Today we raise our fists high and put our hands together in celebration of our Feature Girl Warrior, the brilliant entrepreneur, fashion designer, stylist and marketing strategist, Rebecca Rowe, whose personal transformation from an anxious teen who struggled to find where she fit in, to becoming someone who helps others express their authentic selves. Her design education started at Canterbury High School in Ottawa where she studied Visual Arts, beginning with the fundamentals of shape and design. From there, she attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, but her time there was cut short when the summer after her freshman year her dad suddenly passed away. After spending a year recouping with her family in Ottawa, Rebecca moved to Paris where she was immersed in an intensive fashion program. Certificate in hand she moved back home to Ottawa to start her career in fashion. Rebecca jokes that “Ottawa is the fashion capital of absolutely nowhere and voted Canada’s 8th worst dressed city.” But she rose to the challenge and started her own fashion label, Rowes Fashion, which she ran for 8 years. With the typical ups and downs of running a business Rebecca found her groove and carved out a space for herself in the Ottawa fashion scene. In 2023 her career pivoted again when a flood drowned her collection, her patterns and everything else she needed to run her business. It was while she was out of her apartment for 6 months that she began to lean into styling. Falling in love with styling happened quickly and she learned how easy business could be. She started booking clients and has been growing ever since. Rebecca works with clients, who are going through a transition, transform their personal style by helping them understand the theory behind the rules of fashion. Rebecca says that “when you understand the why you’re able to replicate and that’s what’s important.” And we always say a resounding YES to understanding why!
How would you define a Girl Warrior?
My logical brain instantly conjures up an image of one of these Viking women running fearlessly into some 15th century battle. The emotional side of my brain thinks, “Pfft. I know warrior women in 2025. The only difference is that we’re fighting on a different battlefield.”
So, to answer the original question – How would I define a Girl Warrior? As someone who feels the fear and does it anyway because she knows that not only is it what society needs but it’s also what she feels called to do.
What were some of the most valuable lessons you learned from being homeschooled? Was there anything you felt you missed out on by not attending a public school?
I’m sure there were things I missed out on, I just didn’t have anyone to compare it to, so it didn’t feel like a big deal at the time. When others in my age group were going to school dances in a gym, I had the opportunity to travel with my family and study while in Hawaii, Africa, Europe. I didn’t feel like I missed anything, but I was also really lucky that my parents both had a science background and the personality to teach. One of the lessons that stuck with me was this concept that’s now known as “eating the frog.” Basically, do the thing you don’t want to do first and get it out of the way. Homeschooling allowed that flexibility and helped build a lot of lasting habits that I use now in my day to day.
What was the choice your mother told you to make when you were finished homeschooling?
This conversation should have probably had more pomp and circumstance around it but in the gift shop of a museum she simply told me that at the end of grade 10 (so, within a few months) I had to make a choice. That she was at the end of her knowledge within visual arts and if I wanted to pursue a more creative career, I would have to explore other options for education. If I decided to forgo the arts and continue in science and academics, I could finish high school at home.
In hindsight it was probably a more difficult conversation for her to have rather than for me to hear. It’s never easy to admit that you’re at the point where you need to pass over the reins.
Why did you feel like your life was about to start when you moved to Brooklyn?
I think a lot of university students feel the same way. You’re finally out of your parents’ house, doing the thing that “adults do.” I couldn’t wait to move to Brooklyn and start my career in fashion. I was so excited to learn new things, be in a new country but close enough to home that it wasn’t terrifying.
Looking back on it now, had things transpired differently I would have tried to stay longer. As it stands, I had one year in New York and for now that’s where it stands.
What happened the summer after your freshman year that changed the course of your life?
The summer after my freshman year I was adamant to continue learning about fashion. I soaked up everything I could. I had volunteered at Toronto fashion week my last year in high school and was asked to return.
Getting to Toronto for the orientation however was a bigger deal than I thought. For whatever reason, I missed the bus going down to Toronto and driving around with my dad. I started spinning. The type of spinning where you’re 18 and seeing your whole career disappear because you missed one bus to Toronto.
