Who knew that a social media platform could benefit the earth? Or that two Vernon friends would grow up and become successful entrepreneurs?
Kiley Routley, owner of Back to Earth, is proud to be using her friend’s social media platform, Hootsuite, to expand her outreach.
“Time in today’s world is precious. Hootsuite has helped me manage that time,” she said.
Hootsuite is a social media platform that allows the user to strategically schedule and create posts for websites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
It has more than 10 million users in 175 countries and is based out of Vancouver.
Ryan Holmes is the founder and CEO of Hootsuite and has been a good friend of Routley’s since high school.
He continues to inspire her today.
“I’m so proud of Ryan and I feel blessed to be his friend,” she said.
He has helped her stay motivated in her own business.
“That guy is so energetic, it gives you motivation to keep going.”
Even during dark times, Routley remembers Holmes’ optimism.
“I remember times when Holmes was flat broke but always had a hustle about him,” she said.
The Vernon duo met at a party out in his special “engineered” cabin, and they bonded quickly over the fact that both their parents were entrepreneurs, she said.
“We were always dreaming.”
At 16, Holmes started a paintball business, which was “something fun to do on the weekends,” said Routley.
Holmes has a long-time love for technology even though he grew up using kerosene lamps for light, she said.
His house didn’t have electricity.
“As a young boy he won a district-wide programming contest where first prize was an Apple (computer), Holmes’ dad had to jury-rig the new computer to run off 12 volts from his mom’s car battery,” she said.
Later, Holmes and Routley became roommates while attending Camosun College in Victoria.
Holmes came up with a “pizza by the slice” idea and Routley remembers the pizza recipes Holmes would be creating in the kitchen.
“It was an event in our kitchen,” she said.
Holmes was taking the business program while Routley was in visual arts.
He later started the pizza place Growlie’s in Vernon before launching Hootsuite in 2008.
Routley started a business called Treehouse Photography which she later sold before starting Back to Earth, which sells eco-friendly products.
Routley uses Hootsuite two to three times a week in order to spread earth-friendly information.”
“Using Hootsuite is part of my weekly routine,” she said.
