ET Canada’s Cheryl Hickey Offers Life Lessons on Balance

ET Canada’s Cheryl Hickey is a longtime fixture on Canada’s broadcast television scene.

She’s also a wife and mother of two under the age of five. And now, a savvy entrepreneur to boot, having recently launched a line of all-natural and multi-functional skincare products, Ours by Cheryl Hickey

So, basically she does it all (and looks good doing it). 

We sat down with Hickey for some insight on balance… because every young professional can use a little more of that. 

If You’re Passionate, it Won’t Feel Like Work
It’s not like Hickey necessarily needed a side job; she created Ours out of passion for her family. She says fitting time into the day to work on Ours is easy because it doesn’t feel like work.

“When I had my son, I started looking at what I could use on his sensitive skin. I couldn’t find anything that was organic and affordable to use on a regular basis.  I mean, your baby takes it and dumps the whole thing into the water and you’re like ‘oh my gosh, that’s $40 of whatever that was.’ I would get some of the bigger brands and wouldn’t understand their long laundry list of ingredients, so I went back to coconut oil. Fast forward to when I had my daughter; I grew frustrated with what was out there and thought that it would be good to do something here in Canada.” 

“My mom has MS, so part of my motivation was making something that I knew she could use that would be safe for her. Normally, she puts a cream on and she starts to sneeze and her eyes get puffy, so I’m happy that she can actually use it. On a personal note, it’s a daughter’s dream that I can help when she’s going though the battle of her life.”

Don’t Expect Anything to Come Easy
“The whole creation of Ours took two and a half years – it was hard. Anything worth doing is hard. My career was hard. I didn’t know anyone in the industry when I started. I’ve worked in every part of TV, from producing, filming and writing, to running to get people coffee.”

“It’s very difficult to get anything off the ground here in Canada. It’s expensive; you sometimes need to align yourself with someone with experience, someone people can trust.”

Keep Your Day Job Stimulating  
Though we can’t all have jobs as exciting as Hickey’s, you’ll have a much better relationship with Monday mornings if you remain stimulated and challenged at your day job.

“A career highlight happened recently when I got to lead a speaking session on stage with Sharon Osborne in Niagara Falls. She told her story for 75 minutes. Her and I have become really good friends, then I got to be a guest on her show, The Talk. That was a big deal – a bucket list thing for me. Another highlight was a walk-on part on 24; I got pushed down by Jack Bauer in London.” 

Make a Clear Distinction Between Work and Home Life
“I have a really amazing husband. He has his own production company and is a very busy man on his own, but when it comes to my obligations, he picks up the slack. My amazing company allows me to be part-time so that I can be there for my kids. I work from 8:30am-1pm every day at ET Canada, then the rest of the team packages their portion of the show in the afternoon. I go home, wash the TV makeup off my face, and I become ‘Mommy’. I start making dinner, pick my son up at three, and between naps and bedtime I work on Ours. Everything has its place. My husband and I have a rule that weekends are family time. The phones go away and it’s just us – we’re the gang.” 

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