Andrea Welling was born near Calgary, Alberta and moved to the UK when she was in Grade 1. Her formative early school age years were spent in England and Scotland. The family traveled to many countries in Europe and Asia before she was ten years old. She learned a great deal about people and cultures and diversity. She also had to make friendships quickly and had to say goodbye many times. It gave her a resilience to change and a love for adventure.

Andrea’s first degree was a BA in Political Science and Business from the University of Calgary followed by a move to Vancouver to focus on an MA in Women’s Studies from Simon Fraser University. The Master’s thesis focused on food security and local economic development and women in business.

After completing her Master’s degree, Andrea decided to become an entrepreneur and co-founded Ladybug Organics Home Delivery Service in the Fraser Valley. In the beginning they only had an old VW van for the deliveries and rented a barn from friends to run the business. Eventually over five years, Ladybug Organics purchased a warehouse property, refrigerated vans and had a staff team to pack and delivery the products. Andrea and her partner grew the business to $1 million in sales over 5 years and sold hundreds of local products.

When the kids were little and Andrea took a break from the delivery service, and she became a personal trainer, women’s coach and fitness instructor. MomCoach was a great part-time business that fit well with being a new parent. As the kids grew and her interests expanded into facilitation and adult education, she decided that she wanted to work full-time in the non-profit sector and completed a Career Development Practitioner Certificate in 2011. After volunteering and working part-time for the YWCA of Metro Vancouver, Andrea found a full-time job posting for a manager for a Youth Business Program at the YMCA.

For 7.5 years at the Y, she managed EI Self Employment programs in Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast and the Kootenays. As Adult Learning programs manager she also led employment programs for job seekers 45+ and a Cleaning and Janitorial Services training program.

In March 2019, Andrea joined Futurpreneur as the Regional Director for BC. Most recently, Andrea completed two certificates focused on Adult Education including the Career Development Practitioner Certificate and the Provincial Instructor Diploma.

“Entrepreneurship is tough and very rewarding. I highly recommend not doing it alone. With so many programs and supports, I urge new entrepreneurs to see beyond the do-it-all-yourself mentality and get help every step of the way. I guarantee you will be more successful.”- Andrea.