STRONG LIKE a GIRL

Season two ends where it began. No guest this time. Just Tanya Labuick looking back at nine conversations and asking what actually stayed with her after the microphones were off. Nine women arrived with nothing in common, and every one of them ended up talking about the same thing: choice.

Tanya also opens up about her own season for the first time. Stepping away from a business she spent years helping build, relaunching LaBuick & Co., starting executive coaching work, and settling into what she calls the beautiful, messy middle.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Welcome back to the kitchen table

1:27 The one word every guest kept coming back to

1:54 The season Tanya's own life changed too

3:47 Strength is a choice, not a trait

4:19 Lyn Radford and the quiet ones who change the room

5:09 Lyndsay Seafoot on trying anyway

6:00 Willie Van Lankvelt on courage and gratitude

7:58 Tami Rae Rourke on anxiety and getting good at looking okay

10:29 Debi Cost-Finn on cancer, music, and keeping her joy

11:51 Shelley Wray on grief that changes shape

15:11 Amy Doerksen on becoming permission

17:02 Treena Innes on joy as fuel

18:23 Angela Heck, the wild heart who tied the season together

21:09 Creeping ageism and the beautiful, messy middle

24:18 Nine women, nine choices

26:43 A message to the women listening

28:26 What it actually means to be STRONG LIKE a GIRL

SEASON TWO GUESTS

Ep 1: Lyn Radford, community leadership and quiet strength

Ep 2: Tami Rae Rourke, entrepreneurship and living with anxiety

Ep 3: Debi Cost-Finn, music as medicine and rising after cancer

Ep 4: Lyndsay Seafoot, quiet leadership and trying it anyway

Ep 5: Willie Van Lankvelt, immigration, family, and building something new

Ep 6: Treena Innes, reclaiming fun and solo backpacking

Ep 7: Shelley Wray, grief, rituals, and learning to carry loss

Ep 8: Amy Doerksen, fierce female hockey and confident girls

Ep 9: Angela Heck, creative careers and staying curious

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

LaBuick & Co: https://labuick.co

Jazz Winnipeg: https://jazzwinnipeg.com

National Film Board of Canada: https://www.nfb.ca

CBC: https://www.cbc.ca

CONNECT WITH STRONG LIKE a GIRL

Website: https://stronglikeagirl.ca

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stronglikeagirl.ca/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strong-like-a-girl/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/STRONG-LIKE-a-GIRL

If this episode resonated, leave a review and share it with a friend. We want more women and more stories to be heard.

Chin up, chest out, stay wild.

Angela Heck rolled into Tanya's life in 1995 driving a hand-painted VW bus, and she never stopped moving: the National Film Board, CBC, the Whistler Film Festival, award-winning documentaries, and now the Executive Director's chair at Jazz Winnipeg. Thirty years of friendship later, the two sit down for an honest conversation about building a creative career, the creeping ageism facing accomplished women, resilience as a choice, and why women need to stop apologizing.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Cold open

0:58 Meet Angela Heck

2:46 A polka dot VW bus and the 1997 Canada Games

5:35 The storm before opening ceremonies

7:30 An only child in Winnipeg

14:41 From diplomat dreams to arts and culture

16:30 Jazz Winnipeg and the Whistler Film Festival

20:32 Never planned on marriage or kids

22:50 Making films and meeting Ivan

30:02 Gender equity in film and music

36:03 Women in jazz and the power of stories

41:11 Rejection, resilience, and creeping ageism

45:56 A family of nine and motherhood

51:21 A wild heart and Everest Base Camp

56:32 Success, tomatoes, and life after 50

1:00:16 Stop apologizing

1:02:16 Rapid fire

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Jazz Winnipeg: https://jazzwinnipeg.com

Whistler Film Festival: https://whistlerfilmfestival.com

National Film Board of Canada: https://www.nfb.ca

Folklorama: https://folklorama.ca

In the Shadow of the Chief (2003), Angela's first documentary

CONNECT WITH STRONG LIKE a GIRL

Website: https://stronglikeagirl.ca

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stronglikeagirl.ca/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strong-like-a-girl/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/STRONG-LIKE-a-GIRL

If this episode resonated with you, leave a review and share it with a friend. Chin up, chest out, stay wild

What happens when a woman decides, somewhere around 40, that she is not going to shrink as she gets older? She gets wilder. That is the heart of this episode of STRONG LIKE a GIRL, where Tanya sits down with Treena Innes, the self-described Life Fun Expert, author of Mind Doodles: This Is What I Know, and host of The Finding Fun Experiment podcast.

