Meet Katie Derrick, founder of Fern & Petal, offering all-natural essential oils and bath products with a sustainability mission.

Founded by Katie Derrick, Fern & Petal was born out of her difficult search to find high-quality, all-natural products that were made locally. From essential oils to bath products to room sprays, her small, family-run business puts quality first. All of their handmade products are free of dyes, fragrances, and synthetic preservatives, and are bottled locally in Vancouver, BC. Plus, with every order they make a donation to plant a tree — with their efforts so far reaching over 20,000 trees in Canada, which works out to roughly 3 million kg of carbon taken out of the atmosphere every single year

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My first job ever was… Nannying for these two amazing children. What an incredible journey it has been to see these kids grow into the young adults that they are today. They have become family and I still speak with them regularly. They even stop by once in a while to help out!

I decided to be an entrepreneur because… I’ve always wanted to feel good about what I’m doing and help to improve our community; even if it’s with small wins. Starting Fern & Petal has allowed me to follow my dreams and achieve these small wins with some incredible people and organizations. I am so blessed to have such an amazing opportunity to do things that I truly care about.

I founded Fern & Petal because… Health and wellness are so incredibly important, especially these days. I have always cared about finding trustworthy products that I can use in my daily routine, but it’s been challenging to find brands that stick to their ethos. With Fern & Petal I really focus on being authentic and only using natural ingredients that anyone can understand.

I’m passionate about Fern & Petal because… I love being able to flex my creativity and create products that I want to use myself. The first essential oil blend we sold was Feel Good. I created it over a year before starting Fern & Petal and it was always my go-to because of how great I always felt when diffusing it, so it was a natural first choice! Since then, all of our products have come from something similar; each product shows a different side of who I am and things that I love!

My proudest accomplishment is… I am deeply humbled by the community and support we have. Hearing our customers’ feedback and seeing our customers speak passionately about the products we have made makes me excited to get up every day.

I am also so proud about what our community has helped us achieve. We have planted over 20,000 trees in Canada which works out to roughly 3 million kg of carbon taken out of the atmosphere every single year. And we have so much more to go!

“You don’t need to be an instant, overnight success; start small and grow your business organically. Our first sale was at a tiny market and our first year was a collection of small wins.”

My advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is… Be realistic. Entrepreneurship isn’t about wealth; there are plenty of easier ways to get that. It’s about building your own journey and creating small wins that mean success to you. 

Start small. You don’t need to be an instant, overnight success; start small and grow your business organically. Our first sale was at a tiny market and our first year was a collection of small wins. 

Don’t give up. We instinctively want things to happen overnight and when they don’t happen, we can get discouraged. Good things take time; just keep at it and you’ll find your success when it’s meant to happen.

The one piece of advice I give that I have trouble following myself is… Stay focused and organized — which will help you achieve your goals faster. I often get side-tracked and end up doing things that can be put off until later, which can often derail me from finishing the things I want to do that day.

The thing I love most about what I do is… My community — the people who support us, the kind feedback and sometimes the honest feedback we receive, has helped us become what we are today. Every single email we get we personally read and respond to. We love giving back to organizations and helping improve our community as a whole. I love ending every day feeling like I have helped do something special.

If I were to pick one thing that has helped me succeed, it would be… My family has been such an incredible support. They have been there every step of the way and helped us grow the business. Even early on, my mom sat next to me at every single market and helped us without hesitation. We have grown to be a fully family run business. Without the family, I don’t think we would be where we are today.

The future excites me because… We want to continue to do these small things that can become big changes over time. I can’t wait to look back in five years and see the positive impact Fern & Petal has made!