How Yéléna Mensah is bringing Toronto teams together through painting

A brush, some paint and a little room to experiment. For Yéléna Mensah, those simple ingredients opened a door she would eventually invite others through.

Shortly after moving from Paris to Toronto, Yéléna discovered painting during the COVID pandemic. She taught herself, finding in it a way to slow down, express herself and reconnect with her creativity.

That personal discovery became Tote and Paint, a Toronto-based company that brings mobile painting workshops to corporate teams, universities and community organizations. Its starting point is an inviting one: you do not need to think of yourself as an artist to take part.

Making room for a first attempt

Yéléna wanted others to experience what painting had given her, even if they had never picked up a brush. She built the workshops around making that first step approachable, with no previous painting experience required.

Workshop photographs capture that spirit: people leaning over tote bags, adding flowers, bright shapes and their own designs. Each bag gives its painter something tangible to take away from the experience.

A workplace becomes a creative space

Tote and Paint has no permanent studio. The workshop travels to the people taking part, whether they are gathering at an office, a university, a community space or an event venue.

The company brings the materials and guides the session. For the organization hosting it, that makes arranging a creative activity easier. For participants, it creates a chance to step out of their usual routine and make something alongside colleagues or fellow community members.

This is the connection Yéléna wants to encourage: people trying something together, with room to express themselves. Based in Toronto, the company serves the GTA and has begun taking that experience further afield.

A milestone beyond Ontario

For Yéléna, one particularly meaningful step was taking Tote and Paint to Montreal. According to the company, that expansion included hosting a workshop with McGill University.

Organizations outside Ontario were reaching out for an experience she had begun building in Toronto. To her, that interest showed that the desire to slow down, create and connect extended beyond her home city.

It also gave her a clearer picture of what could come next: bringing the workshops to more teams and communities across Canada.

Learning the business while building it

Behind the brushes and finished tote bags is another kind of learning. Yéléna has had to work out how to sell the experience, price it, market it, hire and manage the details that shape a customer’s day.

Much of that learning has happened while running the business. Some workshops have not gone as planned. Opportunities have fallen through. Ideas have needed rethinking.

Those setbacks have given her something useful to work with: a better understanding of what to change. In her account, each experience has helped her build a stronger business.

Workshop participants share their finished designs. Photo credit: Tote and Paint

Starting before everything feels ready

Her advice to other Toronto entrepreneurs is direct: “Don’t wait until you feel completely ready. Start, test, learn, adjust and keep moving.”

It is advice that runs through her story. Yéléna began painting without formal training. She began building a business without having every part of entrepreneurship figured out. Taking action gave her something to learn from.

Now she makes that same first step easier for others. A workshop arrives, the materials are laid out, and there is an opportunity to try. The next person to pick up a brush does not have to know exactly where it will lead.

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