Treena built an entire movement around one idea that sounds simple and turns out to be radical: fun is not frivolous, it is essential. She walks through how a bucket-list book project turned into a calling once women over 40 started asking her how she lived the way she did. Her answer was that she is not special. She just never let go of the thing most of us get trained out of somewhere between summer jobs, mortgages, and the long list of things we are supposed to be responsible for.

The conversation goes to some real places. Treena talks about the three things that block women from fun, guilt, judgment, and a lost habit, and the science that connects joy to better sleep, more energy, and aging well. She shares how caring for her dying mother became one of the most fun seasons of her life, not because it was happy, but because fun and happy are not the same thing, and fun is what gave her the resilience to carry the heavy part.

Then there are the trips. Treena has been to roughly 55 countries, most of them off the beaten path, often solo, with everything on her back. Japan with her teenage son. Colombia, where she felt safer than she expected. A cooking school in a Tuscan castle. The Amazon, where she got as remote as a person can get. Through all of it runs one message she repeats to anyone who will listen: stay wild, find your people, and stop apologizing for the guilt that is not even yours to carry.

If you have been craving more freedom, more spark, or simply permission to begin again, this one is for you.

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TIMESTAMPS / CHAPTERS

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0:00 Cold open

2:53 Welcome and meet Treena Innes

4:45 The book that started a fun movement

8:40 Why women stop prioritizing fun

11:40 Play personalities and fun at work

14:25 Born wild: reclaiming our spirit

15:44 The science of fun, health, and aging

18:49 Find your fun buddy

20:28 Fun vs. happy: resilience in the hard times

24:00 Becoming a backpacker at 40

28:35 Managing risk and a surprising Colombia

33:35 Tuscany and the most remote Amazon

38:43 When the world can't handle a bold woman

48:00 What women need to stop apologizing for

49:50 Rapid fire and closing reflection

Amy Doerksen ran for her local hockey board, lost, and decided she did not need permission to build the thing she wanted to see. That thing became Fierce Female Hockey, a camp in Brandon, Manitoba where everything is designed for girls. In this episode of Strong Like a Girl, Amy and Tanya talk about crossing over from ringette to hockey, the difference between being invited and being welcomed, why young women coaches get undermined, and what real male allyship looks like.

LINKS AND RESOURCES

Amy Doerksen: https://amydoerksen.com

Fierce Female Hockey: https://fiercefemalehockey.com

Esso Fun Days (Hockey Canada): https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/hockey-programs/female/esso-fun-days

Future of Hockey Lab: https://www.futureofhockeylab.com

PWHL: https://www.thepwhl.com

CONNECT WITH STRONG LIKE A GIRL

Website: https://stronglikeagirl.ca

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stronglikeagirl.ca/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strong-like-a-girl/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/STRONG-LIKE-a-GIRL

If this conversation stayed with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Chin up, chest out, stay wild.

