A Conversation with Surria Fadel

Mo: Surria, welcome to the show. I am so happy to have you here.

Surria: Thank you, Mo. It is an absolute pleasure. We have known each other for so many years, and reconnecting like this feels wonderful.

Mo: We first met through the fitness industry, where you were an award-winning personal trainer, group fitness instructor, coach, and pain management therapist. Looking back, do you see a connection between the coach you were then and the entrepreneur you are today?

Surria: Absolutely. Fitness taught me how to listen, coach, encourage, and help people believe in themselves. It also taught me how to overcome objections, which has been incredibly valuable in business.

Surria: When my son Ameen and I started Cedar Valley, we heard a lot of noes from retailers. I always told him that no does not necessarily mean no. It often means not now. You have to keep showing up, keep asking, and wait for the right opportunity.

Mo: I love that idea of redefining no as not now. Cedar Valley began as a project with your then 16-year-old son. Did you ever imagine it would become the company it is today?

Surria: Not at all. Ameen received a high school grant to start a business and needed my recipes and help in the kitchen. I thought it would simply be a school project.

Surria: At the time, I was 52 and expected fitness to be my retirement career. I had no intention of becoming an entrepreneur. But life had a different plan, and that project eventually became Cedar Valley.

Mo: What gave you the courage to begin again at that stage in your life?

Surria: I grew up with an entrepreneurial father, so change and risk were part of my childhood. We experienced highs and lows, and I learned early that change is constant.

Surria: I never thought I wanted that kind of life for myself, but when the opportunity came through my son, I decided to try. I realized that if it did not work, I could return to fitness. The real regret would have been never trying at all.

Mo: What would you say to women who are sitting on a dream and wondering whether it is too late?

Surria: It is never too early and never too late. We often create barriers for ourselves because we are afraid of failure or worried about what other people may think.

Surria: Failure is part of the process. Anyone who says they built a business without making mistakes is not telling the whole story. The important thing is what you do after the failure.

Mo: Was there a moment when you seriously considered walking away from Cedar Valley?

Surria: There were several. One of the hardest happened when we were producing dressing at a government facility and an entire batch became contaminated. We had to throw away thousands of dollars in product at a time when we could not afford the loss.

Surria: I walked outside, slid down the wall, and cried. My daughter called and asked me why I kept going. That question brought me back to my why.

Surria: Every time I felt ready to quit, a customer would contact us and explain how our products had helped their family. Mothers would send videos of their children eating vegetables because they loved our dressing. Those messages reminded me that what we were creating mattered.

Mo: Knowing your why seems to have been central to your perseverance.

Surria: It has been everything. When you know why you are doing something, the difficult days become more manageable. It does not make the journey easy, but it makes it possible to keep going.

Surria: Passion also helps quiet the self-doubt. When you deeply believe in the work, that passion gives you the energy to continue through uncertainty and setbacks.

Mo: Cedar Valley later appeared on Dragons’ Den, where you received an incredible offer from Arlene Dickinson. What was that experience like?

Surria: We appeared on the show in 2023 and asked for $250,000 for five percent of the company. Arlene loved the chips and offered us $1 million for 20 percent.

Surria: We were thrilled because she respected our valuation, and we accepted the offer on the show. At the time, we needed the investment to build our manufacturing facility.

Mo: But you ultimately decided not to move forward with the deal.

Surria: That is right. During the due diligence process, we received government funding through an interest-free loan. It gave us what we needed while allowing us to keep the company family-owned.

Surria: Saying no to Arlene was incredibly difficult because we respected her so much, but it was the right decision for our business at that time.

Mo: You recently said yes to another major opportunity after initially turning it down. Can you share a little about that?

Surria: A production team contacted us after seeing a video about Cedar Valley becoming the official snack of the OHL. They invited Ameen and me to apply for a major Canadian summer reality show.

Surria: When I watched the show, my first reaction was absolutely not. I was 62, and the physical challenges were far outside my comfort zone.

Surria: My children reminded me of the advice I had always given them: you can do hard things, but you have to be willing to try. They encouraged me to take my own advice, so I said yes.

Mo: What made you decide the experience was worth taking on?

Surria: I wanted to represent my culture, my faith, mothers, grandmothers, and women who may not see themselves in those spaces. I wanted other women to see that age, clothing, faith, or expectations do not have to limit what is possible.

Surria: The show accommodated my religious and personal needs, and that allowed me to participate without compromising who I am.

Mo: What did that experience teach you?

Surria: It taught me that we are capable of much more than we think. I had to live with uncertainty every day because we never knew what challenge, destination, or mode of transportation was coming next.

Surria: It was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but it was also one of the most rewarding. I hope my granddaughters see it and think that if their grandmother could do that, they can do hard things too.

Mo: You also spend time mentoring women entrepreneurs. What is one piece of advice you give them?

Surria: Ask questions. Do not let ego stop you from learning. There is no shame in admitting that you do not know something.

Surria: We built Cedar Valley by asking retailers, government departments, vendors, manufacturers, and other entrepreneurs question after question. Surround yourself with people who have experience, stay curious, and do not try to reinvent everything on your own.

Mo: You have also spoken about the importance of women allowing themselves to pursue their own goals.

Surria: Women often put themselves last because they feel responsible for everyone around them. There comes a point when it is okay to put yourself first and say, this is my time.

Surria: When you know your passion and your purpose, you have to be willing to get on the train. The people around you can support you and come along, but they cannot be allowed to stand in the way of your growth.

