68 - The Food Professor: Dr. Sylvain Charlebois

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68 - The Food Professor: Dr. Sylvain Charlebois

Who knew that in 2023, one of the hottest topics in the news would be groceries? Yet, here we are. And who better to speak with about this wide-ranging topic than a guy who calls himself The Food Professor? Dr. Sylvain Charlebois works in the Agri-Foods Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. He's also the host of the popular Food Professor Podcast. We talked about the state of grocery prices, avian flu, lab-grown meat and much more.

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67 - Chris Rutkowski: Canada's foremost expert on UFOs

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67 - Chris Rutkowski: Canada's foremost expert on UFOs

Chris Rutkowski is a science writer and communicator who has authored 10 books on the subject of UFOs. He's been studying UFO sightings and reports since the mid-1970s and is a wealth of information about the topic. He approaches ufology with a scientific background and through the lens of a skeptic. The result was a great conversation about the history of UFO sightings in Canada. Hope you enjoy this interview.

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51 - Jamie Johnson: The whisky episode

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51 - Jamie Johnson: The whisky episode

We're wrapping up 2021 with a conversation with Jamie Johnson, the brand ambassador for the best-selling whisky in the world. This episode is 75% chit chat and 25% professionally guided whisky tasting. If you're playing along at home, the four we will be tasting are:

- Glenfiddich 15
- Glenfiddich Project XX
- Glenfiddich Fire & Cane
- The Balvenie 14 Year Caribbean Cask

Jamie is such a fun person to speak with and so knowledgeable about the world of whisky. I'm looking forward to making this an annual episode. Hope you enjoy it!

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50 - Les Weeks: A Conversation with my Father

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50 - Les Weeks: A Conversation with my Father

For the 50th episode of this little podcast of mine, I am really delighted to be able to introduce all of you to my dad. I’ve been after him for about two years to do this. But once I got him to agree and hit the record button, the stories just kept flowing. This is actually my longest podcast to-date, coming in at just under two hours. We hit on so many anecdotes. Growing up in Wawa, Ontario. The challenges associated with losing his own father when he was just 14. A few brushes with famous people, including Del Shannon, the wrestler Gorgeous George, Stompin’ Tom Connors, etc. And some stories from his 47-year run of operating a second-hand furniture and collectibles store in Sault Ste. Marie. And trust me, I know first-hand that there are hundreds more stories to tell. So I’m hoping to get my father back in front of the mic at some point in 2022. I hope you enjoy this episode. And, as always, thanks for listening.

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49 - Ken Connors: Reflections on a career in radio

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49 - Ken Connors: Reflections on a career in radio

This week, I got to chat with Ken Connors, a longtime radio announcer from Montreal, Canada. We talked about how he got his start in radio, some of his most memorable interviews and much more. I especially loved his story about how he got his original opportunity to work in radio! Hope you enjoy this episode!

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48 - Mohamad Fakih: The entrepreneur and philanthropist speaks about living a purposeful life

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48 - Mohamad Fakih: The entrepreneur and philanthropist speaks about living a purposeful life

Mohamad Fakih came to Canada from war-torn Lebanon in 1999. He came to the country with next to nothing. More than two decades later, he has built several successful businesses but it’s his prolific charitable work that has changed the lives of so many and set an example for even more. We spoke about his early days in Canada, how he responded when his restaurant chain lost 90% of its business overnight when the pandemic hit, his ongoing public battle with hate, what drives his community work and much more.

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47 - Jen Hartmann: Director of Strategic Public Relations and Social Media for John Deere

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47 - Jen Hartmann: Director of Strategic Public Relations and Social Media for John Deere

Jen Hartmann is the Director of Strategic Public Relations and Enterprise Social Media for the iconic John Deere brand. We chatted about her career in communications, the state of media relations today, her advice for young communicators, her life-threatening experience with a brain tumor 10 years ago, raising a child with autism and how all of that has shaped her view of work and life.

