Daughter Dies, Mother Lives on. Pamela Shainhouse
Chatter that Matters
A heart-moving episode about the unimaginable courage it takes to live after loss. When Pamela Shainhouse’s daughter, Alli, died at 26 after seven years of fighting Hodgkin lymphoma, Pamela felt that the person she had been died with her. In the silence that followed came a life-altering question: Who would she become now? In this deeply personal conversation, Pamela shares how Alli taught her to live fully, to refuse the limits others place on us, and to understand the profound difference between moving on and moving forward. Pamela also speaks candidly about growing...
info_outline
Ready to Listen - Leslie Lee Sanders
Chatter that Matters
Every so often, a guest comes along who challenges us to think differently. Not necessarily to agree, but to wonder. What if intuition is more than instinct? What if the coincidences that shape our lives aren't coincidences at all? What if the moments we dismiss are actually messages, gently nudging us toward the life we were meant to live? What if there are Earth Angels? Leslie Lee Sanders believes we're all born with an inner knowing, that signs, synchronicities, intuition, and even spiritual guidance are available to us if we're willing to slow down and listen. Whether you embrace...
info_outline
Extraordinary Outcomes - Kim Mason
Chatter that Matters
Some conversations stay with you long after they are over. This is one of them. Kim Mason is someone I deeply admire for her intelligence, her humanity and the way she makes everyone in her presence feel heard and seen. She dreamed of becoming an anthropologist and journalist, but a summer job at RBC changed everything. Almost four decades later, she holds one of Canada’s most senior banking positions. But our conversation isn’t really about her career. It’s about the paths we walk in life—some we choose and others that seem to choose us. Kim opens up about saying yes to the...
info_outline
Caring for the Caregiver - Amy Coupal
Chatter that Matters
When my 90-year-old mother-in-law moved into our home earlier this year, caregiving became deeply personal. Seeing the stairs, stubborn jar lids, fear of falling and loss of independence through her eyes changed how I understood aging, dignity and love—and inspired this conversation. Millions of people in the middle of their own lives suddenly become caregivers. Most arrive untrained, unprepared and too often unsupported, yet they keep showing up because love asks them to. Few understand that journey more deeply than Amy Coupal, CEO of the Ontario Caregiver Organization. As a child, Amy...
info_outline
The many lives of Aaron Bethune
Chatter that Matters
Aaron Bethune lives his life. Musician. Writer. Strategist. Mountaineer. Seeker. Philosopher. Promoter and Publisher. His approach is one we can all learn from. So many words of wisdom to take away: 'I like to get to the corner to see what's next before deciding to go forward or change lanes.' Or Success is not always the award, the applause, or even the destination. Sometimes success is freedom. Sometimes it is presence, being in the present. I hope you take away as much as I did from Aaron Bethune.
info_outline
A tribute to Canada - J.D.M. Stewart
Chatter that Matters
Canada Day is more than flags and fireworks. It is a reminder that this country was not inevitable. It was imagined into being by people who chose union over drift and compromise over collapse. My guest is JDM Stewart, author of The Prime Ministers: Canada’s Leaders and the Nation They Shaped. James brings history to life by showing us Canada’s prime ministers not as saints or villains, but as flawed, ambitious, and consequential leaders who shaped the country we inherited. We talk about Macdonald, Laurier, Borden, Mackenzie King, Pearson, Louis St. Laurent, the two Trudeaus,...
info_outline
Self-Made - Tim Moore
Chatter that Matters
My guest today is Tim Moore, a serial entrepreneur with immense character. Tim's upbringing included failing a few grades, studying to become a priest, then becoming a teacher and eventually a truck driver. His life changed when he bought a secondhand pickup truck, covered it with a tarp, placed a newspaper ad, and started a moving business charging seven dollars an hour. From there, he built AMJ Campbell into Canada’s largest moving company, then Premier Executive Suites and many more ventures across real estate, storage, mortgages, hospitality, and more. But that is his resume. This...
info_outline
Dreamers Daughter - Lori Thicke
Chatter that Matters
Happy Father’s Day. Did your father ever try to bottle liquid manure, only to watch it explode in the sunlight while sitting in a store window display? Did he ever bet the family’s fortune on a machine he believed could extract gold from sand? Did he buy horses before figuring out where to keep them, then decide the house would do? Did he lose the rent, the car, the business, and occasionally the plot, but somehow never lose his love for his children? Welcome to the unforgettable world of Dacker. In my Father’s Day special, I sit down with Lori Thicke, author of Dreamer’s Daughter:...
info_outline
Outspoken - The Betty Baxter Story
Chatter that Matters
Not long ago in Canada, who you loved could cost you everything. Betty Baxter knows this because it happened to her. Betty was an elite athlete, an Olympic captain, a pioneering coach, and one of the rare women leading at the highest levels of international sport. Her athletes trusted her. Her program was working. Her future was bright. Then, on a cold November night in 1981, Betty was told to drive to a roadside motel between Ottawa and Montreal. Inside, three of the most powerful men in Canadian volleyball were waiting. They did not ask about her athletes, her results, or her vision....
info_outline
Opportunity Knocks - Robin Devine
Chatter that Matters
Robin Devine has spent her life knocking on doors, sometimes literally, and finding opportunity on the other side. Raised by her grandmother, Robin learned early that hard work, honesty, courage, and instinct could take you places credentials could not. As a little girl, she sold lilacs and rhubarb door to door. As a young woman, she walked into an advertising agency with no portfolio, no experience, and talked her way into a job. By twenty-three, she was selling Checker automobiles out of a broken-down garage, turning old taxis into reverse status symbols. What follows is a remarkable...
info_outlineThis week's podcast is for all who are dealing with the reality that their future will not look like the past. There will be no neatly paved road. No ladder with perfectly placed rungs. Instead, there will be relentless headwinds, industries reshaped by technology and marketplaces rendered by global forces. Jobs will collapse, and new ones will emerge.
Which is why I invited The k3 Sisters Band to join me this week.
Three sisters who chose to make their destiny a matter of choice, rather than leave it to chance. Homeschooled. Fourth-generation musicians. As children, on a flight home from Disney, they sketched the name of a band that did not yet exist. They kept the drawing, they kept dreaming, and they kept doing.
They played in churches, fairs, school cafeterias, and nursing homes across Texas while other kids lined up at lockers.
They did not wait for a record label to find an audience.
They mastered streaming and social platforms like TikTok.
Their songs have been played millions of times, and they have fans in 70 countries.
They created a community built on positivity, anti-bullying messages, and songs written in their fans' languages.
Fifteen years later, The k3 Sisters Band have released 15 albums, written over 170 songs, and just recorded 24K Gold live with no digital or AI modification.
Their philosophy is simple. Do it yourself. But do it.
In a culture that often feels dystopian, they chose a utopian view.
In an industry obsessed with shortcuts, they chose craft.
In a digital world addicted to filters and AI, they chose authenticity.
This episode is not just for young people or music fans.
It is for parents wondering how to prepare their kids for an uncertain future.
And for anyone who feels the ground shifting beneath their feet.
I have included some of their fantastic music.
To learn more about The K3 Sisters Band: https://www.k3sistersband.com
To find out more about RBC Future Launch to support Canadian Youth: https://www.rbc.com/en/future-launch/about/
To find out more about FirstUp by RBCX music, a program dedicated to providing emerging Canadian artists with a platform for exposure, funding, education and mentorship opportunities. https://www.rbc.com/dms/enterprise/music/first-up.html