Chatter that Matters

Robyne was a high school dropout who believed she wasn't worth saving.  Then her car plunged through the ice, trapping her 20 feet underwater and changing everything. This is the story of how choosing hope became a strategy for survival and healing. I sit down with Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe, bestselling author and one of the most trusted voices on resilience. As a teenager, Robyne battled addiction,...

What happens when the dream you are chasing, ends in a split second? Only to find a new one awaits. At 19, Jane Roos was chasing Olympic dreams, fast, fearless, and focused. Then, in a single moment, everything changed. A devastating car accident took her best friend's life and ended the future she had trained for. What followed was pain, survivor's guilt, and a question that quietly redefined her...

Ben Mulroney has spent his life carrying a famous last name while choosing a different path on his own terms. That is why I wanted to share his story. We recorded the show in front of a sold-out room at The Toronto Hunt. Ben takes you behind his public persona and into the moments that shaped him, tested him, and surprised him. He shares wonderful stories that are funny, candid, and genuinely huma...

One of the greatest lessons I've been gifted as host of Chatter That Matters is seeing how much impact one individual can have when they choose purpose over comfort. This episode is a powerful reminder of that truth. At the centre is Tim Cormode, whose life changed during a moment of stillness alone on a glacier. That clarity led him to build Power to Be, using nature as a pathway to dignity, conf...

I open my 2026 season with fireworks of positivity. One of the best Chatter that Matters yet. A human journey marked with humility, humour and extraordinary. Someone knuckles decided to knock on the door of opportunity.  What does a Dragon, Best Selling Author, a McDonald's drive-through, a beat-up pickup truck, and a simple multi-million-dollar question have in common? 1-800-GOT-JUNK? The one and...

Dear Canada. It is now or never. In this fifteen-minute podcast, I state that we stand at a crossroads. A century ago, the world emerged from the trenches of war and the shadow of a brutal pandemic. The optimism of the Roaring Twenties gave way to recklessness. We gambled our destiny, left it to chance, and crashed in 1929. Prosperity built on illusion never lasts. Today, we face another critical...

Our global food system is feeding more people than ever, yet some argue it is also making more people sick, more unequal, and more vulnerable. How did we get here, and more importantly, how do we change course? In this timely and deeply human conversation, global nutrition expert Dr. Stuart Gillespie joins Chatter that Matters to unpack the forces shaping what we eat, who profits, and who pays the...

In this profoundly moving episode of Chatter That Matters , I sit down with Pierre Mousseau to talk about loss, grief, faith, and the long road back to meaning after tragedy. During the height of the pandemic, Pierre lost his 20-year-old son, Parker, after weeks of surgeries, setbacks, and moments that felt like miracles, followed by an impossible decision no parent should ever have to make. To sa...

Some people dream. Others help weave those dreams. This episode is about two women who refuse to separate the two. It begins with Karla Briones. Raised in an entrepreneurial family in Chihuahua, Mexico, her first business was a schoolyard candy empire at six years old. Then the drug cartels arrived. Threats followed. Friends disappeared. At eighteen, her family dismantled their entire life and dro...

I went in, and she was sitting there in a motel room with a kilo of cocaine on the bed and two bikers helping her break it down into smaller bags. That was the insanity I was living in. Gordon Lownds has lived multiple lives. He grew up in Toronto and clashed with his father and an older brother who bullied him until he finally fought back at sixteen. That was the moment he said, enough. He left h...

As you listen to the show, I encourage you to step into Debra E. Meyerson's shoes.  Debra had a dream life: a tenured professorship at Stanford, a reputation as a groundbreaking scholar on organizational change and identity, and big adventures with her husband, social finance leader Steve Zuckerman, including sailing across Europe with their three kids. Then, at 53, a stroke changed everything. In...

Recorded in front of a sold out crowd at the Toronto Hunt, this episode captures the energy of a live audience and a message every Canadian needs to hear. We are living longer, and more of us will reach 100, yet our healthcare system is under strain and our daily choices matter more than ever. My guest, Mike Kessel, CEO of Cleveland Clinic Canada, brings a clear and practical view of what it means...

