The Brand is Female

This week, on the podcast, Eva Hartling speaks with Emily Silverman, Founder and CEO at Arnold Street Media. Emily launched Arnold Street Media fuelled by her industry expertise and the opportunity she saw ahead. She recognized a growing need for commercial creative content in an ever-evolving digital space and paired her talents in digital media with business development. With that, Arnold Street...

This week on the podcast, Eva Hartling talks with Joella Hogan, Owner and Operator of The Yukon Soaps Company. Joella comes from a long line of strong, vibrant, Indigenous women. Her matriarchs are teachers, healers, bush women, social advocates, and cultural leaders. She credits them for knowing how to make things happen. Through her line of hand-crafted soaps, she works to embody elements of eac...

This week, on the podcast, Eva Hartling welcomes Dr. Bimpe Ayeni, a board-certified Canadian plastic surgeon and founder of men’s skincare line BLAIR + JACK. With an Ivy-league education from Yale University to Columbia University and Harvard University, international training at Oxford University in England, and award-winning research, Dr. Ayeni is dedicated to helping people find their inner hap...

This week, on the podcast, Eva Hartling welcomes Kate Bouchard, CEO and Founder of Loba, an innovative new pill/supplement organizer that both looks great and makes your life easier. Kate conceived Loba after experiencing health challenges herself and starting a naturopathic treatment plan which included taking a number of supplements. Uninspired by options available on the market, she set out to...

This week, Eva Hartling speaks with Sammy Kronick, owner of BEATBOX, a Boutique Boxing studio in Toronto. Sammy grew up in Toronto and started building companies in the health and wellness industry, always with a focus on women in fitness. Launching her first company while still in university, she travelled to schools across Canada and led group fitness events and provided female students with per...

This week, Eva Hartling speaks with Samantha Estoesta, Manager, Equity in Innovation and Programs at TD. Samantha is a poet, an equity advocate, a design thinking facilitator, and a mother. With a Masters in Intercultural Communications and over a decade of experience in equity, diversity, and inclusion advocacy, she centers her efforts on creating experiences that elicit a sense of belonging. ......

This week, we welcome Carmen Sandor, founder and CEO of Green Owl Vodka, one of the only female-owned and -led spirits sold at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. Green Owl is Canada’s first sipping vodka infused with green tea extract from Japan. Carmen started her career as a reporter for CTV News and TSN. She then switched gears and started working as a portfolio manager for RPIA, a Toronto-ba...

This week, host Eva Hartling speaks with Lacey Norton and Elizabeth Davey, the founders of the Vancouver-based brand HIRRS , a performance-based bodywear line that has been designed for a woman’s movement. The name HIRSS was chosen because it represents the fluidity of gender associated with being a woman in modern times—a combination of hers and his. The brand offers designs that bridge the gap b...

This week, host Eva Hartling talks about women in business and financing with Nancy King, Associate VP at TD Bank, who has been with TD Business Banking for over 14 years. Nancy was born to immigrant parents who instilled within her a strong work ethic and entrepreneurial values at an early age. Today Nancy heads TD Small Business Banking and the Business Bank's Segments Group including Women in E...

Au balado The Brand is Female, Eva Hartling parle à des femmes inspirantes du monde entrepreneurial, des affaires ou autre domaine connexe. Cette semaine à l’occasion de la Journée Internationale des Femmes, nous vous offrons une entrevue en français avec Elizabeth Coulombe la co-fondatrice de Tero, une entreprise innovante québécoise fabriquant un produit qui transforme presque tous les déchets a...

This week, host Eva Hartling interviews Heather Marshall, a Canadian author who has just published her debut novel, Looking for Jane. A historical novel set between 1960s and present-day Toronto, it follows a group of inspiring women who dared to fight for their own rights, united by an underground abortion network known only by its code name: Jane. Heather holds a Master’s degrees in Canadian his...

This week my guest is Mungi Ngomane, Social Justice Advocate and Author of the book Everyday Ubuntu, inspired by the lessons from the South African philosophy and way of life. Mungi is the grand-daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, anti-apartheid and Human Rights Activist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his efforts in resolving and ending apartheid in South Africa. In this exchan...

