The Brand is Female

Recorded live in Toronto before an audience, this episode brings together two founders building consumer brands in different categories: Janet Zuccarini, founder and CEO of Gusto 54 Restaurant Group, and Paige Cey, co-founder and co-CEO of Benny. Over three decades, Janet has built and evolved some of Toronto and Los Angeles’ most recognized hospitality concepts. Paige is rethinking the energy dri...

THIS WEEK, WE’RE AIRING AN EPISODE IN FRENCH. Qu’est-ce qui fait réussir une transaction? Au-delà de l’expertise financière et juridique, la confiance, le jugement et la capacité de comprendre les personnes autour de la table jouent un rôle déterminant. Dans cet épisode spécial, présenté par le Club M&A et Dentons et enregistré devant public il y a quelques semaines à l’invitation de l’ Associ...

In Canada, women make up more than half of the workforce at banking and financial services employers, yet hold fewer than four in ten senior management roles, according to the most recent data. What helps women advance in finance, and how are they shaping the mergers and acquisitions that determine the future of businesses? In this episode of The Brand is Female, presented in collaboration with M&...

THIS WEEK, WE ARE AIRING A CONVERSATION IN FRENCH ON THE BRAND IS FEMALE. Comment transformer des textiles destinés à être jetés en une entreprise capable de grandir sans perdre de vue sa mission? Pour inaugurer cette minisérie de The Brand is Female réalisée en collaboration avec The Unscented Company , Eva Hartling reçoit Gabrielle Huppé et Maude Girard, les cofondatrices de Next Chance , ainsi...

Catherine Lunardi founded GenAIz in 2016, long before generative AI entered the mainstream. After years of implementing technology in the life-sciences industry, she saw how valuable information was often trapped in disconnected systems or abandoned along with unsuccessful projects. She set out to build a better way forward. In this episode, host Eva Hartling speaks with Catherine about what it ta...

Today we are re-airing a season favourite: our conversation with former NASA rocket scientist, entrepreneur, and citizen astronaut Aisha Bowe. Aisha has built a career defined by bold decisions—and even bolder execution. She’s also, as you’ll hear, not opposed to naming a few favourite [fictional] aliens along the way. From discovering her passion for math in community college to working at NASA,...

As we get ready for a new season launching this September, we are re-airing some of our (and your) favourite episodes of 2026. This week: Canadian Industry Minister Mélanie Joly. Mélanie Joly has held some of the most demanding roles in Canadian federal politics — from Minister of Canadian Heritage to Minister of Foreign Affairs to her current role as Minister of Industry. But before any of that,...

What does it take to become the first? In this bonus live episode of The Brand is Female, Eva Hartling sits down with Dr. Gina Cody, engineer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, Chancellor of Concordia University, and the first woman in Canada to earn a PhD in Building Engineering. Recorded live at the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, this conversation traces Dr. Cody's remarkable...

Purpose and profit are often framed as competing priorities. But what if the most successful businesses are built by refusing to choose between them? Recorded live in Vancouver last week during The Brand is Female Conversations Series, this episode brings together two leaders who are redefining what entrepreneurship can accomplish. Carla Guerrera, Founder and CEO of Purpose Driven Development, is...

In one of our favourite episodes of the season, Eva Hartling speaks with Chantel Chapman, founder of the Trauma of Money Institute , to explore the deeper forces that shape our relationship with money. After starting her career in finance and working as a financial literacy educator, Chantel realized that knowledge alone doesn’t always translate into healthy financial behaviour. Her work now sits...

What does it really take to scale a food brand when your standards make everything harder? In this re-aired episode, Eva sits down with Tara and Megan, the founders behind Canadian functional food company Rawcology. What started in a family kitchen with a dehydrator and a mission to remove inflammatory ingredients from everyday snacks has grown into a nationally distributed brand now carried by re...

What does it take to break into one of the most closed, traditional industries in the world—and do it on your own terms? In this episode, host Eva Hartling sits down with Erica Bianchini, co-founder and creative director of Ecksand, to unpack how she built a fine jewelry brand from scratch—without legacy, without outside investment, and without compromising on values. What started in Montreal as a...

