Chatter that Matters

Being a father was the most magical thing in Garry Junkuhn's life. He could never have imagined that he would lose contact with his two sons for over three years when his girlfriend moved in with him. His pain was akin to four wild horses tearing him apart. Garry's life unravelled further when he learned from a school email that his older son had changed his last name to his mother's surname.

However, amidst the darkness, a glimmer of hope emerged. A mentor stepped into Garry's life, urging him to discover the hidden gift within his adversity. And just when he needed it most, a chance encounter with a spiritual leader breathed new life into his shattered spirit, reigniting Garry's trust in himself. It was an arduous multi-year journey,but Garry's unwavering determination led him to reconnect with his sons and embark on a mission to help other fathers find their way back to their children.

Prepare yourself for a riveting narrative that not only unveils Garry's raw and deeply personal story but also imparts invaluable lessons on how to transform a life and forge meaningful connections with the ones who matter most. It is a testament to the human spirit's resilience and the power of unconditional love. Moreover, Garry's profound experience catalyzed the birth of 100K Fathers, an organization dedicated to equipping 100,000 fathers with the guidance and tools they need to reunite with their children.

To learn more about the incredible work of 100KFathers, visit their website at https://www.100k-fathers.com/.

Can pressure be your superpower? Can it be the wind at your back instead of a suffocating weight on your shoulders? My guest today is Dane Jensen, the CEO of Third Factor, an acclaimed speaker, an instructor at Queen's University and the University of North Carolina, a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review and author of The Power of Pressure.

Dane has an incredible way with words, and he talks about what he learned about pressure from discussions with Olympic athletes, Navy Seals, overworked managers, and busy parents. Dane shares the physiological responses to pressure, how it's an essential input into high performance, and how you can use this emotionally charged state to your advantage by knowing the patterns.

Learn about Dane's pressure equation - importance, uncertainty, and volume and how it can add up to your advantage the next time you are under pressure to land a job, deliver a presentation, parent your child through a challenging situation or have to win a skin with a three-foot putt.

Lisa Melo, VP of Learning and Performance at RBC, then joins the show to talk about why skills are the new currency, why training must be put within arm's reach of desire, and how gamification, AR and VR are creating new growth opportunities.

To learn more about Dane Jensen and to buy his book: https://www.thirdfactor.com/team/dane-jensen/

Imagine this. Your name is Steph Catudal. You are a young teenager, and you adore your Dad. He can do one-arm pushups and entertain a crowd, and when you have a terrible asthma attack, he calms you down. One day you hear the first of many horrible coughs and soon learn he is dying of lung cancer. His death tears at your soul, and you become rebellious and angry; try to escape with substances and replace your father with a relationship with an older man. Years later, you meet the love of your life, Tommy Rivs Puzey, an Ultramarathoner with a beautiful heart. You find happiness, marry, and have three children. Life couldn't get better, yet one night, lying in bed, you hear that cancer cough again, this time from your husband's lungs. This episode of Chatter That Matters is powerful. It's a beautiful story that shows how the power of love, the will of an Ultramarathoner, and how healthcare at its best can heal.

I invite Carol Lebert, Director of Support Services, Life and Health Claims, at RBC Life Insurance Company. Carol brings such context by drawing on her experience as a nurse, and she talks about the power of healing through positivity. We also discuss the mental health trauma many in the healthcare sector incur.

To purchase Steph Catudal's book Everything all at Once - https://www.amazon.com/Everything-All-at-Once-Memoir/dp/0063253135/ref=sr_1_2?crid=SAX1JYKCANT8&keywords=everything+all+at+once+%2B+catudal&qid=1685563386&s=books&sprefix=everything+all+at+once+catadul%2Cstripbooks%2C8796&sr=1-2

I first heard Shabana Basij-Rasikh share her moving story on 60 Minutes, and I knew I had to have her on Chatter that Matters. You will soon hear why National Geographic named her their Explorer of the Year. Shabana calls herself an ordinary Afghan woman, but I see her as a hero of immense courage and fortitude and one of the many brave women defying the tyrannical rule of the Taliban.

