Faces of Entrepreneurship ft. Kevin Parent

Kevin Parent is the Social Media Lead at Ottawa Public Health since 2018. Before that, he worked in marketing (and once upon a time, in a younger life, he was a bartender). He once briefly thought about doing yoga.

What does entrepreneurship mean to you?

To me, entrepreneurship means forging new paths, often ones traditionally seen as “too risky” by others.

How are you entrepreneurial?

Well, the most common thing we hear about our social media is “how do you get away with that?”….and, simply put: we’re now getting away with anything. We’re following the evidence about how to best engage with our specific audience here in Ottawa. But, many would be hesitant to do what we do because of the risks…hence, we’re being entrepreneurial (assuming of course you accept my previous answer).

How does an entrepreneurial mindset contribute to your life?

It’s guided a lot of the bigger decisions in my life. I believe in taking necessary risks in order to obtain the things I want. When I was in my early 30s, already married with an infant, I walked away from my job and went back to university because it’s what I needed to do in order to get my dream job (hint: I have it). Recently, we welcomed our third son. Many people told us that it would be incredibly difficult to have a newborn during the pandemic, but it’s what we wanted…btw, my wife is much more brave and brilliant than I am, so that helps a lot.

*This feature was published as a part of the Faces of Entrepreneurship Campaign, 2021.