Grief shows up in almost every story we tell on Strong Like a Girl, so this episode we sit down with someone who has spent years walking people through it. Shelley Wray is a grief seminar counsellor and certified funeral celebrant who found her calling as the counsellor at CFB Shilo during the Afghanistan war. We talk about why "what happened" beats "I'm so sorry," why rituals save us, and her belief that grief never really leaves, it just becomes a diamond you learn to carry.Chapters0:00 Telling the truth about grief1:13 Meet Shelley Wray2:44 The work she's proudest of: CFB Shiloh7:01 It isn't how they died, it's what happened10:51 Why grievers need to tell their story13:15 When grief accumulates14:48 Why everyone's talking about grief now16:46 How men and women grieve differently23:30 Rituals save us33:22 The razor blades and the diamond35:23 Why all grief is 100 percent39:05 Grief isn't about death, it's about loss44:45 Just show up: the daily ritual56:49 What still makes life beautiful59:14 The gratitude journal1:01:06 What women need to stop apologizing for1:04:01 Rapid fire1:06:18 Closing reflectionsMentioned in this episodeShelley's grief group: first Monday of every month at Brockie Donovan in Brandon, MB. Anyone can come. https://brockiedonovan.com/Grief Recovery Method: https://www.griefrecoverymethod.com/Connect with Strong Like a GirlWebsite: https://stronglikeagirl.caInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/stronglikeagirl.ca/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strong-like-a-girl/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/STRONG-LIKE-a-GIRLIf this conversation stayed with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Chin up, chest out, stay wild, stay strong like a girl.

Willie Van Lankvelt was 21 when she packed up her life in the Netherlands and crossed an ocean to start over in rural Manitoba. She didn't speak much English. She'd never grain farmed. She was leaving seven siblings behind. None of that stopped her, and 46 years later she's still here, still building, still showing up.

In this conversation Tanya sits down with Willie to trace a life that doesn't look loud from the outside but has been quietly remarkable from the inside. They cover the move from Holland in 1980 with her sister and brother-in-law, learning English one dictionary entry at a time, and losing her father two years in before she could get back to say goodbye. They get into Willie's decades of work with adults with developmental disabilities, including coaching Special Olympics and one unforgettable race where an athlete handed her a set of false teeth at the starting line.

Willie also opens up about her 17 years leading the Shiloh Military Family Resource Centre through the Afghanistan deployment years, what it actually takes to lead an organization when your board changes every posting cycle, and what civilians don't see about the invisible weight military families carry. Her honesty about leadership friction, owning mistakes, and refusing to fake certainty is some of the most grounded advice you'll hear on this show.

The back half of the episode turns to her medical journey. Willie was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2006, then lung and brain cancer in the summer of 2022 with a 10 percent chance of surviving the year. She walks through gamma knife brain surgery, the radon gas connection most Canadians have never heard of, and how she stayed at her desk through chemo because she wasn't ready to let illness pick her retirement date.

She closes on what life looks like now: cuddling babies in the neonatal unit three hours a week, leaving every space better than she found it, and a refusal to entertain negativity that has earned its keep. Her definition of strong like a girl: anything's possible, and don't back down.

What we covered:

• Growing up the middle of nine kids on a mixed farm in the Netherlands
• The decision to immigrate to Canada in 1980 with her sister and brother-in-law
• Buying a grain farm north of Rivers, Manitoba without ever having grain farmed
• Learning English one dictionary lookup at a time while doing home care
• Losing her dad two years after the move and not making it back in time
• Driving a 12-passenger van 430 km a day for adults with developmental disabilities
• Coaching Special Olympics and the false-teeth moment that still makes her laugh
• 17 years at the Shiloh Military Family Resource Centre as Executive Director
• Leading during the Afghanistan years and supporting families through deployments
• The hardest leadership lesson: when to back down and when to fight for the call
• Thyroid cancer in 2006, recurrence in 2008, lung and brain cancer in 2022
• Radon gas as the second leading cause of lung cancer and how to test your home
• Gamma knife radiosurgery and what the helmet actually feels like
• Retiring at 65 on her own terms, not because cancer made the call
• Volunteer cuddling in the Brandon Regional Health Centre NICU
• Why she chooses positive people and walks away from negativity

Connect with Strong Like a Girl:

Website: https://stronglikeagirl.ca

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stronglikeagirl.ca/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strong-like-a-girl/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/STRONG-LIKE-a-GIRL

Lyndsay Seafoot didn't grow up loud. She grew up watching. Born in a small town on the northeast tip of Scotland, raised in rural Manitoba alongside eight siblings spread across three continents, she learned early that quiet kids notice things other people miss. Two decades later, that habit became the foundation of an HR company.

