The Hum Podcast

Soyeon Jang escaped from North Korea in 1999 at the height of a famine that killed an estimated 3-million citizens. She talks about her unimaginable escape from North Korea, being sold and human trafficked in China, losing contact with her family, and her heroic journey that eventually brought her to Toronto.

This week, hosts Gilad Cohen and Taylah Harris-Mungo interview each other. They chat about mental health, panic attacks, and anxiety while also exploring how growing up with immigrant / racialized families impacted how they see the world around them.

Angela Nguyen is a registered nurse, human rights activist, and Founder/President of One Body Village Canada, a charity that is committed to supporting survivors of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking from Vietnam and Cambodia. She joins us to chat about her organization, modern day slavery, and how Canadians can join in the fight to combat human trafficking.

DijahSB is a Toronto-based rapper, advocate for mental health, and huge basketball fan. They join co-hosts Gilad Cohen and Taylah Harris-Mungo to chat about the journey of becoming a full-time artist, how being gender non-binary let them be themselves, and how being a troll on Twitter has helped them develop a community.

Miral Mokhtar and Nouran Hussein are artists, activists and also queer refugees from Egypt. Forced to flee due to their sexual orientation, they join co-hosts Gilad Cohen and Taylah Harris-Mungo to chat about their love story, homophobia, their journey to Toronto and housing insecurity in Canada.

Ann Shin is an award winning documentary filmmaker, advocate for North Korean refugees and author of The Last Exiles. She joins hosts Gilad Cohen and Taylah Harris-Mungo to discuss the plight of North Korean defectors, using the arts as a tool to share stories, and the misadventures of Dragon, a man with multiple cell phones.

Heather Trentacosta is a mother, host of the Without Conviction podcast, and brother of Sean Ryan, an incarcerated man who is claiming he is wrongfully convicted. She joins hosts Gilad Cohen and Taylah Harris-Mungo to discuss her brother's case, him being in solitary confinement for 27+ years, how horrifically common it is for cases to be mishandled, and that time he escaped prison.

Brishkay Ahmed is an Afghan-Canadian documentary filmmaker who focuses her art on sharing stories of women's rights. She joins us to talk about her life growing up in Afghanistan, the current conflict, and what Canadians can do to help.

Rana Abu Fraiha is a Bedouin-Palestinian documentary filmmaker and close friend of Guy Ben-Aharon, an Israeli-American theatre director. They are also artists and advocates for peace between Palestine and Israel. They join hosts Gilad Cohen and Taylah Harris-Mungo to discuss how the conflict in the Middle East has impacted them, how trauma affects the way we view the world, and six hour lunches.

Sumaiya Matin is a social worker, a survivor of forced marriage, and author of The Shaytan Bride. She joins hosts Gilad Cohen and Taylah Harris-Mungo to talk about how people get trapped into forced marriages, how the Muslim faith is widely misinterpreted and exploited, as well as how her experiences inspired her to help others .