Kristin Topping, owner of Sweetlife Flora, tends to her plants in Arnprior, Ontario on March 18, 2021.Jessica Deeks/The Globe and Mail
Five years after a head injury ended her military career, Kristin Topping has found her purpose in a new passion: plants.
Ms. Topping, who was in the Canadian Armed Forces for 22 years, suffered a concussion in 2016 while riding a roller coaster on a work trip in Orlando. The injury followed several concussions she sustained playing rugby in the military.
The former air force engineer has since found a second career as the owner of Sweetlife Flora, an exotic plant shop she operates out of her home south of Arnprior, Ont., near Ottawa. She started the business in June, 2019, with the help of Operation Entrepreneur, a program run by Prince’s Trust Canada that provides skills, resources and mentorship to help veterans launch their own businesses.
Ms. Topping is also one of two recipients this year of the Prince’s Trust Award for her resilience in overcoming her injury and transitioning to a successful career after military service.
“It’s complete validation for everything that I’ve been trying to do,” Ms. Topping said. “It lets me know that I’m on the right track.”
Prince’s Trust Canada, an offshoot of the British charity originally founded by Charles, Prince of Wales, launched Operation Entrepreneur in 2012. The program’s mission is to provide skills, resources and mentorship to help veterans launch their own businesses. The Prince’s Trust Awards are presented annually in Britain. This year’s ceremony was held online this month.
Ms. Topping admitted she never saw herself pursuing entrepreneurship after a career with the military.
“Nobody in the military really talks about what’s next,” she said. “Everyone assumes that they’re going to become a DND [Department of National Defence] contractor or work in the public service, doing exactly what they did when they were in the military.”
However, when she noticed the effects of the concussion were having on her ability to work as an engineer, she felt she could no longer continue in the military.
“After my concussion, I had a really hard time keeping things in my brain,” she said. “If it was something new that I was learning for more than five minutes, it would go in one ear and out the other. I have problems with light sensitivity. I still have an ongoing problem with audio processing disorder.”
After struggling through rehabilitation, Ms. Topping realized that caring for her growing plant collection helped her feel productive.
“When people suffer a concussion or trauma, they really need to focus on what they’re good at for a while to get their confidence back,” she said. “While I was recovering, taking care of plants was something that I could do. I was taking pride in something that I was actually doing really well at.”
Kathleen Kilgour, the senior program manager of Operation Entrepreneur, said veterans who have suffered injuries often struggle to find careers after they’ve left the military.
“Sometimes [entrepreneurship] is the only option for people who have experienced physical or mental injuries. They can’t do a 9-to-5 job,” said Ms. Kilgour, noting that the average age of people who leave the military is 41.
“It just takes them longer to get going because it’s intense.”
The program allows participants to share their business ideas with other veterans and network with former soldiers who have successfully made the switch to entrepreneurship.
“I don’t think people realize how important it is – that time to think in a safe place,” Ms. Kilgour said. “You have to give people the time they need to move forward.”
She added that veterans often find it difficult to switch from a mission-first mindset to prioritizing themselves and their ambitions.
Ms. Topping credited the support she received from the program for helping her apply her military training to her new career in horticulture.
“In the military we don’t think a lot of our skills are transferable,” she said.
“We have leadership and problem-solving skills. We were taught how to start something and finish something. … I think that people just need to realize that they’re leaving the military with a whole stack full of things that they can bring to almost any job they want.”
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