Draft:Mandy Rennehan

Born in 1975 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, commonly known as Mandy “Bear” Rennehan.

Mandy founded Freshco, one of Canada’s top full-service maintenance providers, in 1995, at the age of 19. Today, Freshco is a retail maintenance and construction firm serving Fortune 500 companies in Canada and the Eastern United States, such as Nike, Apple, Home Depot, Anthropologie, and many others.

Story – how she became an entrepreneur

Mandy came from a poor family, with 3 brothers. She was raised by her mom, Diane Rennehan, and her dad, Gary Rennehan, who was a lobster fisherman. The family struggled to feed all the children, so to help, 10 year-old Mandy went fishing and caught small animals to later sell it to the local fishing community for small profits. This was where her story as an entrepreneur started.

Mandy left her home at 18, with a hockey bag and very little money in hand. She didn’t have the time nor the money to go to school, however, she knew one thing from the beginning: she loved building. She started calling local contractors, trying to gain experience and work for free, but everyone thought she was crazy. She kept pursuing her dreams, determined, and she finally found employment at a flooring firm in Halifax, where she could put her skills to use and make money to save up. She was assigned a flooring project, and when the contractor’s team wasn’t preforming as they were supposed to, Mandy was given the responsibility of the job. She gathered her own crew, and finished the project 3 days early, impressing the client. This helped her reputation spread very quickly from word of mouth all across the Maritimes. After this, everyone was talking about her, and next thing she knew, she was working for bigger enterprises such as Canada Post, Irving Oil, and Salter Street Films.

When starting a business, Mandy knew not to rely on banks for money, and instead she worked extra hard to find all the money by herself. When she was 20, she lied to the bank, saying she needed money for equipment. She then used this money for her first down payment on a house in Halifax. Mandy mostly taught herself how to deal with finances and accounting, she felt that others didn’t understand what she wanted and preferred learning alone. She self-funded Freshco for the first 5 years of the business, and once she had demonstrated cashflow and credibility, she was able to receive a line of credit from the bank.

When building the business, Mandy payed careful attention to her market and customers. She noticed a neglected problem in the industry: retailers complaining that they have to deal with multiple contractors for different facility problems. This became an important part of her business model. She wanted to simplify the task for her clients, and designed Frescho to have one single point of contact for everything (construction, renovations, repairs, emergency work, etc). Instead of staying a small local contractor, Frescho became a 24/7 full-service business, attracting major brands such as Apple, Gap, Lululemon and Nike, amongst many others.

It was difficult for Mandy to get into the entrepreneurship industry because she was judged for her sexuality and personality, known as being very straightforward, and it was difficult for women to be entrepreneurs – especially in those time periods. As she entered the construction industry, she realised it was mostly men working, but that didn’t stop her from pursuing her passions:

“As an East Coaster, you grow up with a good liver and a personality, so I was the same way with these guys as I was with my brothers: I brought my personality game, and I think the respect I had for what they did went along with that.” – Mandy Rennehan.

In a generation who’s so afraid to be themselves, Mandy stayed herself and used her strong qualities to her advantage, inspiring other women to also join the entrepreneurship industry. She gave many motivational speeches, with the goal to change how society looks down on blue collar workers. Mandy took pride in being a gay woman in the construction industry, that’s where the name Freshco came from:

“I just kept working and working until finally I went, I’m good at this. And that’s where the name Freshco came from—because I was the fresh face, the only woman in the industry.” – Mandy Rennehan.

Mandy always believed strongly in herself and in the power of others, and these have also become the values of Frescho: “At Frescho, we don’t complicate things. There’s no tokenism with me or the company. I don’t care what you’re packing or what you’re not. We’ve always believed in talent. I build people every day. That’s our biggest philanthropy every day. We build people. And we build people that otherwise nobody ever wanted. Nobody gave me anything. My philanthropy is teaching. You already have this within you, you just have to engage with it, and you can.” – Mandy “Bear” Rennehan.

Current goals and the future

Mandy now lives in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia with her partner Lauren and two West Highland Terriers.

She currently hosts a home improvement reality television series called “Trading Up with Mandy Rennehan” on HGTV, where she returns to her hometown in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to invest in and renovate historic properties while working with apprentices. She is also now the international ambassador and voice behind The Jill of All Trades, an initiative designed to inspire young women in grades 9 through 12 to explore rewarding careers in the skilled trades.

Mandy’s present goal for Freshco is to expand it across North America and encourage the next generation of blue-collar workers, women, and under-represented people to take charge in the trades.

“Freshco’s tagline is “Building Pride.” Because not only are we a woman-owned or LGBTQ-owned company; we’re a company that believes in talent, period. I don’t complicate diversity and inclusion. I make it very clear: I was born gay, I am gay—but who gives a shit? I’m a great person, I’m a great leader, and I’m a wicked entrepreneur. And that really resonates with our culture.” - Mandy “Bear” Rennehan.

She wrote a book called “The Blue Collar CEO, My Gutsy Journey from Rookie Contractor to Multi-millionaire Construction Boss”, giving insight into her life and her journey from one end of business to another.

Awards and accomplishments

• Officer of The Order of Canada (November 2025)
• CGLCC- LGBT Business of the Year (November 2025)
• King Charles III coronation medal, Governor General of Canada (June 2025)
• (WXN’s) Top 100 Most Powerful Women – Hall of Fame (2022)
• Atlantic Business Magazine’s Top CEO for the Atlantic Provinces (2019)
• Doctorate Degree from Mount Saint Vincent University (May 2019)
• Honorary Bachelor of Science Degree from SAIT College (2019)
• Canada’s Most Admired CEO (2018)
• Toronto Region Board of Trade Business Leader of the Year (late 2018)
• Top 25 Women of Influence (September 2018)
• Growth 500 Excellence in Innovation (2018)
• The RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur “Momentum” Award (2017)