She's Got Nerve – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode Martha and Indira have a conversation with Catherine McCauley, a remarkable administrator who has worked in both Ontario and British Columbia. She is currently a founding partner of Quinn McCauley Giving Strategies Inc. in Vancouver and is sought after for her expertise in charitable giving, public sector fundraising and foundation management.  

A true leader who has demonstrated “nerve” as a sought-after adviser and entrepreneur, Catherine is an exemplary role model as a leader who often works in mysterious ways!

Contact She's Got Nerve

• Email nervebook2021@gmail.com
• Visit our website https://nerve2021.com/
• Follow us on Instagram @nervebook2021 and LinkedIn @she'sgotnerve

A special thanks to our team:
Marketing Manager & Producer | Orla McErlean
Show Manager | Eilis Courtney

Thanks for listening to She's Got Nerve!

In this episode Martha and Indira have a conversation with Lisa Coleman, the
first woman and first Black person to be president of Adler University—a private graduate studies university dedicated to graduating practitioners who will lead social change and create a more just society. Founded in Chicago in 1952 to continue the work of Alfred Adler, a physician and psychotherapist who emphasized the individual’s need to engage with community and create positive social impact. 

In addition to the Chicago campus, Adler University also has a second campus in Vancouver, making it unique in educating graduate students in both the United States and Canada. Dr. Coleman earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology at Denison University in Ohio and her master’s degree from Ohio State University. 

She received a Ph.D. in social and cultural analysis and American studies at New York University. Prior to assuming the presidency, she held administrative positions at Tufts University and Harvard and was the first senior vice president for global inclusion and strategy innovation at NYU. What a treat it is today to be able to have a conversation with Lisa Coleman, a trail blazer and academic leader.

Contact She's Got Nerve

• Email nervebook2021@gmail.com
• Visit our website https://nerve2021.com/
• Follow us on Instagram @nervebook2021 and LinkedIn @she'sgotnerve

A special thanks to our team:
Marketing Manager & Producer | Orla McErlean
Show Manager | Eilis Courtney

Thanks for listening to She's Got Nerve!

In this special live recorded episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Jill Moffatt, an elite woman athlete and 2X Olympic rower - an individual who has demonstrated “nerve” throughout her entire life.

As co-founder of MOMentum, an initiative to advance gender equity in sport and the support of motherhood in women athletes, Jill is passionate about creating a more inclusive future for women in sport. If that isn’t enough, she is currently pursuing her PhD degree at Laurentian University and conducting research on mothers who are elite athletes and how their stories are represented in the media.

Jill discusses her own experience as an elite athlete and how she had the ‘nerve’ to get there. 

Please note this live recording took place on March 13, 2025 at the ‘Breakfast with Champions’ hosted by She’s Got Next at the UBC Alumni Centre, Vancouver.

Episode Resources

• Breakfast-with-champions
• https://www.momentumcan.ca/
• Piper, Martha and Samarasekera, Indira. Nerve: Lessons on leadership from two women who went first. Toronto, Ontario ECW Press, 2021. www.nerve2021.com
• Slaughter, Anne-Marie. "Why Women Still Can't Have It All." The Atlantic (July/August 2012). theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/

Contact She's Got Nerve

• Email nervebook2021@gmail.com
• Visit our website https://nerve2021.com/
• Follow us on Instagram @nervebook2021 and LinkedIn @she'sgotnerve

A special thanks to our team:
Marketing Manager & Producer | Orla McErlean
Show Manager | Eilis Courtney

Thanks for listening to She's Got Nerve!

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Mary Wells, a Canadian materials engineer who is highly regarded for her research advances in the processing of advanced metallic alloys.  

