We sit down with Zarqa Nawaz, the creator of Little Mosque on the Prairie , the world's first sitcom about a Muslim community living in the west. She has recently released both a new book and a new show (out now on CBC Gem), and joins us to share her insights on storytelling — from how her faith informs her writing process, to her personal journey in bringing stories like hers to the mainstream, to the inherent value of depicting the ordinary. Links: Watch ZARQA on CBC Gem Jameela Green Ruins Ev...
Jun 08, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 40
We are all multi-hyphenate. How can we reframe what it means to be more than one thing and embrace our multiplicities? We talked to artist Jessica Hiemstra, whose work spans many different mediums, from essays and poetry to children's books to murals to large-scale installations, about how she navigates doing a lot. Our wide-ranging conversation spanned how we embrace being big in the world to the tabs we keep open in our lives to what we can learn from beavers. Jessica makes. Have a look. Links...
Jun 01, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 39
Grief is something that is present for a lot of us. There's lots to be sad about, so what's the best way to process the grief arising from it? Do we have an obligation to feel sad all the time given the daily tragedies in our world? We shine light on our own ongoing griefs and explore what it means to feel safe enough to feel all our feelings, even as we try and keep up with the needs around us. We also touch on counters to grief — which seem to fall somewhere between will and joy — and the mean...
May 25, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 38
Nat and Bec chat with Chicago-born digital media artist and social entrepreneur Anna DeShawn. We reminisce about the Podcast Movement conference in LA, church as preparation for life as a performer, and Anna shares some insights about creating when you don't fit in any box, doing many things at a time, and developing a self-care regimen that enables thinking big to flourish. Anna Deshawn is the founder of The Qube and E3 Radio, which are riding media into its next era by using digital media stre...
May 18, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 37
Bec and Nat chat with Jen McNeely, founder of She Does the City , about what it means to curate her life even as she curates a publishing platform. We get into shifts in perspective, taking on different roles as we mature and media changes, the negative side of wine mom culture, advocating for mental health and recovery, and simpler ways of being. Links: Follow Jen on Twitter and Instagram . We also wanted to put a spotlight on the podcast Hello, I'm Listening , a rebrand of the podcast Translat...
May 11, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 36
What is art anyways? This week we're reframing the binary of highbrow and lowbrow art after watching the Hallmark movie The Beach House , starring Minka Kelly, Andie MacDowell, and Chad Michael Murray. Do our categories get in the way of really engaging with art? How can we cast off these ingrained ideas to engage with whatever is in front of us — whether it's Dostoevsky or The Bachelor? We were both surprised by what we liked about the movie, and our viewing experience led to some insights abou...
May 04, 2022•29 min•Season 1Ep. 35
This week we step outside of the podcast recording studio to reframe a couple of locations we have a lot of history with. We visit two coffee shops — ‘G.N.’ and ‘C.’ — that we’ve both spent a lot of time in and are full of memories (not all of them good). How do spaces take root in our minds and become meaning-filled, and how can we reframe places we might have bad associations with so that we can be at home around them? Come on our journey to find out! Then we return to our Women in Business se...
Apr 27, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Fiction writing can be a really powerful reframing tool — writer Katie Zdybel joins us to talk about this idea and reframe our own writing lives in the process. Plus: finding the right headspace for writing, living in the Yukon, seeing beauty in the landscape (and sometimes not!), and using fiction to build better relationships with the sadnesses that are a part of life. Katie Zdybel’s recently released first book, Equipoise , was shortlisted for the HarperCollins/UBC Prize for Best New Fiction ...
Apr 20, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Nat joins Miranda Hassell in a two-for-one episode of Sister On! and The Big D on reframing divorce. How can we put this painful process in a new light and learn to choose ourselves over relationships? Take in our breakup stories (because who doesn't like a little drama?), the ways we reframe our experiences of divorce, and what comes after the papers are signed. We also get into video games as healing tools, the gifts we decide to give our exes, and insights from strangers in unexpected places....
Apr 13, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 32
What's the biggest risk you've ever taken? Managing risk has been front and centre in our minds these past two years of COVID. This episode tries to unpack some of that risk in a broader way as we examine big risks we've made in the past and what our choices say about us. How do we react differently to the risks imposed on us, versus the ones we choose to take on? How do we manage when everything goes wrong? We try to find the right language for navigating the risks life throws at us, as well as...
