About Courtney
Cover Photo: Shelby Rose Photography
Hi! I’m Courtney Hughes!
I was born and raised in Ladner BC and still live here with my husband, Dylan, one year old son, Jaxon, and our two cats Benjen Stark and Francine.
I have my BBA in Human Resources Management and have nearly a decade of experience working in both larger corporate settings and smaller non-profit settings.
I’m absolutely an ‘ideas’ and ‘big picture’ person. I rarely look at tasks as an individual, and view them as a piece of an entire system. For the most part this allows me to create things that feel complete and whole to me. This translates to all areas in my life, whether it’s doing a work project, hosting a dinner, or tackling a home improvement project. I throw out big ideas, and then scale them back til they fit snugly within the confines of the system On a personal note, I live a primarily plant based lifestyle, and have for 4 years. I love creating vegan meals that are “Carnivore-approved” (a much easier task than you’d expect) and am constantly on the hunt for new, fun, nutritious recipes. I barely enjoyed cooking before I made the switch, but ever since it’s become a complete and total passion. If I’m not talking about food, I’m thinking about it – and often find myself asking my husband “What should we have for dinner?” as soon as we wake up.
Photo: Kelsey Lynch Real Estate
More recently I’ve taken on the adventure of baking and cake decorating – pictured below is the fully vegan (which doesn’t always mean healthy!) birthday cake I made for Jaxon’s first birthday. I’ve always loved sweets and treats – so this newest journey has been a fun one for me!
During this pandemic, I’ve come to realize how much I love the journey of learning and improving on a new skill. Before COVID, I was an avid West-Coast Swing dancer. I often traveled as far as California to spend weekends dancing and competing with friends from all across the world. I loved the journey of improving as an individual dancer, taking private lessons and having practice sessions and watching my competition results improve over the years. I think in some way this is the void that my new cake-decorating hobby is filling – a new skill to continually learn and master. I don’t really have a target destination for either, I just enjoy the journey of improvement.
I am so, so, so excited to be part of the Willow Oak brand and to get to know all of you. If there’s one thing I’ve learned since coming on board, it’s that the community of entrepreneurs is so inspiring and powerful and I’ve been loving every minute of it.