Meet Lisa Ali Learning Founder of AtlanTick Repellent Products And 2019 RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards Ones To Watch Award Winner

Lisa Ali Learning

Founder, AtlanTick Repellent Products

Ones to Watch Award

Lisa’s business idea arose when her two sons were sick with Lyme disease. While focusing on the immediate care of her children, she developed safe, natural formulas to keep them from encountering future tick bites, the source of the disease. As her sons recovered, Lisa was able to devote more of herself to the development of AtlanTick, a tick safety company, determined to produce the first all-natural tick repellent registered with Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency.

My first job ever was… a paper route when I was around 10 years old.

I decided to be an entrepreneur because… I didn’t make a conscious decision about becoming an entrepreneur – it always strongly felt like the right direction for me so I took it.

My proudest accomplishment is… that’s hard to narrow down, but I am proud of a few things in particular. I was able to survive and provide for myself by selling my art, even having pieces commissioned by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to represent the Metis people of the region and to represent the apology ceremony from the federal government to the survivors of abuse at residential schools in NL. I’ve run a property management business for years, but I knew very little about it when I began – I learned fast, figured things out and saw great success. I am incredibly proud of AtlanTick, the growth of our company, and the impact we are having on tick safety research, development and bite prevention. Beyond all of these things, I am proud of my children and the relationships that are integral to my daily life. 

My boldest move to date was… deciding to tackle registration of our tick repellent formula with Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency. This is a very complicated, drawn-out and expensive process, and as such has deterred countless small businesses from similar pursuits. In this case, my stubbornness has served me as a strength.

I surprise people when I tell them… people are often surprised by the variety of businesses I’ve run, as they all fall into such different categories. People are also surprised that I don’t have a science background, but that’s never been a problem because we’ve got a great team of scientists from Acadia University with loads of applicable expertise helping us out.

I knew it was time to launch my business when… I realized the importance of and need for tick safety products, which was unfortunately made very clear when both of my sons became sick with Lyme disease as a result of tick bites.

 

“Problems tend to always work out when I remove my emotional self from the equation and look at the bigger picture.”

My best advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is… you must truly believe that you can do anything you set your mind to. You must also ask questions and really listen to the answers. Being observant and listening are the first great tools in your entrepreneurial toolbox.

My best advice from a mentor was… my dad always told me that there is no such word as can’t. As a child, I would argue with him about that, but it has been one of my greatest lessons in life – we often create our own limitations and likewise can erase them by changing our attitude about things.

When the going gets tough, I tell myself… I tend to pull myself back, mentally, from the dilemma I’m facing and try to look at things from a broader perspective. When I do that I can see that problems are often nowhere as significant as I may have first thought, which allows me to then look for and find solutions. Problems tend to always work out when I remove my emotional self from the equation and look at the bigger picture.

If I had an extra hour in the day, I would… spend even more time with my family.

I stay inspired by… I have an innate and insatiable desire to learn, to figure things out, to solve problems. I’m inspired by challenges and possibilities.

The future excites me because… I know that the work we are doing is changing peoples’ lives. We are not only finding preventative solutions to a serious and growing health threat, but we are also contributing to the scientific community, learning things about tick physiology that have not been known or proven before now. We are determined to help people avoid the often debilitating and sometimes deadly consequences of tick-borne diseases, and that is something I feel incredible about.

My next step is… when the registration process is complete, Atlantick will produce the first highly-effective, natural-ingredient, Health Canada-certified tick repellent available in Canada… and we can’t wait!