A special edition of Chatter that Matters. Thirty-five years ago, David Chilton and his record-shattering best-seller, The Wealthy Barber, revolutionized Canadians' approach to money. Its profound impact was not just on the nation, but also on me. I cleared my credit card debts, paid myself first, and found peace of mind.   I had the chance to sit with David to talk about the complete remake of hi...

Barry Avrich is a Renaissance man, and his creativity knows no boundaries. From crafting brilliant advertising campaigns for  Les Misérables , The Phantom of the Opera , and Frank Sinatra's final concerts to directing over fifty documentaries that expose the power, ego, and humanity behind fame, he's lived by one lesson from his father—don't blend in. In this conversation, Barry opens up about his...

Many people are experiencing a growing sense of insecurity in an uncertain world. Every generation feels it, but for many young people, it's hitting harder. They've endured a pandemic and now face a world that's changing rapidly, along with high unemployment and a mental health crisis that's even harder to confront.   That's why I wanted to share this story about a 16-year-old girl who was lost an...

I am breaking format and putting this show up on Monday, as Stewart has an event called Man Enough to Heal this Wednesday, that I want to support. Details and links below. This week on  Chatter That Matters , meet Stewart Thompson, a man who turned unimaginable trauma into a mission to help others heal. For decades, Stewart carried the silence of childhood sexual abuse, numbing the pain through ad...

"Everybody's journey is unique, and we have the power to write our own story. We need to stop giving other people the pen." Calissa Ngozi Calissa Ngozi's life is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the choice to rise above. Born into hardship, labelled by a doctor as a child who would "never amount to anything," and adopted into a world that didn't mirror her reflection, Calissa fa...

Perry Miele is someone I have admired since the first day we met many decades ago. Perry shares his remarkable journey from growing up in Thunder Bay as the son of Italian immigrants to becoming a serial entrepreneur, investor, and mentor to many. Perry's story is about resilience, optimism, and the enduring lessons that come with having both grit and grace. In this episode, Perry reflects on poli...

Many people dream of owning their own business and being their own boss, especially today when careers can be suddenly disrupted by tariffs or technology. I would encourage those who dream to also do. Judy Lewis is my guest this week, and she doesn't follow paths; she creates them. An inductee into the Marketing Hall of Legends and co-founder of Strategic Objectives alongside her sister Deborah We...

Scott Stirrett grew up in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, a hockey town where he never fit in. Bullied, struggling in school, and privately wrestling with his sexuality, he felt like a misfit destined to sit on the sidelines. Instead, those early struggles became the foundation for his life's work. Scott left a prestigious role at Goldman Sachs to start Venture for Canada, raising more than $80 million an...

This episode was taped in front of a live audience at Canavision, which is a fantastic conference made possible through the vision and creativity of Randy Rowe.  My guest is Michele Romanow, one of Canada's most fearless entrepreneurs, a Dragon, a disruptor, and a mentor who built seven businesses before the age of 35 and changes the way founders access capital. From launching a sustainable coffee...

I love the famous Walt Disney quote, Dream it and Do it. It is also the battle cry for Entrepreneurs and Artists as they seek sponsors, support and a paying audience. But what if an idea came to you in an actual dream, and that dream manifested into a destiny that touched your entire universe? In the rawest days of her sobriety, Jenn Harper had a dream of three Indigenous girls wearing lip gloss....

Last week, my guest was Oscar Arias, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and former President of Costa Rica, who brought peace to Central America. This week, I continue to prove that Chatter That Matters has no boundaries, only journeys of those who overcome, who chase, who change their world and ours for the better. My guest is  Rima Berns-McGowan , a woman who has devoted her life to making the world a b...

I  had the pleasure of hosting one of the most extraordinary guests I've ever had on Chatter That Matters during the 80th sessions of the United Nations Assembly happening in New York. My guest is someone who has made a powerful and positive impact on our universe: Dr.  Oscar Arias , a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and two-time President of Costa Rica.  Oscar takes us back to a time when Central Amer...

My guest this week is Sheryl Ramstead a woman whose story defies the odds and redefines what it means to be resilient. At 29, on her first solo flight, a fiery plane crash left her body burned and her survival chances below one percent. But from that inferno emerged not just a survivor, but a force of reinvention who became a federal prosecutor, judge, corrections commissioner, marathon runner, mo...