At a time when women’s sports are reaching new heights, Canada’s women’s rugby program is emerging as one of the most compelling stories in the game. In this episode, Eva Hartling sits down with Jocelyn Barrieau, head coach of Canada’s women’s rugby sevens team, to explore the evolution of the sport — from limited opportunities to Olympic podiums and World Cup finals. Together, they unpack what it...

Former NASA rocket scientist, entrepreneur, and citizen astronaut Aisha Bowe has built a career defined by bold decisions—and even bolder execution. She’s also, as you’ll hear, not opposed to naming a few favourite [fictional] aliens along the way. From discovering her passion for math in community college to working at NASA, founding two companies, raising venture capital in a system where fewer...

Sherry Holmes grew up on construction sites with her dad, Mike Holmes — one of Canada's most recognized names in the trades. But becoming a builder in her own right wasn't a given. In fact, she fought it for years. In this episode, Sherry opens up about the winding road that led her to construction, including a brain tumour diagnosis at 19 that changed her perspective on everything, the moment she...

Dr. Nathalie Gabra is an otolaryngologist, head and neck surgeon, and Dermapure practitioner who brings a deeply medical lens to aesthetic medicine.  But before the treatments and the protocols, she grew up watching her father and grandfather operate, and knew from a young age that surgery was her path. That foundation shapes everything about how she practices today. In this episode, airing o...

Mélanie Joly has held some of the most demanding roles in Canadian federal politics — from Minister of Canadian Heritage to Minister of Foreign Affairs to her current role as Minister of Industry. But before any of that, she was a 34-year-old who founded her own political party and ran for mayor of Montreal. That gutsy move set the tone for everything that followed. In this episode, we talk about...

This week’s episode is exceptionally airing in French! ….. Sophie Larivière-Mantha voulait programmer des robots — et c'est un stage de cégep qui l'a redirigée vers le génie. Depuis, elle n'a jamais programmé un seul robot professionnellement… mais elle dirige aujourd'hui l'Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec, une institution de 77 000 membres dont la mission fondamentale est la protection du public. D...

Patrizia Libralato is the founder and Executive Director of the Toronto Biennial of Art — Canada's first and only international art biennial. What started as a bold idea in 2014 has grown into a free, 90-day contemporary art event that draws audiences from across the country and puts Canadian artists on the world map. In this episode, Patrizia shares what it really took to build cultural infrastru...

In recognition of Women’s Month, Eva Hartling speaks with Chantel Chapman, founder of the Trauma of Money Institute , to explore the deeper forces that shape our relationship with money. After starting her career in finance and working as a financial literacy educator, Chantel realized that knowledge alone doesn’t always translate into healthy financial behaviour. Her work now sits at the intersec...

What does it really take to scale a food brand when your standards make everything harder? In this episode, Eva sits down with Tara and Megan, the founders behind Canadian functional food company Rawcology. What started in a family kitchen with a dehydrator and a mission to remove inflammatory ingredients from everyday snacks has grown into a nationally distributed brand now carried by retailers i...

Canada is facing a women’s health crisis: three in four women over 40 experience menopausal symptoms that disrupt their daily lives — yet access to care is inconsistent, fragmented, and often out of reach. In this episode of The Brand is Female, originally recorded during World Menopause Month, Eva Hartling speaks with Dr. Michelle Jacobson, a leading OBGYN who decided to take her expertise beyond...

Hi! Eva here. This episode is a little different. In the first part, I take you behind the scenes of my work and share what has always driven me — an obsession with precision when it comes to messaging, thought leadership, and reputation. I talk about why I’m launching Hartling Communications as a sister agency to The Brand is Female, and why this isn’t a pivot, but a clarification....

This conversation originally aired on Women Are Players Too, where it quickly became our most popular episode of the season. Recorded at the end of the Northern Super League’s inaugural season, this episode captures a defining moment for women’s professional sports in Canada, when the scale of what had been built was coming clearly into focus. This episode features a conversation with Lara Murphy,...

This is part 2 of last week’s conversation. To kick off the year, host Eva Hartling sits down with Sophie Boulanger — founder and former CEO of BonLook; advisor and investor — for a season-opening conversation about what retail transformation really means in 2026. Because this is not the year for surface-level change. Brands will either evolve at the core… or fall behind. In this episode, Sophie s...