Episodes

Justine Williamson and Greg Vardy are the Cape Breton comedy duo behind Tracy and Martina, two best friends whose sketches, podcast, and books have made them one of the most recognized acts on the East Coast. Their first feature film, Tracy and Martina Goin Out West, is a mockumentary that follows the pair on a real trip to Alberta, where they were booked to open for the band Slowcoaster and nearly did not make it home. On this episode, Justine and Greg talk about building these characters over ...

Lusiana Lukman is the Executive Founding Director of the Classical Music Conservatory in Toronto. She has been teaching piano in Canada since 1991 and founded her school on Roncesvalles in 1997. In February 2026, Lusiana went public in the Toronto Star with her account of being sexually abused by Boris Berlin, a legendary piano instructor at the Royal Conservatory of Music, during lessons when she was fifteen years old. Berlin taught at the RCM for over seventy years, wrote the beginner piano bo...

Bobbi French is a Newfoundland-born author and former psychiatrist whose novels The Good Women of Safe Harbour and The Brink of Something Beautiful centre on women's friendships, women's survival, and the kind of female solidarity that doesn't make the news but keeps people alive. She joined What She Said to talk about her newest book, her white-hot fury at gender-based violence, why she left psychiatry to write fiction, and what it means to put ordinary women at the centre of a story and call i...

Most people think the ReStore is for contractors picking up spare lumber. Sara Cooper is here to tell you it is a full department store where your ten dollar lamp helps a family buy a home. Sara is the CEO of Habitat for Humanity Ottawa, and this conversation goes well beyond thrifting. We talk about the circular economy, reuse culture, and why affordable homeownership is an upstream solution to a housing crisis that is pushing ordinary Canadians to the edge. Including a woman and her young son ...

Emma Davis didn't grow up wealthy. She married a guy whose startup got acquired, and suddenly found herself on the wrong side of her own values. So she did something nobody does: she mailed a personal cheque for one million dollars to the Receiver General of Canada, marked it as a gift, and waited. Nobody called. Emma is a member of Patriotic Millionaires Canada, a non-partisan organization of wealthy Canadians lobbying loudly for the government to tax them more. We talk about the mythology of t...

Sports betting is everywhere, and it’s changing more than just how we watch the game. In this episode, I sit down with filmmaker Deborah Wainwright, director of the documentary Swipe. Bet. Repeat., to talk about the rapid rise of app-based sports betting, how it’s reshaping fan behaviour, and why athletes are increasingly becoming the face of wins, losses, and even threats. We dig into how betting apps have blurred the line between fandom and gambling, why prop bets have shifted the psychology o...

What if the brain you have today is not the brain you are stuck with? In this episode, I sit down with Tara Bonner, Chief Neuroeducation Officer at the Arrowsmith Program, to talk about neuroplasticity and the brain’s capacity to change throughout our lives. We unpack why confidence follows competence, not encouragement, how attention has become increasingly fragile in modern life, and the difference between chronic distraction and true ADHD. We also talk about learning disabilities, cognitive p...

AI is everywhere right now, but I’m far less interested in the hype and far more interested in what it’s doing to how we connect with each other. In this episode, I sit down with Joanne Morrison, a Canadian author and entrepreneur with deep experience in customer service and outsourcing, to talk about where AI actually stands today and where it’s being wildly oversold. We talk about why so many chatbots are still terrible, where companies are getting AI wrong in customer service and marketing, a...

Getting laid off is brutal. Getting laid off twice in one year can make you question everything, including yourself. In this episode, I sit down with Tanya Hayles, award-winning event planner, digital strategist, founder of Black Moms Connection, and creator of the Perfecting the Pivot workshop. Tanya shares what it’s really like to navigate forced career pivots in a tough economy, including the grief that comes first, the money realities nobody wants to talk about, and how to keep moving when t...

Candace Sampson and Nam Kiwanuka discuss the systemic issues in women's health care, highlighting the dismissal and mistreatment of women's health concerns. Nam's podcast, "Mistreated," explores how women's health has been ignored, underfunded, and under-researched. They discuss medical gaslighting, racial and gender biases in healthcare, and the impact of conditions like PCOS, endometriosis, and fibroids on women's lives. Nam shares personal experiences and those of other women, emphasizing the...

Canadian small-business owners are taking hit after hit, but few have explained the chaos as clearly as Encircled founder Kristi Soomer. The Toronto-based slow-fashion designer breaks down how a U.S. tariff rule called yarn-forward turned a $125 pair of pants into a $204 headache overnight. We talk about the American trade mess, Shopify’s failings, fast fashion fatigue, and what it takes to keep a values-driven Canadian brand alive when the system feels stacked against you. please let me know if...

An Interview with Roxanne Joyal

I’m back. After seven months away, I wanted to start with a short, honest episode about why What She Said hit pause, what pulled me off the hamster wheel, and why I’ve decided to return in a completely different way. This isn’t a tell-all or a dramatic reinvention. It’s simply the truth about burnout, clarity, and the realisation that connection matters more than constant output. I talk about walking away, almost selling the show, building Girl Trips, and why I’m shifting to a seasonal format th...

