A Canadian, an American and a Brit walk into a bar… for a light-hearted discussion about alcohol. Our experiences of it and our social obsession with it. Are you into it, or over it? Host Linda McLachlan and friends, Vijay Chavda and Ryan Geismar chat about how alcohol has played a role in their lives - from childhood to parenthood. How have things around us changed, how have we changed? Is sobriety (or some level of abstinence) easier or harder now? And what are the options? So… are you into it...
Apr 26, 2022•43 min
Cindy Villanova is a daughter, sister, mother, and grandmother. She’s an author, consultant, entrepreneur and public speaker. She’s also a seventh degree black belt, master instructor and the owner of a martial arts studio in Austin, Texas. Cindy’s parents were a mixed race couple in the early 1960s in southern California. They faced prejudice but stressed to Cindy and her brother the importance of an education, and growing up to be ‘good’. Cindy worked hard and was an ‘A’ student. She had big d...
Apr 12, 2022•41 min
Jean-Sébastien Cournoyer aka ‘JS’. He’s a son, brother, husband and father of 5 children. JS is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur. He’s the co-founder of Real Ventures and Montreal Startups. Both are early-stage venture capital firms that backs entrepreneurs and build the ecosystems in which they thrive. JS has primarily worked with entrepreneurs who are using AI, blockchain technologies, AR/VR and synthetic biology to improve happiness, human creativity, and communication — and transform or...
Mar 29, 2022•1 hr 3 min
Anne Bokma is a daughter, sister and mother. Anne’s also an award-winning journalist, writing coach, workshop leader and author. Anne is also the founder of Hamilton’s popular 6-Minute Memoir live storytelling event which has also become a podcast, also called the 6-Minute Memoir . Growing up in a fundamentalist sect, the Canadian Reform Church, her world view was extremely narrow. There were lots of taboos. Dancing, and Canadian boys were off the table. When Anne went off to journalism school, ...
Mar 15, 2022•52 min
Amy Conway-Hatcher is a mother, daughter, wife, sister and middle child, attorney and a former Federal prosecutor. After 6 years as a prosecutor, Amy moved to private practice eventually becoming an equity partner in one of several firms that make up what is known as ‘Big Law’. These large legal entities with sometimes thousands of lawyers and offices in countries all over the world. She was often one of the ‘only’, or certainly very few women who had attained her level of compensation and respe...
Mar 01, 2022•44 min
J. Paul Nadeau is a brother and father. He’s the son of a violently abusive, alcoholic father. At 7 years old he decided he wanted to be a police officer so he could arrest his own father. Life in school was not much better as Paul was conditioned to believe he was worthless and incapable of amounting to much. At 16, his father killed himself with the same rifle he had claimed to have killed Santa Claus when Paul was 8. This treatment could have set him on a pretty grim path. Instead, at 21 year...
Feb 01, 2022•39 min
Niti Nadarajah is a sister, daughter, and Senior Counsel at Philip Morris in Australia. She worked as a lawyer in private practice in Australia and the UK before moving in-house to Philip Morris. She is the mother of four babies. She has a 7-year old daughter and a 2-year old son. Between their births she experienced the anticipatory joy of pregnancy and the very private devastation of miscarrying two babies. She had a thriving career, and she and her husband wanted to start a family. They were ...
Jan 18, 2022•53 min
Mr. Gohl passed away peacefully on January 13, 2022. He was 100 years young. He is reunited with his beloved Marjorie and missed by his loving children, grandchildren, former students and friends. Rest in peace, sir. Season 1, Episode 10: 99 Years Young Ron Gohl was 99 years young as of August 4, 2020. He was a son, father, grandfather and WWII veteran. He wanted to join the Air Force to become a pilot but because of his poor eyesight, he become radar mechanic and later a radar operator. Followi...
Jan 15, 2022•14 min
Stefan de Villiers is a son, brother, husband and fur daddy to two dogs, Lola and Lucy. He has a masters degree in clinical social work and he’s a podcaster. He was born in Canada to Afrikaans parents. Growing up, his family moved back and forth between Canada and South Africa four times which caused a first layer of tension around his identity. He related to being Canadian more than South African. His parents were proudly South African and expected him to embrace that identity. His time in Sout...
Jan 04, 2022•42 min
Lohifa Pogoson-Acker is a mother, sister, daughter, entrepreneur, social activist and in Linda’s mind, the unofficial Mayor of Hamilton, Canada. Born in Nigeria, Lohifa came to Canada at 16, via the UK. Her parents were professionals and she’d had some opportunities to travel but she was excited about this new adventure, embracing a new country, different cultures and the opportunity to get to know people. A great joy in her life. Her mother was a lawyer and her father a food sciences engineer. ...
