Alright, Now What?

On today’s episode, we’re joined by Elia Lauzon from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik, whose work and experiences reflect the power of community and intergenerational leadership. In our conversation, Elia speaks with Alyssa Carpenter from the Canadian Women’s Foundation about growing up in a remote northern community and how youth leadership opportunities helped expand her sense of what was possible for her futu...

Libby Ward is a writer, speaker, and advocate redefining the motherhood narrative. Through her social media platforms, Libby is known to connect and empower women with honesty, humor, and her relatable voice. She has been featured on the BBC, Good Morning America, and is a member of Reese Witherspoon’s inaugural Hello Sunshine Collective . She lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband and two chil...

Jenna Barnable is an award-winning, Disabled changemaker from Newfoundland and Labrador, now based in Nova Scotia. As a disability inclusion advocate and anti-ableism educator, she calls for Disabled, chronically ill and neurodivergent women, girls and gender-diverse people to be protected, respected and empowered. She’s passionate about advancing disability and gender justice by amplifying authen...

With ancestral roots in post-colonial Punjab and Kashmir, Somia Sadiq is a leading Planner who has developed a pioneering practice in engagement, conflict transformation, and negotiating space for those whose voices are often unheard or ignored. Rooted in the work of impact assessment, Somia founded Narratives, an award-winning planning and design firm that emphasizes human-centric, trauma-informe...

Today, we're joined by mental health leader, storyteller, and executive director of Unsinkable, Hailey Hechtman. Hailey is a passionate advocate for person-centered, lived experience-driven programming. With over a decade of leadership in the nonprofit sector, Hailey has dedicated her career to building more connected, compassionate systems of care. She founded the Yukon Distress & Support Lin...

Today, we’re revisiting a powerful episode from our Signal for Help podcast, a special series we produced with award-winning women journalists, Media Girlfriends. In this episode, we hear from Bernadette, a survivor of long-term intimate partner violence who now works as a court advocate supporting women leaving abusive relationships. Through her story, she reflects on the lasting impact of emotio...

Selam Debs is a Black Ethiopian woman, an antiracism educator, an anti-oppression coach, a social justice advocate, a student in dismantling anti-Black racism, an accomplice in dismantling anti-Indigenous racism, xenophobia, islamophobia, and an advocate for 2SLGBTQ+ & disability rights through an intersectional lens. She is the creator of the Antiracism Course and has facilitated workshops an...

Today, we're joined by Olivia Ho, founder of The Give and Grow and one of four winners of the 2026 Feminist Creator Prize . Olivia's bio: I am the founder of The Give and Grow and a lifelong advocate for women and girls in sport. For more than 15 years, I have worked with youth through sports camps, after school programs, coaching, and community initiatives, always driven by the belief that sport...

In this special bonus episode, Mitzie Hunter, President and CEO of the Canadian Women's Foundation, is joined by Madame Diana Fox Carney, an economist and climate expert whose work has taken her from Africa to the UK to here in Canada, and whose career has focused on tackling some of the biggest challenges of our time. Diana has spent years working at the intersection of climate action, economic d...

Farkhunda Muhtaj is an Afghan-Canadian football luminary and social activist who unites the worlds of sport, education and humanitarianism. Farkhunda's instrumental role in the evacuation of over 300 people, including the Afghan Youth Women’s National Football Team and their families in 2021, was profiled in the 2024 Cannes Lions winning documentary, We Are Ayenda. Farkhunda currently serves as th...

Esther is a trauma informed care counsellor, a guest lecturer and a trainer on gender-based violence, diversity, equity, inclusion, human rights and social justice. Her work is grounded in an integrated anti-racist/anti-oppression, and feminist analysis, a holistic approach in which a person's lived experience and realities of life are not fragmented and divided. Esther has been working in the hum...

Angela Sterritt is an award-winning investigative journalist, TV, radio, and podcast host, and national bestselling author. She is from the Wilps ‘Wii Ḵ’aax of the Gitanmaax community within the Gitxsan Nation on her dad’s side and from Bell Island, Newfoundland, on her maternal side . Sterritt worked as a television, radio, and digital journalist at CBC for more than a decade. She also hosted th...

