Stories Within Us

Artist Shannon Smith and I discuss how parenting patterns run deep and stopping toxic cycles is sometimes like looking off a cliff into the abyss. How certain environments can cause us, and our kids, to mask. How Shannon and I both are unlearning relationship patterns and learning how to re-parenting ourselves. How art is going to save our world—seriously it is—and how as artists we live in the grey zone. We're inquisitive, curious, and this is exactly what the world needs more of. 

About Shannon Smith

Shannon Smith (she/they) is a professional photographer and soul liberation coach based out of Calgary, Alberta. They have made it their life’s work to empower and liberate their clients. Shannon believes that all humans deserve to celebrate their unique beauty, feel validated and liberated from societal norms that no longer fit.

As a photographer, Shannon offers spaces for clients to celebrate their bodies in ways they’ve likely never experienced before. Shannon has built an inclusive, safe space for their clients to simply be. As a coach, Shannon provides deeply personal support in a loving environment. Their goal is to lead clients in the journey to discovering their authentic self and soul.

Shannon is deeply passionate about social justice, intersectional feminism, and supporting the LBGTQ2IA+ community.

Connect with Shannon Smith:

Web: https://www.soulnnection.com

Instagram: @Soulnnection 

Tik Tok: @Soulnnection 

Facebook: Soulnnection 

Political-minded powerhouse for 2SLGBTQIA+ and women’s issues Anna Murphy shares how parents & educators can create spaces our gender diverse kids need. She speaks to what needs to be done for gender diverse kids in Alberta's schools, communities, and beyond. And provides us with next steps to fighting back against global stripping of 2SLGBTQ+ rights.

TW// 

self-harm, suicide 

About Anna Murphy (she/her) 

Anna (she/her) is a political-minded powerhouse for 2SLGBTQIA+ and women’s issues in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and beyond. She is vice-chair of the Gender Equity Diversity and Inclusion subcommittee of the City of Calgary Social Wellbeing Advisory Committee, and serves on several other committees including Calgary Stampede Community Connections, as a University of Calgary senator and on the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs' 2SLGBTQ+ advisory council.

Anna recenly spoke at Telus Spark Scince Centre on Transcending Transgender. Here Anna pledged to support Transgenered and gender diverse kids and youth. Her article in CBC news, Pride is more than a parade and rainbow crosswalks. We need action and allyship, is a call to action for allies to step up and support 2SLGBTQIA+ in meaningful ways.

Connect with Anna Murphy:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/murphydianne/

Twitter: @TheAnnaMurphy

IG: @theannamurphy

Telus Spark Transcending Transgender: In Conversation With Anna Murphy

Pride is more than a parade and rainbow crosswalks. We need action and allyship.

Mental Health Resources: 

Alberta Mental Health 24/7 Confidential Line: 1-877-303-2642

National Mental Help Support

Call 1-866-585-0445 or text WELLNESS to:

• 686868 for youth
• 741741 for adults

Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566. Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Country music artist, healer, and author D’orjay speaks to us about healing, music, and her book,  SHIT MY SHAMAN SAYS. D'orjay shares her healing journey and how it led to her work as a Shaman and Pranic Healer. Dorjay explains that a shaman is, "Someone who sees light in the darkness."

In today's episode we discuss:

Healing. How it's not a linear process and how it can take on many shapes and forms. 

Addressing our Fear. How to address our fear that shows up when we try to change the status quo and when we engage in a creative endeavour. D'orjay takes us step by step through her process of how she addresses fear before a show. 

Music. How it's a form of healing. 

About D'orjay

Country music artist, healer, and author, D’orjay the Singing Shaman (she/her), believes that a shaman’s learning is never done. She found the healing arts through her own journey of mending from the traumatic abusive and abandoning experiences of childhood. She was introduced to Energy Medicine, Shamanic healing, her Guru and Buddhism as well as Pranic healing in 2010, and has been developing her unique shamanic practice ever since.

Her book, SHIT MY SHAMAN SAYS, VOLUME I, is available through Party Trick Press. It's a refreshingly down-to-earth approach to energy medicine. In this self-help chapbook, D’orjay leads beginners and experts alike through her relatable, nurturing, and oftentimes downright entertaining approach to healing. 

D'orjay's critically acclaimed debut, New Kind of Outlaw, was released in November 2020. Her style of country music continues to evolve honouring the classic country music she grew up on living in Rural Alberta while also colouring outside the lines of what current mainstream country music has to offer. As a Black Queer woman, D'orjay is passionate, vocal and committed to bringing diversity and inclusiveness to country music. 

