This month, Mom, Sis and I all read the same book - Being Mortal by Atul Gawande - and it cracked open something that led to our most vulnerable conversation about dad's death. One, for whatever reason, we hadn't had before. 

We talk about: the oncologist who cancelled Dad's fifth round of chemo because of COVID, then admitted almost offhand that, because of dad's circumstances, four rounds versus five barely mattered; the family GP who was the only person, ever, to ask Dad point-blank what he actually wanted; Dad's own baseline through all of it - "give me a fighting chance" - and why none of us would try to talk him out of it (even now); the book's line that if end-of-life conversations were an experimental drug, the FDA would approve them instantly; and what "off you go" has become as the three of us joke, darkly and lovingly, about how we each want to go out ourselves.

This wasn't an easy one to record, but I think it's the most honest we've ever been with each other about losing Dad - and about what we each want, now, before anyone has to guess.

If this makes you think of a conversation you haven't had yet with someone you love, let this be the nudge to go have it. 

And please share, especially if you know someone that's held a great loss.

And if you'd like more from me - my coaching or my writing - you'll find both over on my website, or catch the more personal stuff on my Substack. 

See you next week, on The Other Side x

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Jen Alvarenga runs Good Story, the Ottawa real estate team she co-founded, and she'll tell a client not to buy the house they're already picturing their life in, if the numbers or the home don't actually add up for them.

What struck me is where that instinct comes from. Jen came to Canada from Honduras as an international student, translating her parents' government contract negotiations at 12 years old, and nearly got sent home mid-career when a border services officer called her in - only to tell her she was exactly the kind of person Canada wanted to keep.

We talk about: losing a high-end listing early in her career to an agent with more connections, and what she built instead of resenting it; the branding session where a firm told her, after interviewing her clients, that "Good Story" was the through-line in every single conversation they'd had; why she believes real estate can propel people forward instead of just being four walls and a roof; and how, inspired by cities like Copenhagen, she can see Ottawa's communities evolving if we show up for our local businesses.

Jen sees her city, and her clients' lives in it, with more care than almost anyone I've talked to, and I walked away wanting to actually use my front porch again.

Know someone about to buy or sell a home who needs an agent who'll tell them the truth, not just what they want to hear? Send them this one.

And if you'd like more from me - my coaching or my writing - you'll find both over on my website, or catch the more personal stuff on my Substack. 

See you next week, on The Other Side x

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Brittany Gordon, the holistic nutritionist behind Healing Ginger, spent years telling her husband that kids were a hard pass. Then, somewhere around 37, without really deciding to, she started tracking her cycles. 

Deciding to become a mom at 40 is one thing, but this conversation is largely about what happens to your identity, and life, after. 

We talk about: the kitchen conversation where her husband first said he never wanted kids, and the years of check-ins that followed; going back to work at three months postpartum, because self-employed parents don't get maternity pay; the miscarriage that came before Lillian; the specific, gutting loneliness of new motherhood, including a friendship that formed entirely at the park, every single day, for a year, until her friend moved away; and how the "mom" piece of you takes over for a while, without erasing the rest of you.

I don't think anyone talks enough about what it's like to become a mother after you've already spent decades building an entirely different identity - and Brittany's honesty about how hard that reshuffling still is, two years in, is exactly the kind of conversation I wish more people got to have out loud.

Know someone who became a mom later in life and could use hearing they're not alone in the identity crisis that comes with it? Send them this one.

And if you'd like more from me - my coaching or my writing - you'll find both over on my website, or catch the more personal stuff on my Substack. 

See you next week, on The Other Side x

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Amanda and Angie Cambareri opened Vincent Boutique (in Ottawa, ON) together  twelve years ago. They began with roughly $32,000 in inventory, and built their dream while working other jobs in-order to survive. And survive they did - not just as a business, but as sisters who are also the best of friends. 

What I wanted to talk to them about wasn't so much how they run a business, but how they run a business together. Amanda and Angie built their partnership on being opposites instead of trying to match each other, and when the ground shifted under the business last year, the same fear-of-not-doing-it instinct that got them to open a store in a recession is exactly what got them through it again.

We talk about: the late uncle neither of them ever met, and why his name ended up over the door; opening a boutique in the middle of a recession while working other jobs for the first three years to make it work; what it actually looks like to run a business with your sister, including how fast a real fight gets resolved between them; the one year out of twelve that Amanda calls harder than the year they opened, harder than the pandemic, and what actually caused it; and the new upstairs project they're building for whatever happens to a woman's body - and her closet - after 40.

I've been wearing a Frank and Eileen shirt I bought from Vincent almost ten years ago and I actually had it on to record this pod! Getting the full twelve-year story behind a shirt I've never once thought about retiring made me appreciate it, and the two of them, even more.

Got a sibling (or a business partner) you can have a full blowout fight with and be texting about dinner plans three hours later? Send them this one.

And if you'd like more from me - my coaching or my writing - you'll find both over on my website, or catch the more personal stuff on my Substack. 

See you next week, on The Other Side x

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Erin Benjamin got her first guitar at five years old because of a dream she had - it was a pretty bang on sign given she went on to spend the better part of a decade touring as a singer-songwriter, opening for the likes of Gowan and Burton Cummings, before walking away from the stage entirely.

What I love about Erin isn't that she was courageous enough to change careers, it's watching her trace the exact same instinct through both halves of her life: the thing that made her good on a stage as a musician is the same thing that, years later, let her help fight for the survival of an entire industry as CEO of the Canadian Live Music Association. 