He wasn’t having any of it. He drove me to the airport where I bought a last-minute plane ticket to Toronto (I know, I know!) But at the time it was important, and I had the funds. The problem there? I had a child lock on my card. Couldn’t spend more than $100.
My dad left me at the airport and went straight to the bank to have them remove it.
I got to Toronto, went to the orientation and managed to make my bus home. I woke up the next morning to my mum screaming. My dad had died overnight.
Why did you move to Paris?
About a year after my dad had passed and a year of working, leaving school and navigating a world that I no longer recognized, I made the decision to go back to school.
Now, I tried to get into Ryerson.
I was rejected from Ryerson.
Now, this felt a little odd because (and I’m not trying to brag but it’s kind of important for the story) I had been accepted into fashion schools of a higher prestige all over the world. New York, Paris, London; why was Toronto – a Canadian school that was much lower on these lists not letting me in?
I already had a year of my NYC school, so what was up?
Well, I asked them.
I’m not sure if you know this, but you can call the admin of a school and point blank ask them what’s up.
Turns out my maths grade from high school was 1% point too low. I had a 74% and they needed me to have 75%.
So, my mum – the savvy entrepreneur that she is – said (and I remember her on the phone saying this), “So if she retakes her math course and gets a 75%, she’s in?”
Yes.
I had already booked a trip to the south of France to learn French so off I went, a new math’s course online and French offline and I finished that course, with a high enough grade to get into the school.
The funny thing was that the school felt wrong.
After all that, I went to Ryerson for 3 days and withdrew with a full refund.
That next summer I was accepted into a condensed program in France, found a roommate and flew to Paris to finally finish my degree.
Of all places, why start your fashion career in Canada’s 8th worst dressed city?
Because that’s where my family was. There wasn’t a lot of business thought that went into my startup. There was, “you live here? You want to make clothes. Okay, so make clothes.” I knew there wasn’t a lot of opportunity, but I knew that I wanted to be around my family.
How did that work out for you?
For a while it worked well, there’s a certain benefit bringing new ideas into a smaller industry. A small industry only stays small for so long. Being able to be a part of that growth was challenging but it allowed me to grow much faster than I would have had there been more competition.
What happened in 2023 that caused another career pivot?
Summer 2023, let me set the stage for you.
I had spent that year working on finding a rep for my clothing brand. At this point I had been selling my collection for a few years, getting most of my product manufactured out near Toronto and was supplying about 8 shops throughout Eastern Canada.
That summer I found a rep for Western Canada. We clicked right away and when I sent her samples, I got an email from her (which I still have) with a lot of !!!! – she loved the pieces. I had nailed the fit, the fabric, everything.
This was it.
That break I had been waiting for my entire clothing design career. I was going to be able to sell more products, focus on getting my brand more national awareness and, etc. etc. we know where this is going.
August 2023 Ottawa had a rainstorm that flooded most of Ottawa and the Ottawa Area. There was water halfway up car doors and also up to my knees in my apartment.
Let me make something clear here, I’m 6’1. Up to my knees is over a foot and a half of water.
And my collection? The one that I had sent to my rep with all the !!! – drowned.
Literally drowned.
My patterns that were still on paper?
Drowned.
One of my sewing machines?
Drowned.
My husband and I were out of our apartment for 6 months dealing with insurance and now I had to figure out what I was going to do for money.
No sewing machine, no clothing to sell. A stunned email to the shops and my rep later and I was left with, “Now what?”
Oh! And hotels are expensive.
Okay – so I need to make money.
I’m good at decluttering clothing and working with people in their closets and I started having friends ask me,
“Hey – now that you have more time, can you help me with my closet?”
So, I did.
And they told their friends.
And they told their friends.
Within a few months I had a client nearly every weekend.
My clothing brand was always a struggle, maybe that was from being in a city with not enough industry, trying to carve out a space for myself. Not having enough money to go all in from the get-go or maybe it’s because I was never really that talented a designer. Who knows? But what I do know is that when I started styling, I didn’t have to work so hard on marketing.
