The value of this niche community was driven by its online event

For founders Emily Ward and Jess Hunichen, getting their side project acquired was about much more than the bottom line.

They wanted The BodCon, a virtual body positivity conference and online community, to grow bigger and better under a dedicated team who understood the ethos of what they’d built.

So the Canada-based pair of public relations professionals decided to approach brands they already knew held values aligned with The BodCon.

They were already in talks with women’s shapewear company Shapermint, which is also focused on body confidence, about involvement in an upcoming event, when the conversation turned to the e-commerce group that owns Shapermint, Trafilea.

The founders liked what they heard about the umbrella company, which creates and scales up “life-changing” brands, especially those in the fashion and apparel sector.

“The conversation evolved in a really natural way,” the founders said. “The stars were aligned.”

The BodCon sold to Trafilea in March 2023 for 6 figures.

The road to founding the BodCon

The founding pair originally met in Toronto after Ward hired Hunichen to help with an overload of freelance public relations work, and the two founded their agency Shine PR together at the start of 2015.

Within months, they noticed a niche need in the rising influencer market and started Shine Talent Group, which helps brands and PR agencies develop influencer campaigns and matches them with the best talent to reach their desired audience. They continued providing other PR services as they grew the influencer side of their business, but after a few years, they pivoted completely toward managing their pool of influencers.

Among this group, the founders once again noticed a need, in the sphere of body positivity.

“It was an awareness of the incredible voices we were representing,” the founders said, adding that the concept of accepting all body types seemed to be gaining traction. “The BodCon gave us an opportunity to explore these conversations with incredible talent in the space, as well as build an uplifting community around it.”

The conference was meant to celebrate “all things body confidence, body positivity and self-love,” and they planned the first one for 2020. With an event manager in place, the team scouted ideal locations.

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the founders realized a large-scale, in-person conference would not be possible, so they opted to host it virtually and worked to build an online community for a group that was just finding its voice. They also created a social media app and podcast to further grow their community.

In the end, moving online proved an asset. People were able to participate from all over the world, and in privacy — better reaching those who struggled with self-love and may not have felt confident enough to show up in person.

“We loved the fact that it ended up being a virtual setting,” the founders said. “People could feel comfortable attending on their own or with friends from the comforts of their own home.”

Why selling The BodCon was the right move

After two online conferences, The BodCon community had grown to about 20,000 participants, between social pages, newsletters and events. Ward and Hunichen saw the opportunity for continued growth, but they were still focused primarily on their influencer-focused PR agency.

“We had taken The BodCon to a place we were really proud of,” they said. “We knew in the long run it would be better placed to grow with a group who could wholly focus on its success.”

In conversations with Trafilea, Ward and Hunichen felt their team truly understood The BodCon and that the conference was a fit with the company’s vision of transforming industries through “global brands with meaningful purposes,” as it states on its website.

That aligned purpose made a huge difference in getting the sale over the finish line in March 2023.

“What we learned in this experience is that trust between the buyer and seller is essential, as it would be very easy to become stuck on a single point that could break the deal,” they said.

The two were part of the core planning team for the third annual BodCon in March 2023, and said they continue to provide support as needed.

Alongside their focus on Shine Talent Group, Ward and Hunichen use their expertise and funds to accelerate early-stage lifestyle and wellness startups through Love x Money Ventures, an angel investment firm.

They also run The Thread, a project management software built specifically for talent managers. It sprung from their experience managing a high volume of deals during their agency’s rapid growth.

“We subsisted on Google Sheets, which left too much room for error and lacked efficiency,” they said, adding that existing workflow tools didn’t fit their needs. “So we decided to build one ourselves.”

Once again, they filled a need they noticed along the way.