The Firecracker Department with Naomi Snieckus

Get ready for The Blaze Sessions!  Award-winning actors and friends Amanda Brugel and Naomi Snieckus kick off their shoes and dive into honest conversation with eight women at the top of their game in the entertainment industry. It's a showbiz cheat sheet, a dose of creative inspiration and a great ride, all rolled into one.  Coming at you April 26.

The incomparable Amanda Brugel should truly be recognized as an artistic chameleon. With her seamless ability to transition from comedy to drama - in roles like Karina Duff on Pretty Hard Cases and Rita Blue and then effortlessly to her work on The Handmaid's Tale - Amanda is constantly reinventing herself and breaking away from the proverbial "box" that many actors seem to fall into. But her succ...

Our guest this week is Chinese-Canadian actor, writer - RONG FU! Rong was born in Qin-an, China and was raised in Toronto, Canada.  She knew at a young age that she wanted to be an actor and started her classical training in theatre at Earl Haig, an arts high school in Toronto and then went on to graduate from York University's Acting Conservatory in 2012.   Rong's theatrical debut was in the crit...

Our guest this week is Toronto-based Juno-winning vocalist, songwriter, director, music marketing specialist and Syrian-Canadian - SALLY SHAAR! Sally studied with Canadian vocal legends Christine Duncan, Lorraine Lawson, Falconer Abraham, and Micah Barnes.  She has such an amazing voice and she's constantly pushing the boundaries of her voice both on stage and in the studio. Through her studies at...

Our guest this week is Greater Toronto-based Coach and Consultant, Crafter, Cook, Sewist, Bread Baker, Head of our Mentorship Department, Facilitator of Firecracker Artists Way Programme and Actioneer VERONICA MARTIN! Veronica has lead and developed both the Mentorship Department and Firecracker Artists Way Program with such heart. Both support women and non-binary folks in the arts who come toget...

Our guest this week is Toronto-based policy advisor, workplace consultant, change maker, film producer AND Firecracker Actioneer and part of our mentorship department - KATHLEEN HARQUAIL! Kathleen has a degree in Hispanic Studies from Trent University, in Peterborough, Canada, and Universidad del Valle de Mexico.   As well as, a diploma in screenwriting from George Brown, in Toronto, and is a grad...

Our guest this week is screenwriter, director and producer LAURA TERRUSO!  Laura is a graduate from NYU's graduate film program at the Tisch School of the Arts. Her feature film debut as writer, director, producer is FITS AND STARTS which premiered at SXSW 2017.  This comedy is about a struggling writer who can't seem to escape his wife's literary success. When a road trip to a publisher's salon t...

Our guest this week is Toronto-based executive producer, producer TERESA M. HO! Teresa has over 25 years of experience underneath her belt in production finance and management, along with over ten years as a Producer in Canadian Television.  She has produced four seasons of CBC's FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES and two seasons of Corus's DEPARTURE. Teresa also managed the hit Netflix Series ANNE WITH AN E...

Our 150th guest this week is London-based award-winning Canadian comedian, actor, writer and producer MAE MARTIN!   Mae began doing comedy at the age of 13 and dropped out of school at 15 to pursue comedy full time. They trained at The Second City, and was the youngest person to be nominated for the Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award. At 16 they were nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award and recent...

Our guest this week is Toronto-based actor, writer, producer, mindfulness and meditation coach and teacher LISA BERRY!   Let's celebrate LISA's Canadian Screen Award Nomination for Best Lead Performance, Web Program or Series for playing Notice in Obsidian Theatre's 21 BLACK FUTURES!     You may recognize Lisa from her recurring roles as "Billie," aka Death, in The CW's sci-fi-fantasy hit show SUP...

Our guest this week is Los Angeles-based, born in England, raised all over Canada, award-winning actor and filmmaker AGAM DARSHI!  You may recognize Agam from her role as Radha in Oscar-nominated director Deepa Mehta's film FUNNY BOY.  For Radha, she was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role and a LEO Award for Best Supporting Performance by a Fem...

Our guest this week is Toronto-based award-winning producer, director and storyteller SHASHA NAKHAI!    Shasha's storytelling work has taken her all over the world, like the Hawaiian coastline in THIRTY EIGHT MINUTES, a Cold War bunker in THE HOLE IN RESERVOIR HILL, the engine room of a decaying ship in THE UNSINKABLE CAPTAIN JOHN, the Philippine sugar mills in THE SUGAR BOWL and the front lines o...

Our guest this week is Toronto based award-winning comedian, actor, activist, emerging playwright and podcaster - MARTHA CHAVES!  Martha describes herself as, "the most famous LGBTQ-Nicaraguan-Canadian stand-up comic in the world."   Martha first came to Montreal to study at Concordia University and when her student VISA expired she couldn't return to Nicaragua to reunite with her family because t...