In fact, two years later I hardly have any marketing at the moment. Not because I don’t want to but I’m busy with clients. Not a bad problem to have.
I worked on my craft and figured out a system that I like and now not only do I work with clients one on one in their closets but I’m able to host workshops and talk about it.
Why do you love styling so much?
It’s a way to get to know people. Clothing is a way people tell their story and sometimes they don’t know what they’re saying but they’re always saying something.
I’ve worked with clients where I’m able to pin-point trauma that they haven’t worked through, habits and needs they didn’t know they had, unlock confidence by putting them in the right clothes for them – not for their body shape.
Seeing a woman say to me, “I’m pretty.” and knowing that she means it for the first time is a really great feeling.
How does decluttering help with your anxiety?
Physical clutter is often a representation of mental clutter and by letting go of the physical you’re often able to work through whatever else you’re working through. It also reduces the number of decisions you have to make which makes the day to day a lot more enjoyable.
Where do you do your best work and why?
I work best in a coffee shop. I’m the type who needs some type of ambient motion around to really lock in and the bottomless supply of coffee doesn’t hurt.
What would you say to your younger Girl Warrior?
Do it even if you’re scared. Now – that sounds like a Pinterest meme but it’s a meme for a reason.
At the end of the day there are no “bad” decisions, there are only decisions that you make that lead to an outcome. If the outcome you get isn’t what you wanted, then you have another decision to make.
No decision is also not a way to avoid a bad outcome because other people are also making decisions. These variables will affect your decision making and the cycle continues.
So, keep moving forward and at the end of the day, it’s just another decision.
Who is/are your Girl Warrior hero(s) and why?
This sounds corny but my mum. She would probably never say she’s an entrepreneur because she started her business out of necessity and doesn’t do any of the “business-y stuff” as she would say. But she’s the one who called the school because she didn’t understand the rejection. She’s the one that kept going after my dad died. She’s the one that is constantly giving to other people.
Now, since my mum doesn’t even have an Instagram account (although she is very active on Facebook.) I have a story about how we were invited to a Halloween haunted house, and we were invited to take videos where she told the staff that she “was with Social Media” but maybe that’s a different interview.
I think the heroes that mean the most to us are the ones we really know. The ones where we see them going through it and how they deal with it. We all know social media is a highlight reel and we can’t ask questions to the heroes of the past. There are so many women throughout history that changed the world but how you think about them is personal. I would ask that you look at the women around you and use them as your inspiration.
Blue Sky it. No boundaries here, just limitless opportunities. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
On stage hosting workshops about style and being booked out for one on ones for 3 months.
I want to work with real women in their real wardrobes. I have no intention of going back to working in film or high fashion, I’ll leave that to the artists. I thrive helping women discover their own transformations.
Probably doing some personal stuff too but I didn’t get the millennial “lets run a marathon” gene.
Living or dead, who would you love to have lunch with?
My dad.
Describe yourself in five words.
Tall.
The reason that’s there is because your stature will affect how people interact with you your whole life. Which affects how you interact with them. I was never “cute.” I was never hit on the way my co-workers were and that gave me a very confident attitude when it came to dealing with men. They saw me as an equal (or, almost equal) and that benefited me.
Strong.
There are a lot of times I could have quit, and I didn’t. I’m proud of myself for that but also know it takes some strength to keep going.
Creative.
In the way I think, solve problems and sometimes in the art making way.
Generous.
With my time and any other resource, I have available.
Kind.
If a film were written about your life, what would it be called and who would play you?
It would probably be a TV show running over a few seasons where the audience keeps rolling their eyes thinking, “that would never happen in real life. My hope would be that some unknown actor would roll in and play that character.
To learn more about Rebecca head over to her website at: https://rebeccarowe.ca/
Follow her on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/rebeccarowe.ca/?hl=en
Connect with her on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebecca-rowe-4292371b0/