Paul Taylor is an anti-poverty activist, teacher at Simon Fraser University and has led four nonprofit organizations, including FoodShare Toronto, where he was the Executive Director from 2017-2023. He ran to be Member of Parliament in the federal riding of Parkdale-High Park in 2019 and again in 2021, when he lost by a mere 1,700 votes. He has written several op-eds on leadership, the non-profit...

Today, we’re joined by Mesi, a leader whose national and global advocacy is transforming how we understand and respond to economic abuse in Canada.  Mesi shares how her lived experience, decades of work in global health, finance, digital innovation, and gender equality, and her leadership at the Canadian Centre for Women Empowerment led her to help build the national...

Today we are joined by host Alyssa Carpenter from the Canadian Women’s Foundation. In this episode, Alyssa sits down with Jolene McDonald, an Indigenous wellness practitioner and the founder of a healing business that weaves together yoga, Reiki, life coaching, and community facilitation in the North. Together, they explore the power of grassroots care and small, practical ways to begin reconnecti...

Michelle Osbourne is an Empowerment Speaker, Self-Image Activist, and founder of Michelle Osbourne & Co. Known for helping women reclaim their confidence and take up space boldly at every stage of life, Michelle brings an unapologetic, intersectional feminist lens to everything she does. A CBC Black Changemaker and shortlisted for the Canadian Women’s Foundation’s Feminist Creator Prize , she’...

Today, we’re joined by award-winning journalist Jana Pruden, whose reporting shines a light on gender-based violence and how these cases move through our justice system.  Jana shares how her work in court reporting led her to focus on intimate partner violence, and why telling these stories accurately and ethically matters so much.  We’ll expl...

Welcome to the first episode of Alright, Now What? Season 8: Shifting the Story.  Today, we’re kicking things off with someone who embodies that spirit of change: BleSsed Brooks, founder of the first official Yoni Spa in Canada. BleSsed will take us through her journey as an entrepreneur: what inspired her and the challenges feminist entrepreneurs face. We’l...

With Jenn Harper, Founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics Jenn Harper is an award-winning social entrepreneur and international speaker. She is the trailblazing founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics—a brand that has gracefully painted the ideals of sustainability and inclusion onto a global canvas. From its inception in 2015, Jenn has nurtured Cheekbone Beauty into a B. Corp Certifie...

With Jenna Barnable, disability inclusion advocate and educator Jenna Barnable is an Atlantic Canadian writer, communicator, disability inclusion advocate and educator who lives with multiple disabilities. She is also a storyteller, community builder and lifelong feminist who raises awareness about women’s, gender-diverse, and Disabled rights through my words, art and education. Jenna unapologetic...

With Kimberley Okafor, researcher and advocate for maternal health equity Kimberley Okafor is a dedicated researcher and advocate for maternal health equity, currently pursuing a Master of Science in Management (MScM) at Toronto Metropolitan University. As Vice-President External for her MScM cohort and an active member of the Black Researchers Initiative to Empower (BRITE), she is committed to ad...

With Leisha Toory, Winner of the 2025 Feminist Creator Prize Leisha Toory is a feminist advocate, writer, and the founder of the Period Priority Project, the first and only grassroots initiative in Newfoundland and Labrador dedicated solely to advancing menstrual equity. Through her work, she has successfully lobbied for free menstrual products in public spaces, a policy change recently adopted by...

With Alex Valoroso, Gender Equity Advisor Alex Valoroso is a Gender Equity Advisor and consultant specializing in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) strategies, with a particular focus on gender and disaster. She helps organizations build more inclusive workplaces, services, and systems by applying a feminist, trauma-informed, and survivor-centered lens. Alex holds a Master’s de...

With Fallon Farinacci, Winner of the 2025 Feminist Creator Prize Fallon Farinacci is Red River Métis and a child survivor who testified in the National Inquiry for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, sharing her story of loss and trauma.  Later Fallon joined The National Family Advisory Circle, where she worked closely with other MMIWG2SLGBTQQIA+ family members and the Commission...

With Suzie Dunn,  Interim Director of the  Law and Technology Institute  and an  assistant professor  at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law. Suzie Dunn's research  centers on the intersections of equality, technology and the law, with a specific focus on technology-facilitated gender-based violence, artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and social media. She...