Getting laid off is brutal. Getting laid off twice in one year can make you question everything, including yourself.
In this episode, I sit down with Tanya Hayles, award-winning event planner, digital strategist, founder of Black Moms Connection, and creator of the Perfecting the Pivot workshop. Tanya shares what it’s really like to navigate forced career pivots in a tough economy, including the grief that comes first, the money realities nobody wants to talk about, and how to keep moving when the job market keeps ghosting you.
We also dig into personal branding without the cringe. Tanya explains why your name is your most important brand, why you should own your domain, how to save your work “receipts,” and how to ask for help in a way your network can actually respond to.
Plus, Tanya’s honest take on AI: the opportunities, the risks, and what women need to hold onto as work changes fast.
If you’re pivoting, considering a pivot, or quietly panicking that you might have to, this one will make you feel less alone and a lot more ready.

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Candace Sampson and Nam Kiwanuka discuss the systemic issues in women's health care, highlighting the dismissal and mistreatment of women's health concerns. Nam's podcast, "Mistreated," explores how women's health has been ignored, underfunded, and under-researched. They discuss medical gaslighting, racial and gender biases in healthcare, and the impact of conditions like PCOS, endometriosis, and fibroids on women's lives. Nam shares personal experiences and those of other women, emphasizing the need for policy changes and better research. They also touch on the broader economic impact of these health issues on society.

Nam's podcast (Mis)Treated can be found here.

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Canadian small-business owners are taking hit after hit, but few have explained the chaos as clearly as Encircled founder Kristi Soomer. The Toronto-based slow-fashion designer breaks down how a U.S. tariff rule called yarn-forward turned a $125 pair of pants into a $204 headache overnight. We talk about the American trade mess, Shopify’s failings, fast fashion fatigue, and what it takes to keep a values-driven Canadian brand alive when the system feels stacked against you. please let me know if there's any issues, or if you have questions. Thank you!

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Most of us grab our morning coffee without a second thought, but behind that daily ritual are women whose stories rarely make it into the conversation. Today I’m joined by Roxanne Joyal, founder and CEO of Andback Coffee, whose entire career has been about lifting women up and creating real change in the communities where our coffee is grown.
 Roxanne’s path runs from Stanford and Oxford to working with the Supreme Court of Canada and spending more than 30 years building social enterprises that empower women across East Africa, Latin America, and beyond. We talk about what’s really happening in the coffee industry, why supporting women growers matters, how conscious consumer choices add up, and the lessons Roxanne has learned from building companies with values at the centre.

If you’ve ever wondered what’s in your cup, who grew it, or how your everyday habits can support women around the world, this conversation will stay with you.

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 I’m back. After seven months away, I wanted to start with a short, honest episode about why What She Said hit pause, what pulled me off the hamster wheel, and why I’ve decided to return in a completely different way.
 This isn’t a tell-all or a dramatic reinvention. It’s simply the truth about burnout, clarity, and the realisation that connection matters more than constant output. I talk about walking away, almost selling the show, building Girl Trips, and why I’m shifting to a seasonal format that gives all of us more space to breathe.
 I also share a few thoughts on why online life has stopped feeling like real connection for so many of us, and why bringing conversations back to something human matters now more than ever.
 If you’ve ever needed to step back, reset, or rethink what you’re doing, this one’s for you.

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What happens when a physicist-turned-writer sets her literary thriller in the eerie aftermath of Chernobyl? You get The Exclusion Zone—a haunting, thought-provoking novel that weaves fear, science, and the untold stories of women in STEM. I sat down with author Alexis von Konigslow to talk about her unique academic path, the inspiration behind the book, and why she hopes readers come away thinking, I’m smarter than I thought.
The Exclusion Zone is from publisher Wolsak & Wynn.
Follow Alexis on Instagram and keep an eye out for her debut thriller.

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Sara Davidson has survived more than most—an armed attack, a tsunami, a violent sexual assault, and postpartum trauma—and somehow, she’s found a way not just to live, but to help others heal. In this episode, we talk about how trauma lives in the body, what real resilience looks like, and why healing often begins before we’re ready to talk.
Sara is a registered psychotherapist and author of Any Body Can Heal, a memoir and guide for anyone navigating life after trauma. She shares practical tools to regulate the nervous system, how to build embodied safety, and what it means to create community-based healing—especially for those without access to traditional support.
Whether you’ve been through trauma yourself or love someone who has, this conversation will stay with you.
 Topics we cover:

• What it means when we say trauma lives in the body
• The physical signs of unresolved pain
• How healing can begin even without talking
• The difference between surviving and recovering
• How to show up for young people who are struggling

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Caption: Sisters Jodi Willoughby and Carolyne McIntyre Jackson took a chocolate cake recipe from their grandma and a buttercream secret from their mom and built Crave—one of the Prairies’ most beloved bakeries. Now, they’re sharing those long-guarded family recipes in their new cookbook.
 In this episode, we talk about:
 • How Crave went from a home kitchen to a Canadian favourite
 • What it’s really like running a business with your sister
 • Why they finally decided to share their famous cake and buttercream recipes
 • How they keep the joy in baking after 20+ years
 • Why being hands-on still matters to them
 • The surprising reason they call some days “cupcake days”
Whether you’re dreaming of starting your own thing or just love a good behind-the-scenes story, this conversation is as sweet and satisfying as the cupcakes they’re famous for.

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It feels like everyone’s on edge these days—and with good reason. Mental health struggles are on the rise, especially among women, and traditional approaches don’t always cut it. My guest this week is Heather Lillico, a Toronto-based wellness expert and the creator of the Cultivating Calm app. After her own experience with anxiety, perfectionism, and an eating disorder, Heather realized she needed a different way forward—and now she’s helping others do the same.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why anxiety and burnout are hitting women hardest
• The pressure to be “fine” and why asking for help still feels hard
• What preventative mental health care actually looks like
• How small daily habits—like a few deep breaths—can be powerful
• What still gets dismissed as “woo-woo” even though it’s evidence-based
• The 30-minute routine that forms the foundation of Heather’s app

Whether you’re dealing with overwhelm yourself or just looking for practical ways to protect your peace, this conversation offers simple, judgment-free tools to help you start where you are.

Learn more or try the app at cultivatingcalm.ca

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Red pill content. Tradwife fantasies. Secret slang like “Skittles” and “sneaky link.”

Online radicalization is showing up in ways many parents don't even recognize — and it’s targeting kids when they’re most vulnerable. In this episode, I speak with Abhi Ahluwalia, founder of [unlearn.], about the rise of extremist content online, how algorithms feed it, and what parents, educators, and policymakers can actually do about it.
We also talk about building real belonging in schools, how to guide critical conversations at home, and why silence in the face of harmful content is never neutral.
Listen now — and don’t forget to check the link below for unlearn’s social media glossary every parent needs.

Resources & Links:
 Learn more about [unlearn.] and download their discussion tools for schools and families:
 https://www.unlearn.com/poster-packs/

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Science writer Misty Pratt joins me to break down why the possible dismantling of PubMed under Trump’s administration should concern all of us — especially women. We discuss how the U.S. government's cuts to health research and growing censorship could impact access to trusted science, the rise of misinformation, and why Canadians aren’t immune to the fallout. Plus, Misty shares where you can still find credible research (including Reddit!), and how Canada could step up as a leader in open-access science.

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