My next guest is unlocking youth potential in Canada through STEM. 

Jennifer Flanagan is the President, CEO and visionary behind Actua - Canada's leading science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) youth outreach organization that includes a national network of 43 universities and colleges that engage youth, ages 6-26, in STEM learning experiences.  

So much to talk about with this visionary and friend who is making the world a better place with her bold vision. I'm excited to hear her career journey so far and lessons learned along the way.

Welcome to the show Jennifer Flanagan!

Check out the book! - Fearless: Girls with Dreams, Women with Vision

The Fearless Women Podcast

fearlesswomenpodcast@gmail.com

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I’m excited to introduce you to another remarkable person with a fascinating career who is making the world a better place: Dr. Heather Lank.

Let me tell you a little about out her. In 2018, she was appointed Parliamentary Librarian of Canada. She joined the federal public service in 1990 and assumed progressively more senior leadership roles working for the Parliament of Canada in the decades before her appointment.  

The vision of the organization is to be Parliament’s preferred and trusted source of information and knowledge. She has so much to c share form her career and I’m excited to share her wisdom and perspective with all of you.  

Welcome to the show Dr. Heather Lank!

Check out the book! - Fearless: Girls with Dreams, Women with Vision

The Fearless Women Podcast

fearlesswomenpodcast@gmail.com

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Parliamentary Librarian - Heather Lank

Prativa is the co-founder of Let Science Connect, an initiative aimed to restore trust in the scientific process by bridging science communication gaps between academia and the rest of the world. She is also an epidemiologist, operating at the intersection of global health and policy, and a Ph.D. candidate at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, investigating methods in health systems strengthening, particularly in the context of crises.  

She has served as a global health consultant and expert advisory committee member for various international agencies including the UN, the WHO, the GPMB, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank, with a special focus on institutional design for global health governance, monitoring efforts to better understand drivers of risk of health emergencies, as well as health systems resilience & service delivery during periods of shocks. Previously, she advised the Government of Canada in designing and drafting the country's first comprehensive global health research strategic plan.

Her commitment to working with groups facing vulnerable conditions emerged through her work with the refugee resettlement program in Québec, where she acted as a point of contact between a wide range of Canadian ministries, local community partners, and refugee families across Québec.

In 2018, she was selected to be a Global Shaper by the World Economic Forum, and in 2021, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Prativa is a graduate of McGill University’s Faculty of Science and has received a Master’s in Public Health in Infectious Disease Epidemiology from Columbia University as a Merit Scholar Recipient. She is also a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar (2021) as well as a recipient of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research’s Doctoral Foreign Study Award among other distinctions. Most recently, she served as the Canadian head delegate for the G7 Youth summit in Berlin, Germany (2022), and the sole Canadian representative as part of the Global Shapers delegation of young community leaders to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos (2023).  

Fluent in French, English and Nepali, Prativa is a former nationally-ranked chess player. She also regularly appears on CBC and CTV News and other media outlets providing Canadians with practical suggestions and advice regarding COVID-19.

Listen until 06:59 to hear Dr. Baral talk about her experience at Davos and being proud of who you are.

 ”Leadership is something that's been kind of advertised by corporate America, right? And you gotta wear that navy blue suit and speak a certain way and not show compassion or empathy or whatnot. And I think, I hope that our global definition of leadership is changing. And so if I go back next time to Davos, I think I would wear a lot more colours than I did.

So I did wear, you know, a red dress at a certain point and a red blazer at a certain point. But Davos, let me see that you want to stand out. I can't hide the fact that I'm a woman. I can't hide the fact that I'm brown. And so instead of trying to fit the mould and wearing a navy blue suit, which, you know, there's nothing wrong with wearing one, but I would wear something brighter and bolder.

Why would you want to hide your identity or the pieces of you that make you, you just wear the bright colours if that's what you want to wear, and just be because there's no one else like you. Right?”

Check out the book! - Fearless: Girls with Dreams, Women with Vision

The Fearless Women Podcast

fearlesswomenpodcast@gmail.com

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Susan St. Amand is the Founder and President of Sirius Financial Services

Jennifer Cooke is the Corporate Lead for Women in Trade at EDC

Valerie Fox is the Chief Innovation Consultant at The Pivotal Point

Jacie deHoop is a Co-Founder of The Gist Sports

Paul Wells is the Senior Writer at Maclean's magazine

Ambassador Isabelle Hudon is the Canadian Ambassador to France

Christine Whitecross is Commandant of the NATO Defense College in Rome and a Canadian Lieutenant-General.

Tanya van Biesen is the Executive Director of Catalyst Canada

Jennifer Harper is Founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty. She shares insights into her entrepreneurial journey, being on Dragon’s Den, raising money and finding investors, overcoming addiction, being a role model and so much more!

