Careers Growth Confidence
Joanne Lockwood is joined by business strategist and creative catalyst Janet Tanguay for a wide-ranging conversation about turning dreams into action through visioning, connection, and inclusive practice. Janet shares how her work as a “super connector” grew from years of supporting aspiring entrepreneurs, and how creating a safe, welcoming space helps people be more authentic about what they really want.
Together they explore what vision boarding is, how it can be done physically or digitally, and why it works as a practical focus tool—especially when paired with other approaches like journalling, coaching questions, AI tools, sound, and creative collaboration. They discuss the realities of leaving employment for self-employment, breaking out of routine, building belief, and shifting from working in a business to working on it.
The episode also looks at what inclusive empowerment requires in practice: knowing your audience, enabling choice and privacy in sharing, and ensuring people can see themselves reflected in the materials and imagery used. Janet shares lessons from working with a wide range of groups, highlighting how people’s dreams differ depending on their circumstances, and how creativity and community can help people move from surviving to thriving.
About Janet Tanguay
One-sentence summary
Janet Tanguay believes that when people are given space to imagine something better — even quietly, even privately — they begin to reclaim agency, dignity and joy that the world may have taught them to shrink.
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Synopsis
Janet Tanguay grew up with Abenaki heritage woven into her story — visiting reservations, holding a tribal card, carrying the quiet strength of ancestors who understood land, ritual and belonging. That early grounding in culture and continuity sits alongside the story of a woman who tried on conventional paths and found they did not fit. She remembers standing in a car park during a brief banking job, crying over the thought of wearing a sweater vest “for the rest of my life.” It wasn’t really about clothing. It was about identity. It was about refusing to live inside someone else’s script. From that refusal came The Hammock Way of Life — a business rooted not in hustle culture, but in space, creativity and freedom.
Over thirteen years helping people start businesses, Janet saw something deeply human: behind every qualification, background and bank balance, people want much the same things — safety, family, dignity, enough money to breathe, and a sense that their life belongs to them. She now uses vision boarding not as a trend but as a tool for reclamation. In rooms with engineers, unhoused communities, foster teens and high‑net‑worth women, she has learned to read the quiet truths behind the images. When a teenager slips the words “I survived my childhood” onto a board filled with fast cars, she sees what cannot be unseen. Her work is about holding space so people can name what they want — sometimes out loud, sometimes through a clear cake box lid — and begin moving towards it with courage.
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10 Small, digestible concepts for easy learning
1. Dreams reveal where safety is missing.
When someone chooses food over travel, they’re telling you what feels fragile.
2. Holding space is an act of respect.
Janet’s job, as she puts it, is “just to hold space” for authenticity.
3. Self-belief is the real leap, not the business plan.
Leaving a secure job required courage before strategy.
4. If it feels like a costume, it’s not your calling.
A sweater vest became a symbol of living out of alignment.
5. Visibility rewires possibility.
Seeing images daily helps the mind notice opportunities that were always there.
6. Not everyone wants to share their dream publicly.
The cake box method protects privacy while inviting intention.
7. Representation matters, even on paper.
People need to see themselves in the images they choose.
8. Connection is generosity, not leverage.
A real connector nurtures relationships rather than exploits them.
9. Chaos can become harmony.
Her music experiments mirror her belief that discord can evolve into beauty.
10. Joy is not frivolous — it is a compass.
Janet keeps the word “joy” at the top of her own board.
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The “why” in the story
What they believe is true about people
Janet believes everyone has creativity inside them, even if life has buried it. She believes most people want similar things at heart: enough, love, safety and meaning.
What they cannot unsee
She cannot unsee the untouched travel magazines in rooms serving the unhoused, or the tiny printed admission, “I survived my childhood.” She has seen how systems push people’s dreams down the hierarchy of need.
What they are no longer willing to tolerate
She is no longer willing to live confined by roles that shrink her spirit, nor to run workshops that ignore context, culture and difference.
What they are trying to build instead
She is building spaces — both literal and symbolic — where imagination is safe, where dreams are not judged, and where connection flows freely rather than competitively.
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Narrative structure
1. The trigger
Years of helping others build businesses while feeling her own dream nudging at her. The moment of standing in a car park realising she could not wear a uniformed identity for life. The repeated question: What is your dream?
2. The tension
Balancing financial security with authenticity. Entering rooms where sceptics sit with folded arms. Navigating diverse communities without imposing her own worldview. Wondering whether chaos will drown out harmony.
3. The insight
Visual focus changes behaviour. Representation changes belief. And most importantly, people open up when they feel safe — not when they are instructed.
4. The pivot
Leaving paid employment. Naming her business after ease rather than achievement. Adapting workshops to include accessibility, privacy options and culturally relevant materials.
5. The destination
A world where people feel they are in their own “safari park” — free within understanding, bounded by fairness, not trapped nor exposed. A world where joy is allowed.
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Five key takeaways and learning points
1. Your discomfort is data.
If something feels like a costume, pay attention — it may signal misalignment rather than failure.
2. Context changes everything.
The dreams people name reflect the realities they’re surviving.
3. Connection thrives on generosity.
Share people, don’t hoard them — relationships expand when not treated as currency.
4. Creativity is not reserved for artists.
Even the sceptical engineer has imagination once invited safely.
5. Small visibility creates big shifts.
Seeing your desire daily can move it from fantasy to intention.
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Ten distinct ideas explained
1. Survival shapes aspiration.
When someone chooses images of food and furniture, it reflects lived vulnerability, not lack of ambition.
2. Privacy protects dignity.
Allowing people to conceal parts of their board honours emotional safety.
3. Bias shrinks possibility.
If rooms are curated unconsciously around sameness, difference never gets the microphone.
4. Authenticity is embodied, not strategic.
Crying over a sweater vest revealed a life misaligned with identity.
5. Representation is neurological.
The brain responds differently when it sees people like us thriving.
6. Connection requires stewardship.
Influence is hollow if trust is sacrificed for access.
7. Creative ritual builds resilience.
Vision boarding, music and journalling give shape to hope during chaos.
8. Dreams evolve with safety.
As basic needs stabilise, imagination expands.
9. Joy strengthens endurance.
Joy is not escape — it fuels sustained courage.
10. Belonging invites risk.
When people feel seen, they dare to articulate bigger futures.
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How people should change as a result
1. Think
- Move from “What career should I have?” to “What life feels like mine?”
- Understand that different dreams reflect different starting lines.
- Recognise that imagination is a practical tool, not childish indulgence.
- See networking as stewardship rather than status.
2. Feel
- Shift from scepticism to curiosity about creative tools.
- Move from comparison to compassion when others’ dreams differ.
- Replace guilt about ambition with permission to want more.
- Trade defensiveness for openness when your bias is exposed.
3. Act
- Create a simple vision board — digital or physical — and revisit it daily.
- Ask someone, gently, “What would joy look like for you this year?”
- Seek out a conversation with someone outside your usual demographic.
- Offer a connection without expecting a return.
- Ensure events or meetings allow for privacy and accessibility.
- Notice when something feels like a costume — and name it.
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One thing to remember
When people feel safe enough to dream, they begin to live on their own terms.