To celebrate International Women's Day, GuelphToday is featuring the six honourees for this year's Guelph Y Women of Distinction.
Genevieve Sutherns co-founded the Guelph Box, a pandemic-inspired business with a social conscience.
Sutherns, 18, raised thousands of dollars for local charities through the business, resulting her being recognized with new One To Watch award in Women of Distinction 2021.
“It was by email and I didn’t fully understand what it was,” says Sutherns. “So I had to look it up, and I was like, ‘Oh! This is kind of cool!’”
One to Watch is an award developed to recognize the work and impact of a young woman in the Guelph community.
In March 2020, Guelph Box was launched to help local businesses sell their products, with five per cent of the delivery fee going to various charities within Guelph. Since starting almost a year ago, Guelph Box has raised over $30,000 and supported more than 80 small businesses.
“I didn’t expect to be honoured this way and I’m looking forward to the event," says Sutherns.
When Sutherns and her co-founder, Josh Gray, decided to launch Guelph Box, they didn’t expect it to become a business. She says they initially saw it as a quarantine project to help others.
“I didn’t expect the timing of it, but it was always something I dreamed of doing,” she said about being a social entrepreneur, “We thought it was going to be helpful and be a volunteer gig for a couple of months.”
She says this experience taught her a couple things, including how little you can do on your own without community support.
“If it weren’t for people coming forward and helping us, or even mentoring us within the community, or purchasing boxes, or sharing it with a friend, or sending a box to someone living in Guelph, none of this would’ve been possible.” says Sutherns.
“I always knew Guelph was great, and always knew how important community was, but this amplified it.”
Community support is also why she mentions receiving this award feels different from being recognized for other past achievements.
“The main difference would be just how much the community was needed for it to succeed,” says Sutherns, “This is the first time I have really seen the community step up and come together, and from that standpoint, I feel like I can barely take credit.”
Currently attending the University of British Columbia, Sutherns says her focus right now is on balancing school and the business, but she mentions being open to new opportunities to help the community.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there is something else coming down the pipeline in the near future.”
