Meet Denita Gladeau | Creative Director, Brand Photographer and Marketer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Denita Gladeau and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Denita, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Having a community that can relate to my brand and see Indigenous representation within the beauty space, which only began to grow in the past 2 years! I started my business as a pilot project to test the community response to an all exclusive eyelash brand with a grant prize every year of $500.00 towards any female-led project.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Honestly where I am today was only because of the term “timing was right” based on when my skills were needed. It was interesting to see how social media expanded to be what it is today, and that being a designer and photographer worked in my favour. I had to learn Digital Marketing later to be more attractive to brands but it was the cherry on-top.

I started as a Digital Designer who worked as a UI designer for contract work, in many fronts, in the meantime I started doing photography as a micro influencer, doing Instagramy images for fun. I got recognized by local indie actors and models, so I had quickly started doing editorial photography for others. I picked up contract work from a Social Media Agency doing content creation for multiple lifestyle brands.

I then started my first job as a Creative Director for a local fashion brand, learning the basics around marketing and pushing campaign strategies. However, I hit a wall not knowing analytics and building strategies using numbers. During that period I left my job and went into Digital Marketing to add to my work kit, and started Sohka Beauty. I knew how to shoot product, build a website, use social media and write email campaigns, it was the perfect time for me to start my brand. Today, I do Creative services for small businesses on the side.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I currently live in Montreal, I’ve been here for only a here, however, I can see why people would call it little Vegas of Canada. Montreal is a place full of creative individuals and places, there are so many cute restaurants and cafes to take photos in, the Old Port brings you back to the early days of Montreal, and the music doesn’t compare to other parts of Canada. It’s truly an experience worth visiting trying once.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I started Sohka Beauty as a pilot project when I started my Digital Marketing program, during that period, there wasn’t much beauty brands that were Indigenous-founded, and I was strongly inspired by Cheekbone Beauty, an Indigenous brand that made an appearance on Canada’s Dragon’s Den. I was so happy to see representation on my favourite show, and I felt it was a go for me to say “Why not? Let’s start this brand, if Cheekbone can do it, I can do!” So I trusted in my community that they would support my brand as long as there is Indigenous Representation. I also read the book “Indigenomics” which is by Carol Anne Hilton, who speaks about the education behind Canada’s history leaving Indigenous peoples out of the economic table, and the positives in Indigenous Economies, and that we our economy is thriving due to our values around sustainability.

Website: www.sohka.ca

Instagram: sohkabeauty

Linkedin: denitagladeau

Facebook: sohkabeauty

Other: My personal accounts are @lushtre both on instagram and Tiktok, where I share entrepreneur tips, and BTS of my daily work.