What we take for granted, Shabana and others risked their lives for. At age 6, defying the Taliban's desire to commoditize women, Shabana disguised herself as a boy to attend secret schools with her sister. They faced constant threats, the risk of acid being thrown at them. Their teachers could be beheaded.

After the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Shabana seized the chance to freely study in her home country and then the US. While studying overseas, Shabana co-founded SOLA, an all-girls boarding school in Afghanistan.

In 2021, as the Americans withdrew, violence escalated, and the Taliban quickly seized power. Shabana had hours not weeks to move her school. She burned records and led a dangerous evacuation of 256 girls, families, and faculty to Rwanda, the only country that would accept them.

Shabana's story exemplifies the transformative power of education and the resilience of the human spirit.

Shabana's story will move you, and if you have children in school, the content is not only safe but worth it for you to listen to it together.

Amanda J. Devison, Manager at RBC's Commercial Banking Advisors, joins the show to share her journey of being raised by a single mother with a biracial background and how her context and passion led her to organize the BPW Canada delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Conference.

SOLA - School of Leadership Afghanistan - https://www.sola-afghanistan.org

Wendy Murphy lost the use of her legs in a car accident. What she found was her life's calling.

Prepare to be inspired by the remarkable story of Wendy Murphy, who transformed personal tragedy into triumph and used positivity for the benefit of society. Powerful lessons for all await.

Wendy takes us on a heartfelt journey through her life, which began as someone who approached life three steps at a time. In 1984, at seventeen, her life changed instantly due to a tragic car accident. Wendy lost her best friend, and she became an incomplete paraplegic.

Wendy had to overcome survivor guilt and deal with the realities of life in a wheelchair, the lack of accessibility and the stigma of being physically challenged.

Determined to make a difference for her community and to demonstrate possibilities, Wendy chose a career in front of the camera. She became a successful model, journalist, and actor.

Wendy wrote a powerful memoir—Wendy Murphy's Law. Whatever can Go Wrong Can Be Made Right.

Joel Dembe, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, RBC, Paralympian and Motivational Speaker, returns to Chatter that Matters. I asked Joel about his extraordinary athletic career and why his desire to be seen competing was vital as it changed the narrative from disability to ability.

To buy Wendy Murphy's book: https://www.amazon.com/Wendy-Murphys-Law-Whatever-Wrong/dp/1771803460

In honour of Mother's Day, I'd like to share the inspiring story of Dr. Suzanne Vickberg. Despite divorcing her husband twelve years ago, she still lives with him, their children, and his new wife - not as a 'Jerry Springer' spectacle, but as a testament to the idea that divorce doesn't have to be devastating and that family comes first.

For Dr. Vickberg, her divorce wasn't a failure but an opportunity to find a new way forward. She refused to limit herself to the binary choice of staying or leaving and instead moved into the guest room, which ultimately allowed her family to remain intact.

This is a story of a mother's love and sacrifice for her family and how it can lead to unexpected and beautiful outcomes.

To further explore the theme that with change comes choice, I spoke with Simika Kabir, Director of Commercial Financial Services Strategy for Women in Business, Black Entrepreneurs, and Business Owner Planning. She shared valuable insights on reclaiming your dreams and finding a new path after sudden upheavals. Simika's advice is empowering and uplifting and serves as a reminder that it's never too late to start anew.

To purchase Divorce by Design. https://www.amazon.com/Divorce-Design-Staying-Leaving-Options/dp/B0BN4SYNJT

This an extraordinary success story with so much added value if you are involved with Brands, Marketing, Media, an Entrepreneur, and even a Parent or Consumer.

Joe Gagliese, the co-founder and CEO of a digital and social innovation agency, Viral Nation, is one of the most impressive entrepreneurs I have ever talked with. Joe is innovative, insightful, informative, and inspiring. In seven years, his agency has become a global disruptor in the marketing world. Viral Nation has raised $250 million from three of the most astute tech investors in the world, John Ruffolo from Maverix Private Equity and Todd Boehly and Jeff Wilbur from Elridge Principal.