Dec 19, 2021•40 min
Martin Parnell is a father, husband, grandfather, son, and brother. In 2001, Martin lost his wife Wendy to cancer. Almost a year later, his brothers challenged him to run a marathon. As a highly competitive trio they decided to take it on. He strapped on his running shoes and quickly discovered how hard a challenge like this might be. He was 47 years old. Little did he know that after he completed that first marathon in Calgary, he would go on to compete in countless other marathons, triathlons,...
Dec 05, 2021•50 min
Beth Riungu is a mother, sister, daughter. She’s been a registered nurse, a chef, administrator and is now developing a business as a soul midwife or death doula. In her twenties she traveled to Africa to learn more about her Kenyan father. As she shared in her blog, her blended Scottish-Kenyan ancestry meant she was “neither a local nor tourist, she was a tribe of one adrift in a nation of many”. It was 1986, and as she traveled through east Africa with others she met along the way, she found h...
Nov 21, 2021•35 min
Ernie Louttit’s a son, brother, father and soon, a Moshum or ‘grandfather’. He’s a Missanabie Cree from Northern Ontario. He grew up in a town call Oba, about 1,000 kilometers or a 12 & a half-hour drive north of Toronto, Canada. While now it is a place where he goes to heal his soul, it was a rough start. He dropped out of school and started working on the railroad at age 15. In 1978 at 17, he joined the military where he stayed for 8 years. While he served, he went to Cyprus with the Princ...
Nov 11, 2021•44 min
Dr. Cynthia Miller is a daughter, sister and mother. She’s a designer, visual artist, whitewater river guide, adventurer, healer, author and PhD in Cellular Transformation & the Psychology of Change. She is the daughter of one of the scientists responsible for creating the bombs, Fat Man and Little Boy dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima respectively. Her childhood is filled with memories of her father’s obsession with the hydrogen bomb. According to records, he personally witnessed at least 1...
Oct 31, 2021•41 min
John Ruffolo is a father, son, a first generation Canadian, an avid cyclist, and member of Les Domestiques a philanthropic cycling team. He is an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur. In the business world, John joined OMERS Pension fund over a decade ago, and founded OMERS Ventures, a private equity fund established to back promising Canadian companies Notably Hootsuite, Wattpad and Shopify. However, the pension fund rules capped the growth potential of those investments. He decided to leave and start h...
Oct 17, 2021•42 min
She’s also the mother of a son who went through 5 cancers: 3 times with childhood leukemia and 2 times with adult tongue cancer. When her son Ryan was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Standard Risk with (CNS) Central Nervous System involvement at age 2, she dug in. She drew from her deep faith, family and friends for what was a fight for his young life. Terri’s book is an inspiring read. It outlines each stage of Ryan’s diagnosis, treatment and recovery in great detail. Terri and her ...
Sep 12, 2021•47 min
Dr. Nadine Kelly is a retired physician, yoga instructor, American Council of Exercise certified Health Coach and Senior Exercise Specialist, founder of YOGI M.D. and host of the YOGI M.D. Podcast. Nadine believes in making yoga accessible to mature women (or as she likes to call them, Wise Women) of all physical levels by offering yoga in the chair, on the yoga mat, and in the water. Since 2012, Nadine has been helping her students to manage the effects of cancer as well as a range of chronic c...
Aug 29, 2021•47 min
Ken is a father, husband and lover of all things created or derived by humanity. Like his father before him, he joined the Canadian military at 18 and served almost 13 years before leaving due to a career ending injury, both physical and mental. After the military, he transitioned into the technology world through years of education and a mission driven mindset. He was an executive at 2 publicly traded companies before leaving to be part of a small team that created 3 cyber related, security com...
Aug 15, 2021•1 hr 13 min
In 2008, at the height of the ‘great recession’, Laura was at a personal and professional cross-roads. She became involved in the self-help industry, first as a client, then as a coach. Her path took a tragic turn. On October 8, 2009, she was present at what became know as the fatal “sweat lodge incident” near Sedona run by James Arthur Ray. Three fellow workshop participants, James Shore, Kirby Brown and Liz Neuman lost their lives, and dozens more were injured. She was asked to relive it throu...
Aug 01, 2021•44 min
Steve Emery: Season 2, Episode 22. Steve’s work can be found at: https://colorsweettooth.squarespace.com/ Akimbo’s Creatives Workshop : https://akimbo.com/thecreativesworkshop Linda can be found via: www.thearena-podcast.com or on her coaching website: https://www.lindamclachlan.com You can follow her on Instagram & Facebook @arenalivcourage or on Twitter: @Arena_LivCour Leave a rating or review at: https://www.lovethepodcast.com/thearena This podcast uses the following third-party services ...