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38 - Jack Butcher: The founder of Visualize Value

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38 - Jack Butcher: The founder of Visualize Value

Jack Butcher was a successful but burnt out co-owner of a small design agency with his wife Celia. The more successful they became and the more business they won, the more of a grind it became. He thought there must be a smarter way. Inspired by the famous tweet storm by Naval Ravikant, he set out to transform their service business into a suite of digital products. They're off to a great start. Their business bank balance was $58 at the start of 2020 and was over $1 million by the end of the year. They’ve achieved this early success by creating and selling digital products, including a digital daily planner, several online courses and an online community of 2,500+ members. (CLICK ‘READ MORE’ BELOW TO LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE)

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34 - Clint Hill: Secret Service agent from the JFK assassination

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34 - Clint Hill: Secret Service agent from the JFK assassination

You might not know him by name, but you know his story. Well, a small part of it, anyway. Clint Hill is best known for his role in the presidential motorcade during the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Mr. Hill was a Secret Service agent at the time, in charge of protecting First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. During the assassination on Elm Street in Dallas, Texas, while the shots were still ringing out, Agent Hill ran from the car behind the presidential limousine, leapt onto the back of the car and shielded Mrs. Kennedy and President Kennedy with his body while the car sped toward Parkland Memorial Hospital. You can see all of this take place in the famous Zapruder film. (CLICK ‘READ MORE’ BELOW TO LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE)

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32 - Grant Ainsley: Life as a media trainer, the state of journalism and more

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32 - Grant Ainsley: Life as a media trainer, the state of journalism and more

Grant Ainsley is one of the top media trainers in Canada. Based in Edmonton, Alberta, Grant has spent most of his life in and around the media. We talked about his early days getting into the world of journalism, how he got into the business of media training, the state of journalism today, where things could be headed in the future and much more. There are also some great tips in this interview for people who are looking to improve their media relations skills.

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31 - Lynne Everatt: Author and wellness expert on how to improve your physical and mental health

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31 - Lynne Everatt: Author and wellness expert on how to improve your physical and mental health

Lynne Everatt calls herself a recovering MBA. Today, she’s an author and wellness advocate who has a massive following on her social media platform of choice: LinkedIn. She’s the author of Emails from the Edge, Drink Wine and Giggle and The 5-Minute Recharge. Her most recent book is Acts of Friendship: 47 ways to recharge your life, make real connections and deepen your relationships.

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30 - Bob Pickard: A conversation with a master communicator

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30 - Bob Pickard: A conversation with a master communicator

Bob Pickard is a well-known public relations and communications professional with more than three decades of experience under his belt. Bob is currently the Principal of Signal Leadership Communication Inc. - a consultancy that helps CEOs communicate authentically by striking the right chord in the real-time now of social sentiment.

I really enjoyed this chat with Bob, who is a kindred spirit of sorts. We’ve both been in the business for many years and it was great to get his insights and perspectives on a number of communications-related topics. Our conversation was 60 minutes and it really flew by. I think we could have easily done two or three hours. I’m looking forward to hopefully getting to chat with him in person once again once the pandemic situation is in the rearview mirror.

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29 - Dianne Martin: A nursing leader's thoughts on the pandemic and where we're headed

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29 - Dianne Martin: A nursing leader's thoughts on the pandemic and where we're headed

I had Dianne Martin (the CEO of WeRPN) on the podcast just a few months ago and we had a great chat but pretty much everything has changed since then, particularly around the world of healthcare. While our first podcast interview was done in person at WeRPN’s offices in Mississauga, we had to do this one virtually because of the continuing lockdown. We chatted about the handling of the pandemic so far, the debate about wearing masks for the general public, the state of the economy, challenges facing nurses during these strange times and much more.