Our guest this week is Chicago-based award-winning actor, improviser, comedian and teacher SUSAN MESSING!  Susan is a New Jersey native and a graduate of Northwestern University's Theatre School. She has been an improviser and comedian for over 35 years! Susan is an alumna of Chicago's beloved iO Theatre and The Second City's Mainstage.  Susan is a founding member of Chicago's Annoyance Theatre. I...

Our guest this week is Vancouver-based scriptwriter, story editor, award-winning director AND our co-head of our Writing Department LIESL LAFFERTY! Liesl focuses mainly on creating and developing new works.  In 2020, she facilitated scriptwriting workshops in Vancouver with WET INK COLLECTIVE, a writer-driven initiative for women,  WESTERN GOLD THEATRE, a premier company that fcouses on sharing an...

Our guest this week is Toronto-based screenwriter, producer and actor NELU HANDA!  Nelu wrote for and performed on multiple seasons of award-winning comedy series including:  CTV and HULU's JANN, PBS's ODD SQUAD, CBC's TALL BOYZ, and CBC and IFC's BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW. Nelu won a 2021 Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing, Variety or Sketch Comedy for BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW.  She is a Write...

Our guest this week is Toronto-based actor and professional dancer JASMINE RENÉE THOMAS!  You may recognize Jasmine from her starring role as Stacey in Disney's Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 1, 2 and 3. By the age of 4 she was taking Acro, Jazz, Ballet, Hip-Hop, Lyrical, Contemporary, and Tap. After graduating high school, Jasmine knew she wanted to pursuit a professional career in dance and she developed her car...

Our first guest of 2022 is singer, songwriter, artist, director, producer, one of Canada's most distinguished filmmakers and member of the Abenaki Nation ALANIS OBOMSAWIN! Her 53rd film in her 54 year career is HONOUR TO SENATOR MURRAY SINCLAIR ! It made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and shares the powerful speech Senator Sinclair gave when he accepted the WFM Canad...

Our guest this week is California-based actor, singer, songwriter and dancer KYLEE RUSSELL! She starred as Karin Daniels in Disney Channel's "JUMP IN!", along side HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL's Corbin Bleu and SCREAM QUEEN's Keke Palmer. Kylee landed the lead role of Young Kari Peterson, with WESTWORLD's Tessa Thompson playing the Adult Kari Peterson, in Tina Mabry's award-winning film MISSISSIPPI DAMNED....

Our 13th Reel Women's Network spotlight guest is North Carolina-based, award-winning writer, director, producer and cinematographer - JOANNE HOCK!  She directed features including: THE ULTIMATE LEGACY, DISCARDED THINGS, ANGELS UNWARE, TRINITY GOODHEART and REDNECK ROOTS. One of her latest features WHEN WE LAST SPOKE premiered in theatres October 2020. Set in 1966, it stars Academy Award winner Clo...

Our guest this week is award-winning actor, writer, producer, director ENUKA OKUMA! Currently, she is a writer on Netflix and CBC's smash hit WORKIN' MOMS and stars as Sloane Mitchell. You probably recognize her as the series regular, Traci Nash, on ABC and GLOBAL's long-running police drama, ROOKIE BLUE. Enuka co-wrote, with Adriana Maggs, a sixth season episode of the show ROOKIE BLUE. She has a...

Our guest this week is award-winning screenwriter, executive producer and founder of Ink Canada- KAREN WALTON! She is best known for penning the original cult classic horror film, GINGER SNAPS, along with writing and co-executive producing Bell Media and BBC America's hit sci-fi series, ORPHAN BLACK. Other credits include: Showtime's QUEER AS FOLK, CTV's FLASHPOINT, THE LISTENER, THE ELEVENTH HOUR...

Our 12th Reel Women's Network spotlight guest is writer, producer and crown attorney ARMIN SETHI! Armin has a superpower for making a vision come to life through Fly Away Films with her collaborator and sister Asis Sethi. She is a full-time Crown Attorney in Ontario and in the evenings or early mornings, Armin is the Editor-in-chief of Bollywood Film Fame magazine where she interviews many Bollywo...

Our guest on the show this week is JAIME MOYER! Jaime voiced April and Colleen on FOX TV's BOB's BURGER, guest starred as the Female Snowflake, in FOX's new animation series THE GREAT NORTH. She has had recurring roles on: PEACOCK's AP BIO, Netflix's THE BIG SHOW SHOW, ABC's MODERN FAMILY, and Disney's hit show KC UNDERCOVER. She also appeared on NBC's PARKS AND RECREATION, CBS's 2 BROKE GIRLS and...

Our guest on the show this week is Toronto-based actor, producer and advocate LEESA LEVINSON! She is a graduate of Wexford Collegiate's prestigious Performing Arts Musical Theatre Program where Leesa began displaying strange neurological symptoms at 16. At 19, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Leesa continued to pursue her passion at Fanshawe College and attended Ryerson University's Radi...