BC Business
Founder and Executive Director
AGE: 27
COMPANY: The Lipstick Project
“My favourite TV show right now is The Newsroom because Sloan Sabbith is my spirit animal”
The Story: Leigh Boyle was first drawn to Swaziland in 2009 by a Vancouver entrepreneur who had established a charity to provide loans in the tiny sub-Saharan country. Boyle, then a recent graduate of Trinity Western University, was determined to make a difference in the lives of the people she encountered and ended up fundraising from Canadian donors for projects in Swaziland and Ethiopia. In late 2011, Boyle returned to Vancouver and recast her efforts to address the plight of sick children and hospice patients. The venture she started, the Lipstick Project, works in partnership with hospitals and hospices to provide free professional spa services (estheticians, hair stylists, massage therapists) to patients in recovery or approaching the end of their lives. She also works as a development officer for the Union Gospel Mission, where she seeks out new mid-level donors (typically small businesses) from around the Lower Mainland.
Markers of success: The Lipstick Project has delivered more than 1,000 hours of professional services to 480 clients in the Vancouver area since the charity was launched in 2013. —Jacob Parry
Meet Leigh Boyle and the rest of the 2015 30 Under 30 winners at this year’s celebration event!