Jody Thomas is the Deputy Minister for the Department of National Defence

A big shout out to our listeners from all around the globe including the USA, UK, Canada, Zimbabwe, Mongolia, Japan, Australia and so many more countries…hello!

Love love love having you join us. I’m thinking about you and hope you’re doing alright out there.

My fearless friends, with so much uncertainty in the world, it’s helpful to hear true, inspiring stories from people who have overcome so much.  

Am excited to welcome my guest today. Maryam Monsef has a fascinating story and so much wisdom to share.  

Let me tell you a little about her from her long and impressive bio.

Maryam Monsef is a globally recognized feminist, leader, and changemaker. And the Founder and CEO of ONWARD - a company supporting leadership development for emerging and existing leaders - with a special focus on women.  

An Afghan-Canadian activist who comes from a long line of strong and resilient women and who, against all odds, escaped war and survived poverty and displacement.  

She rose from refugee to community organizer, to Cabinet Minister where she drove social and economic justice files for the Government of Canada at home and abroad.  

Listen until 29:02 to hear Maryam talk about being shaped by events in her childhood.  

“Throughout my childhood, you know, I have this image of in the evenings everybody huddled around the radio. Waiting for news that the war was over, that it was safe to go home, or it was safe to go outside, and that people who were missing family members who had disappeared were waiting to hear their names on the radio.

So being 10 years old, me feisty, you know, opinionated, encouraged to do big things and to lead was also shaped by and trying to process. This big political stuff that was having real impacts in our lives. So it's a testament to the love and the nurturing that we received from my family and my extended family that we turned out okay.

Because looking back I was like, oh, that must have been a really hard time to be 10.”

Check out the book! - Fearless: Girls with Dreams, Women with Vision

The Fearless Women Podcast

fearlesswomenpodcast@gmail.com

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Lorraine Ben is the Chief Executive for Lockheed Martin Canada

JP Gladu is President and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.

Rola Dagher is the President and CEO of Cisco Canada

Solange Tuyishime is the President and CEO of Elevate International

Julie Cafley is the Executive Vice-President of Programs and Partnerships for Public Policy Forum

Stephen Brown is the President of FUSE. 

He shares insights about personal branding, entrepreneurship and so, so much more~

Stephanie Richardson is the Founder of DIFD

Teresa Marques is President and CEO of Rideau Hall Foundation

Victoria Pelletier is a VP and Senior Partner at IBM.

Susan Delacourt is a national columnist and Ottawa bureau chief for the Toronto Star.

Dr. Vardit Ravitsky is a Professor of Bioethics at the University of Montreal and at Harvard Medical School. She is Immediate Past-President and currently Vice-President of the International Association of Bioethics. She is the Director of Ethics and Health at the Center for Research on Ethics and holds a Research-Creation Chair on the Re-appropriation of Maternity. She is a 2020 Fellow of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and chaired the Foundation’s COVID-19 Impact Committee. She is also a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences and of the Hastings Center. 

Listen until 27:27 to hear Vardit talk about growing up and her early curiosity.  

“I grew up in Jerusalem in a very homogeneous orthodox Jewish community. I didn't speak English or French. I could only speak Hebrew. The first time I left the country I was 13, so I had very little exposure to otherness, and I think already at that early age, I was tremendously curious about diversity. How do people live in other countries, other culture, what is it like to speak another language?

What are other people's norms and values and how are they different? I was drawn to diversity before I even knew what it was, or before I could put any content into it.”

Check out the book! - Fearless: Girls with Dreams, Women with Vision

The Fearless Women Podcast

fearlesswomenpodcast@gmail.com

The Beacon Agency

Eli Fathi is CEO of MindBridge Ai

Françoise Lyon is President & Managing Partner of DGC Capital, President of International Women's Forum Canada, Chair of the National Gallery of Canada, and President of the Association of Québec Women in Finance.

Helen Hirsh Spence is the Founder of Top Sixty Over Sixty.

Kim Furlong is CEO at the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.

Nicole Verkindt: OMX Founder & CEO

Brittany Forsyth is Shopify's Chief Talent Officer.

Catherine Tait is President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada

Angela Mondou is President and CEO of ITAC: Information Technology Association of Canada.

Deborah Trudeau is VP Licensing and International Business at Trudeau Corporation a company that began in 1889 in Quebec and continues to thrive and she is the Global President at International Women's Forum. IWF is an invitation-only membership organization of more than 7,000 diverse and accomplished women from 33 nations on six continents. Deborah is only the second Canadian to lead this important global organization.

Well, My fearless listeners, these remain challenging times and our resilience continues to be tested … and tested. Sometimes, It can feel like we’re swimming in an ocean of uncertainty. The future is uncertain but what if I told you you can turn that uncertainty into a competitive advantage? 

My next guest, Ursula Eysin has answers on how to do this. She’s a creative strategist who helps, entrepreneurs, start-ups, and governments do precisely that. To turn uncertainty into an advantage using the scenario thinking method. She’s the CEO and founder of Red Swan Vienna and will help us imagine and create our future. I love the sound of that.

