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?

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.

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 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.

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 36: 100 Days of Courage - A Deep Tour

This the second part of a conversation with Steve from Season 2, Episode 22.

He set a goal of 100 days of courage in relation to his work as an artist. This is our conversation after he has completed his 100 days.

How did it all work out?

Episode 21 - Blue skies

This is Part 2 of my conversation with Miranda Kamal where we share more of her story and some of mine.

Miranda is the Head Coach and Executive Director of the Mentoring Junior Kids Organization or MJKO for short. She’s been through a lot. She’s a sexual assault survivor, and an aspiring competitive boxer who suffered a career ending back injury.

Episode 20 - Listen to your best coach

Miranda Kamal is a daughter, sister and wife. She’s an entrepreneur, a former competitive boxer, and International Boxing Association 2 star boxing coach.

She’s the Head Coach and Executive Director of Mentoring Junior Kids Organization (MJKO) which she founded in 2010 with her now husband, Ibrahim “Firearm” Kamal, a former eight-time Canadian National Boxing Champion.