Chatter that Matters

What would you risk to build something remarkable? Andrew Black sold sunglasses from under his bed at Queen's, built a million-dollar business before graduating, and sent his résumé to 500 headhunters before Nike USA gave him a shot. Andrew learned from Phil Knight, joined LEGO when it was struggling, and launched Virgin Mobile Canada after Richard Branson hired him. Today, his firm, BrandProject,...

"Go through your day, find something that pisses you off, and fix it." That might be the best definition of entrepreneurship I've ever heard. It comes from Julie Cole—a "recovered" family lawyer, mom of a growing family and co-founder of Mabel's Labels. For Julie, necessity truly was the mother of invention. And it served her twice. First, Julie noticed parents labelling their kids' belongings wit...

For decades I've admired Bruce: his integrity, his personality, his intuition and his drive. He helped build Lavalife before most of us trusted the internet, became one of Canada's best-known Dragons on Dragons' Den, and co-founded Round13 Capital. Few people have had a front-row seat to nearly four decades of disruption. Fewer still are this honest about what it takes. This isn't an interview. It...

What if the greatest threat to your business isn't what's broken but what's working beautifully?  To launch my five-part Small Business Matters series, I sit down with Sid Paquette, Head of RBCx and General Partner of the RBCx Growth Fund, for a powerful conversation about building enduring businesses and Canada's new economy. Sid explains why entrepreneurs must disrupt themselves before someone e...

Our Loves - Avi Nesher Can a film change how we see the world and ourselves? At the Toronto International Film Festival, I sat down with celebrated Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher to discuss  Our Loves , his moving new film about seven strangers whose personal struggles are overtaken by the events of October 7, 2023. Nesher reflects on five decades of filmmaking, the balance between structure and cre...

In the summer of 1972, a group of young, largely unknown performers gathered in Toronto to stage Godspell. The cast included Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber, Dave Thomas and Jayne Eastwood, with Paul Shaffer at the piano. What happened in that rehearsal room would help shape comedy for generations. I sit down with director Nick Davis and writer Jane Mendelsohn...

What if the moment that broke you was also the moment you began to wake up? Aymie Daniels, author of An American Awakening , shares her raw and deeply personal journey through depression, addiction, psychosis, misdiagnosis, and spiritual awakening. Together, we explore the fragile line between revelation and delusion—and ask whether a mental health crisis can also be a profound search for meaning....

In  Finding Grace , Rocco Rossi's brilliant new debut novel follows a ruthless executive who survives a fatal plane crash, only to discover a stranger walking the Camino de Santiago under his abandoned birth name.   What inspired this book was the sudden death of his mentor, which forced Rocco off the corporate ladder and onto a 1,000-kilometre walk across Spain . Rocco shares his transformation f...

What if the parts of your story you most want to escape are the very parts that can lead you toward purpose? Growing up, Peter H. Bailey always felt that something was wrong, and somehow, he was it. After a brain hemorrhage and unsuccessful surgery transformed his father from a heroic Navy pilot into a man with significant disabilities, Peter carried a painful mix of embarrassment, confusion and s...

I fear retirement. Work is where I find my passion, purpose and pursuit. Much of who I am is tied to what I do. Not easy to write, but the truth. And here is my reality and yours: many of us could spend as many years after our careers as we spent building them. Think about that. My guest, Mehbs Remtulla, achieved financial freedom and stepped away from work at 50. What his success hadn't prepared...

Jonathan Todd Schwartz was once entrusted with the fortunes and futures of some of the biggest names in entertainment, including Beyoncé, Linkin Park, and Alanis Morissette. Behind the image of the disciplined CPA and trusted Hollywood business manager, however, Jonathan was living a secret life. Childhood trauma, cocaine use, and an out-of-control gambling addiction consumed him. He lost millions...

A heart-moving episode about the unimaginable courage it takes to live after loss. When Pamela Shainhouse's daughter, Alli, died at 26 after seven years of fighting Hodgkin lymphoma, Pamela felt that the person she had been died with her. In the silence that followed came a life-altering question: Who would she become now?   In this deeply personal conversation, Pamela shares how Alli taught her t...