Listen till 11:44 to hear Ursula talk about why people don’t like uncertainty and where that feeling comes from.

“No one likes uncertainty. People hate uncertainty. But actually, we have this basic human uncertainty, which already starts with do other people like me. And that sounds very trivial, but actually, our psychology did not really change in the last thousands of years. So when we were not liked by the group, by the others, in a tribe or in the caves, there was actually a question of life and death.

So we still do have this reaction. So this is our basic uncertainty and it's actually quite frightening. So I would not try to tell people just, uh, give up on certainty because I know we need, in some places, we need some kind of certainty. We need to feel safe.”

Check out the book! - Fearless: Girls with Dreams, Women with Vision

The Fearless Women Podcast

fearlesswomenpodcast@gmail.com

The Beacon Agency

Karen Greve Young is Futurpreneur Canada CEO. Futurpreneur Canada is the only national, non-profit organization providing resources, financing and mentoring to aspiring business owners aged 18-39.

Dr. Ailish Campbell is Chief Trade Commissioner of Canada, leading a cross-Canada team of over 400 and an international team of over 1000 trade commissioners in over 160 offices around the world.

Mairead Lavery is President and CEO of Export Development Canada.

Sharon Zohar is the visionary behind The Big Push. She’s a disruptor and innovator who wants to take women entrepreneurs from Seed to Series A.

Dr. Wendy Cukier is one of Canada's leading experts in disruptive technologies, innovation processes, and diversity. She has written more than 200 papers on technology, innovation, and management - and is co-author of the bestseller: Innovation Nation: Canadian Leadership from Java to Jurassic Park.

Madame Kareen Rispal is the French Ambassador to Canada. She holds a Master’s degree in Law and is an alumnus of the Institut d’études politiques and the École nationale d’administration. She joined the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1986. Since then, she has had an award-winning global career including recognition as an Officer of the National Order of Merit, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and Chevalier of the Order of Agricultural Merit. She is also a gender equality champion.

Jackie King is Chief Operating Officer of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, a recognized national business leader and champion of women.

Amber Mac is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, regular business host for Fast Company, CNN, CTV, and many more media outlets. Amber was recently named one of DMZ’s 30 inspirational women making a difference in tech.

We need inspiration now more than ever… and I’m excited to introduce you to my next guest. Global citizen and inspiring leader, she has a fascinating story to tell of her life so far.

Welcome to the show, Renée McGowan!  

Let me tell you a little more from Renée’s very impressive bio.

Based in Dubai, Renée is Mercer’s President, Asia Middle East & Africa (AMEA), leading Mercer’s business across 18 markets in this fast-growing, dynamic region. She is also Chairperson of Mercer in Japan, Executive Director on Mercer boards in China and Hong Kong, and Marsh McLennan’s Country Corporate Officer for Hong Kong.

She has helmed businesses in Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, New York, Singapore and Sydney. She is also a regular speaker at major international forums and a contributor to international media, including WEF, The New York Times, The South China Morning Post and CNBC. And won tons of awards including the Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal by the Australian Government for delivering humanitarian services overseas.

Listen till 9:02 to hear Renée talk about one of the hardest but most impactful times in her life when she was an exchange student.  

“You know you’re a teenager you think you’re invisible. But I think it still takes an element of being fearless to make that decision as a teenager to throw yourself into a local town. In central Java, not knowing a word of Indonesian, living with a local family and attending a local school for twelve months. And noting that it was the early nineties, so it was pre-internet. Snail mail took weeks or months, phone calls didn’t work just because of the nature of infrastructure there. So it was probably the hardest period of my life but looking back on it now, probably the most impactful thing I did in my life as well.”

Check out the book! - Fearless: Girls with Dreams, Women with Vision

The Fearless Women Podcast

fearlesswomenpodcast@gmail.com

The Beacon Agency

Sponsors:

BDC

Lockheed Martin

Export Development Canada

Paulina Cameron is a triple-threat: CEO of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, bestselling author of Canada 150 Women: Conversations with Leaders, Champions, and Luminaries, and a mother – among her many other accomplishments.

Catherine Cano is a multitalented leader: CEO, journalist, democracy champion, and the visionary behind the influential Route 338 project. Now she’s the administrator (COO) of the International Organisation of La Francophonie (IOF) in Paris, France. It has 84 States and governments (including 26 observers) across the five continents. • IOF's community : 1,5 billion people which is 16% of the world's population.

When she made partner in her law firm, it was her happiest day. It was also a day of profound sadness and loss. Katherine Cooligan is a specialist in family law and Regional Managing Partner at BLG in Ottawa. She also a champion of women leaders and dedicated volunteer. Katherine’s recent TedX talk was Tackling Fear and Unleashing Your Full Potential and she received a standing ovation.