The Chatterbox

When life throws its hardest challenges at us, how do we keep moving forward? In this episode, I’m joined by Greg Kettner, founder of WorkHappy , to talk about resilience, connection, and why conversations matter more than we think. Greg opens up about losing his career and a beloved family member to suicide, and how those moments reshaped his purpose. Together, we explore how staying connected, t...

What do laughter, leadership, and trust have in common? More than you think. In this episode, I sit down with Stefano Iaboni, founder of Smile Solution LLC, to explore how humor can be a powerful tool for breaking down barriers, building stronger teams, and making even the toughest conversations easier. Originally from Italy, Stefano shares how his journey helped shape his mission to spark creativ...

What if the key to a healthier workplace isn’t just speaking up, but also creating the safety to do so? In this heartfelt and insightful conversation, Stephen Shedletzky (Shed) shares the deeply personal journey behind writing Speak Up Culture . We explore "radical candor" and "candor with care", how leaders can turn feedback into fuel (not fear), and why he believes people are inherently good. We...

In this Season 2 launch of The Chatterbox Podcast , I share the real and raw story of an emergency plane landing that turned an ordinary flight into an extraordinary moment of connection. Among the passengers were fellow JCI members (leaders from around the world), whose presence and humanity in crisis reminded me what leadership really looks like. This episode is about more than a midair emergenc...

In 2022, as National President of JCI Canada, I saw the need for our members to re-connect. We had spent 2 years in forced isolation, unable to connect with each other in person for fear built out of the pandemic culture. Our member-driven organization that thrived on our ability to build and maintain a strong network was suffering. Little did I know it at the time, but the notion of re-connecting...

With the first draft of our main course assignment due in the next week, I am circling around ideas of human connection and the impact that it has on the journey of an academic writer. Looking back to the assigned reading from Week 4, I'm drawn to an excerpt from an article taken from Swales and Feak's (2012) "Academic Writing for Graduate Students" that discussed how more teams were emerging with...

Boundaries are important in so many facets of life, from personal to professional relationships to volunteer opportunities to something as simple as setting a consistent bed time. It's no secret that defining and setting clear expectations leads to more positive results. If we extract this concept out of life experience and insert it into academia, as a mature learner, I'm finding its application...

I have always enjoyed writing, whether I'm writing free form, stream of consciousness in my journal, writing a letter to a friend, creating a social media post, or venting frustrations to translate them from the jumble in my head into words on a page, writing is a release for me. As we progress through each passing week in this academic writing course, I find myself effectively building a toolbox...

This week has been especially transformative in how I see myself through the lens of the academy. As I'm continuing to develop my sense of writing as an academic writer, as opposed to a casual writer in modern society, my most difficult task has been staying on task; when there are so many new topics and perspectives to soak in, I tend to forget my bigger purpose here.  With a focus on refocusing...

After spending 12 years as a member of an international, multi-lingual, multi-cultural organization that prides itself on developing leaders for our changing world; and after having held a seat as Vice President on the international board in my final year of eligible, active membership; I find myself pondering how those language and cultural experiences will impact my ability to succeed as an acad...

As a Canadian, the first time I took an uber, I must admit, it was quite strange. As an academic writer, I'm intrigued to unpack the topic.   I started by using an 'app' to call a car. When the driver pulled up, I hopped into the back seat, and then he took me where I wanted to go. Money had been exchanged in the 'app,' so all I needed to do was take the ride and exit the car at my destination. Co...

Episode 3, Blog 3! This week I originally wanted to take the opportunity to start researching sustainability; moreover, what is the catalyst for sustainability? This is a topic that I look forward to exploring further as I advance through the next few years of graduate studies; for now, though, I find myself searching for proof that the catalyst to sustainability is in our ability to connect as hu...

During our first week in this  Academic Writing  course, the assigned reading of Unit One in Swales and Feak's  Academic Writing for Graduate Students  framed writing as a sort of performance for a specified audience, for whom the writer develops an “author persona” (2). As we, as students, navigate the realm of academic communication, we must position ourselves appropriately when we write, both f...

Welcome to Episode 1! Follow along my journey to a Master or Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies through Athabasca University. I am starting with a course on how to write for the Academy as a Graduate Student. One of my first assignments was to start a blog! My blog on 'The Landing' inspired this podcast. In our quest to position ourselves as knowledgeable academic writers (in our own areas of study...