The timing for this episode couldn't be better, given the events surrounding Bud Light and its influencer campaign with Dylan Mulvaney and the widespread backlash from anti-transgender voices.

Joe Gagliese discusses how influencer marketing influences how we think, feel, and buy while also talking about his seven-year rocket ride. At 24, when Joe started Viral Nation, he was laughed out of boardrooms for his approach. Today Viral Nation works directly with the world's biggest brands. Joe talks about Marketing by Numbers and how their proprietary and patented technology allows Viral Nation to shatter the status quo by combining the power of personality, backed with precise data that measures success while mitigating risk.

Joe Gagliese, a Canadian entrepreneur on a global mission to shift marketing from 'mass to my.'

Don Ludlow, Vice President of Small Business, Business Financial Services Strategy at RBC, joins the show to talk about the importance of innovative entrepreneurs like Joe Gagliese to power our economy in the future. Don talks about why it takes several partners to support this vital sector today and why leading by example matters most.

'My Mom was at home when I left.'

I have two asks. The first is that you stay with this interview as it unfolds. There are so many layers, and out of the ashes rises a remarkable human spirit.

My second is that as you listen, imagine you are my guest, Shelly Edwards Jorgensen. You are the child driving up to your family home after a high school basketball practice, and you see it being consumed by fire.

And at that moment, you know that your mom is dead, inside the home, and not by fire but by the hands of your father.

This is a human journey no one would ask for or want. Shelly Edwards had a horrific childhood, compounded by her mother being murdered by her father. Shelly's testimony puts her Dad away for seventeen years. He dies there before his sentence is complete.

Shelly finds a way to overcome her childhood trauma, the murder of her mom, and the emotional rollercoaster of testifying against her father. She shares how she finds peace and, within it, her calling.

In doing so, she even forgives her Father.

Would you?

A story of tragedy to triumph and pain to perseverance, with powerful insights on how to move forward.

To buy Shelly Edwards Jorgensen's book: https://www.amazon.ca/Beautiful-Ashes-Murder-Betrayal-Womans/dp/B09K4RSQZ1

My chat with Siila Watt-Cloutier so moved me, and she made me think differently. For example, she believes that the trauma we are going through as a Planet and Human Species are the same, and so is the path to healing.

If she were sitting down with me today, I would ask:

If everything on this Planet is interconnected, does that mean we all feel the loss when a species goes extinct, or a fire consumes a forest?

You will also have many questions as Silla Watt-Cloutier will open your mind to our planet's realities and told through her gift as an observer, storyteller, and someone who can bring together to bring about change. Siila is one of the world's leading thinkers and doers in preserving our planet and humanity, with a particular focus on protecting the way of life of the Inuit.

(I have listed a partial list of her acknowledgements and awards and acknowledgements below.)

If you are like me, you will mark so many points of the journey she shares as remarkable. Silla's Indigenous values and lessons are worth considering for how we all live and respect Mother Nature. One that stuck with me is to stop thinking about problems and instead feel them. To act, you must be emotionally vested.

So this is Sillia Watt-Cloutier's remarkable story.

Don't just listen to her words....feel them.

And then share them because we are all in this together.

Lindsay Patrick, Head of Strategic Initiatives & ESG at RBC Capital Markets, joins the show. Lindsay is passionate about her and her organization's role in preserving our planet and its inhabitants.