She currently serves as Dean of Engineering at the University of Waterloo, the second woman to assume this position.  Prior to her appointment at Waterloo, she was Dean for the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Guelph. A consistent advocate for women in engineering, she chaired the Ontario Network for Women in Engineering from 2013-2018.‌

Episode Resources
 • Piper, Martha and Samarasekera, Indira. Nerve: Lessons on leadership from two women who went first. Toronto, Ontario ECW Press, 2021. www.nerve2021.com

Contact She's Got Nerve

• Email nervebook2021@gmail.com
• Visit our website https://nerve2021.com/
• Follow us on Instagram @nervebook2021 and LinkedIn @she'sgotnerve

A special thanks to our team:
Marketing Manager & Producer | Orla McErlean
Show Manager | Eilis Courtney

Thanks for listening to She's Got Nerve!

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Susan Hockfield, an American neuroscientist and the first woman to serve as president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2004 to 2012.  Prior to becoming president, Dr. Hockfield served as Dean of Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Yale’s Provost.  

As the first life scientist to be appointed president of MIT, her scholarship involved the use of monoclonal antibody technology in brain research.

Episode Resources

• Hockfield, S. (2019). The Age of Living Machines: How Biology Will Build the Next Technology Revolution. W. W. Norton & Company.
• Piper, Martha and Samarasekera, Indira. Nerve: Lessons on leadership from two women who went first. Toronto, Ontario ECW Press, 2021. www.nerve2021.com

Contact She's Got Nerve

• Email nervebook2021@gmail.com
• Visit our website https://nerve2021.com/
• Follow us on Instagram @nervebook2021 and LinkedIn @she'sgotnerve

A special thanks to our team:
Marketing Manager & Producer | Orla McErlean
Show Manager | Eilis Courtney

Thanks for listening to She's Got Nerve!

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell, who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada – the first and only female prime minister of Canada. She was the first young woman president of her high school student council, the first woman president of UBC’s freshman class, the first woman to serve as minister of justice in Canada and the first woman to become minister of defense in a NATO country, to name a few. 

She has served as Secretary-General of the Club of Madrid, an organization she helped found, which includes former heads of government and attempts to enhance democracy. A Companion of the Order of Canada, she is recognized internationally as a trailblazer and a leader of leaders! 

Episode Resources

• Campbell, Kim. Time and Chance : The Political Memoirs of Canada’s First Woman Prime Minister. Toronto ; New York, Doubleday Canada, 1996.
• Piper, Martha and Samarasekera, Indira. Nerve: Lessons on leadership from two women who went first. Toronto, Ontario ECW Press, 2021. www.nerve2021.com

Contact She's Got Nerve

• Email nervebook2021@gmail.com
• Visit our website https://nerve2021.com/
• Follow us on Instagram @nervebook2021 and LinkedIn @she'sgotnerve

A special thanks to our team:
Marketing Manager & Producer | Orla McErlean
Show Manager | Eilis Courtney

Thanks for listening to She's Got Nerve!

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Elizabeth Cannon, a leading geomatics engineer, served as the eighth president and vice-chancellor of the University of Calgary from 2010 to 2018. Prior to her appointment as president, she was dean of the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary. 

Appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Member to the Alberta Order of Excellence, she has worked tirelessly to raise public awareness about science and engineering careers for women.

Episode Resources

• Elizabeth Cannon M. Enhancing Your Higher Education Presidency: Fifteen Lessons on Leadership. RENSAR Publishing; 2020.
• Piper, Martha and Samarasekera, Indira. Nerve: Lessons on leadership from two women who went first. Toronto, Ontario ECW Press, 2021. www.nerve2021.com

Contact She's Got Nerve

• Email nervebook2021@gmail.com
• Visit our website https://nerve2021.com/
• Follow us on Instagram @nervebook2021 and LinkedIn @she'sgotnerve

A special thanks to our team:
Marketing Manager & Producer | Orla McErlean
Show Manager | Eilis Courtney

Thanks for listening to She's Got Nerve!

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Drew Faust, an American historian who was the first woman to serve as president of Harvard University from 2007 to 2018.  