Lyndsay sits down with Tanya to talk about how her family roots, her grandfather Hugh's farm, and a few unexpected detours led her to start Kerbridge Group in 2020. From a chiropractic clinic side hustle that paid $20 an hour, she's grown Kerbridge into a tech-forward HR firm with two flagship products: Standout Staff, a free digital resume platform that replaces the paper PDF, and Director's Desk, an HR software platform built specifically for the childcare industry in partnership with the Manitoba Childcare Association.

She gets real about what's happening right now. She's doubling her team this month. She's making decisions she hasn't made before. She's wondering what happens if it doesn't work. And she's pulling strength from the same place she always has: the people who came before her, the women who lead beside her, and a granddad who hired people that nobody else would hire.

Tanya and Lyndsay also dig into the contradictions women face in leadership. The "you'll never do it if you have kids" line. The way women apologize before they've even said the wrong thing. The word "just" showing up in every email. The strange territory of being underestimated and learning to enjoy it. And the philosophy Lyndsay's whole company runs on, the one she got from her grandfather: leave people better than you found them.

If you've ever stood on the edge of something new and wondered if you should bother trying, this conversation is for you. Lyndsay's answer is simple. The regret of not trying is so much worse than the worst case scenario of trying.

What we covered:

• How a quiet, observant kid grows into a leader who reads rooms in real time
• Growing up in a family of nine kids spread across Scotland, Canada, Australia, and the US
• How Lyndsay's grandfather Hugh, a farmer who hired people with criminal records and gave them a shot, shaped the entire philosophy of Kerbridge Group
• Founding Kerbridge in 2020 after a stint owning 40% of a chiropractic clinic
• Building Standout Staff, a free digital resume platform that ditches the PDF for short video intros and dynamic web pages
• Director's Desk, the HR software platform built for the childcare industry, in partnership with the Manitoba Childcare Association
• Why HR has become more about culture and "employer resumes" than minimum wage compliance
• How the unspoken contract between employer and employee has shifted in the last 20 years
• What it actually feels like to double your team in one month
• Why the strongest leaders lead with presence first and profit second
• How Lyndsay handles the moment of being visibly underestimated in a meeting
• The questions men never get asked about parenthood and ambition
• Why women add the word "just" to every other sentence and what it costs us
• Hugh's principle: leave people better than you found them
• The case for trying it anyway, even if you might fail

Connect with Strong Like a Girl:

Website: https://stronglikeagirl.ca

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stronglikeagirl.ca/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strong-like-a-girl/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/STRONG-LIKE-a-GIRL

Debi Cost-Finn raised her son alone on food stamps, built a career bringing therapeutic music into hospitals, was diagnosed with breast cancer 85 days after her wedding, and flushed her medication down the toilet rather than lose herself. Her story is proof that strength isn't about holding it together. It's about what you do when you can't.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

- Coro (therapeutic music in healthcare): https://www.coro.health

- The Doe Project (cold case organization): https://www.dnadoeproject.org

- Ramapo College (investigative genetic genealogy program)

- StrengthsFinder assessment

- GEDmatch (genealogy DNA database)

CONNECT WITH STRONG LIKE A GIRL:

Website: https://stronglikeagirl.ca

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stronglikeagirl.ca/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/strong-like-a-girl/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/STRONG-LIKE-a-GIRL

STRONG Like a Girl is a podcast about women's empowerment, resilience, and telling the stories of strong women. New episodes drop regularly. Subscribe so you don't miss one.

Tami Rae Rourke is the kind of person who makes everything look effortless. A career that spans telecommunications, real estate, financial advising, and board leadership. A telecom company she co-built from the ground up that sold for over $50 million. Chamber of Commerce president. Honorary Lieutenant Colonel. The resume reads like someone who never had a bad day.

But that's not the full story. Behind every boardroom win and business deal, Tami was quietly battling severe anxiety and phobias that started when she was just 14 years old. Three traumatic events hit back to back: a break-in at her home, an anaphylactic reaction from a shellfish allergy, and the sudden death of a close friend. The result was a fear so consuming she couldn't be left alone, couldn't drive, couldn't walk into a room of strangers without someone beside her.

