Leading With Nice Interview Series

While we were all stuck at home during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people took the opportunity to learn something new. Maybe you taught yourself how to bake sourdough or speak another language. Anushka Bhattacharjee, a Grade 4 student from Toronto, decided to write the book "My Magic Mirror," a creative take on "The Three Little Pigs" fable. Anushka recently stopped by the podcast to chat about the inspiration, process and discipline behind writing and publishing her first book — all before she turned nine years old.

Sue Wigston’s entire career has been driven by her passion for people. For over 25 years with Eagle's Flight, she collaborated with various organizations to develop strategy and support tactical efforts in creating high-performing, innovative and engaged corporate cultures. She’s now taken her talents to not-for-profit giving platform Givesome as the organization's CEO. Sue wakes up every day thinking about generosity and recently stopped by the podcast to chat about how we can all grow in our own generosity journey.  

With a 20-plus year career encompassing senior roles in ballet, dance and opera, Christina Loewen has been with the Association for Opera in Canada as Executive Director since 2009. Focussing on helping the sector build resilience, navigate change, and be a positive force for civic good, “resilience” and “change” were definitely at the forefront of the past two years as Christina led her team through a global pandemic and its many curveballs. She recently stopped by the podcast to discuss her leadership journey through one of the most challenging times of her career.

Curtis Carmichael is an award-winning social entrepreneur, technologist, STEM and hip-hop teacher, and computer programmer. He is also the author and mobile app developer for the world’s first augmented reality memoir, Butterflies in the Trenches, a candid story of Curtis' life in the public housing projects in Scarborough, Ont.

Curtis stopped by the Leading With Nice Interview Series to talk about the importance of embracing community, life lessons from mentors, and his mission to help everyone realize they have the power to make a difference in not only their lives, but the lives of those around them.

Speaker, author and organizational consultant Joseph A. Michelli encourages leaders and frontline workers to grow and invest passionately in all aspects of their lives. He stopped by the podcast to discuss leadership strategies from some of his bestselling books and business practices that develop joyful and productive workplaces.

Amanda Yuill made a counter-intuitive choice many years ago: to become a full-time supply teacher. This career move provided her the opportunity to research gaps she saw in the education system and publish three books. Amanda’s latest book — What's the Difference?: Building on Autism Strengths, Skills and Talents in Your Classrooms — provides teachers with tools and strategies to help autistic students be at their best. But beneath that are some great lessons on leadership and developing a posture of deeper understanding. Find out why on today’s episode.

Cindy Wagman is the President and Founder of The Good Partnership, a values-driven, social-justice informed consultancy that is working to unlock the potential of small nonprofits through fundraising. She stopped by the podcast to talk about all-things non-profit, including some common challenges experienced by fundraisers large and small alike, and solutions on how to overcome them.

Emily O’Brien returned to Toronto from vacationing in the Caribbean with drugs strapped to her body. She was promptly arrested and sentenced to federal prison. Where her story diverges from what you might expect is in what she did during her time behind bars: she started a company. Comeback Snacks was born while she was incarcerated and she now uses the platform to shine a light on what happens to people when they go to prison — and the positive impact they can have on society when they’re out.

At 23, Candice Schott had already bought and sold her first condo, was working her dream job at IBM and en route to winning a sales award. But she traded that all in to launch her own business as a realtor. Now, after more than 15 years in the business, she’s the partner in a real estate company, mentors dozens of others in the business, and asks aspiring leaders one important question: Are you truly passionate about what you do?

Helen Polise knows her way around a camera. For the past 30 years as a TV commercial director, video content creator and social media guru, she has elevated global brands like Sensodyne, Blistex, Conair, Odor Eaters and the NFL. On TikTok she is branded as the TikTok Teacher with 530K+ followers and over 100 million views on her clear, easy-to-follow tutorials that demystify the entire process. Helen stopped by the podcast to discuss everyday productivity tips and simple ways that anyone can create powerful, authentic content.