She received her bachelor’s degree with honors in history from Bryn Mawr College and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history from the University of Pennsylvania. As a scholar she specializes in the study of the South in the antebellum period and the Civil War, authoring seven books, including her most recent memoir entitled Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury.  

Drew discusses her own experiences in the position and how she had the ‘nerve’ to get there. 

Episode Resources

• Drew Gilpin Faust. (2023). Necessary Trouble. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
• Piper, Martha and Samarasekera, Indira. Nerve: Lessons on leadership from two women who went first. Toronto, Ontario ECW Press, 2021.
   www.nerve2021.com
• Sommers, Christina Hoff. "A Necessary Option."  The New York Times (September 6, 2016).  nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/10/17/single-sex-schools-separate-but-equal/a-necessary-option.
• Slaughter, Anne-Marie.  "Why Women Still Can't Have It All."  The Atlantic (July/August 2012).  theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-cant-have-it-all/309020/.
• Indiana University.  "Men Do Hear--But Differently than Women, Brain Images Show." Science Daily (November 29, 2000). sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/11/001129075326.htm.
• Coats, Cari H.  "Grit and Grace: A Power Combination for Women Leaders."  Forbes (August 12, 2019).  forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2019/08/12/grit-and-grace-a-power-combination-for-women-leaders/?sh=5b111428404a.

Contact She's Got Nerve

• Email nervebook2021@gmail.com
• Visit our website https://nerve2021.com/
• Follow us on Instagram @nervebook2021 and LinkedIn @she'sgotnerve

A special thanks to our team:
Marketing Manager & Producer | Orla McErlean
Show Manager | Eilis Courtney

Thanks for listening to She's Got Nerve!

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Alison Richard, a distinguished anthropologist who is widely known for her research on the evolution of complex social systems among primates, was the first woman to be appointed Vice-Chancellor (President) of Cambridge University.  

Before arriving at Cambridge, she served as the Provost of Yale University.  She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and has received numerous honorary degrees from universities in the UK, China, Madagascar, Canada, Korea and the US. 

Alison discusses her experiences in the positions and how she had the ‘nerve’ to get there.

Episode Resources

• Bateson, M. C. (1990). Composing a Life. Plume.
• Darwin, C. (2013). The Voyage of the Beagle. Simon and Schuster.
• Richard, A. (2022). The Sloth Lemur’s Song. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226817576.001.0001
• Piper, Martha and Samarasekera, Indira. Nerve: Lessons on leadership from two women who went first. Toronto, Ontario ECW Press, 2021.
  www.nerve2021.com

Contact She's Got Nerve

• Email nervebook2021@gmail.com
• Visit our website https://nerve2021.com/
• Follow us on Instagram @nervebook2021 and LinkedIn @she'sgotnerve

A special thanks to our team:
Marketing Manager & Producer | Orla McErlean
Show Manager | Eilis Courtney

Thanks for listening to She's Got Nerve!

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Anne Giardini, a Canadian business executive, journalist, lawyer and author who served as the 11th Chancellor of Simon Fraser University.  She was president of Weyerhauser Company Ltd. and has written two novels, The Sad Truth About Happiness and Advice for Italian Boys. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Order of British Columbia.

Anne discusses her experiences in the position and how she had the 'nerve' to get there.

Episode Resources

• Giardini, A. (2010). Advice For Italian Boys. HarperCollins Canada.
• Giardini, A. (2011). The sad truth about happiness: A Novel. Harper Collins.
• Piper, Martha and Samarasekera, Indira. Nerve: Lessons on leadership from two women who went first. Toronto, Ontario ECW Press, 2021.www.nerve2021.com

Contact She's Got Nerve

• Email nervebook2021@gmail.com
• Visit our website https://nerve2021.com/
• Follow us on Instagram @nervebook2021 and LinkedIn @she'sgotnerve

A special thanks to our team:
Marketing Manager & Producer | Orla McErlean
Show Manager | Eilis Courtney

Thanks for listening to She's Got Nerve!