Kimberly Thibeault talks natural remedies and building a business in the northern Alberta mountains
By Noah Korver
Kimberly Thibeault is the owner and operator of Holistic Habits based in Grande Cache, Alberta. Working out of a storefront in the town’s modest downtown core, Kimberly creates a wide variety of body care and natural remedy products. Describing her work as a fusion of traditional and contemporary natural medicines, Kimberly creates handmade small batch products such as smudge sprays, colognes, after sun, bath products, body oils and more.
In addition to her extensive line of handmade products Kimberly also leads workshops for people who wish to come in and learn how to make some of these products for themselves.
Nearly the beginning of 2025, Kimberly was selected to participate in the ‘Good Relations’ Tourism Mentorship Program, a collaborative initiative between Indigenous Tourism Alberta (ITA) and Catalyste+ aimed at enhancing the business sustainability of tourism operators and ITA members, strengthening industry connections, and developing business competencies to achieve visitor, market, and export readiness.
Catalyste+ is an economic development organization dedicated to strengthening emerging and local economies in Canada and throughout the world. As a mentee, Kimberly was partnered with a Catalyste+ Advisor and mentor who worked with her to identify strengths and weaknesses in her business and develop practical solutions that could be implemented on a long term basis.
One thing that Kimberly and her mentor identified was online sales. Although product sales from her online platform were satisfactory, Kimberly’s mentor wanted to strengthen her online presence. Together they built a library of media that Kimberly could use to continually promote her products online.
This included taking detailed product shots for all of her products as well as learning the many ins and outs of navigating the complicated online world of social media algorithms.
“We targeted social media, I learned how they operate and how I need to operate to maximize the different algorithms.”
Kimberly and her mentor also worked together to strengthen her branding by capitalizing on the rugged nature of the mountains surrounding Grande Cache and marketing her products as authentically mountain made.
“My mentor was from Toronto which is very different from out here in Grande Cache,” Says Kimberly. “Having that outside perspective was really helpful and definitely helped me to brand things a little better.”
Since working with Catalyste+ Kimberly says she has seen a noticeable rise in the amount of online engagement she is seeing come through her various social media channels and that is beginning to translate to an increase in sales. Even more exciting, Kimberly recently has received some inquiries about larger scale orders including one from a large non-profit organization in Quebec. Kimberly attributes this newfound momentum to the knowledge and skills she gained during her time in the ‘Good Relations’ Mentorship Program.
While a lot of this growth has been in the online space it has also helped Kimberly to be able to expand at her brick and mortar location in Grande Cache. Kimberly is currently renovating her storefront to include a tea shop, workshops, and product manufacturing in the back. She plans to partner with the local Indigenous community in Grande Cache to help incorporate more traditional knowledge into her workshops as well.
“I’m excited to open up my storefront and tea shop. There’s a lot more focus on natural medicine these days and not everyone can go out and get what they need so I’m excited to get more people in the door and get some good education going.”