, we asked Madeleine some probing questions to give us a deeper glimpse into her life and relationship with creativity:

How do you define and apply creativity in your life and career?

My creativity is intricately linked and inspired by my values; you can think of me as a multimedia eco-feminist social change artist. My projects have included apparel, consumer products, events, family support services and the written word. I also apply creativity to everyday things like gardening, baking and how I choose to enter large Scandinavian home furnishing stores. I never assume that there is just one “right” way to do any given thing (I see recipes as jumping-off points for improvisation), and enjoy playfully questioning or resisting commonplace assumptions about how we “should” live, work and play. For me, creativity is not just about a solution or result, it’s about the pleasure and discovery in the process.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration or energy?

A walk in a forest, a swim in a lake or the ocean, some garden time or a heartfelt conversation with someone I love. Any form of authentic connection with nature or other humans. Letting inspiration show up, as opposed to striving or applying a systemic approach. Nurturing a sense of curiosity and receptivity.

What’s one piece of creative advice or a tip you wish you’d known as a young person?

To trust myself more.

Who (living or dead) would you most enjoy hearing speak at CreativeMornings?

How many can I choose? Off the top of my head: Octavia Butler, Frida Kahlo, Jane Austen, Arundhati Roy, Suzanne Simard, Michelle Yeoh, Jacqueline Novak, Joan Armatrading, Leigh Joseph, Rex Ray, Trish Dolman, Dianne Whelan, Judy Blume, Eva Chin, Corinne Hunt, Vanessa Richards, Jenny Odell, Tricia Hersey, Suzo Hickey, Lee Robinsong, Holly Whitaker.

What’s your one guilty creative indulgence?

I have a playlist of terrible 80s power ballads (think Rock of Ages) that I crank when I’m driving or baking and basically shout along with. It’s kind of a warped version of carpool karaoke. It’s incredibly therapeutic and also hilarious.

What are you reading these days?

I’m fascinated by addiction, sobriety and recovery and do a lot of reading about them. I’m also intrigued and terrified by the attention/surveillance economy and am trying to get a better understanding of it, particularly as it relates to social media and addiction. Cults are another side interest that I do a fair bit of media consumption about. I also love non-fiction, especially novels. Someone just passed along Soil by Camille T. Dungy to me and I can’t wait to dig in ;-)

Where is your favourite place to escape?

I love Palm Springs and the whole Coachella Valley and Joshua Tree area (Cahuilla and Mission traditional territories). The geography and flora are so wonderfully opposite to here, and I am soothed and entranced by the desert air and quality of light there. Plus the gorgeous mid-century modern architecture and design.

What books made a difference in your life and why?

I read "Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret" by Judy Blume when I was around 10 years old and it was so wonderfully validating. I felt so absolutely seen and affirmed as an adolescent girl who was at once fascinated and terrified by the changes that were upon me. As a writer today, I would say that it influenced me to tell my own story very vulnerably in order to give readers a similar feeling, especially around traditionally shame-laden topics like addiction and recovery.

When you get stuck creatively, what is the first thing you do to get unstuck?

I would start by questioning the notion of being “stuck.” I ask myself where I am in my circadian cycle, lunar phase, season, etc. Am I truly stuck, or simply in a creative “chrysalis,” as opposed to a more obviously productive phase? Am I already in the right spot, cyclically speaking, quietly incubating ideas that will emerge in due time? I check in on the basics: am I dehydrated, hungry or needing to get something off my chest? I drop into my intuition to see what might be there. I try to rest if I’m tired, or move my body if I have unfocused energy. Little things like getting some sun on my face, touching the Earth with my feet, or giving myself a good shake are ways that I “reset” and nourish myself. Sometimes I switch mental gears entirely by working on my Spanish for a bit. Doing something with my hands like easy knitting, arranging flowers or pulling weeds brings me into a gentle, receptive flow state. Or I just stop doing anything as much as possible and see what presents itself as the next right thing.