We talk about: the life-changing dream at five years old; the hallway conversation with a board of directors that accidentally became her second career, and the one condition she gave them before saying yes; what it actually took to run Canada's live music industry through COVID, and the campaign that got tens of millions written into a federal budget for live music venues for the first time in Canadian history; the first concert Erin went back to once everything reopened, and why she says she still hasn't fully recovered from that stretch; and what she thinks live music does for a room full of strangers that nothing else quite can.

By the end, Erin and I were both trading our own favourite concert memories - my Eras Tour night, her first show back after COVID - and I was reminded, again, how good it feels to listen to your favourites, live. 

Know someone who's quietly grieving a plan that didn't pan out the way they pictured it? Do me a favour and send them this one.

And if you'd like more from me - my coaching or my writing - you'll find both over on my website, or catch the more personal stuff on my Substack. 

See you next week, on The Other Side x

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I've wanted to go to South Africa since I was 16. I'm now 48 and still haven't gone. This week I sit down with mom, Lorraine, and sis, Danielle, to try to figure out why.

But this conversation isn't all travel talk - it's about making a will that got put off for decades because our dad was convinced that making one would kill him, and then we get into the real difference between being afraid to die and being afraid not to live.

What you'll hear about: mom's theory for why I still haven't book the South Africa trip; what happened right after mom and dad finally made their legal wills; the grandmother who quietly destroyed a paper will two generations back to make sure her daughters weren't left out, long before anyone was talking about that kind of thing; the Autobahn road trip that nearly ended on a bridge with no middle, and what it revealed about who in this family plans for worst-case and who just wants to see what happens; and Danielle's case for why a bucket list can do more harm than good.

If this one has you thinking about the friend who keeps putting off the trip or the parent who still won't talk about a will, do them both a favour and send this to them.

And if you'd like more from me - my coaching or my writing - you'll find both over on my website, or catch the more personal stuff on my Substack. 

See you next week, on The Other Side x

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Donna Spurvey was 40, single, and done waiting for a partner to have a kid with. She took out a $50,000 loan for a fertility process that her clinic gave her a 5% to 10% chance of working. 

What strikes me about Donna isn't so much her decision to become a mom on her own, it's that she never once treated it like something to hide.

We talk about: the conversation on a park bench that ended one relationship and started the real plan; choosing a sperm donor from an online profile with her dad's help, and the one detail in a stranger's letter that made up her mind; the two half-siblings her daughter has connected with who live on two different continents, found through a donor registry; and why honesty was never up for debate in her house, starting the day her daughter was born.

Donna and I have known each other for over 20 years, and this conversation didn't just catch me up on her life, it reminded me of how watching her journey online helped my own sister and I have some of our most honest conversations about what building a family on your own terms actually looks like.

Know someone who's still waiting for the right circumstances, the right partner, the right time, to go after the thing they actually want? Do them a favour and send them this one.

And if you'd like more from me - my coaching or my writing - you'll find both over on my website, or catch the more personal stuff on my Substack. 

See you next week, on The Other Side x

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Amanda Thirkill's first day working as a full-time photographer was in March of 2020. Days later, the pandemic shut down every wedding and family shoot on her calendar. She didn't have a plan B - she just started saying yes to work she'd never done before.

What makes this conversation worth the hour isn't the timing, though, it's that this wasn't the only time Amanda has had to start completely over. A few years later she moved to Ottawa, a city where nobody recognized her name, her portfolio, or her years of experience, and had to rebuild all of it from scratch.

We talk about: the first time a friend offered to pay her for a photo; the pandemic contract with a U.S. alcohol brand that kept her business afloat when weddings disappeared overnight; what it actually felt like walking into Ottawa with over a decade of experience and a portfolio nobody there recognized; the International Women's Day portrait project she started to mark her first year in the city, now grown to fifteen women nominated by her own team; the broken Minolta camera that belonged to her dad, and why she tracked down the exact same model on eBay; and the one piece of advice she'd pass on to anyone chasing photography as a career.

I walked away from this one wanting to book my own session with Amanda - for the photos, of course, but also for her. We could have kept chatting for hours. 

Know someone who's had to start over from scratch - a move, a layoff, a business that didn't survive what hit it? Do me a favour and send them this one.

And if you'd like more from me - my coaching or my writing - you'll find both over on my website, or catch the more personal stuff on my Substack. 

See you next week, on The Other Side x

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On this episode Nadine welcomes Ottawa-based astrologer, Sarah Goldsmith, to the pod to explore astrology as a tool for mindfulness, storytelling, and personal growth rather than certainty. 

They chat about Sarah's background, how she became interested in astrology and how her approach blends modern and Hellenistic astrology, psychological theory, cycle awareness, and her own personal philosophy grounded in self-trust and mindful routine. 

Listen in as Nadine learns about natal charts, rising signs, whole sign houses, transits, and techniques like perfections. Together they walk through the language, the meanings, and themes, and then demystify Mercury retrograde because what is an episode on astrology without talking about that ;D

For a reading, or if you're simply curious, you can check Sarah out here. 

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Mom and sis are back, and this week we asked mom how she managed to stay in love with the same person for over 50 years - our dad <3

Though she says there's no magic formula, she tells us of the importance of trust, mutual respect, being in-tune with one another, and having a deep love that supersedes those days when you don't like each other very much. 

As mom reflects on the reality of raising kids and working - the exhaustion, the uneven load mothers can carry, the moments of resentment - she tells us how a marriage can survive those all consuming years by perseverance and finding time, even small moments, for your relationship in-between everything else. 

This conversation also highlights the importance of friendship and community in our lives, along with Lorraine’s belief in independence, including the secret bank account she kept for decades “just in case,” (you'll have to listen to hear the details on this!). 

At the heart of this episode is mom’s certainty that love is a feeling you can't control, make-up, or ignore. You either feel it or you don't. And if you're lucky to come upon it, you will keep choosing each other over life's constant changes. 

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