A link to her book and a partial list of her acknowledgements

To purchase Siila Watt-Cloutier's book - The Right to Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet - https://www.amazon.com/Right-Be-Cold-Protect-Climate/dp/1517904978

Awards

• Global Environment Award, World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations - Washington, D.C., United States (on behalf of ICC Canada)[15]

• Sophie Prize, The Sophie Foundation - Oslo, Norway[16]
• Champion of the Earth Award, United Nations Environment Programme - Nairobi, Kenya[17]
• Governor General's Northern Medal - Ottawa, Ontario[18]

• International Environmental Leadership Award, 10th Annual Green Cross Millennium Awards, hosted by Global Green USA - Los Angeles, California, United States[19]
• Honorary Doctor of Law, University of Winnipeg - Winnipeg, Manitoba[20]
• Citation of Lifetime Achievement, Canadian Environment Awards - Vancouver, British Columbia[21][22]
• International Environment Award, Gala 2006, Earth Day Canada - Toronto, Ontario[23]
• Order of Greenland, Inuit Circumpolar Conference General Assembly - Barrow (now Utqiagvik), Alaska, United States
• Officer of the Order of Canada - Ottawa, Ontario[24]

• On 2 February 2007, The Globe and Mail published a report that Watt-Cloutier and former Vice President of the United States, Al Gore, had been nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
• Rachel Carson Prize - Stavanger, Norway[27]
• Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Award, United Nations Human Development Awards - New York City, New York, United States[]

• Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Ottawa - Ottawa, Ontario[30]
• Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of Guelph - Guelph, Ontario[31]
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Windsor - Windsor, Ontario[32]
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, Royal Roads University - Victoria, British Columbia[33]
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, Wilfrid Laurier University - Waterloo, Ontario[34]
• Honorary Doctorate, 'National Institute of Scientific Research) - Quebec City, Quebec[35]
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, McMaster University - Hamilton, Ontario [36]
• Heroes of the Environment (2008), from Time under the "Leaders and visionaries" category[37]

• 9th Annual LaFontaine-Baldwin Lecture - Iqaluit, Nunavut[38]
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Western Ontario - London, Ontario[39]
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Alberta - Edmonton, Alberta[40]
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, Queen's University - Kingston, Ontario[41]
• Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, Bowdoin College - Brunswick, Maine, United States[42]

• Nation Builder of the Decade: Environment, The Globe and Mail[43]
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Victoria - (November 2010) Victoria, British Columbia

• Honorary Doctor of Laws, University of Northern British Columbia - (May 2011) Prince George, British Columbia

• Honorary Doctor of Laws, Thompson Rivers University - Kamloops, British Columbia
• Honorary Doctor of Laws, Mount Allison University - Sackville, New Brunswick

• Honorary Doctor of Laws, York University - Toronto, Ontario
• The Right Livelihood Award[44] "for her lifelong work to protect the Inuit of the Arctic and defend their right to maintain their livelihoods and culture, which are acutely threatened by climate change."[45]

Looking for a better life, Timea Nagy is lured by an international sex trafficking ring.

Timea Nagy was 20 years old and hoping to escape a childhood of trauma and abuse. She answered a newspaper ad in Budapest, Hungary, calling for young women to work as babysitters and housekeepers in Canada. On the flight over, her dreams were big, and her hopes soared. But from the moment she landed in Canada, her story went from bad to worse. The ad was a front for international human sex traffickers.

The abductors took her passport, and with no command of the English or French language, Timea was a prisoner forced to be a stripper and prostitute. Timea first shared her story through the Salvation Army campaign The Truth Isn't Sexy.

In this episode, she talks about how she escaped and moved back to Hungary, only to be raped by the authorities and targeted by the Mafia. Timea returned to Canada and has since worked tirelessly to help human trafficking survivors, and she consults with the RCMP and other police organizations to fight sex trafficking.

Caroline Tutakiewicz, one of Canada's top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada, and Senior Director, Fraud & Security Risk Oversight at RBC, joins the show. We talk about her work with the Survivor Inclusive Initiative to support and help people like Timea Nagy who are backed into a horrific corner with no way out.

An inspirational story of tragedy to transformation, from seeing yourself as a victim to finding a way to love yourself. From surrendering to trauma to controlling one's destiny and finding a silver lining and higher purpose inside the darkest of clouds.

To purchase Timea Nagy's Out of the Shadows: https://www.amazon.ca/Biographies-Memoirs-Timea-Nagy-Books/s?rh=n%3A934986%2Cp_27%3ATimea+Nagy