Canadian Podcast with ZAK

Psychologist Mandy Smith-Haber on how connection and communication can evolve our perception of reality.

How do the people you connect with shape the way you see the world? What might change if you communicated differently?

Expect to learn: the link between connection and perception, how communication shapes our understanding of reality, and why our perception of reality can evolve.

Julia Shelley flew United Nations missions across Africa and the Middle East for 10 years, completing over 30 deployments while living in warzones.

What is it like to fly in unfamiliar and dangerous circumstances? How do you come home from years of war?

Expect to learn: what flying for the UN in warzones involves, how Julia trained as a pro fitness model with limited gyms and food in warzones, and how months of quarantine unravelled years of war and led to a PTSD diagnosis.

Alberta country music artist and farmer Drew Gregory talks about his journey of love, passion, and life in farming and country music.

What does it take to work the land by day and play the stage by night? How does a small-town farm kid from Standard, Alberta become an award-winning country artist?

Expect to learn: how farming shaped Drew's music, the story behind his Country Music Alberta awards, and what it is like opening for stars like Miranda Lambert and Kip Moore.

Learn more about Drew Gregory at:
http://www.drewgregorymusic.com/

Shaun Taylors is one of the founding members of Tier 1 JTF2, the highly secretive and elite special operations unit of the Canadian Armed Forces.

What does it take to stand up a Tier 1 special operations unit? What is life like inside Canada's most secretive military unit?

Expect to learn: what JTF2 is and what it does, what it takes to become a founding member of a Tier 1 unit, and how JTF2 handles counter-terrorism operations at home and abroad.

Calgary mixed media collage artist Stacey Walyuchow on creating art through creative blocks.

How do you keep creating when the ideas stop flowing? What does it take to push through a creative block?

Expect to learn: how Stacey combines painting and collage with oil pastel to give rough images new life, and how she works through creative blocks as an artist.

Learn more at:
https://www.staceywalyuchow.com/

Seek Peak App CEO and Co-Founder Sydney Wutunee is changing the game in Canada's tech space.

How do you build a tech company as a mother of two under four? What does it take to go from real estate to founding a tech app?

Expect to learn: Sydney's entrepreneurial journey from hosting concerts at 16 to founding Seek Peak, how her communications background shaped the app, and what it meant to be selected as 1 of 30 female founders at the Inventures conference in Banff.

Learn more and download the app at:
https://www.seekpeakapp.com/

Artist and author John Francis Gerrard, living in Mohkinstsis / Calgary, on living with psychosis and how creativity has helped him.

What is it like to live with psychosis? How can creativity help in recovery?

Expect to learn: John's lived experience with paranoia and delusions of grandeur, how he humanizes these symptoms in his book We Make Clocks, Not Time, and how blending mental health advocacy with art has shaped his recovery.

Learn more about John:
https://www.johnfgerrard.com/

Nicole Rayy on building a powerhouse of women artists across Canada.

What does it take to lift up women artists across the country? How do you build a powerhouse from the ground up?

Expect to learn: how Nicole is building a powerhouse of women artists, what it takes to support women artists across Canada, and the vision behind uniting artists nationwide.

Author Meghan J. Ward on her debut memoir Lights to Guide Me Home, a travelogue of life, love, and adventure off the beaten track.

What does it take to navigate the unfamiliar and find your way back home? Who do you discover when you step off the beaten path?

Expect to learn: how a summer job in the Canadian Rockies turned Meghan's life in a new direction, her journey from Costa Rica to Nepal and beyond, and how she carved out her own identity through family expectations, motherhood, and marriage.

Registered Psychologist Paige Abbott on understanding addictions and what we can do about them.

Why do addictions take hold? What can you actually do about them?

Expect to learn: how a registered psychologist understands addictions, what an eclectic model of therapy offers, and how self-growth practices like journaling and meditation support recovery.

Get in touch with Paige at:
https://sanapsychological.com/