Women on Wisdom

In this powerful episode of the Women on Wisdom Podcast, host Sandra Boyd sits down with sobriety and life coach Heather Simcoe for an honest and vulnerable conversation about perfectionism, high achievement, and the quiet struggle of addiction.

Heather reflects on her path from a difficult childhood and early coping mechanisms to creating a thriving entrepreneurial empire alongside her husband, all while carrying the exhausting weight of maintaining appearances. She opens up about the devastating spiral of alcoholism, the turning point of complete surrender, and the intentional healing that led to rebuilding her marriage, purpose, and over a decade of sobriety.

In this episode, you will hear about:

• The pressure women face to project a perfect image while secretly struggling inside
• Understanding addiction as a progressive illness that requires honest self-reflection
• Rebuilding trust, identity, and healthy relationships after hitting a crisis point
• Navigating burnout and why you do not have to wait for rock bottom to make a change
• The essential role of community, vulnerability, and clear personal boundaries in lasting recovery

About Heather Simcoe:
Heather Simcoe is a dedicated sobriety and life coach with more than two decades of background in holistic personal growth, leadership, and wellness mentoring. Drawing on her own hard-won journey through childhood adversity, perfectionism, and overcoming addiction, she offers tailored, concierge-level support that nurtures mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. With over ten years of sobriety, Heather combines deep lived insight with practical strategies to help ambitious women overcome burnout, move through significant life transitions, and build lives rooted in resilience, clarity, and genuine purpose.

In this episode of the Women on Wisdom Podcast, Sandra speaks with Dr. Rabia Khan about why a prevention-first approach to adolescent female health is more important than ever.

They discuss the impact of social media and screen time on girls’ mental health, body image, sleep, anxiety, self-esteem, and social connection. Dr. Khan also shares how parents, doctors, educators, and communities can better support teens through curiosity, early intervention, healthy boundaries, and stronger emotional support systems.

In this conversation, they explore:

This conversation is a call to take adolescent health seriously, ask the questions that are too often missed, and create meaningful change before young women reach a breaking point.

Our guest this week:

Serving as the lead physician for both the East Wellington Family Health Team (EWFHT) and its Memory Clinic, Dr. Rabia Khan completed her medical degree at Queen’s University followed by family medicine residency training at McMaster University. Her early medical career included providing care in rural Northern Ontario as well as international clinical experience.

Since relocating to Rockwood with her family in 2011, Dr. Khan has remained deeply engaged in local civic life. Her community contributions include co-founding The Rockwood Farmers' Market, serving on the Upper Grand District School Board’s Diversity Committee, and participating in the University of Guelph’s Multi-faith Resource Team. Additionally, she has supported settlement initiatives for Syrian refugees throughout the Guelph area.

What happens when your instinct to help meets your intuition telling you to be cautious? 

In this Wisdom Moment, Sandra shares a personal experience from a walk in her local park. A woman approached her in a panic, asking to use her phone because her husband was missing. Sandra’s first instinct was to help, but her wisdom reminded her to stay aware of the scams and safety concerns that can happen in public places, especially to women who are alone or older. 

Rather than handing over her phone, Sandra offered to make the call herself while setting a clear boundary. She asked the woman to step back, contacted her husband, and helped guide him to a nearby soccer field where the couple was reunited. 

The moment was a reminder that compassion and caution can exist together. Taking a breath, listening to your intuition, and creating a safe boundary does not mean refusing to help. It means finding a way to support someone while also protecting yourself. Sandra also recognized that the husband may have been experiencing memory-related challenges, which made the situation even more meaningful. 

For anyone who has experienced a loved one going missing, the fear and panic are deeply familiar. Wisdom is not always about knowing exactly what is happening. Sometimes, it is about pausing long enough to notice what feels unusual, trusting your instincts, and responding with both care and awareness. 

Have you ever experienced a moment when your intuition helped guide you through a difficult situation? Share your story in the comments.

Why do women sometimes pull each other down instead of lifting each other up?

This week's Wisdom Moments, Sandra opens up about years of debilitating periods, severe PMS, crippling migraines, and endless medical interventions, all while managing a career, raising children, and showing up for the people she loved. When menopause finally arrived, it felt like a miracle.

But a recurring joke from a close friend who never suffered the same way keeps reopening an old wound. By teasing Sandra about how "moody" she used to be, what sounds like harmless ribbing actually reduces real pain to a punchline and creates a quiet hierarchy where those who did not suffer get to judge.

Recycling old labels about women's bodies and moods is not funny. It is harmful. People evolve and grow, and none of us should have to keep carrying an outdated version of ourselves. This episode is a call to choose compassion over the cheap joke, because we are stronger together when we build each other up.

If this resonates, ask yourself: what is a softer, kinder response for supporting a friend? You might just change someone's life.

Sandra Boyd sits down with Dr. Dayna Lee-Baggley, Registered Psychologist, researcher, and internationally recognized expert in human behaviour, to explore an important question facing today’s workplaces: how can leaders and employees navigate uncertainty when there is no clear destination?

Through practical insights and real-world examples, Dr. Lee-Baggley explains the difference between change and uncertainty—and why uncertainty can place an additional strain on our brains, emotions, energy, and performance. Together, they examine how layoffs, AI, economic pressures, and continuous workplace disruption are affecting organizations and the people within them.

The conversation also explores the unique pressures women face in leadership, including the double bind, emotional labour, burnout, caregiving responsibilities, and the expectation to remain composed and capable at all times.