Mo: Surria, thank you for sharing your story, your wisdom, and your willingness to keep stepping into new opportunities. Your journey is a powerful reminder that reinvention is not about becoming someone entirely new. It is about becoming more of who you have always been.

From fitness to food, from Cedar Valley to Dragons’ Den, and now to another extraordinary Canadian adventure, you have shown that age is not a limitation, change can be an opportunity, and failure is never the end of the story.

As you reflect on this conversation, ask yourself: What dream have I put on hold, and what new chapter may be waiting for me?

You can listen to the full episode here:

A Conversation with Penny Phang

Mo: Penny, welcome to the show. I am so happy to have you here.

Penny: Thank you, Mo. It is wonderful to be here. Reconnecting with you after so many years feels like perfect timing.

Mo: It really does. Today we are talking about leadership, emotional resilience, stillness, and how to move from reaction into alignment. Before we dive into your work, can you share a little about the journey that led you here?

Penny: My work grew out of my own experience moving through depression and PTSD following a traumatic childhood. For many years, I overachieved without realizing I was trying to compensate for feelings of not being enough. On the outside, I looked successful, but underneath there was pressure, exhaustion, and unresolved pain.

Penny: Over time, I began exploring stillness, breathwork, movement, emotional awareness, and different ways of reconnecting with myself. Those practices helped me move through depression and eventually became the foundation of my Self-Empower work.

Mo: I love that you describe that journey not only as something difficult, but also as a gift that helped you discover your purpose.

Penny: Exactly. I did not set out to create a method or teach anyone. I had to look back and reverse-engineer what had helped me heal. That is how Self-Empower began.

Mo: You work with leaders and high performers who often look composed and successful on the outside. What are you seeing beneath the surface?

Penny: Many leaders quietly believe they are not allowed to struggle. They feel pressure to be perfect, have all the answers, and never show doubt. Even when that pressure is unconscious, it can create stress, anxiety, self-criticism, and a constant need to prove their worth.

Penny: When the mind and heart are no longer working together, we become out of alignment. We may still get things done, but it feels forced. We lead from fear, pressure, and the need to keep up instead of from clarity and purpose.

Mo: What is the first step toward finding that alignment again?

Penny: Stillness. When I say stillness, I do not mean doing nothing. You can be moving, working, speaking, and making decisions while remaining rooted in calm. You can be quick without being in a hurry.

Penny: Stillness helps us access a deeper intelligence within ourselves. When we slow down enough to listen, we begin receiving clarity one moment at a time. We may not see the entire path ahead, but we can recognize the next step.

Mo: You also talk about following the path of least resistance. What does that mean?

Penny: It means meeting yourself where you are. When I was deeply depressed, positive affirmations would not have helped me. They were too far away from what I was feeling. Anger, however, was a higher emotional state than despair, so allowing myself to feel angry could help me move forward.

Penny: The path of least resistance is not the same for everyone. It is simply the next thought, feeling, or action that helps move you slightly above where you are right now.

Mo: In a culture that celebrates hustle and constant productivity, how can stillness become a leadership strength?

Penny: Leaders can accomplish a great deal without stillness, but it often comes at a cost. Over time, excessive resistance can lead to stress, anxiety, exhaustion, and dis-ease.

Penny: Sustainable leadership requires access to something deeper and more dependable than external conditions. Stillness gives leaders a stable place from which to think, respond, and make decisions. That is where clarity becomes a true advantage.

Mo: You have also shared a simple way to manage difficult thoughts before they take over. Can you explain that?

Penny: I call it the combustion of thought. A thought begins gaining momentum quickly, and if we continue focusing on it, more similar thoughts join it. That is why I encourage people to give themselves up to 60 seconds to fully feel an emotion without judgment.

Penny: Resistance is not wrong. We need some resistance to generate power, just as a battery needs positive and negative energy. The key is not staying there. After 60 seconds, ask whether this is a thought you want to continue feeding. If not, swipe to the next thought.

Mo: I love that. We are so good at swiping past content on our phones, but we can learn to do the same with thoughts that are no longer serving us.

Penny: Exactly. The brain is constantly feeding us content. Some of it matters and some of it does not. We have to become more intentional about what we choose to amplify.

Mo: How can leaders recognize when they are reacting instead of acting from alignment?

Penny: Your emotions will tell you. When you are aligned, you may still feel pressure, but you also feel clear, curious, open, and willing. When you are reacting, you tend to feel stuck in stress, fear, doubt, or resistance.

Penny: My practice is to observe and then lead. Take a breath, soften your vision, and notice what is happening within you. You are not your thoughts. You are the quiet presence observing them.

Mo: And once we observe the thought, how do we decide what to do next?

Penny: Ask yourself three questions. Is this a thought I want to say yes to and amplify? Is there an action I can take right now, or am I simply worrying? What is my right-now action?

Penny: Sometimes the answer is to finish the email in front of you. Sometimes it is to drink water, take a break, listen to the person speaking, or focus on the road while driving. The next aligned action is often very simple.

Mo: That is such an important reminder. Growth does not always come from pushing harder. Sometimes it comes from being more intentional with where we place our energy and attention.

Penny: Absolutely. Many of the problems we work so hard to solve do not require more action or more thought. They require us to become still enough for the mind and heart to work together.

Mo: Penny, thank you for sharing your story, your wisdom, and such practical tools for becoming more present and aligned. This conversation is a powerful reminder that clarity, calm, and presence are not luxuries in leadership. They are necessities.

Sometimes our greatest momentum does not come from doing more. It begins when we pause long enough to reconnect with ourselves, listen to what we truly need, and move forward with greater purpose.

You can listen to the full episode here: