Dreams start as a vapour of a thought, a little picture in your mind that whispers to you, “But what if?” My journey has led me to this cliffside where I am about to jump into my dream. In 2005, I had been a Christian for 1 year. I had been working for a Christian Non-Profit called the Urban Bridge Society, and that fall, the founder of the organization was leaving to move to Los Angeles. In leaving, I was asked to step into the role of Acting Executive Director. He suggested I go with his wife to a weekly Women’s Breakfast that was studying Beth Moore’s Jesus Life Coach, and at the end, we would go away to Powell River for a retreat. To start the program, we needed to meet with the host and work on a vision statement for your life. I must have taken this task more seriously than was intended because when I came out of her pink apartment overlooking the ocean, something had clicked in me. I was being asked to “Launch a Dream Studio where women unveil”. I was 20.
God and I had some dialogue after that: “God, what is a Dream Studio?” “I can’t do that, I am only 20.” “How am I supposed to ask women to walk out their dreams if I have never risked walking out a dream myself?” In the weeks that followed, I found so much joy in those breakfasts. I was definitely the youngest, and at the very end of the retreat, the host asked us to spend some time in prayer and reflection, before our final dinner and party. I went up to my room and lay on my bed praying. Asking those same questions I had asked time and time again over the weeks. I was obviously deep in prayer because I fell asleep. While I was asleep, I saw a picture of an office building. Out front, there was a large water feature made out of concrete and a bridge walkway through the centre. The main floor of the office building was all glass; you could see straight through to the back wall. On the back wall in Blue, Red, Yellow, and Green was the word LOVE, it was mosaically tiled in different shades, and the letters bled into the floor with the L stretching the entire length underneath as a pathway. The O was a hallway to the elevators. I woke up and felt, “Wow, that was beautiful.” I knew that was the Dream Studio or the essence of it. I went downstairs to tell Shirley (the founder’s wife) about my dream. When I went up to her, she asked me if I could hold her baby for a second first and ran off to get something. I looked down at this cute baby and realized the shirt she was wearing was the same layout of the word Love as in my dream. I called after her, “Well, I really want to talk to you now.”
“Oh, but Melissa, that’s just a coincidence. Would you really base such a huge decision on 1 dream and a baby’s onesie? You probably saw it before!” I totally agree with you. I have replayed that thought in my head a million times since then. When you experience God, when you feel His love for you, and He shows you a picture, and He guides you to try to dig deeper and follow His gentle nudges, you will understand why it’s not just a dream, and it’s not just a onesie. It’s His love. It’s His broken heart reaching out and asking us to step up. To see the pain and struggle that people are experiencing around you and stepping outside of your cushioned bubble and care again, even when there is a risk involved.
After the retreat, I told God, “Ok IF you want me to do this, then I need to live out some dreams first.” This was my throw-away comment to God to say… Look I am going to do it, but now I get to really not actually have to do anything risky. He said… “Go to Australia.” He didn’t actually say the words audibly, Karen, but I know what He was saying. “BUT GOD! You made me! I have skin that burns in the shade, I hate spiders, don’t even start on the idea of running into a snake!” (Internal scream). So again to side step this request, I said… “Ok God, I am going to take the first step towards following a dream. I will start telling people I am going to go to Australia, and IF you meet me, then I will take the next step.” High-fives, self, because I can say I am going to Australia until I am blue in the face, but that doesn’t have to translate into actually going cause I was broke. You know what He did?? The next week, a cheque arrived in the mail from the government. I didn’t know that the government owed me anything, so when it arrived, I was shocked. It completely covered the cost of a round-trip plane ticket to Australia, with some fun layovers through New Zealand and Fiji, a year of travel & health insurance, and even enough to cover the cost of a work visa. “Ok God, so you really want me to go to Australia!!” It was like a “your move” moment. I could either back out or take the next step. So I applied for a work visa. This is in 2005, there are no apps, no FaceTime, no smartphones. I found the Australian Consulate’s website, filled in a form, paid for a work visa and hit submit. Again, I am thinking, let’s see what that does, because I don’t know how long that will take. The NEXT DAY, I had an email waiting for me saying my work visa request was approved and a document I could print out. *Blink…blink* I really can’t explain how shocked this whole experience made me, over and over. Step after step. I went to Flight Centre and asked them to help me book this round-trip adventure. While I was there, I asked the lady, “How long should I expect it to take to get a work visa?” She was suddenly concerned, “OH, you had better get on that RIGHT away! It could take you months!!” “Have you ever heard of someone getting approved in 24 hours?” She chuckled, “That will never happen. I have never heard of that.” “I got my work visa back within 24 hours,” I said to her. Now she was on my shocked journey. Over the next few months, I was able to save up a decent amount of money and even buy a new laptop to communicate with family back home.
