Get to know Dana Cantarutti from SpinCo Leslieville

As an entrepreneur, Dana Cantarutti shares her experience focusing on her health and using that to build her career.

This interview is part of a series – Women in the Six – celebrating extraordinary women in Toronto following their dreams and charting their own course for success. 

Can you tell me about your background and what got you into SpinCo. 

I have run 4 Marathons, including the Boston Marathon, a bad injury made me fall in love with Spin and SpinCo.

I am a Business Graduate from Wilfred Laurier University, where I majored in accounting. I’m a CPA by trade and started at Deloitte in accounting and audit after graduation. I really enjoyed this environment: it was fast paced, super challenging, and every day was different! After a while, I realized I didn’t love the numbers, and was not an accountant at heart. I’m more focused on solving the problems: corporate decision making and strategy type of work. I then moved over to strategy consulting in retail transformation for 3 years where I was going back and forth from the U.S and worked on the world’s largest global retailer. I loved this work but was travelling a ton and the lifestyle caught up to me. During this time, I was a SpinCo instructor, and a marathon runner. I’ve run 4 Marathons, including the Boston Marathon but it was a bad injury that made me fall in love with spin and SpinCo.

How did you begin working for SpinCo Corporate?

When SpinCo had just 9 studios nationwide, I was able to meet the founder, who was going back and forth from Toronto, as she was based out of Kelowna. SpinCo was owned by a private equity firm called Harlo. I eventually became the Director of Strategy and Operations under Harlo and then on to the CEO of SpinCo. I really enjoyed this role as I was able to see the company grow from 9 studios to 28 studios nationwide.

Given your background, what are your thoughts on going from a public company to a startup?

It’s important to understand what you want from your career; I then sought a career that filled the gaps that I self-identified

I am currently the Global Head of Sales at DataStax, a startup based in San Francisco. It’s important to understand what you want from your career. I gathered several skills that were transferable from the Big Four (accounting firms): Process-oriented, working in a large organization cross-functionally, talent review processes, succession planning & growth planning. I mastered these skills and then sought a career that filled the gaps that I self-identified. I was great at identifying problems and developing a strategy but never had experience in an implementation role. My overall goal is to be in a COO and CEO role in a fortune 500 company. To attain this, I needed both strategy and operations aspects, so I left the corporate role, and sought out a career to fill these gaps.

What is your advice to people considering a change like this?

The truth is you can craft your own story and narrative to whatever it takes to get there.

People are afraid of taking the role that doesn’t align. The truth is you can craft your own story and narrative to whatever it takes to get there. I went from accounting, to consulting, to a spin company, and now the Head of Operations. People assume everything needs to happen in a specific way, but you can create your own roadmap and your path doesn’t need to be linear. If you have an end goal, you need to figure out the skills you have mastered and what skills you to need to master to reach that goal. I find that women tend to want a lot of control over what the outcome is; we need to let go of the control and recognize that the path of life is not linear.

As an entrepreneur, have you faced any challenges or barriers?

At a young age in my career, I realized that in any role, you need to have the confidence that you are worth something and that your voice is valid.

Not necessarily from a female perspective. I have always been extremely supported in my home life, which is something I believe is very important. At home, my partner and I don’t have gender specific roles. As an example, I don’t cook, but he loves to cook. At a young age in my career, I realized that in any role, you need to have the confidence that you are worth something and that your voice is valid. There is a reason you are at this company and in this role. By recognizing this early, it empowered me to take on any roll. Understand the importance of finding your voice and stay true to that. Use the support from your personal network to build you up.

What are your goals with the SpinCo Leslieville location?

It is a community that feels like you are loved and welcomed when you walk through the door!

When I was an instructor, I realized there wasn’t anywhere to work out in the east end of Toronto. People love group fitness, and it starts with a space where you feel supported and welcome. The workout is the bonus. Walking in and feeling like the person at the front desk knows your name, knows about your life, and makes you feel comfortable is extremely important to me. People show up for themselves, for us, and for the other riders. There are two women who’ve been riding with us since the beginning. Now they’re both pregnant and they ride together in the mornings. People can build connections here; it’s a community that feels like you are loved and welcomed when you walk through the door!

You can book your next spin class at SpinCo Leslieville here!

If you know any woman in Toronto who you would like featured in our series – Women in the Six – please reach out to sarah.cartwright@ywib.ca