We are a small team of Determined Women that specialize in taxes, bookkeeping and having fun.
In her 15th year with Canada Revenue Agency, CEO Kelly Rust made the big decision to retire her career with the agency and help her fellow Canadians by starting her own tax practice. She saw the lack and need for quality tax advisors outside her corporate world and recognized her calling. She jumped. And in 2018, SheDo Tax was born.
CEO, Kelly Rust
Kelly Rust is a determined entrepreneur and CEO of SheDo Tax Company for two strong, successful years. She is a proud wife to Ryan and happy mom of 2 boys, Colten (9) and Jaeger (7). An extremely positive, high-on-life, rock-star woman who will be your best bud until the end of time and should be the face of the “Work hard. Play Hard” motto.
At age 20, she owned her first business, and was successful in turning it from a sole proprietorship into a partnership – which eventually 10 years later sold for a profit. After selling her first company, she focused on her career with Canada Revenue Agency for 15 years while dabbling in real estate and to date, owns multiple real estate properties throughout Ontario in Hamilton, Caledonia and Hagersville. She has also enjoys self directing her other investments through stocks for many years. Kelly is always on the prowl for her next opportunity.
Kelly is often balancing a fine line of professionalism and silliness. If she is not helping you with your taxes, looking for the next real estate buy or hot stock to invest in, you may find her creating hilarious videos under the name Kelly JOY Rust. You may have caught her most known viral video of her and her sister Brianne going through the car wash with their windows down – which to date has had millions of views on many different platforms. Although she may not have time now a days for much video creation, Kelly truly enjoys the idea of capturing fun video moments and sharing with people to catch a smile.
Kelly is a woman of many talents with a myriad of accomplishments. She believes every struggle and every experience has brought her to this point. The main goal in her career now is to use all her knowledge and experience to assist others in the accounting and tax industry.
SheDo Tax Company is now going strong in their 5th year of business with many awards throughout the years under their belt in the Hamilton and Haldimand areas including: Best Overall Customer Service, Best Accountant, Best Consulting Service, Best Income Tax Preparation and Best Bookkeeping Services (to name a few).
Kelly truly believes it is always important to “hire for fit, and train for skill” when considering employees for any business. In her own business – she needed a few Determined Women (DW’s) much like herself. Rachel Whitlock, Shannon Smith, Julie Hannigan and Melissa MacDonald were all a perfect match. Personable, motivated and smart. Through some vigorous training and a boat load of fun, together they formed the SheDo Tax Company and Kelly continues to lead the pack to stardom with the outlook that the sky is forever the limit!
Rachel Whitlock, DW
Rachel is a wife, mother of 3, DW (determined woman), and a grandma living in Caledonia, Ontario.
2 parts bookkeeper, 1 part professional learner, 3 parts surviving motherhood and 2 parts baseball coach. She likes to keep busy!
Rachel is passionate about bringing you excellent customer service, with a smile and creating a memorable interaction with you here, at SheDo Tax. There is nothing I love more than working with and contributing to a team environment. We have such a fun office dynamic and I am so blessed to be part of the SheDo Squad.
Advanced QuickBooks certified, as well as a skilled and certified tax preparer, she’s been mastering the art of tax prep and filing for family and friends since 2005. Rachel loves a good challenge, and as our lead Bookkeeper, is proficient in QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, QBO migration, and offers virtual training here at SheDo Tax. Big thanks to the Sachem, and the people of Haldimand , for the nomination and 1st place winner in the category of Best Bookkeeping Service. It has been my pleasure to serve you, and help you learn and grow your small business.
When she isn’t in the office you can find her outdoors with her kiddos, on the baseball diamond with the Diamond Divas, listening to her favorite Audible, babysitting her grandson, or relaxing on the lake in Dorset, Ontario.
“Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness”
Shannon Smith, DW
Meet Shannon.
Like you, she’s just a small-town girl living in a … Oh wait, that’s Journey…
She’s overzealous about food, loves an ice-cold pop, a tall glass of wine, laughs without holding back, speaks her mind, is a bit of an old soul, and a DW (determined woman).
She has over 10 years’ experience in Human & Social Services, Retail & Customer Services, and is QuickBooks Advanced Certified. She’s a professional broadcaster of awesomeness and enjoys developing relationships and making people happy.
Born and raised in Waterford, she remains a resident in the nearby village of Villa Nova. There she appreciates the country lifestyle and likes to unwind with her husband and 6-year-old daughter. Shannon enjoys camping, watching the Blue Jays, celebrating people’s birthdays (preferably her own), reading a good book & playing board games.
“If you can’t find me in the office, you can find me on the golf course. See you at the 19th hole!”
Julie Hannigan, DW
Julie joined our team with welcome arms in January 2020 and quickly became a great addition. She is excited to join such a fun, motivated group of women with similar goals in mind.
Julie is incredibly personable, loves to meet new people and is eager to listen to your business dreams. She is looking forward to making strong connections where she can work side by side with her clients to build a successful business journey together. If you have an innovative business idea and want someone to bounce ideas off of… She’s definitely your girl!
Julie comes from a close-knit family with strong family morals. It is no surprise that one of Julie’s mottos is “surround yourself with the ones you love”. Julie makes the life of the party wherever she goes, she is the heart of her family and is the proud mom to Mason and Lily. Her adventurous personality is not only an asset in her family life but equally shines through in her day to day work environment.
Julie has her Accounting and Payroll Specialist Diploma in which she graduated with honours. She has obtained her Quickbooks Online Certification and has completed the Payroll Compliance Practitioner course. Julie is proficient in Quickbooks Online. Julie comes to us with bookkeeping experience from her student placement at Loallay where she developed fundamental bookkeeping skills with fresh new business start-ups.
If you are looking for Julie on the weekend, you’ll likely find her exploring the great outdoors, camping with her family or swimming in the lake. Wherever there’s love and laughter, Julie is sure to be there!
You may also think Julie looks a little familiar… It may be true she does have a doppelganger and often gets yelled, “Gibbler!” from across a crowded room from time to time. She may look like Kimmy, but she is the Jules that make up the SheDo Squad.
Melissa MacDonald, DW
Here we grow again!
Meet our resident sommelier, Melissa. After spending 10+ years in the wine industry she has decided to switch gears and join the world of all things taxes, numbers and small business growth…yes, she loves trying new things and feeding her adventurous spirit.
Melissa has dived right in and loves putting her 20 years of client services and development to the forefront to create lasting relationships with our clients and neighbours. She is QuickBooks Online Advanced Certified, enrolled at the Canadian Tax Academy taking courses pertaining to personal and corporate income tax and continues to have a thirst for learning.
When she isn’t crunching numbers you can find her reading a good book, listening to jazz, planning a new travel adventure or kicked back at the cottage enjoying time with her husband and two little men, Miles and Theo.
This fiercely loyal Leo is excited and proud to be part of the SheDo squad!
“My goal is always to make things less intimidating and super approachable. Looking forward to working with you!”