Purely motivational

As the old saying goes, every dark cloud has a silver lining.

For 25-year old Carissa Reiniger, her dark cloud was a lifelong battle to overcome shyness that eventually led to a million dollar business. It also happens to be the name of her company, Silver Lining Ltd.

Due to her extreme shyness, Carissa remained home-schooled until Grade 10, when her family decided to send her to public school. She took a novel approach to making new friends and finding a reason to strike up conversations with total strangers: She put her name forward as a candidate for student government.

Little did she know her plan would propel her into the spotlight. “When I was announced the winner, I was so shocked,” reflects Carissa.

Her struggle with shyness spurred her to study psychology at the University of Alberta, where she graduated with a BA in 2004. Further testing herself, she moved to Toronto where she didn’t know anyone. After working for a couple of large advertising and marketing firms, Carissa bit the (silver) bullet and launched her own business planning and management firm.

And, in just 18 short months, Silver Lining Ltd has expanded from a one-person shop to four offices—Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver and Las Vegas—with 16 employees, all older than Carissa. Her success has earned her the distinction of being one of the youngest women in Canadian business history to run a company with annual revenues exceeding a million dollars—a goal achieved in 2006.

Ironically, Carissa is now managing a burgeoning career as a motivational speaker, often addressing hundreds and sometimes thousands of people. She’s also uber involved in businesswomen’s organizations and various charitable endeavours.

Having self-published her first book on women’s relationship stories, titled Stories from Our Black Books, Carissa and her staff are busy putting the finishing touches on a second about how to grow small businesses, slated for release later this fall.

No stranger to airports and living out of a suitcase, Carissa sometimes struggles to find a balance between working and downtime. But she finds the time to follow her secret passion, the theatre:

“…No matter where I am, my company always has season tickets.” √

Photo by Terry Bourque