A Canadian, an American and a Brit walk into a bar… for a light-hearted discussion about alcohol. Our experiences of it and our social obsession with it. Are you into it, or over it?

Cindy Villanova is an author, consultant, entrepreneur and public speaker. She’s also a seventh degree black belt, master instructor and the owner of a martial arts studio in Austin, Texas.

Cindy’s parents were a mixed race couple in the early 1960s in southern California. They faced prejudice but stressed to Cindy and her brother the importance of an education, and growing up to be ‘good’. Cindy worked hard and was an ‘A’ student. She had big dreams to be a lawyer and to enter politics, but instead she became pregnant as a teenager by her boyfriend, a very troubled young man. She chose not to give up the baby. It was one of many forks in the road of her life.

While there were two “failed marriages”, many physical injuries from her martial arts practice and financial troubles along the way, there were also triumphs and turnarounds. Her book Don't Fight Mad generously chronicles these many painful twists and turns. She parallels what mixed martial arts taught her about digging in, when she most wanted to give up.

JS is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur. He’s the co-founder of Real Ventures and Montreal Startups. Both are early-stage venture capital firms that backs entrepreneurs and build the ecosystems in which they thrive. JS has primarily worked with entrepreneurs who are using AI, blockchain technologies, AR/VR and synthetic biology to improve happiness, human creativity, and communication — and transform or disrupt the pillars of our society.

In 2018 he had a profound experience that shifted his perspective of himself, his relationships and the world around him. While he’s loved his work, JS is now taking a slightly different role in the company he founded.

Season 5, Episode 51: Anne Bokma - One Life We Know

Anne’s an award-winning journalist, writing coach, workshop leader and author. Anne is also the founder of Hamilton’s popular 6-Minute Memoir live storytelling event which has also become a podcast, also called the 6-Minute Memoir.

Growing up in a fundamentalist sect, the Canadian Reform Church, her world view was extremely narrow. There were lots of taboos. Dancing, and Canadian boys were off the table.

Season 5, Episode 50: Amy Conway-Hatcher - Infinitely More

After 6 years as a prosecutor, Amy moved to private practice eventually becoming an equity partner in one of several firms that make up what is known as ‘Big Law’. These large legal entities with sometimes thousands of lawyers and offices in countries all over the world.

She was often one of the ‘only’, or certainly very few women who had attained her level of compensation and respect. She was and is a woman that others looked up to and aspired to be.

She was a warrior career mom. And she never let them see her sweat.

Season 4, Episode 49: Choose Your Life

J. Paul Nadeau is a brother and father. He’s the son of a violently abusive, alcoholic father. At 7 years old he decided he wanted to be a police officer so he could arrest his own father.

Life in school was not much better as Paul was conditioned to believe he was worthless and incapable of amounting to much. At 16, his father killed himself with the same rifle he had claimed to have killed Santa Claus when Paul was 8.

Season 4, Episode 48: Compassionate Silence

Niti Nadarajah is a sister, daughter, and Senior Counsel at Philip Morris in Australia. She worked as a lawyer in private practice in Australia and the UK before moving in-house to Philip Morris.

She is the mother of four babies. She has a 7-year old daughter and a 2-year old son. Between their births she experienced the anticipatory joy of pregnancy and the very private devastation of miscarrying two babies.

I am sorry to hear of the passing of one of my previous guests, Mr. Ron Gohl from Season 1.

Mr. Gohl passed away peacefully on January 13, 2022. He was 100 years young. He is reunited with his beloved wife Marjorie and missed by his loving children, grandchildren, former students and friends.

Season 4, Episode 47: Finding Our Voice

Stefan de Villiers is a son, brother, husband and fur daddy to two dogs, Lola and Lucy. He has a masters degree in clinical social work and he’s a podcaster.

He was born in Canada to Afrikaans parents. Growing up, his family moved back and forth between Canada and South Africa four times which caused a first layer of tension around his identity. He related to being Canadian more than South African. His parents were proudly South African and expected him to embrace that identity. His time in South Africa left him feeling unsafe and the regular moves meant he was always the new kid trying to fit in.

Growing up his father suffered from a lot of health issues. They lived under constant fear that his father would die. Stefan looked up to him but feared his temper. Maybe his behaviour would be the cause of his death. Stefan was an anxious, high energy child. He tried not to be ‘too much’.

