Meet the Team

Anita Wright, President – an Apple

As a young, single mother of three in need of an income, Anita started her career at a small print shop as a production coordinator. When a better opportunity came along, one with more management responsibilities, she jumped at the chance. During her eight-years there she rose in ranks to Senior Marketing Manager, responsible for a large staff and multimillion dollar budgets. However, her success there and her love of all things promotional convinced her to start her own business – eponymously named Wright Alternative.

Wright Alternative initially facilitated the marketing and print needs of its clients. Not surprisingly, when her clients’ marketing needs extended into contests and events, Anita was up for the challenge. In fact, she quickly realized that her greatest strength lay in developing themes and organizing events and Wright Alternative soon morphed into an event management firm.

In her own words…
The Right Shape Inc. grew out of what I thought was going to be a small side show at one of my “cross country” fashion events. The idea for the show, which we called Shapes, was based on my observation that most women are more preoccupied with trying to change their shape than they are with understanding how to dress to maximize it (myself included). Because the concept of dressing for your figure was not new, I was astonished how many women wanted to have their “shapes” done at these events. I was literally mobbed at every event – clearly there was a need.

What I found fascinating was that once women had their shape analyzed and learned how to dress, they went to great lengths to find me to tell me how much more confident they felt. Many had lost weight (although that was never part of our intention) and almost all told me they buy fewer clothes but everything they buy, they wear.

That’s when I started thinking – How can I bring this message and these lessons to as many women as possible? Getting the Shapes message out through the Multi Level Marketing business model seemed the best way to reach a lot of women quickly and, additionally, it was a way we could give women an opportunity to start their own business.

As the mother of two daughters and someone with a robust network of female friends, the thought of helping other women realize their potential was one of my strongest motivators. I firmly believe that, through Shapes, I can do that.

 

Judy Paradi, Vice President/Partner – a Rectangle

Never one to do things the “conventional” way, Judy married at 20 and had two kids by the time she was 23. While she enjoyed taking adult day classes, doing some freelance work and staying at home with her kids, soaring interest rates and a hefty mortgage convinced her to join the working world. As a trained artist she easily got a job with a local production studio, a stint that saw her rise quickly from a junior assembly artist to manager, in less than 6 years.

However, always looking for a challenge and not satisfied with the limited opportunities her job presented her with, she started her own marketing company in 1984 and ran it successfully until 2007. The company grew to a staff of 25 at its height with a roster of blue chip clients.

Besides being a successful business woman, Judy teaches entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto and is involved with a number of Women’s mentoring groups and charities.

In her own words…Unlike many women, I have to confess, I have never been “into” fashion, I even dislike shopping, so the thought of getting into anything even remotely clothing related did not appeal to me. As it turns out, I really didn’t understand the value of Shapes – I was missing the whole point. Even though I have always been a great believer in the power of positive thinking and supporting women, at first I just didn’t see how Shapes fit in.

Maybe because I have been a runner all my life I thought that the only real way to “empowerment” was through an active lifestyle. However, I soon realized that the flaw in my thinking was that many women are so self-conscious about their bodies (regardless of their shape) that they wouldn’t even consider an activity. That’s where Shapes started to make sense to me, if we could help women feel good about their bodies, maybe we could open up a whole new world to them.

It wasn’t till I witnessed for myself the dramatic positive effect Shapes had on women that everything fell into place for me. Becoming a partner in Shapes was a way for me to combine my passions; the challenge of running my own business again and empowering women to be all that they can be.

I look forward to sharing my knowledge and enthusiasm with you, congratulations on becoming a Shapes Consultant.