We talk about:

Whether you are leading through workplace change, feeling exhausted by uncertainty, or trying to set healthier boundaries at work and home, this episode offers thoughtful, research-based guidance for protecting your wellbeing and creating more human workplaces.

Our Guest This Week:

Dr. Dayna Lee-Baggley is a Registered Psychologist with two decades of professional experience in clinical psychology, health psychology, and organizational psychology. She has extensive applied experience and research knowledge in burnout, psychological safety in the workplace, behaviour and organizational change, and wellness leadership.

Dr. Lee-Baggley conducts innovative research at Dalhousie and Saint Mary’s University. She is an internationally recognized expert in human behaviour and the author of Healthy Habits Suck: How to Get Off the Couch and Live a Healthy Life Even If You Don’t Want To.

Has technology degraded our ability to connect?

This week's Wisdom Moments discusses an experience Sandra had while in conversation with a bright young woman, one that quickly went from a casual chat to feeling of unease and defensiveness.

The tension came from the woman's zealous need to fact check and search everything Sandra said. It's a subtle behavior, informed by the ease of access we now have to information, but its one that makes a conversation less like human connection and more like querying a Large Language Model.

In a world now tailored to speed and convenience, we need a space for presence, where technology doesn't intrude into a face-to-face discussion. If we allow ourselves to interact with technology thoughtlessly, we risk throwing away the things that make us fascinating, curious, and empathetic individuals, through no ill intent.

Let's restore human connection. Little acts that distance ourselves from technology might do a world of difference in changing our behaviors and perspectives.

Sandra Boyd sits down with Jennifer Spencer, entrepreneur, intuition coach, and Co-Founder of Pause+Expand, to explore a question many women face during periods of change: how do you know when it’s time to trust yourself and move in a new direction?

Through personal stories and practical insights, Jennifer shares how intuition can help guide major life transitions, from career changes and entrepreneurship to relationships, identity shifts, and personal growth. Together, they discuss why so many women find themselves at a crossroads in midlife and how learning to listen to themselves can lead to greater clarity and fulfillment.

We talk about:

Whether you are considering a career change, navigating a personal transition, or simply looking for greater clarity in your life, this episode offers practical ways to tune into your intuition and make decisions with greater confidence and intention.

Jennifer Spencer is a Marketing Leader turned Entrepreneur and Intuition Coach with over 15 years of experience leading high-performing teams across the technology, beauty, apparel, and wellness industries. As Co-Founder of Pause+Expand, she helps organizations and individuals foster connection, clarity, and purpose through mindfulness-based wellness programs.

Jennifer specializes in guiding midlife women and corporate leaders through transitions, blending intuitive coaching with practical tools for personal and professional growth. A certified sound healer, meditation and visualization teacher, and intuitive medium, she integrates mindfulness and emotional intelligence into every aspect of her work.

Jennifer’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-spencer/

Do we put too much pressure on work to make us feel fulfilled?

In this Wisdom Moments episode, Sandra Boyd explores the growing belief that passion and identity must come primarily from our careers and why that expectation may be setting many people up for disappointment.

Using a real coaching conversation as inspiration, Sandra reflects on how many people feel like something is wrong simply because they are not deeply passionate about their jobs all the time, even when they genuinely enjoy their work and the people around them.

This conversation challenges the idea that work should define our happiness, purpose, and identity. Instead, it encourages a more holistic view of fulfillment, one that includes family, hobbies, relationships, creativity, travel, and the many other experiences that shape who we are.

Because maybe work does not need to be everything.

What fills your bucket outside of work?

We don’t always pay attention to the things that seem small. In this week’s Wisdom Moments, Sandra Boyd shares a personal experience with skin cancer that started as something easy to ignore. A small cut that didn’t heal. Something that seemed manageable until it wasn’t.

The reality is, early signals are often subtle — a change you brush off, a symptom that comes and goes.

The message is simple, but important. Pay attention. Act early.

Whether it’s your health, your team, or your environment, the cost of waiting is often far greater than the effort of addressing something early. If something feels off, don’t ignore it.

When was the last time you paid attention to something you almost dismissed?

How many women of the next generation today truly understand how recent the fights for their rights were? And how many understand how easy it is for those rights to be undermined and squashed?

In this episode of Women on Wisdom, Sandra Boyd sits down with Lenna Bradburn, executive coach, former police chief, and multi-sector trailblazer, to confront an uncomfortable truth: if we don’t understand the struggles of the past, we risk overlooking the barriers that still exist today. Together, they explore why progress is not a straight line, and why assuming the work is done may be one of the biggest risks to women’s advancement.

We talk about:

- The historical milestones that shaped women’s rights in Canada

- Why many women are unaware of how recent these rights actually are

- The difference between equality and equity and why it matters

- The risk of regression and why continued vigilance is critical

- Practical ways women can support each other and challenge barriers

Whether you are early in your career, leading organizations, or shaping the next generation, this episode offers a grounded perspective on the progress made and the work still ahead.

Our guest this week:

Lenna Bradburn has had a distinguished career as a trailblazer and change agent across policing, government, and executive leadership. At just 34 years old, she became Canada’s first female police chief, leading the Guelph Police Service, and went on to hold senior roles in government oversight, municipal services, gaming, social housing, and healthcare .

Today, Lenna works as an executive coach and consultant, supporting organizations in advancing strategic initiatives. Known for her leadership and impact, she has been recognized as one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 and among Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100.

Lenna’s LinkedIn can be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennabradburn/