The Playground Project

A big thank you for spending your time with us on the playground! And a huge thank you to Priyak for sharing his story with us. Here are my top takeways from our chat: At the end of Grade 10 you have to take an exam that will let you go on to Junior College where you could choose from Commerce, Art or Science background. In a society with a heavy focus on STEM and commerce careers, more Arts-incli...

Thanks so much for joining us today! Hajar was top of her class in Morocco, and although she had started the process to get her visa to immigrate to Canada, it ended up taking her six years. A big takeaway for me was how global events like COVID, or the Canadian response to the Afghan refugee crisis can have a profound impact on people’s lives so far away. But, Hajar definitely found wisdom in tho...

Thank you so much for spending your time with us on the playground. Hanging out together is one of my favourite things! A massive thank you to Holly for sharing your story and your journey with us. In a very inspiring episode, here is my key takeaway: Authenticity is the key to living a happy and joyful life. That’s really it. When you live your authentic life, sharing your natural gifts with...

Thank you so much for sharing your time with us! And thank you Ledianis for sharing your career journey and insights with us on the playground. My Big Take Away: When you are new to a country, or a city or maybe new to the labour market, you need to be seen. Engage with others. Volunteer at different organizations. Find out about opportunities, and be visible. Don’t just stay at home. You need to...

Thank you so much for spending your time with us today, and thanks to Shamuna for sharing your story. Here is what I am taking away from today’s chat on the playground – This was a conversation filled with power. We talked about the power of being exposed to multiple nationalities and religions at an early age – and the belief of Shamuna’s mother that all religions teach you good things. And of co...

Thank you so much for joining us on the playground today. Thank you so much Adama, for sharing your story and your experiences, your trauma, and your thoughts and insights with us. This has been such a moving and meaningful conversation, and I am confident her voice will continue to be heard, and that she will continue to be a positive agent of change in the world for many years to come. My t...

Thank you so much for spending your time with us on the Playground today. It really means a lot to me! And a big thank you to Mushama for sharing her journey and her insights with us. Here are my top 5 takeaways - Mushama wanted to be a talk show host, and her favourite no-fear host of all is Wendy Williams. In her life, Mushama has cultivated a strong sense of self-awareness. She knew that nursin...

Thank you so much for spending your time with us on the playground today! And a big thank you to Prerna for sharing her pivots and her passion with us. Here are my top takeaways from our chat: Prerna was born in New Delhi to parents whose careers as hoteliers meant moving around a lot. During her early life, Prerna wanted to be many things including a Black Cat Commando and a police officer. In un...

Thanks so much for joining us on the playground today, and thank you to Simon for sharing your journey with us. Some take aways: Simon is a third culture kid – he was born in Vancouver, then moved to Geneva and then afterwards moved to the Philippines. He and his brothers (they are triplets) lived there for 11 years where they were homeschooled for most of it. Mom had years of teaching experience...

Show Notes: Links: Sudan | History, Map, Area, Population, Religion, & Facts | Britannica Omdurman - Wikipedia City of Fredericton The Oldest Cities in Canada - WorldAtlas Kingdom of Kush - Wikipedia The Nubian Queen Who Fought Back Caesar's Army | HISTORY Civil War in Sudan | Global Conflict Tracker We live the trauma of those who are living the war and displaced from the war - War and mental...

Thank you so much for joining the amazing Seza and I on the playground today. I hope you found the conversation interesting and insightful. I know I did! During our chat we talked about Seza’s transition from political science to a career in political science. We learned about the faculty of political science at Ankara University, and the history of the cow as their mascot because it symbolized th...

Show Notes: Thank you so much for spending your time with us today on the podcast, and thank you Urmi, for sharing your story with us today. I really appreciate your openness and honesty. And here are my top 10 take aways – in no particular order: Sometimes we don’t need to know the exact option – just knowing she takes a humanistic approach to life helped Urmi narrow down her choice, but she knew...

Show Notes: Thank you so much dear friends for spending your time with us today! I am so glad you were able to meet Ibtissem. What a complete treat to hang out and chat – thank YOU so much Ibtissem for sharing your story with us, and inspiring us and really, for making us smile. Here are the top 10 take aways from our chat in no particular order: Ibtissem is an educator and life-long learner throu...

Thank you so much Amal for sharing your story and your resilience and compassion with us on the playground today, and thank you dear listener for spending your time with us. Here are the top 10 takeaways from our chat: Terre d’Asile – I had never heard about this before, but this is the organization that Amal worked with before migrating to Canada. The link will be in the show notes. Cesaria Evora...

Show Notes: Thank you so much for listening, and big thanks to Tanjeeba for sharing your career journey with us, and introducing us to BRAC. You can check out the show notes for the link to their website to learn more about the way BRAC is changing the world! So here are my top 10 takeways from our chat today – Diversity means many things – including socio-economic status. Growing up in a diverse...

Show Notes: Thank you so much for hanging out with Peggy and me on the playground today, and Peggy, thank you so much for sharing your inspiring, adventure-filled career with us. Here are my top 10 take aways from our chat – Sault Ste. Marie has a large Italian population – and a reputation for excellent Italian food! Peggy was one of the lucky people who knew from a young age what she wanted in h...

Show Notes: A big thank you to Andrea and to you for hanging out on the playground today! I loved our chat. I loved how we talked about everything – we tackled sexism, racism, intersectionality, misogyny, lack of Canadian experience (from a Canadian’s perspective!). We didn’t shy away from anything…and we also talked about love, kindness, compassion, empathy, relationships, joy, and even stand-up...

Show Notes: Thanks so much for listening to our chat, and many thanks to Nikita for sharing your thoughts, insights and inspiration. Here are my takeaways from our chat today – Even though she was a shy person, her involvement with music and leadership helped her to shine when she was a student in Delhi. And like many, many of us, she did not know what she wanted to do after she graduated from sec...

Show Notes: Thank you so much for listening to my chat with Karlla, and Karlla, thank you so much for sharing your life and career journey with us on the playground. Here are my take aways from our chat: Karlla grew up in a small village surrounded by a dam in South West Brazil; a very unique situation. She loved her childhood where the social club was her social network and the streets were the w...

Show Notes: I am back, and I apologize profusely for not posting an episode for the past few weeks. My husband and I booked a trip to see my sister in Spain and then celebrate his 60th birthday in Paris. I tried to get everything done before our trip, but I ran out of time. We had a fantastic trip and visited Malaga , Nerja , Torre del Mar , Frigliana , and of course, the city of lights and love,...

Show Notes: Thank you so much for listening to my chat with Ali. I told you, he is simply awesome. And thank you so much Ali for sharing your career journey and rich insights with us on the playground today. Here are my takeaways: At 16, moving to a different country, learning a new language and having to say goodbye to all your friends, your family and everything familiar can lead to struggles ge...

Thank you for spending time with Malaz and me today. I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and learn about his delicious pivots. And thank you so much Malaz for sharing your insights and life pivots with us today. My key take aways from our chat: Although Malaz originally wanted to be a lawyer and then became a business person and moved from Syria to Dubai and Saudi Arabia, he always h...

Thank you so much for listening to my chat with the truly amazing Shrouk El Feshawy. Thank you Shrouk for hanging out with us on the playground and sharing your career story with us. Here are my key take aways from the chat: Values . Shrouk is the product of the love and resilience she brings with her from her family and community in Egypt. Options . Earning a GPA of 99.6% allowed her to choose an...

Thank you so much for listening to my chat with the very inspiring Deirdre Freiheit. Thank you Deirdre for joining me on the playground and sharing your career story with us. Here are my take aways from the chat: She studied to be a travel agent, but she discovered that this did not align with her values. A big clue – her friend who was also a travel agent got very excited about the trips and all...

Thank you Mouhamad for joining me on the playground and sharing your pivots with us today. Here are my take aways from the chat: Even if your life takes a drastic turn – like moving to a new country, speaking and new language and experiencing a completely new culture – you can do it. You can be scared but still hopeful at the same time. And even if you have to start at the bottom – like Mouhamad s...