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The Meadows Retreat and Creative Space
Taking risks is a frightening, inevitable part of growth.
For entrepreneurs, taking risks is part of the job. One that opens the door for innovation and success.
Carissa Ainslie has experienced the fear that accompanies taking those risks when making the leap to turn your ideas, your passions, into a business. But the entrepreneur has also figured out how to push through inevitable fears that accompany starting something new. For Ainslie, it’s her business, The Meadows Retreat and Creative Space.
Originally from Halifax, Ainslie was first introduced to the world of business management through her parents, who owned several vet clinics.
Though she worked at the clinics throughout her teen years, she envisioned a different world of business for herself – within the creative sector.
She attended the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCADU) in Toronto where she became involved in the Feminist Art Collective and a student newspaper at the University of Toronto, where she was an arts editor, while pursuing a degree in textiles. After graduating, she was the director of operations for a small photography gallery and print shop. She was also the coordinator of the March 2020 Feminist Art Festival.
She also founded the Made by Feminist Market as part of the Feminist Art Collective, which she described as giving her a lot of confidence in the skillset she was building.
After working a job within the corporate world for some time throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the entrepreneur decided it was time to get back into the creative sphere.
“This idea of having a space for artists to go was in the back of my mind,” said Ainslie.
The idea sparked her initial search for a space for artists to work and collaborate back home in Nova Scotia. Initially, she began her search along the South Shore, envisioning something akin to the grand, mystical home in the 1998 film Practical Magic.
Her parents suggested she shift her search to Pictou County, so she added the area to her radar, conducting the search process from her home in Toronto.
When she came across the home that is now the headquarters of The Meadows, she knew it was worth the risk.
Though it wasn’t exactly the Practical Magic-esque headquarters she had envisioned, Ainslie said, “I loved the potential of this place.” She wasn’t sure how she would fare, living outside of a city for the first time, but was ready to take the challenge on.
The 4-bedroom, 100-year-old Meadowville home is available to anyone in need of deep focus, from artists to writers to facilitators. Creative residencies, workshops, meditation sessions and more are also possible, with micro-weddings on the radar in the future.
“My dream is to have the bookings that are non-creative cover the costs for the artists, and ideally be able to pay them too,” said Ainslie. “I want to make sure they aren’t suffering to be here.”
Before officially moving to begin her new endeavour, Ainslie began planting seeds where she wanted to grow.
She began forming connections with individuals and groups within the County, like Creative Pictou County and the Partnership, hoping to set up a strong foundation for herself in her new home, before she had even stepped foot on the property.
Since making Pictou County home, Ainslie has become the co-chair of Pictou County Pride and was the festival coordinator for the 2022 and 2023 Antigonight: Art After Dark Festival in Antigonish.
She is also currently in the process of becoming the first ever executive director of Creative Pictou County. “That has been a dream of mine,” she said. “I thought that dream would no longer exist after leaving Toronto.”
Before heading home to Nova Scotia, Ainslie was taking an Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation course in Toronto. The project for the class was developing a business plan, which she used as an opportunity to develop a plan for her blossoming business. On the day of her final presentation, she closed on The Meadows property.
She officially made the move in April 2022. “I was scared of getting here and being stuck,” she shared. “It kind of hit me when I first moved here that I live in the middle of nowhere. But I appreciate the quiet now and doing things on my own.”
But her remote location began feeling a little less isolated when she began to meet her neighbours, and everyone she had formed relationships with while back in Toronto.
“There are so many great people here,” she said. “There’s a good invigorating energy, and it’s innovative as well. No one has said ‘we do things like this.’ That’s been exciting.”
Despite her initial concerns with the unfamiliar location, in her nearly two years here, she has settled into her home. She’s happy with the risk she has taken, grateful for the incredible women in business within the County who she has been able to learn from. 
“I was really scared to launch,” said the entrepreneur. “I had it in my mind what I wanted it to be … but there was a switch for me where I realized I would have to start small.”
Removing the self-inflicted pressure of making everything big and perfect before beginning had a positive impact on her entrepreneurial journey and in managing the anxiety that comes with taking risks in business.
Ainslie participated in the first cohort of the Partnership’s ELEVATE Business Improvement Program. Through that program, she received support and guidance, helping her continue to manage her own expectations for herself while continuing to move forward with her business.
“The Partnership has been a great resource … also having spaces like IGNITE, and organizations like CBDC NOBL and DEANS,” she said.
The Meadows Retreat and Creative Space welcomed their first artist participating in a self-directed residency, which Ainslie advertised towards the end of 2023. She now has a lineup of artists, creating in many different mediums, who will be traveling to The Meadows, where they will work for a week before completing an artist talk at the end of their stay. “I’m really excited to have them here,” said Ainslie.
“Doing business here, it’s been really really, really good. I don’t feel like I’m missing out … I feel very supported,” said Ainslie. “There are authentic connections here.”
Taking risks involves a lot of courage and perseverance. It requires the acceptance of the unchangeable fact that things won’t go your way every time. When you find a place where the sense of community and collaboration is strong, it makes taking those risks a little less frightening. That’s what Pictou County has done for Ainslie.
Published January 2024