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24 - Dr. Roberta Bondar: Astronaut, neurologist and friend to birds everywhere

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24 - Dr. Roberta Bondar: Astronaut, neurologist and friend to birds everywhere

Dr. Roberta Bondar is one of the most accomplished Canadians ever to walk the Earth or the travel above it. She was the first Canadian woman and the first neurologist in space when she flew aboard the Shuttle Discovery in 1992. But that’s just the beginning. Dr. Bondar has had an incredible career in which she has also been an author, professional photographer, speaker, university chancellor, the list goes on.

“When I was eight years old, to be a spaceman was the most exciting thing I could imagine,” she said.

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23 - Dianne Martin: The CEO of WeRPN

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23 - Dianne Martin: The CEO of WeRPN

My guest today is Dianne Martin, CEO of nursing association WeRPN. I first met Dianne in 2006. I had been in business for myself for about three years and I was making dozens of cold calls every day to find media training clients. Of the thousands of calls I made over the years, Dianne is one of the very few people who didn’t hang up the phone. That was the beginning of a professional relationship that’s lasted many years and, more importantly, she has become a close and trusted friend.

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Episode 22 - Jamie Ross: The state of sports journalism in Canada and landing your dream job

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Episode 22 - Jamie Ross: The state of sports journalism in Canada and landing your dream job

Jamie Ross is the deputy sports editor at The Globe and Mail in Toronto. Prior to joining the Globe, he covered the Toronto Blue Jays for MLB.com for two season and was also a reporter for the Saint John Telegraph and the Fredericton Daily Gleaner.

I was introduced to Jamie about five years ago — the story of how we met is one of the many things we chatted about during our conversation. We talked about the state of sports journalism in Canada, his favourite sports to watch and cover and much more, including advice for people who are trying to land a job in their ‘dream’ profession but feel stuck or are considering throwing in the towel.

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Episode 21 - Javed Khan: Entrepreneur, keynote speaker and marketing pro

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Episode 21 - Javed Khan: Entrepreneur, keynote speaker and marketing pro

Javed Khan is a fascinating, hard-working and extremely positive individual who can offer some valuable tips for upping your marketing game. I first met him at a conference we were both speaking at in the summer of 2016 at the Blue Mountain Resort in Collingwood and we hit it off right away. The first thing I noticed about him was the Hawaiian shirt (his trademark outfit when speaking). The next thing I noticed was how effortless he made public speaking look, riffing without notes, incorporating the names of many people he’d just met into his talk and engaging with the audience in a way that few others can.

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Episode 17 - Neil Lumsden: Hall of Fame CFL player & GM

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Episode 17 - Neil Lumsden: Hall of Fame CFL player & GM

Neil Lumsden won three Grey Cups as a player with the Edmonton Eskimos in 1980 1981 and 1982. He won another as the GM of the Ti-Cats in the late 1990s. In the 1981 Grey Cup game, he had eight receptions for 91 years and was selected as the Outstanding Canadian, being awarded the Dick Suderman Trophy.

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Episode 16: Liv B - Halifax-based YouTube sensation and author of Vegan on a Budget

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Episode 16: Liv B - Halifax-based YouTube sensation and author of Vegan on a Budget

A little over two years ago, Olivia Biermann started posting videos on YouTube about how to make healthy, inexpensive vegan recipes. She slogged away, making those weekly videos for about eight months, for a relatively small audience of faithful viewers. Then, something happened that could only happen in this era of social media. One of her videos went viral, garnering over 90,000 views within a few days. The rest, as they say, is history. Although that story is still being written.

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Episode 15: Carly Weeks - An episode affectionately titled 'Spoiler Alert'

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Episode 15: Carly Weeks - An episode affectionately titled 'Spoiler Alert'

Carly Weeks is a health reporter and columnist at The Globe and Mail in Toronto. Before working at the Globe, she worked as a Parliamentary reporter specializing in consumer issues for the now-defunct CanWest News Service. Today, she spends most of her days tracking down stories related to healthcare, writing about issues that touch the lives of Canadians. In a time when the public is increasingly surrounded by myths, misinformation, lies and fake news, Carly has made it her mission to find the ‘hidden’ stories that some organizations and individuals would rather not be told.

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