Jul 18, 2021•38 min
Because of her experience juggling multiple commitments as a non-traditional student, she understood the unique needs of students trying to complete their degrees while working full-time, parenting, care-taking family members, and who are first-generation residents in the US. Now, she has parlayed her empowerment and self-mastery techniques into a successful business as an educational consultant and dissertation coach. To date, she’s coached over 76 students to complete their graduate degrees. Y...
Jul 04, 2021•42 min
Stephan Dyer is a comedian, entrepreneur and co-founder of MalPensando , a bilingual school that helps people become funny, confident speakers. Stephan was previously on the podcast as Episode 18. Stephan has also developed NotWorking to Networking, an opportunity for professionals in the Latino community in Canada to network in their industry of choice. Stephan is father to Liam (18 mos). Stephan Dyer (Episode 18) Jesse is an actor, producer, athlete, and co-founder of #MakeItAwkward . #MakeItA...
Jun 20, 2021•52 min
Lyle’s writing can be found via his Substack site: https://lyle.substack.com/ The following are further details about some of the stories he shares in this episode: The day his daughter was born: The Hardest Day of My Life Part 1 A piece about COVID and how it's different for his family: My Last Normal Day A post about cerebral palsy and what that means for them: Waffles and Cerebral Palsy And, lastly, his most popular piece which looks like writing advice but is really about a bunch of things t...
Jun 06, 2021•40 min
Gail is a sister, daughter, mother and force to be reckoned with. She’s the author of 19 books. She’s been a regular contributor to the Globe & Mail and Chatelaine magazine, among others. She’s the Gemini award winning host of ‘TIL DEBT DO US PART, as well as PRINCESS and MONEY MORON. She is the creator of the F.U. Fund concept, and co-author with Victoria Ryce of CEO of Everything , about being suddenly single either through death, separation, or divorce. In 2020, at the start of the pandem...
May 23, 2021•33 min
It would not be easy. She had to push herself forward to find opportunities to shine. She was hired by BP (British Petroleum), and was sent to Wyoming where no one wanted to go. While there, she started an initiative, unprompted called “Leave No Well Behind”. Of the 500 wells that were basically abandoned, she discovered that about 200 of them were still viable and actually quite productive. She was recognized by the CEO, received an award for her efforts and her initiative was rolled out across...
May 09, 2021•31 min
Jule blogs at julekucera.com , podcasts at Hard Times & Hope, teaches part-time at the University of Cincinnati, and volunteers as board secretary for Homebase. After publishing her memoir, Sweet Baby Lover, Jule is at work on her first novel. Jule grew up in New Jersey and earned her MA in Education from the University of Minnesota. In her corporate career, she designed solutions for multiple Fortune 500 companies in the areas of talent development, talent management, diversity and inclusio...
Apr 04, 2021•29 min
Lisa's first book: Ancestral Blueprints: Revealing Invisible Truths in America’s Soul - contains her reflections on psychotherapy, truth, ancestry, tribe, and democracy. The first edition sold out and will be available as a second edition soon. Lisa's latest book is Whiteness is Not an Ancestor: Essays on Life and Lineage by White Women - it’s an anthology of essays, stewarded by her and written by twelve women from three countries. Family constellations work was created by Bert Hellinger, a Ger...
Mar 28, 2021•32 min
Details about her book launch to follow! nsprz.com For information about Linda McLachlan: www.lindamclachlan.com or email linda at lindamclachlan dot com Leave a rating or review at: https://www.lovethepodcast.com/thearena This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lindamcl.substack.com...
Mar 21, 2021•27 min
For information about Linda McLachlan: www.lindamclachlan.com or email linda at lindamclachlan dot com Leave a rating or review at: https://www.lovethepodcast.com/thearena This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable - https://chartable.com/privacy This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lindamcl.substack.com...
Mar 14, 2021•20 min
In this episode we discussed: Brené Brown : Daring Greatly , Braving the Wilderness and her podcasts: Unlocking Us and Dare to Lead Simon Sinek: The Infinite Mindset and Together is Better . His podcast, A Bit of Optimism is one of Linda’s favourites. For information about Linda McLachlan: www.lindamclachlan.com or email linda at lindamclachlan dot com Leave a rating or review at: https://www.lovethepodcast.com/thearena This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Chartable...
Mar 07, 2021•30 min
