The Queen of Organic

Diane Shaskin

Co-founder, Planet Organic Market

photo by Jaime Kowal

Diane Shaskin’s world has been spinning at breakneck speed for the last seven years. “It’s been very fast-paced and furious,” she confirms over the phone from her home in Victoria. Diane is co-founder of Planet Organic Market, Canada’s largest all-natural food retailer. She opened the first Planet Organic in 2001—the same year she and her husband adopted baby Alexandre from Vietnam. Since then, both Alexandre and Planet Organic have done a lot of growing up.
Growing up organic is crucial to Diane. She stresses the importance of feeding kids well, as well as getting them involved in picking out things from the grocery store. “Kids love to choose their own food,” she enthuses. Her philosophy is that kids can’t help but choose wisely when the options surrounding them are nutritious and organic, and that teaching kids good eating habits from a young age will benefit both themselves and the world.
“When you’re eating organic food, you’re putting a deposit into your own health bank, and a deposit into the health bank of the planet,” Diane says. “Every time a person buys organic food, they’re doing something good for the Earth.”
The planet created by Diane is growing quickly. The one little store that opened all those years ago has expanded to a chain of nine supermarkets across Canada. This year Diane will be opening additional stores in Vancouver and Toronto, as well as expanding into California.
And what does Alexandre, now seven, think of all this? Diane laughs. “He’s just recently figured out that Dad’s the president, so he thinks of us as the King and Queen of Planet Organic.”
Which, we presume, would make him the Prince.
  —Jennifer Croll