In this conversation with Tanya, Tami opens up about what it actually costs to be the strong one in the room. She talks about losing a job because of a panic attack, skipping six months of school, and the moment she walked into her doctor's office at 20 years old and demanded a prescription that would change her life. She also reveals something she's never shared publicly before: that she didn't take maternity leave not because she was a workaholic, but because her anxiety made it impossible to stay home alone with her children.

This episode is raw, honest, and deeply human. Tami and Tanya also dig into what it means to be a woman in business, the double standard that labels assertive women as "bossy" while rewarding the same behavior in men, and how anxiety and leadership can coexist in the same person. Whether you're dealing with your own mental health challenges or you just want to understand someone who is, this one's worth your time.

What if the strongest leaders are not the loudest in the room, but the ones who quietly keep building when nobody is watching?In this Season 2 kickoff of Strong Like a Girl, host Tanya sits down with her aunt, Lyn Radford, for a deep conversation on leadership, service, and legacy. Lyn shares how she moved from being labeled as a homemaker in boardrooms to leading major community initiatives, including a dedicated gymnastics facility in Red Deer and a large-scale Ronald McDonald House capital campaign. The episode explores what real leadership looks like over decades: taking smart risks, building trust, balancing strong personalities, and staying grounded in principle when decisions get hard. Lyn also reflects on women in leadership, Indigenous identity in public service spaces, and the personal cost, plus reward, of community-focused work. Listeners will walk away with practical insights on fundraising, board strategy, resilience, and how to build projects that actually last.Timestamps00:00 Intro story, first impressions in leadership rooms01:24 Intro to Lyn Radford’s impact and legacy03:00 Early life, marriage, moving to Red Deer, and family roots19:45 How Lyn pushed for a dedicated gymnastics facility22:10 Fundraising risk decision that changed momentum24:50 Raising major campaign dollars and donor psychology26:12 “Thank a donor seven times in seven ways”40:20 Board dynamics, why you need people who challenge you41:10 Women, identity, and navigating hard governance spaces46:10 Failure, risk, and turning setbacks into wins53:20 Integrity, principles, and holding your line under pressure56:18 Honors, recognition, and why leadership is never solo01:03:18 What women should stop apologizing for01:04:06 “If you want to build something that lasts...”01:05:35 Rapid-fire closing questions01:08:00 Outro and where to connectKey TakeawaysQuiet leadership is still powerful leadership. Consistency and service build long-term impact.Fundraising is relationship work. Donors give when they feel ownership and clear purpose.Strong boards need cognitive diversity. Do not build a room full of people who think like you.Principles matter most under pressure. Integrity is tested when decisions are unpopular.Lasting change requires community. Big outcomes are built by many people, not one hero.Memorable Quotes“If they cannot deal with your intelligence, move on, you are not in the right place.”“If you want to build something that lasts, you must be willing to work hard.”“You need to build a community around you.”“Leadership is not a moment. It is consistency.”Guest InformationLyn Radford is a longtime community builder, board leader, entrepreneur, and mentor known for leading major sport and civic initiatives in Alberta. She served as the first solo female chairperson of a Canada Games host committee and helped drive high-impact capital campaigns and facility projects. Her leadership style centers on service, integrity, and sustainable community outcomes.Podcast/Show site: https://stronglikeagirlpodcast.ca/YouTube channel:    / @stronglikeagirl  Episode link:    • Lyn Radford on Community Leadership, Fundr...  Resources MentionedStrong Like a Girl Podcast: https://stronglikeagirlpodcast.ca/Episode video:    • Lyn Radford on Community Leadership, Fundr...  Canada Games: https://www.canadagames.ca/Ronald McDonald House Charities Alberta: https://rmhcalberta.org/If this episode resonated with you:Subscribe or follow Strong Like a GirlLeave a rating and review on your podcast appShare this episode with someone building in their communitySend a voice note or story via the podcast website