Connect with D'orjay:

Web: https://www.dorjay.ca

Listen to D'orjay:

https://dorjaythesingingshaman.bandcamp.com/album/new-kind-of-outlaw

See Dorjay at this month's Calgary Folk Fest July 21-24:

https://www.calgaryfolkfest.com

Shit My Shaman Says, VOLUME I:

https://www.partytrickpress.com/shit-my-shaman-says-volume-one-product-page

Dr. Maki Motapanyane explores the ongoing, unceasing tension that exists for women navigating motherhood and careers. I found this conversation refreshingly validating; Maki doesn't downplay the challenges mothers in the twenty-first century face. 

I think that Maki says it best with this line from our conversation: 

"You can imagine conceiving of yourself as a modern liberated woman in the individualist liberal democracy who has choices and who can do things and who can plan for the kind of life that she wants… until motherhood." 

In today's episode, we explore the state's role in supporting women. As well as what needs to be put in place so that women can be successful. We also dive into the motherhood tax and discuss why women face a per-child drop in their wages when they become mothers while men face a wage increase when they become fathers. An important and necessary conversation that I invite you to share. 

About Dr. Maki Motapanyane 

Dr. Maki Motapanyane is a cultural critic, researcher, writer and educator. She teaches in subject areas that include feminist theory, feminism in Africa, global gender studies, Hip-Hop culture, and motherhood. Her research projects and publications examine various feminist traditions in Africa, maternal theory and motherhood, childcare policy and the political economy of care, Hip-Hop culture, stand-up comedy, and equity and inclusion in organizational practice.

Dr. Maki Motapanyane was recently awarded the Distinguished Faculty Award from Mount Royal University, the Knowledge Mobilization Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to research and scholarship from Mount Royal University and the Alberta Professional of the Year Award.

She is the founder of MESA is a boutique consulting firm delivering strategic training and expert solutions in leadership, communication, and conflict resolution for the modern organization and group. MESA builds skills in areas such as communication and dialogue, conflict management and resolution, constructive and effective team dynamics. 

Connect with Maki:

Web: https://www.makimotapanyane.com

MESA Consulting:

Web: https://www.makimotapanyane.com/consulting

I speak with activist-scholar Dr. Bri Wiens on  radical self-care and communal self-care. Bri and I discuss the invisible labour that women are currently expected to do in the academy and in other places of work.  Bri shares her research on feminist shadow networks, explaining, "They are quiet when they have to be; they are loud when they have to be."  

About Bri Wiens

Dr. Bri Wiens (she/her) is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Activism, Design Equity, and Feminist Media Futures in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Waterloo. Her interdisciplinary work draws on her mixed-race queer activist-scholarexperience to explore the digitally and culturally mediated phenomena of networked social movements and the politics of their design. Dr. Wiens co-runs the digital archive Feminists Do Media (IG: @aesthetic.resistance) out of the Feminist Think Tank, a research-creation lab. Wiens's collaborative work has recently appeared in NECSUS, Feminist Media Studies, and Digital Studies/Le Champ Numériqe. She is a co-editor of Networked Feminisms: Activist Assemblies and Digital Practices (Lexington Books 2021) and is lead editor on the forthcoming collection Stories of Feminist Protest and Resistance: Digital Performative Assemblies (Lexington Books 2022).

Connect with Bri Wiens:

Web: https://uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/people-profiles/brianna-wiens

Twitter: @Bri Wiens

Networked Feminism:

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793613790/Networked-Feminisms-Activist-Assemblies-and-Digital-Practices

Feminst Think Tank:

Web: https://www.feminist-think-tank.com

Today's episode is with Calgary writer, journalist and truth teller Tomi Ajele. Tomi shares with us the importance of slow journalism, creating your own blueprint and treating stories with care. 

Tomi speaks to the intent behind the media collective, Afros In Tha City, saying, "We don't want to give you a soundbite. We don't want to give you a quick pitch. We just want to show up and tell our truth." She also speaks to the creation process, "We don't even know what failure looks like because we don't even know what we want to become. It was just us putting our truth out there; it didn't feel like it needed to look a certain way." 

This is an episode about truth telling. This is an episode about healing. I deeply enjoyed this conversation with Tomi and I can't wait to share it with you.

About Tomi Ajele

Tomi Ajele is editor in chief at Afros In Tha City Inc, the only media collective of its kind – a platform where the breadth of the Black experience could be explored with nuance. She has worked with The Huffington Post, CBC, ByBlacks, Avenue Magazine, Sprawl Calgary, and Shameless Magazine. 

Tomi is a data-driven communicator passionate about anti-oppressive and sustainable policy. She is a strategic planner, writer, podcaster, and speaker who is fueled by drama and Black joy. She holds a communications degree from Mount Royal University and is pursuing a Master's degree in Public Policy from the University of Calgary.

