Meet Irah Nor, co-founder of Rêveur Marketing

Irah Nor hails from nearly a decade of experience in the marketing industry working in roles within marketing agencies, media publications, Mobile Apps, B2B/SaaS Startups and consulting for businesses globally. Currently, she is the co-founder of Rêveur Marketing,  a Toronto-based marketing agency that specializes in holistic growth strategies for SMB’s that accelerate their business and also in helping founders become more knowledgeable about various facets of marketing. Rêveur partners with global businesses (predominantly female-founded) in industries such as Food & Beverage, Automotive, Fashion & Lifestyle, Health & Wellness , Music & more. 

My first job ever was… working at a concession stand in a hockey arena- it was pouring slushies, selling chocolate bars, flipping hotdogs or making popcorn, you name it. To this day, I think concession stand popcorn is probably one of my favourite snacks.  

I founded Rêveur Marketing because… after years of freelancing and consulting for many different businesses, Rêveur was the natural progression. My amazing co-founder Alex and I saw a huge gap in the small to midsize businesses and the marketing services SMB founders felt they had access to from freelancers and agencies. Rêveur offers accessible executive/senior level marketing and consultation to founders within this space.

My proudest accomplishment is…building Rêveur from the ground up with my co-founder. Running a business, doing business development, and also executing on the services themselves is alot to manage, and I’m proud of what Alex and I have built.

I surprise people when I tell them… I’ve actually been in marketing for nearly a decade.

My best advice to people starting out in business is… to ask experts for help or advice. You truly don’t need to know everything it takes to run a business. Some of the best pieces of knowledge I’ve gained have come from just asking someone who was a leader in the space.

My biggest setback was… building a business in the time of COVID. There were a lot of uncertainties and apprehensions with regards to whether businesses felt that they could afford the extra expense or even if it would work from their past experiences.

I overcame it by… showing founders the value of marketing and taking your business online even during a pandemic. It has paid dividends for our partners as now they’re able to continue their business whether physically or virtually.

If I had an extra hour in the day, I would… definitely lay in bed a little longer to read in the mornings.

The one thing I wish I knew when starting my business is… more about accounting and small businesses taxes & write-offs – this is a really essential part of running your business that I’m unfortunately not that proficient with.

I stay inspired by… hearing experiences from other female founders and networking. We’re lucky at Rêveur to have partnered and met with so many female founders, hearing their stories and journeys to growing their businesses always keeps us motivated.

My next step is… continuing to grow other facets of Rêveur, there’s definitely a few other plans we have in mind that we’d love to expand.