Every so often, a guest comes along who challenges us to think differently. Not necessarily to agree, but to wonder. What if intuition is more than instinct? What if the coincidences that shape our lives aren't coincidences at all? What if the moments we dismiss are actually messages, gently nudging us toward the life we were meant to live? What if there are Earth Angels?  Leslie Lee Sanders belie...

Some conversations stay with you long after they are over. This is one of them. Kim Mason is someone I deeply admire for her intelligence, her humanity and the way she makes everyone in her presence feel heard and seen. She dreamed of becoming an anthropologist and journalist, but a summer job at RBC changed everything. Almost four decades later, she holds one of Canada's most senior banking posit...

When my 90-year-old mother-in-law moved into our home earlier this year, caregiving became deeply personal. Seeing the stairs, stubborn jar lids, fear of falling and loss of independence through her eyes changed how I understood aging, dignity and love—and inspired this conversation. Millions of people in the middle of their own lives suddenly become caregivers. Most arrive untrained, unprepared a...

Aaron Bethune lives his life. Musician. Writer. Strategist. Mountaineer. Seeker. Philosopher. Promoter and Publisher. His approach is one we can all learn from. So many words of wisdom to take away: 'I like to get to the corner to see what's next before deciding to go forward or change lanes.' Or Success is not always the award, the applause, or even the destination. Sometimes success is freedom....

Canada Day is more than flags and fireworks. It is a reminder that this country was not inevitable. It was imagined into being by people who chose union over drift and compromise over collapse.  My guest is JDM Stewart, author of  The Prime Ministers: Canada's Leaders and the Nation They Shaped . James brings history to life by showing us Canada's prime ministers not as saints or villains, but as...

My guest today is Tim Moore, a serial entrepreneur with immense character. Tim's upbringing included failing a few grades, studying to become a priest, then becoming a teacher and eventually a truck driver. His life changed when he bought a secondhand pickup truck, covered it with a tarp, placed a newspaper ad, and started a moving business charging seven dollars an hour. From there, he built AMJ...

Happy Father's Day. Did your father ever try to bottle liquid manure, only to watch it explode in the sunlight while sitting in a store window display? Did he ever bet the family's fortune on a machine he believed could extract gold from sand? Did he buy horses before figuring out where to keep them, then decide the house would do? Did he lose the rent, the car, the business, and occasionally the...

Not long ago in Canada, who you loved could cost you everything.  Betty Baxter knows this because it happened to her. Betty was an elite athlete, an Olympic captain, a pioneering coach, and one of the rare women leading at the highest levels of international sport. Her athletes trusted her. Her program was working. Her future was bright. Then, on a cold November night in 1981, Betty was told to dr...

Robin Devine has spent her life knocking on doors, sometimes literally, and finding opportunity on the other side. Raised by her grandmother, Robin learned early that hard work, honesty, courage, and instinct could take you places credentials could not. As a little girl, she sold lilacs and rhubarb door to door. As a young woman, she walked into an advertising agency with no portfolio, no experien...

Leslie Bradford-Scott grew up inside a story so spectacular it felt unreal.   Her father drove a Rolls-Royce. A promoter, he brought Pink Floyd and Paul Anka to Hamilton, moved through a world of million-dollar diamonds, and lit up every room he entered. Then the story cracked. At twelve, Leslie came home to the police on the lawn. At fifteen, she had a gun pressed against her arm. At sixteen, she...

Some episodes entertain. Some inspire. And some remind us what it means to be human. This is one of those episodes. Bailey Gee was born with the most severe form of spina bifida. Her life became a cycle of surgeries, pain, bullying, isolation, a wheelchair, and battles with mental health that often left her wondering if life was worth fighting for.  Every day she prayed to be happy. Then one day,...

Step inside the recording studio to understand more about one of the greatest voices of our time, Celine Dion. My guest is Vito Luprano, the Sony Music executive and creative force who worked on 21 of Celine's albums and helped shape her rise from a shy francophone teenager into an international superstar. Vito found the songs. Fought for the sound. Pushed for the reinvention. And helped Celine mo...

Nick Ferguson grew up in inner-city Miami in a world that tried to define his future before he had a chance to dream. With no father figure, surrounded by poverty, prejudice, and expectations that narrowed life to "jail or a casket," Nick chose another path. He chose books. He chose belief. He chose football. He chose the hard road. Undrafted, overlooked, cut, injured, and forced to fight his way...