Connect with Tomi Ajele:

Twitter: @TomiAjele

IG: @tomiajele

Connect with Afros In Tha City:

Web: www.afrosinthacity.com

IG: @afrosinthacity

Twitter: @AfrosInThaCity

Related Articles:

2020 Was The Year I Stopped Trying To Live Up To Others' Definition Of Blackness

Sustainability Leader, mother, and activist Nagwan Al-Guneid explains explains how the climate crisis is not gender equal or gender neutral. Nagwan discusses her vision for the future of energy and the importance of empathy, conversations, and coming together to create a just energy plan. Nagwan states,  "I believe energy transformation is about having conversations in diverse settings with diverse perspectives. It involves everybody." 

This episode is one of empathy, of change, but most importantly, one of action. 

About Nagwan Al-Guneid 

For more than a decade, Nagwan Al-Guneid has built a career in the energy industry here in Alberta, in Europe, and the Middle East. She completed an undergraduate degree in communications from the University of Calgary and Master’s of Science in Sustainable Energy Development. Her research focused on addressing climate change through collaboration between the public and private sectors.

Facing another four years of divisive politics, a worsening climate crisis, and a stubborn and single-minded approach to resource development in Alberta, Nagwan couldn’t be a bystander any longer. She is currently seeking the nomination for Alberta’s NDP in Calgary-Glenmore. As a mom of two young kids, running was not an easy decision. But, she made the decision with the conviction that we can do better.

Najwan champions causes that are close to her heart. Whether volunteering with women in domestic violence or youth at-risk or refugees and victims of war or helping to prepare more than twenty women to run for politics, she channels her passion into community work that has impacted lives.

Connect with Nagwan Al-Guneid:

Web: https://www.nagwan.ca

Twitter: @NagwanYYC

IG: @nagwanyyc

Resources: 

How Gender inequality and climate change are interconnected

A growing force in the climate movement: Moms

The Moms Who are Battling Climate Change

Recovering hustle culture disciple Miche Priest walks us through the process of getting unstuck. She provides three steps we can take to finding solutions: widening the lens (not hyper focusing on two binaries), getting missing data, addressing the risks/fears holding us back. 

Miche also speaks to how we can remove the hustle culture in our work. She shares her own story of burnout. Miche says, "Even though the burnout is hard, if I had to go back, I wouldn't change anything about the path." 

For those of you who feel stuck in your careers and in your life, this episode is for you.

About Miche Priest:

Miche Priest is a recovering hustle culture disciple. She empowers people to live the life that's waiting for them by helping them get unstuck, navigate career transitions, or build revenue streams with digital products.

Miche knows a thing or two about career transitions. A multipotentialite, she's had 7 careers from Art Teacher to AI Intrapreneur. She holds a Master of Arts in Communications and Technology from the University of Alberta.

Connect with Miche Priest:

Twitter: @MichePriest

Linkedin: Miche Priest, MACT

Unstuck in 15: https://www.unstuckin15.com

Special thanks:

Working Mom Wellness design was created by Dr. Milena Radzikowska  and Chris Shaddock of Two Hot Soups Consulting 

Post production and sound editing is done by East Coast Studio. 

Why we need to dream—and dream big—especially during challenging times. I share my thoughts on why we must dream our own dreams and not what society expects us to dream. I tell a story involving a spreadsheet (because spreadsheets are beautiful) about how taking ownership of my dreams is something that I still struggle with to this day.

I also share a book with you that I recently read and fell in love with, Luvvie Ajayi Jones' Professional Troublemaker. We explore Luvvie's maddening and hilarious chapter of dreaming and touch on why those who fall outside the category of white, straight, christian, able bodied, cisgendered man might struggle with dreaming big.

This is an uplifting and optimistic episode that I very much needed in my life. I hope it encourages you to embrace dreaming beyond what you ever imagined. Especially during challenging times. 

Resources:

Professional Trouble-Maker: The Fear Fighter Manual

Professional Trouble-Maker. The Podcast

Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. The TedTalk

"Modern Sexism simply denies that sexism exists. This is the most insidious form because it doesn't argue that men and women should be treated differently, but rather claims men and women are already treated the same." - Dr. Kristin Neff

In today's episode, I discuss something that has been on my mind for a while—Modern Sexism. Recently I've either experienced it or seen other women become entangled in it. However, I didn't have the vocabulary to express what was happening. 

It wasn't until I recently read, "Fierce Self Compassion" by Dr. Kristin Neff that I had the full understanding of what was happening: Modern Sexism. 

(Because we didn't have enough going on already with just the regular form of sexism) 

This is not an eloquent episode—I tell stories of children's books and swear frequently. But it's a story that is authentic and very close to my heart. It is also an important story. And I thank you for letting me share it with you. 

Resources:

Fierce Self Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power, and Thrive