Season 4, Episode 46: Be Who You Are

Lohifa Pogoson Acker is a mother, sister, daughter, entrepreneur, social activist and in Linda’s mind, the unofficial Mayor of Hamilton, Canada.

Born in Nigeria, Lohifa came to Canada at 16, via the UK. Her parents were professionals and she’d had some opportunities to travel but she was excited about this new adventure, embracing a new country, different cultures and the opportunity to get to know people. A great joy in her life.

Her mother was a lawyer and her father a food sciences engineer. While she had chosen biopsychology and economics for her career, she also had a great love of the arts, English and storytelling. She worked at home and abroad in public health including through the Clinton Foundation to fight HIV and AIDS in mothers and their children.

Season 4, Episode 45: Win or Learn

Martin Parnell is a father, husband, grandfather, son, and brother.

In 2001, Martin lost his wife Wendy to cancer.  Almost a year later, his brothers challenged him to run a marathon. As a highly competitive trio they decided to take it on. He strapped on his running shoes and quickly discovered how hard a challenge like this might be.  He was 47 years old.

Season 4, Episode 44: A Good Death

Beth Riungu is a mother, sister, daughter. She’s been a registered nurse, a chef and is now developing a business as a soul midwife or death doula.

In her twenties she traveled to Africa to learn more about her Kenyan father. As she shared in her blog, her blended Scottish-Kenyan ancestry meant she was “neither a local nor tourist, she was a tribe of one adrift in a nation of many”.

Season 4, Episode 43: Leadership Bumps

Ernie Louttit’s a son, brother, father and soon, a Moshum or ‘grandfather’.

He’s a Missanabie Cree from Northern Ontario. He grew up in a town call Oba, about 1,000 kilometers or a 12 & a half-hour drive north of Toronto, Canada. While now it is a place where he goes to heal his soul, it was a rough start.

He dropped out of school and started working on the railroad at age 15. In 1978 at 17, he joined the military where he stayed for 8 years. While he served, he went to Cyprus with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI). Later in his career, he became a member of the Military Police, stationed in Wainwright, Alberta at the PPCLI Battle school. The largest training centre in Western Canada. 

Season 4, Episode 42: Conscious (R)Evolution

Dr. Cynthia Miller is a daughter, sister and mother. She’s a designer, visual artist, whitewater river guide, adventurer, healer, author and PhD in Cellular Transformation & the Psychology of Change.

She is the daughter of one of the scientists responsible for creating the bombs, Fat Man and Little Boy dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima respectively.

Season 4, Episode 41: Say What You Mean

John Ruffolo is a father, son, a first generation Canadian, an avid cyclist, and member of Les Domestiques a philanthropic cycling team. He is an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur.

In the business world, John joined OMERS Pension fund over a decade ago, and founded OMERS Ventures, a private equity fund established to back promising Canadian companies Notably Hootsuite, Wattpad and Shopify. However, the pension fund rules capped the growth potential of those investments.

I acknowledge that the City of Hamilton, where I record this podcast is situated upon the traditional First Nations territories of the Erie, Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, Mississaugas and the Chonodon of the so-called 'Neutral tribes'.

Hamilton is also directly adjacent to the Haldimand Treaty territory.

Season 3, Episode 40: With Great Love

Terri Tomoff is a mother, daughter, sister, wife, quilter, athlete, USSF soccer referee, blogger and author.

She’s also the mother of a son who went through 5 cancers: 3 times with childhood leukemia and 2 times with adult tongue cancer.

Season 3, Episode 39: That Vital Ingredient

Dr. Nadine Kelly is a retired physician, yoga instructor, American Council of Exercise certified Health Coach and Senior Exercise Specialist, founder of YOGI M.D. and host of the YOGI M.D. Podcast. 

Season 3, Episode 38: Courage is a Way of Living

Ken is a father, husband and lover of all things created or derived by humanity. Like his father before him, he joined the Canadian military at 18 and served almost 13 years before leaving due to a career ending injury, both physical and mental.

Season 3, Episode 37: Go Gently

Laura Tucker is a daughter, sister and step-mother.

She’s a former high school teacher, trainer, sales professional, multi-entrepreneur and now is a photographer, podcaster, writer and professional coach.

In 2008, at the height of the Great Recession, she was at a personal and professional cross-roads.