Apr 06, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 31
We're back from the Podcast Movement Evolutions conference in LA, where we had a bit of an existential crisis. We give you our travelogue, where we gave some serious thought to rebranding and reframing Sister On! as this project of ours grows and changes. Also, finding a mentor, SMART goals, being mansplained to in Ubers, and prioritizing pleasure. We love hearing from our listeners! Leave us a voice message , write to the show email , or send us a DM on any of our socials. You can find our tran...
Mar 30, 2022•20 min•Season 1Ep. 30
Does our relationship with food need reframing? We had a talk with Dr. Michelle May, a former family physician who struggled with disordered eating, about what it means to eat mindfully and how we can cultivate healthier ways of thinking about food. We got into identifying self-care habits that can make us feel better, how to actually change our habits in a way that is lasting, and the origin of our culture's unhealthy attitudes toward food. Michelle May is the founder of Am I Hungry? Mindful Ea...
Mar 23, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 29
This week is all about reframing life's big transitions as we talk with writer Carley Fortune about leaving her steady career in the Canadian media industry to work as a solo writer and novelist. She tells us about the concept of matrescence, something she has written about in her time with Refinery29 — a challenging experience that many parents undergo but aren't able to name. We're also treated to a napkin pitch for Every Summer After , her forthcoming novel about the nostalgia of young summer...
Mar 16, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 28
Can reframing be misconstrued as toxic positivity? Bec wonders if she’s still allowed to be annoyed at super positive people. Nat suggests yes, although she suggests we all need to find our safe space to be grumpy. Bec worries about being fake if she’s too positive. Nat wonders if sometimes we are scared of healing. The book we reference is Complaint by Sara Ahmed. “Just” is an adverb. "With" is a preposition. And Nat can't find that director for the life of her! Ultimately, they would love to h...
Mar 09, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Recording through a bonding technology debacle, Bec and Nat talk with designer and songwriter Sharon Glassman (the founder of Smile Songs , a line of musical greeting cards and gifts) about reframing the concept of introversion. The wide-ranging conversation spans what it means to be an introvert — touching on how she hacked her career to make it work at her own speed, her journey from fashion journalist to performer, her introvert superpowers, being a ‘yes’ versus a ‘no’ person, and falling in ...
Mar 02, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 26
All about reframing our changing selves! We are not static. Recording early morning from the farm, Bec and Nat check in on the problems they tried to reframe for each other back in Episode 11. Bec’s question was around asking too many “whys.” And Nat’s was around navigating feelings of discontent. The sisters come to the conclusion that taking each other’s advice is not simple and these “problems” are going to need multiple iterations. Also, they like the rawness of each other’s brains at 7:45 a...
Feb 23, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Bec and Nat interview writer Marissa Stapley, whose writing career takes a major turn when Reese Witherspoon endorses her latest novel Lucky . Marissa Stapley has worked as a newspaper journalist and magazine editor, and is now the internationally bestselling author of the novels Lucky , a Reese’s Book Club December 2021 Pick, The Last Resort , Things to do When It’s Raining , and Mating for Life. Her work has been published in fifteen countries and two of her novels, including Lucky, have been ...
Feb 16, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Bec and Nat decide to reframe the January blues with gratitude as their February focus. Nat recalls an episode of The Huberman Lab podcast where he talks about the necessity of introducing story/narrative to really make for a truly brain-changing gratitude practice. Bec reads a shiver-inducing letter from one of Nat’s students and then they check in on how Nat is feeling post reading! Bec and Nat learn that they can search out a story for their own gratitude practice (if they don’t have a studen...
Feb 09, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Bec interviews YouTubers Jessii Vee and Mandii Vee — their first podcast interview ever! And one of the few interviews they have done as sisters. The sisters share about how they have reframed their entrepreneurship during COVID and the ways their family supports one another — including family meetings to brainstorm videos! They also talk about the bullying each of them endured and how they have moved to healthier places in their lives and even learned from those hard times. Jessii lets a new pr...
Feb 02, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 22
In this week's episode: 1. Bec wants to talk about what blinders we still have about ourselves in our 40s…Nat prefers the more Jungian language of “shadow sides!” 2. Bec shares two of what she believes are her shadow qualities but Nat reframes one of them, Bec’s chameleon-like tendency in a group, to be a strength. 3. Bec reframes Nat’s tendency to walk away from conversations as having a positive sense of personal boundaries. They talk about multiplicities and embracing the many parts of themse...