I am completely convinced that God has a sense of humour. He watches us struggle like a toddler trying to put on shoes and then in one swoop, shoes are on our feet and bam, we’re off. So I told God that I would give that year completely to Him, no distractions, just off to see what He wanted me to learn. And then, out of left field, through a chance encounter, I started talking to a guy named Stephen. By the time I was ready to fly out to New Zealand, instead of leaving with no distractions, I had a long-distance boyfriend.
I stepped up to the challenge of, “This is too big for me, but if I walk it out one small step at a time, I will get to see the end result of what God had in mind.” By the time I came home from Australia, I had decided to move to Calgary and see if that long-distance relationship was something. I had been accepted to Ambrose University College to work on a BA in Behavioural Science and had purchased www.thedreamstudio.ca. That one small step of just saying I was going to go to Australia and live out a dream turned into launching into some major milestones in my life.
The vision for the Dream Studio came over 20 years ago. I have gotten married to Stephen, had three beautiful daughters, bought our house, and graduated from Ambrose with a concentration degree in Behavioural Science. We started our own company together in 2014, and then in 2024, something changed. For years, I would keep going back to God and say, “Do you actually want me to pursue the Dream Studio, or was that just a vision you gave me to start taking risks for myself and get into life?” Then that spring, the dumbest thing happened, and it felt like God was saying “It’s time”. Every few YEARS, I would check GoDaddy and see if www.dreamstudio.ca was available. It was most definitely available, haha… for $2500 US, give or take a $1000. That random day in Spring it was $0.99. I nearly fell out of my chair and called over to my husband and yelled, “It’s only a buck! TheDreamStudio.ca is only a buck! Can you go buy it, please?” I went back into work mode and then later that day, I went back online to check that domain, and it was saying $2500 US again. I was so deflated, I had missed the opportunity. I said to my husband, “Oh man, it’s back up to $2500.” He just looked at me and said, “But you own it, so that doesn’t make sense.” GoDaddy was saying I could pay them $2500 to work on my behalf to barter with the owner to buy that domain. As soon as I realized that I owned it, it was like an “Oooo” moment. It felt like it was time, time to be released into creating a Dream Studio for women.
In fall 2024, I created our founding board. My husband Stephen and I, along with Brandy Rupchan, Rosalie Conway, and Jocelyn Mielnichuck, took on the responsibility of saying, “Yes God, what do you want to build?” I asked them to stand with me as I create the Dream Studio, much like I did when I said, “Ok, I am going to Australia,” and God answered, now I am saying, ‘Ok, I am building a Dream Studio,” and I know God will answer. I am so grateful for these people; they are the most loving people I know. This January, 2026, Brandy stepped back, and Kim Westlund stepped onto the board.
The world around us is in upheaval. When I was first seeing the Dream Studio as a possibility, the world seemed kinder and easier. The neighbourly love and kindness have slipped; the pandemic took us all down a notch and closed us in on ourselves. Right now, there has been a major escalation in the world for crime, war, or even abuse of women. God has built a stubborn spirit in me, maybe it is the red hair, maybe it was getting saved at 19; whatever it is, there is no such thing as no anymore. There is God’s yes or nothing. So if He is pushing me forward to take the next step, that is what I am doing.
Now more than ever, women need healing. They need support; they need to be allowed to blossom. When a mother goes through a challenge that would normally take a person out, they need an army of support on their side, cheering them on to succeed because she is not going to give up; she will sacrifice her needs for her babies. I want the Dream Studio to work with mothers to help them feel like they can stabilize, find room to heal, and experience God’s love firsthand.
Before I said, “Ok, I am going to Australia.” Now I am saying, “Ok, I am going to build the Dream Studio,” so please join me on this journey. We need to hold up the mothers in our lives who feel like they cannot do this on their own. We need to build them stronger; their strength will strengthen our communities, push away their fear, and surprise us all in ways that we cannot even begin to understand yet.