Run it Like a Girl

Hannah Taylor was only 5 when she saw a homeless man searching for food in a dumpster on a cold winter day in her hometown of Winnipeg. Even at that young age, the experience was so profound for Hannah, that she began fundraising to help out.

By the age of 8, she had formed the LadyBug Foundation, a non-profit organization aimed at fighting homelessness and poverty. At 22, Hannah’s foundation has raised around 4-million-dollars to support shelters, missions, and food banks across the country.

For her work, Hannah has received an International Humanitarian Award and a Governor General’s Award. On this episode of Run It Like a Girl Hannah gives some sound advice to young people wanting to make change, she talks about why young women need to put more trust in their abilities and why not being able to do a front roll isn’t the end of the world.

As a student at Ryerson University, Rhiannon drew the attention of a founding board member of the Economic Club of Toronto, a prestigious hub for the who’s who of Toronto businessmen. She was invited to meet the Club’s president to talk about an entry level job. After six months on the job, Rhiannon worked up the courage to approach the club’s CEO about some ideas she'd been working on to modernize the organization. The re-brand from the Economic Club of Toronto to the Economic Club of Canada, with a national focus, had been one of Rhiannon’s key ideas. She advanced through the ranks of the organization, and when the CEO left the company to run for public office, Rhiannon, at the age of 28, took charge of the club. The Economic Club of Canada provides a platform for discussion and dialogue, often featuring world leaders and influencers such as Michelle Obama and Amal Clooney. The club’s audience includes some of the most senior and influential leaders in Canadian business, industry and government. Rhiannon has been named, twice, as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Business by the Women’s Executive Network. 

Betsey Chung is the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for TD Canadian Banking, but her career path has been anything but a straight line. Following her graduation from the University of Toronto Betsey worked for a time in Canada and then headed to the United Kingdom to work as a consultant with KPMG.

While in the UK Betsey got her Masters of Business Administration from the London School of Business. Once back in Canada she entered the corporate world, working in executive roles with American Express and BMO before joining TD.

Betsey says she had to find her voice in the corporate world, and believes in cultivating an open and trusting environment within her team, where all voices are heard.

Orlena Cain is a woman who can’t sit still. On top of her full-time job as a morning radio show host in Belleville, Ontario, Orlena is a budding stand-up comic, an author, and an entrepreneur. She’s been involved in modelling and voice over work. She’s had acting roles in commercials, worked on ET Canada and was a host on the Shopping Channel. But life was far from rosy growing up just outside of Belleville, where Orlena says she faced daily abuse; mental, physical and sexual. On this episode of Run It Like a Girl, Orlena Cain walks us through her incredible story of perseverance, determination and sacrifice, and her journey back from the depths of despair. She talks about the importance of mentorship and giving back, and has some strong words of advice for young women who are struggling.

Dr. Hazel Barton has taken two of her life passions, and combined them into an extraordinary career. She’s a microbiologist working at the University of Akron in Ohio, and an avid cave explorer. Dr. Barton focuses her work on microorganisms that thrive in deep subsurface environments such as caves.

Dr. Barton co-starred in the 2001 IMAX film Journey into Amazing Caves, and has co-written a children’s book based on the film.  She and her work have also been featured in several documentaries and television programs.

On this episode, Run It Like a Girl travels to Akron, Ohio, where guest host Jodi Kearns learns about some of the challenges faced by women in two fields traditionally dominated by men, and how Dr. Barton discovered that she didn’t have to sacrifice her femininity to be accepted as an exceptional cave explorer.

Inspector Sheri Meeks was given the advice to not change who she is to take on a role, but make the role change to fit her. In this episode Sheri talks about rising through the ranks as a woman in a predominantly male field. She discusses the importance of having mentors, and not being afraid to be yourself. Sheri talks about her career, her struggles to maintain a healthy work-life balance and the specific challenges women have traditionally faced in policing. 

Bonnie Kearns has seen the best and the worst of humanity. As a nurse with the Canadian Red Cross, she’s been called to the scene of natural and man-made disasters around the world, including Ground Zero in NYC.

Bonnie began volunteering with the Red Cross while working as an emergency room nurse in Sarnia, Ontario. 

Following her retirement Bonnie dove in head first with her first major deployment being to Afghanistan, where she worked as a nurse educator in a public hospital.

Despite the dangers involved in some assignments, and missing her family during long deployments, Bonnie says it's worth it.  So why does she do it?  Listen to find out!

In the final episode of season 1 Bonnie and Brian look back at some of their favourite guests, and reflect on the past year of recordings. Stay tuned for Season 2 coming this fall. If you have an idea for a guest be sure to reach out to Bonnie and Brian at [email protected].

Diane Kazarian grew up in an American-Armenian family, not speaking English until the age of 7. After a lot of hard work through university, Diane landed a job at KPMG’s Rhode Island offices in Providence, before eventually, in 1990, moving to Toronto to join PwC.

On this episode of Run it Like a Girl, Diane Kazarian tells us that women need to have the confidence to step forward when new roles or projects arise - even if they are not 100% ready for it.

Diane talks about the importance of Women in Leadership programs, and why mentorship and sponsorship are so extremely valuable.

Switching jobs can be a stressful ordeal at the best of times and even more so when you’re leaving a professional career, stability, good pay and benefits to step out on your own.  But that’s exactly what Jamie Yamanaka did. Leaving the stability behind to follow her passion. 

Growing up in the traditional martial arts, a style brought to Canada by her father Jamie excelled and represented Canada on the world stage, including a gold medal win at games held in Israel. 

On this episode of Run it Like a Girl, Jamie talks about leadership, and why a dictatorship-style doesn’t work. She has advice to those just starting out, encouraging others to step forward, ask questions and take advantage of leadership opportunities.