Welcome with Karim Kanji

Eric Hicks is an actor. He sounds like Matthew McConaughey. He's a volunteer at a hospice. Ad he's one of the funniest people I've interviewed this year.

Eric Hicks is most widely known for his role as Constable D. Fox in the multi-award-winning detective series Cardinal (CTV). He has also played opposite Kim Coates, Lisa Berry and Brandon Oakes as Detective Ken Tucker for season two of Bad Blood.

Darryl Hurs has a 25+ year history in the music business including launching and running one of Canada’s largest indie music festivals and conference, Indie Week.

Recently, Darryl was hired as the director of market development for CD Baby in Canada.

Past positions include design and branding/marketing for Live Nation as a freelancer, retail buyer at HMV, and booker for one of Toronto’s top live music venues.

The creators of Next Stop are Jabbari Weekes, Tichaona Tapambwa, and Phil Witmer. Next Stop is an comedy series that chronicles the lives of Black Torontonians struggling to stay afloat and sane in the sprawling city.

Canadian-born, South Asian Toronto artist, Romana, expands global conversation through sound. This past summer Romana released a stunning self-directed video for her single, Melanin. The song tells the story of a person of colour as they shed Eurocentric ideals of beauty, accepting the richness of who they really are.

Romana is an artist at heart who is currently using her musical talents to both grow as a person and share her journey and discovery of self with others.

Kris and Nigel are two of the nicest and funniest people I've had the pleasure of speaking with on this podcast.

Bit Playas is a comedy series on CBC Gem/Amazon Prime created by Kris Siddiqi and Nigel Downer - two friends/actors that met while working at The Second City Toronto. Season One deals with Race, Nerd Culture, Dating, Marijuana and navigating the Canadian Entertainment scene as actors of color. The show originally came out December 2019 and was just released this past summer on Amazon Prime in the US and the UK.

STORRY is a singer-songwriter who writes and produces her own music, and is intrinsically involved in all aspects of her career from designing album covers to directing award-winning music videos.

Her debut concept album, CH III: The Come Up, was released on\\this past February 20, 2020 to critical acclaim. Since then, she was nominated for a 2020 JUNO Award in the category of Reggae Recording of the Year for her song, Another Man, which was produced by reggae royalty, Sly and Robbie.

Now, with the world in retrospection, STORRY decided to write and assemble virtual collaborations in order to create a new EP called INTERLUDE-19 in isolation. Another conceptual piece with an array of emotions and genres that take her listeners on a journey, marking a monumental transition between chapters. STORRY’s art is raw and honest to the max.

Aixa Kay is an actor originally from Saudi Arabia who now calls Vancouver home. She is the star of the new Canadian movie, Jasmine Road.

Harnarayan Singh is the author of the brand new book, ONE GAME AT A TIME.

Bonino Bonino Bonino!

Video clips of the Hockey Night in Punjabi broadcast of Nick Bonino's goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins immediately went viral, amplifying the profile of Harnarayan Singh, the voice behind the call.

In this conversation with Harnarayan we talk about his love of hockey and Canada while also challenging both to be better. We talked about his relationship with Ron MacLean and his sister Gurdeep. Of course we talked about his journey from calling games with a toy microphone as a kid to calling Hockey Night in Canada games across the country and everything in between.

We also discover the one thing most people don't know about Harnarayan Singh. You will be surprised!

Toronto-born and bred, Indigenous multidisciplinary artist, producer, engineer and DJ, David Strickland – known for his work on some of the most iconic Grammy and JUNO-award winning records by Toronto artists and North American Hip-Hop progenitors alike – released his long awaited album, Spirit Of Hip-Hop, on June 29 via Entertainment One.

David’s perspective, “The DJ is the Drummer; the MC is the Storyteller, the B-boy is the Dancer and the Graffiti Artist is the Sand Painter” is rooted in Spirit Of Hip-Hop, as he emerges from behind the boards to share an embodiment of the teachings, art, traditions, and music of the community, aligned with his Indigenous heritage. Amongst an extensive collaboration roster, the album includes Indigenous rappers such as Supaman, Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Artson, Que Rock, Drezus, Leonard Sumner, Joey Styles, and more, while North American hip-hop legends EPMD, Saukrates, Def Squad (Redman, Erick Sermon, Keith Murray), Maestro Fresh Wes, and a posthumous verse from King Reign, are brought into the fold.

David is passionate about the plight of the Mi'kmaq people and recognition of his family lineage can be traced back by five generations. He is committed to restoring the dignity and respect stripped by an unconstitutional agreement that remove and denied Indian status from thousands of people.

Sami Jo Small is a three-time Canadian Olympic ice hockey goalie (two golds and one silver) and a five-time World Champion. A graduate of Stanford University in mechanical engineering, she now works as a Certified Speaking Professional, delivering messages on how to build successful teams as well as successful teammates. From Winnipeg, Manitoba, she now lives in Mississauga, Ontario.