This week, host Eva Hartling speaks with Monica Ruffo, founder of Well Told Health. A serial entrepreneur with passion for health and wellness, Monica enjoyed a prolific career in the advertising agency world when she received a diagnosis of aggressive breast cancer. Throughout her 18 months of cancer treatment, she put her passion for health and wellness to work on herself, researching every aspe...

This week, host Eva Hartling speaks with Saroya Tinker, a professional women's ice hockey player for Toronto Six. A graduate of Yale University where she played on the Varsity Women's Ice Hockey team, Saroya has found a passion for educating others and using her social media platforms to encourage and share resources for other women in sports. She now runs a mentorship program and is committed to...

This week, my guests are Jen Murtagh and Sonja Baikogli Foley, the founders of Maturn, the platform they created to shift the narrative and support systems around maternity leave in Canada, so that more working mothers can continue to advance in their careers and retain positions of leadership with greater support from employers, partners, and like-minded mothers along the way. Whether wellness me...

The New Year is here and our resolutions are too. But focusing on our self-care and wellness should always be the focus, no matter the time of year. That’s why we’re happy to introduce a special series on The Brand is Female podcast. Presented by Athleta, these conversations feature women who embody different aspects of wellness — from sports to mental health and more — and by the same token, who...

We welcome Pulitzer-Prize winner and New York Times bestseller author, Dana Canedy. This episode of The Brand is Female is brought to you by Sony Pictures Entertainment Canada and their latest film, A Journal for Jordan, based on a memoir by Dana Canedy, directed by Denzel Washington. A Journal for Jordan is a powerful recollection of love and family, telling the story of First Sergeant Charles Mo...

This week on the podcast, Eva Hartling welcomes Jennifer Abbott, a Sundance and Genie Award-winning Canadian filmmaker best known as the co-director and editor of the acclaimed documentary THE CORPORATION . Last year, she released THE MAGNITUDE OF ALL THINGS , a new film which explores how we face and accept the reality of climate catastrophe while cementing our determination to engage in the only...

Carmen Liu is the founder of UK-based Carmen Liu Lingerie , the first lingerie company offering products designed specifically for the needs of the LGBTQ2S+, trans and non-binary community. Carmen, a trans woman herself, created the brand out of frustration for the lack of options for trans people when it comes to lingerie, and to push the social binaries of femininity to higher bounds. This episo...

This week’s episode features Vancouver-based Entrepreneur Nisha Grewal, the founder of Ambari Beauty, a line that’s captured the attention of retailers such as Neiman Marcus, and A-listers including Kourtney Kardashian and her lifestyle platform Poosh. In creating Ambari, Nisha was inspired by her Indian upbringing which she credits for her use and knowledge of natural ingredients to tackle beauty...

This week’s episode is a delicious conversation with Jordana Rebner, the VP in culinary development at Goodfood — a Canadian online grocery, home meal and meal kit company. Unsure of what kind of career Jordana wanted to pursue after her studies, she enrolled in cooking school, and the rest is history. She carved her way through a typically male-dominated industry and earned her stripes in fast-pa...

In this week’s episode, you’ll meet Emma Gilchrist, Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Narwhal, a pioneer of non-profit journalism in Canada, focused on the coverage of environmental issues. Emma is a reporter, editor and public speaker who started her journalism career more than 15 years ago and went on to launch The Narwhal along with co-founder Carol Linnitt in 2018. She earned a journalism...

Giving space to others, does not take away from the space you have carved out for yourself. This week's guest on the podcast is Zoe Krislock, CEO of @MiniLuxe, a company that's set out to redefine the nail industry, for its employees, and for its clients. MiniLuxe has set ethical and fair work standards for its workers, including bonuses and benefits such as healthcare. Their goal is to become one...

This week, host Eva Hartling is joined by Mia Nielsen, Director of Art Toronto, Canada’s annual art fair. Running October 29 through November 8, Art Toronto is playing it big after a year of no in-person events due to Covid. With 10 days of art online and in-person, from Vancouver to Halifax, along with global conversations— the fair is responding to the moment, including a commitment to reflectin...

In this bonus episode of the podcast, we welcome back two very special guests. MJ DeCoteau is the founder of Rethink Breast Cancer, and Michelle Audoin is an educator who was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2017. The two joined forces with Rethink to create Uncovered: A Breast Recognition Project, which shares the stories and images of Black women while skiing a light on how women of co...