Welcome to Behind the Brand—a series that brings you closer to the brands we’re proud to showcase at the edit by Style Canada, right here in the heart of Niagara-on-the-Lake. We’re sharing real stories from the people behind the products—the makers, the dreamers, and the doers. This is your inside scoop on what drives them, what inspires them, and how their journeys brought them to the edit. One brand at a time, we’re pulling back the curtain and celebrating the creativity, resilience, and homegrown passion that make our space so special. Today, we talk to bee jaster, the author behind Sweet Bee Writes!
Meet bee jaster, the Author Behind Sweet Bee Writes
Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m bee! A 30-something mom to a gorgeous little lady who I love to bits. I was born and raised in England but moved to Niagara, Canada in my twenties, where I’ve been living for the past 8 years. I trained as a florist in Bath, UK, 15 years ago and feel so grateful to have worked with flowers ever since, alongside other roles and studies. There’s something so grounding and therapeutic about working with my hands, while my mind is free to write poems…
Share the story behind your brand.
I never intended to write a book.
Back in 2021, mid-pandemic and baby in my arms, I wasn’t writing with others in mind. Selfishly, I wrote poetry for myself, out of necessity, at a time when I couldn’t bring myself to pray and didn’t know where else to direct my thoughts, feelings, and imagination.
200 poems came to me in those first 4 months of writing what’s now The Summer & I Keep Secrets. They just kept showing up at the door of my mind, sometimes quicker than I was able to let them in and write them down. Only later did I organize them into a manuscript, capturing that particular moment in time.
Somehow, that little window into the heart of a younger me has taken on a life of its own since the book’s publication date in March 2025, and it’s been such a joy to connect with so many others over its metaphors since then!
What inspires you?
Rhythms in nature have always resonated with me and felt reflective of my human experience. Perhaps working with flowers has heightened my awareness of the seasons?
But I also enjoy personifying everyday objects as if I were writing a children’s book – assigning them roles & feelings until they become metaphors worthy of being labelled ‘poetic’! I find this practice adds a richness to my experience of seemingly simple, ordinary moments, whose beauty we miss if we aren’t mindful of it.
Where’s your favourite summer vacation spot?
I’m fairly adventurous, and love travelling alone each year to a cabin on the East Coast to write and reflect – like any good tortured poet/artist! But for me, a summer isn’t a summer without a road trip up to Muskoka. I need to feel the bob of a canoe on a lake, tiptoe along the dock, and smell like campfire at the end of a day to make it official.
What can we expect from your brand in 2025?
Since the launch of The Summer & I Keep Secrets in March 2025, I’m excited to continue to share its poems with the world! But especially with Niagara – where so many of them were written. Stay tuned for readings, workshops and retreats as I seek to share the transformational joy of writing with a community that’s inspired so much of mine.
In the meantime, you’ll find the book online wherever you buy books, and a selection of prints and postcards are available on my website for anyone in need of an uplifting moment on their walls, fridge, or coffee table.