Jan 26, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Bec and Nat interview TEDx speaker and Forbes-endorsed mental health advocate Johnny Crowder , who has built a whole system around reframing negative thinking. Almost his whole life, Johnny didn’t know that he could work out his brain like he did his body. We all need to find the right wording when it comes to self-care. We might not speak the same language but we are needing the same things. Johnny tells us about his company which provides daily mental health support via text messages to interr...
Jan 18, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 20
The sisters attempt to reframe sleepless nights — a problem which comes from a listener. They both agree it’s a hard one especially given that Nat hasn’t had a full night’s sleep in eight years. Bec asks if sleeplessness could be reframed for new mothers as doing hard things? Like the cold plunge from the spa — a good shock to the body’s system? They discuss how the constraints imposed through sleepless nights could lead to generating…something! For Nat it led to the writing of a PhD! Why not wr...
Jan 12, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 19
For this episode on New Year’s Revolutions Nat and Bec begin by discussing their foray into TikTok. Is it humiliating or are they taking healthy risks? :) Bec brings up the idea of improving someone else’s life in this new year if you don’t feel equipped to improve your own right now. Natalie troubles this notion as she considers the dangers of help that is misguided. But at the same we don’t want to devolve into myopic self-help. It’s a delicate tightrope. They discuss Bec’s husband’s statement...
Jan 05, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Two week break for Sister On as we tend to some of our own self-care! But in the meantime please subscribe to our newsletter and check out any episodes your might have missed. See you in 2022! We can't wait to keep on reframing with you! We love hearing from our listeners! Leave us a voice message , write to the show email , or send us a DM on any of our socials. If our conversations support you in your own reframing practice, please consider a donation on our Patreon , where you can also hear b...
Dec 22, 2021•3 min
In their second holiday episode (which means they tried to talk shorter for all their busy listeners!), Nat and Bec reframe the notion of holiday and what it will be this year. Bec unpacks the etymology of the word holiday… from Old English haligdaeg (holy + day), and they realize they might need to look for their own “sabbath.” They discuss turning a concept on its head — like the positive acne trend! Nat says she can't look at the notion of holiday straight on these days when it looks so diffe...
Dec 15, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 17
For this holiday episode, Nat suggests that they reframe the notion of gifts. She offers up the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas’ notion of “gift” which focuses on how power is shared between the gift giver and the receiver. Bec processes this idea at a slow pace. She too wants to embrace the vulnerability that comes with giving and realizes she has to give up expectation, even of her family tree trimming moment. They realize that the best moments can came when they are just receiving whatever is ha...
Dec 08, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 16
The sisters acknowledge the passing of Natalie’s 17 year old car, and more importantly the passing of legend Stephen Sondheim. Nat sings a line from "Send In The Clowns." Inspired by her son’s curiosity, Nat wants to return to the beauty of questions without feeling so tied to finding answers. Which ties together nicely with their two new problems to reframe from a listener, who asks about 1) nudging people along through mentorship and 2) does reframing need something from another? Bec admits th...
Dec 01, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Nat and Bec go rogue in this conversation. A question about New Year's Resolutions spirals into finding something better… a poetic motto? Maybe an action mantra? Nat wonders if they can be less productivity oriented with their "resolutions." Maybe some lines from literature are best of all for teaching us how to live! She offers up Rachel Cusk's Second Place and a poem by Hanif Abdurraqib. Bec reads some excerpts from National Book Award Winner Jason Mott's Hell Of A Book as her teacher of the m...
Nov 24, 2021•41 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Nat has been thinking about loss now that her son is against kisses. It spurs her to write a piece that she shares, called "Loss and Found." The sisters muse about some of their great losses and some of the benefits of experiencing pain—it leads us to empathy. They manage to get their mom to contribute to the podcast, not in a conversation, but in her own written piece about loss. "Mom" writes about her favourite books that share a commonality in navigating great loss. They both shed their first...
Nov 17, 2021•45 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Nat and Bec reframe a new question about the labels we put on our kids. Also they air an interview they have been sitting on with their old friend and singer extraordinaire Felicity Williams. (You might recognize her voice from our opening music!) The theme which resonates through both parts of the episode: the changing seasons of life. We love hearing from our listeners! Leave us a voice message , write to the show email , or send us a DM on any of our socials. If our conversations support you ...
Nov 10, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 12