{"id":21188,"date":"2024-05-08T11:59:10","date_gmt":"2024-05-08T11:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visitoakville.com\/?p=21188"},"modified":"2024-05-08T11:59:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T11:59:12","slug":"asian-heritage-month-business-profile-plumleaf-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.zarrtech.net\/visitoakville\/2024\/05\/asian-heritage-month-business-profile-plumleaf-press\/","title":{"rendered":"Asian Heritage Month Business Profile – Plumleaf Press"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May is Asian Heritage Month! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In celebration, we’re profiling Plumleaf Press<\/a>, an independent book publisher in Bronte Village<\/a>! Plumleaf Press opened its doors in 2022 and is an Asian\u2013owned business that publishes engaging, beautifully designed literary books and embraces authors from our diverse community. They focus on books for women and children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had a chance to sit down with the owner, Maggie Goh, to learn about her journey, how she came to open her business in Oakville, her key milestones and advice she would have for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start businesses of their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below are excerpts from Maggie\u2019s interview.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Can you provide some background information about yourself and your business? What inspired you to start your own business?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I moved to Canada from Singapore with my husband and two sons more than 40 years ago. Our daughter and another son were born here. I have loved books since early childhood, hence a career in publishing just seemed the obvious path. After working for major educational publishers, I started my own company, Rubicon Publishing Inc. in 1987 \u2014 basically because I wanted to make my own decisions as to what to publish, and also wished to work from Oakville, and cut out the grind of commuting to Toronto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With my husband and son running the business affairs of the company, I had the pleasure of working with amazing educators and creating thousands of books for schools, from kindergarten to grade 12, plus an amazing digital math program that is now used across Canada. Rubicon was one of the major Canadian educational publishing houses. I\u2019m proud of our success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We sold Rubicon Publishing in 2022 to a major publishing company in the US, and instead of retiring, I started Plumleaf Press, to publish books for the general market \u2014 embracing authors from our diverse community, and focusing on books for women and children. Plumleaf Press publishes engaging, beautifully designed literary books. Books to linger over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Visit Oakville<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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2. Can you share some of the key milestones and successes your business has achieved?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Although we are only two years old, we have had some great successes. We have published a wide variety of books, from children\u2019s books to poetry, two cookbooks, and a memoir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am proud that our authors and illustrators, most of whom are women, are representative of Canada\u2019s diverse population, including African Canadian, Metis, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and Korean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some recent successes include:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Food Doula Cookbook<\/em> by Oakville author Lindsay Taylor<\/a> won a gold medal in the Taste Canada Awards; continues to sell very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I Am Not A Ghost: The Canadian Pacific Railway<\/em> by David Bouchard<\/a> and Zhong Yang Huang<\/a>, was named one of Best Books 2023 by Canadian Children\u2019s Book Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nocturne: Poems to Linger Over<\/em>  Selected by Marilyn Lightstone<\/a> has been very well received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our picture books have been well reviewed by Quill and Quire, Globe and Mail, and CBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. What advice would you offer to aspiring entrepreneurs looking to start their own businesses?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

My top 5 tips are:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n