What happens when a physicist-turned-writer sets her literary thriller in the eerie aftermath of Chernobyl? You get The Exclusion Zone—a haunting, thought-provoking novel that weaves fear, science, and the untold stories of women in STEM. I sat down with author Alexis von Konigslow to talk about her unique academic path, the inspiration behind the book, and why she hopes readers come away thinking, I’m smarter than I thought. The Exclusion Zone is from publisher Wolsak & Wynn. Follow Alexis on I...

Sara Davidson has survived more than most—an armed attack, a tsunami, a violent sexual assault, and postpartum trauma—and somehow, she’s found a way not just to live, but to help others heal. In this episode, we talk about how trauma lives in the body, what real resilience looks like, and why healing often begins before we’re ready to talk. Sara is a registered psychotherapist and author of Any Body Can Heal, a memoir and guide for anyone navigating life after trauma. She shares practical tools ...

Caption: Sisters Jodi Willoughby and Carolyne McIntyre Jackson took a chocolate cake recipe from their grandma and a buttercream secret from their mom and built Crave—one of the Prairies’ most beloved bakeries. Now, they’re sharing those long-guarded family recipes in their new cookbook. In this episode, we talk about: • How Crave went from a home kitchen to a Canadian favourite • What it’s really like running a business with your sister • Why they finally decided to share their famous cak...

It feels like everyone’s on edge these days—and with good reason. Mental health struggles are on the rise, especially among women, and traditional approaches don’t always cut it. My guest this week is Heather Lillico, a Toronto-based wellness expert and the creator of the Cultivating Calm app. After her own experience with anxiety, perfectionism, and an eating disorder, Heather realized she needed a different way forward—and now she’s helping others do the same. In this episode, we talk about: Why anxiety and burnout are hitting women hardest The pressure to be “fine” and why asking for help still feels hard What preventative mental health care actually looks like How small daily habits—like a few deep breaths—can be powerful What still gets dismissed as “woo-woo” even though it’s evidence-based The 30-minute routine that forms the foundation of Heather’s app Whether you’re dealing with overwhelm yourself or just looking for practical ways to protect your peace, this conversation offe…

Red pill content. Tradwife fantasies. Secret slang like “Skittles” and “sneaky link.” Online radicalization is showing up in ways many parents don't even recognize — and it’s targeting kids when they’re most vulnerable. In this episode, I speak with Abhi Ahluwalia, founder of [unlearn.], about the rise of extremist content online, how algorithms feed it, and what parents, educators, and policymakers can actually do about it. We also talk about building real belonging in schools, how to guide cr...

Science writer Misty Pratt joins me to break down why the possible dismantling of PubMed under Trump’s administration should concern all of us — especially women. We discuss how the U.S. government's cuts to health research and growing censorship could impact access to trusted science, the rise of misinformation, and why Canadians aren’t immune to the fallout. Plus, Misty shares where you can still find credible research (including Reddit!), and how Canada could step up as a leader in open-acces...

Feminist lawyer and legal reform advocate Pamela Cross joins me to talk about the reality of intimate partner violence in Canada and why, as the title of her new book states, “And Sometimes They Kill You.” Pamela shares the moment that launched her decades-long commitment to helping women escape violence, the flaws in our legal and family court systems, and why misogyny continues to fuel this crisis. We talk about the need for judicial education, how the criminal justice system often fails surv...

Host of The Thread on TVO, Nam Kiwanuka joins me to talk about what Ontarians are thinking—and worrying—about most. From ER closures in the north to rising insurance costs linked to climate change, to the loneliness and danger of modern dating, these are issues that affect us all, no matter where in Canada we live. We also discuss how AI is already being misused in terrifying ways, and why meeting people in real life might just be the comeback we all need. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...

Jo-Ann Roberts says it’s time to storm the ballot box—and after hearing how politicians can legally lie to voters, you’ll probably agree. This longer-than-usual episode is packed with must-hear conversation on voter apathy, media accountability, strategic voting, and why it’s time for a democratic reset in Canada. Let’s talk about what really matters before the next election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Misinformation and disinformation are everywhere—but how can we tell the difference? And more importantly, how do we stop it? In this episode, I’m joined by award-winning journalist Molly Thomas, host of TVO’s Big (If True), to unpack the tactics behind false information, why we’re all part of the problem, and what we can do to be smarter about what we share. Hit play and get ready to rethink everything you thought you knew about the media landscape. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...

Why does progress for women always seem to trigger a backlash? Award-winning journalist and bestselling author Elizabeth Renzetti joins me to talk about her latest book, What She Said: Conversations About Equality. We dig into the state of feminism today, the growing gender divide among young people, the role of media in shaping gender narratives, and what we can do to push back against the forces trying to roll back women’s rights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices