Kate Robson
“I’m thrilled that so many people now have access to her compassion, wisdom, and humour as well to the tools she has honed for many years as a therapist, mother, and friend.”
– Sarah Polley, Academy Award winner and bestselling author of Run Towards the Danger.
“This delightful book offers invaluable tools to readers, featuring the many strategies available for anybody hoping to heal and find connection in their lives.”
– Clara Hughes, Olympian and bestselling author of Open Heart, Open Mind.
Kate Robson is a registered psychotherapist based in Toronto and author of Something to Hold Onto (S&S). Inspired by her own experiences with her children in a neonatal intensive care unit, she has worked with babies, parents, and families for more than twelve years as a NICU family support specialist. She has since travelled internationally to educate parents and clinicians on family-centred and trauma-informed care. Her talks and workshops focus on cultivating secure attachment in relationships and creating emotion-friendly homes, workplaces, and systems.
In her private practice, Kate supports individuals and couples navigating infertility, high-risk pregnancies, NICU hospitalizations, and bereavement – she has led Canada’s largest support community for NICU families for the last 10 years. She holds degrees from McGill University and OISE/UT, completed her psychotherapy training at the Toronto Institute for Relational Psychotherapy, and has trained in modalities including ACT, Internal Family Systems, EMDR, PACT, and somatic approaches.
Drawing on both professional expertise and lived experience, Kate brings a deeply human lens to conversations about trauma, attachment, and resilience. Her speaking style is grounded, compassionate, and practical – offering language and tools people can use immediately in moments that matter.
Attachment & Relationships
Creating emotion-friendly homes, workplaces, and communities
Strong relationships are built not on perfection, but on safety, repair, and emotional attunement. In this talk, Kate explores how attachment patterns shape the way we relate … to partners, children, colleagues, and ourselves … and how small shifts can create environments where people feel seen and supported. With warmth and clarity, she translates attachment theory into practical guidance for fostering trust, connection, and emotional literacy in everyday life.
Resilience & Emotional Wellbeing
Practical tools for navigating adversity and finding calm in uncertainty
This talk explores resilience not as toughness or positivity, but as the capacity to stay present and resourced when life feels unsteady. Drawing on psychology, lived experience, and simple, practical frameworks, Kate offers tools for regulating emotion, reducing overwhelm, and responding to stress in ways that are workable rather than reactive. Participants leave with language and practices they can use immediately — especially in moments when certainty is in short supply.
Grief & Loss
Gentle ways to be with grief and move forward with meaning
Grief shows up in many forms. It appears not only after death, but in illness, infertility, change, and when we notice the lives we didn’t get to live. This talk invites a compassionate, non-pathologizing approach to grief, focusing on how we can honour love and meaning without being crushed by loss. Kate offers steadying perspectives and accessible practices that help people make room for sorrow while staying connected to what sustains them.
Kate Robson in the Media:
- Jann Arden Podcast: Kate Robson and Sarah Polley
- The Tyee Review: Something to Hold Onto
- Kate Robson speaking at Rotman School of Management
Jessica Barrett
Jessica Barrett is an award-winning journalist and author of No Place Like Home: The Missing Key To Our Housing Crisis. Jessica got her start as a community newspaper reporter in Vancouver, B.C., where she fell in love with covering municipal issues and urban affairs. Over the years she worked her way up to reporting for the Vancouver Sun, B.C. Business Magazine and eventually became Senior Editor of Vancouver Magazine. Jessica has also appeared regularly as a columnist in print and on the radio. Her writing has won multiple awards, including Postmedia’s prestigious Michelle Lang Fellowship and the Jack Webster Foundation’s City Mike award for her columns about Vancouver’s housing affordability crisis.
Jessica now lives in Calgary, where she continues to write and think about how to bring about systemic change for a more just, joyful and functional society. When not writing, Jessica spends her time gardening, devouring podcasts and attempting to wrangle her young son into bed.
Topics:
- Urban Planning and Housing Policy
- Community Connections and social isolation
- Writing and Writing Craft
Talks
Housing Vs. Home
After living in Vancouver for her entire adult life, Jessica Barrett packed up her apartment, quit her dream job as a magazine editor, and headed for Calgary in search of a more affordable place to call home. In the years since Barrett was priced out of Vancouver, the issue of housing affordability has become a national crisis, fanning the flames of social inequality and setting us up for financial ruin. But our obsession with rising housing prices obscures a more complex and pressing issue: we have lost our reverence for, and our understanding of, home. In this talk, Jessica introduces audiences to her research on the fundamental elements of home and explores how these elements are, or are not, prioritized in our current housing system. She then goes on to present examples from around the world and locally on how to get back to the fundamentals of home, and produce better, more affordable housing for all.
C is for Community
When it comes to our housing crisis, most of the proposed solutions come from one of two places: the market, or the government. Both are problematic, though for different reasons. Private developers don’t always build homes that people can afford — or homes that people want. And governments are famously fickle. All it takes is a shift in political ideologies or a change in ruling parties to decimate systems and organizations that rely on public funding. But there is a third option. A vast middle ground between public and private on which we can build housing that is affordable, desirable and socially and environmentally sustainable. And there is an overlooked stakeholder group that is inherently motivated and perfectly capable of leading this charge. Us. In this talk, Jessica introduces audiences to the concept of Community-Led housing, offering examples from all over Canada, and all over the world, that show how the housing crisis can be solved by regular people coming together in pursuit of a better way to live.
The Hidden Power of Neighbourliness
Canadians spend significantly less time with our neighbours now than we did just a few decades ago. In the era of Amazon and Instacart, our lack of neighbourly connections might seem a little sad, but largely inconsequential to our lives—we no longer need our neighbours to provide that proverbial cup of sugar. But we do need our neighbours, and we need them more than ever. In this talk, Jessica dives into the astounding research on the role neighbourliness plays in our health, safety and social fabric, explaining how reclaiming neighbourliness is one of the biggest untapped solutions to some of most pressing issues of our time — everything from the loneliness epidemic, to political polarization, to surviving climate change. She then points the way toward some surprising, and surprisingly simple, actions we can take to nurture neighbourliness at every level of our lives, from the personal to political.
She can be found on Instagram at @thewrightlight
Selected works:
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/
Dr. Cathy Miyata
Whether collecting, mining, researching, writing, or telling, Dr. Cathy Miyata is passionate about story. As a master storyteller she has performed, conducted workshops, lectured, and delivered keynote presentations for educational, corporate, and student audiences in Germany, Sweden, Serbia, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, Portugal, Mexico, the United States, and all across Canada. Her presentation style is vibrant, emotionally charged, and deeply meaningful, transforming you from tears of laughter to tears of sadness and back again. She also maintains a wide repertoire of folklore (folktales, legends, myths, parables, sacred stories) from many cultures which she weaves into her presentations depending on the needs and requests of her audience.
As an award-winning author, Cathy has published in a variety of genres: novels, teacher education books, academic chapters, research studies, and journal articles. Her writing styles are eclectic, poignant, and powerful.
As a life-long learner, at the age of 52 she decided to pursue an educational dream by beginning her doctorate at U of T. Even before she defended, she was offered an Assistant Professorship in the Faculty of Education and Global Education Departments at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her uncanny ability to transform a dry lecture into a compelling story event made her extremely popular on campus in both the undergraduate and graduate programs.
She recently left her role at Laurier in order to write full-time. Her third novel, co-written with her husband Kaz, is awaiting publication. Cathy considers this work to be the most significant writing of her career so far. It captures the heart wrenching and desperate plight of a Japanese Canadian family incarcerated in a German prisoner of war camp in Northern Ontario after the second world war has ended. Sadly, there is almost no public knowledge of this camp and most of the events in the novel are true. The scenes were woven together from interviews with survivors who graciously shared their memories, recollections, and nightmares about this devastating time in Canada’s history. Cathy’s husband was imprisoned in this camp.
Speaking Topics
Dr. Cathy Miyata is a dynamic speaker whose expertise spans leadership, inspiration, and the art of masterful storytelling. With a deep commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), she empowers audiences to embrace diverse perspectives while cultivating authentic leadership. Renowned for her engaging public speaking, Dr. Miyata seamlessly blends insight, personal experience, and compelling narratives to inspire action and foster meaningful connections. Her presentations leave audiences motivated, enlightened, and equipped with practical tools to lead with impact.
Outsider on the Inside
As a white middle class woman, I had a lot to learn about raising BIPOC children, handling discriminatory snipes, and supporting my partner’s challenges. Hard lessons. Life-changing but worthwhile lessons. EDI are gifts worth fighting for.
Successful Leadership
If a leader wants to be authentic, make an impact, drive their team forward, embed a vision, transform an image, or rescue a failure, they need the right story, for the right audience, told the right way. And they need it now. In this interactive presentation we will explore several narrative structures and techniques that will help you achieve your leadership goals.
Community Building
Solidify your group by exploring the three C’s of Community Building: Collaboration, Connection, and Communication. In this interactive presentation, you will learn strategies and techniques that bring people together.
Speak and Be Heard!
If you want to be heard, really heard, then learn to tell well. This interactive presentation will provide you with the techniques you need to motivate, persuade or inspire your team, class, or audience.
YOUR Life, YOUR Story
In this interactive presentation explore techniques of mining and writing, empowering you to capture those crucial life moments that make thrilling and impactful stories for sharing.
Cathy will create presentations uniquely for your group upon request. She is also available for workshops and residencies. Presentations can be in person or virtual.
Testimonials
“Cathy is an exceptional speaker. She is captivating, insightful, and profoundly authentic. Her ability to blend academic knowledge with real-world experience brought the topic to life in a way that was both intellectually stimulating and emotionally resonant. I was fully engaged throughout her presentation and the conversations she inspired continued long after our session had ended. What impacted me most was her call to move from awareness to meaningful action, a message that continues to shape my leadership today. Cathy doesn’t just talk about equity; she lives it, breathes it, and empowers others to do the same. She is articulate, genuine, and truly inspirational.”
– Josée Landriault: Directrice, École Secondaire Gaétan Gervais
“Cathy brings the perfect blend of humour, heart, and intellectual engagement in her professional speaking sessions, and I would highly recommend her to any organization or team looking to drive transformational change centered around an ethic of love.”
– Betsy Enriquez: Instructional Program Leader, Halton District School Board
“Cathy’s impact on our faculty was immediate and lasting. Whether speaking to a small group in a workshop or a packed auditorium, Cathy connected with her audience through a powerful blend of storytelling, research, visuals, and real classroom practice. Her sessions were both informative and inspiring.”
– Mr. Chuck Reid: Director and Ms. Suzanne Tsuchida: Associate Director of Academics: Dover International School, Cairo, Egypt
“Dr. Cathy Miyata is a brilliant storyteller. She reads a room with the sensitivity of a true artist- chooses stories that meet her audience exactly where they are- and then lifts them to someplace more expansive. She can make you laugh and cry in the same breath. More than that, she consistently moves her audience into a deeper sense of understanding themselves. Her keynote addresses are not only masterclasses in communication—they’re unforgettable experiences that leave people feeling seen, connected, and inspired.”
– Nicole Fougere: Executive Director, Rotary Arts Centre, Corner Brook, NL
“It’s obvious from the moment you meet Cathy that she has a passion for storytelling and is eager to share that passion with others. Cathy was part of our Inspiring Success Speaker Series, where she led us through the art of storytelling. Not only did she share her own stories, we learned to engage, persuade and motivate others through storytelling and the practical ways we can build collaboration, connection, and community.”
– Jill Reiner: Director, Talent – Human Resources, Wilfrid Laurier University
“Dr. Miyata is a dynamic speaker and master storyteller who draws on drama, literacy, and creativity to engage and inspire. Her warmth, energy, and deep understanding of learning combined with her practical and powerful use of storytelling strategies, leave a lasting impression on audiences.”
– Dr. Kari-Lynn Winters: Professor, Brock University
“Cathy has a unique talent for engaging diverse groups, ensuring that each presentation is memorable and that it resonates deeply with the audience. She manages to captivate everyone in the room and keep them engaged. Her presentations are experiences that stick with you long afterwards, and I have found the messages to be both enlightening and profoundly moving.”
– Laurie Reid: System Principal, HDSB
“Dr. Miyata’s gift for beautifully expressive and moving oratory stands out for her natural conveyance of personal insight, based on vast intercultural dialogue and the uncanny ability to peer into the hearts of others. Audiences respond to her deep empathy and quick mind.”
– Paulus Linnaeus: Graphic Artist
“During her keynote address, Dr. Miyata shared her insights on public speaking and the transformative potential of storytelling as a powerful creative tool for connection and inspirational impact. I left the keynote stimulated by the practical tips on how to better engage an audience and with a beautiful parable that I later shared while emceeing another event. Dr. Miyata inspired me to embrace the opportunity to share stories with others. Thank you, Cathy, for reminding us of the power of words and the importance on how we deliver them.”
– Suzanne Luke: University Art Curator, Robert Langen Art Gallery
Liz Renzetti
Elizabeth Renzetti is a bestselling author and journalist. She is the author of five books, most recently the national bestseller What She Said: Conversations About Equality. She’s also the author, alongside Kate Hilton, of the Quill & Packet mystery series. Their first novel, Bury the Lead, was published in 2024, and Widows and Orphans followed in 2025.
As a journalist, Elizabeth reported from London, Los Angeles, Toronto, and Berlin, and wrote a popular column on current affairs in The Globe and Mail. In 2025, she was awarded a King Charles III Coronation Medal for her work on gender equality, and she has twice won the Landsberg Prize for reporting on gender issues. She lives in Toronto with her family and two very bad cats.
Praise for What She Said:
“What She Said is frank, funny, and unfailingly honest …. Should be mandatory reading!” – Lisa LaFlamme, journalist
“What She Said is as honest as it is painful and smart …. It made me weep, laugh, and ultimately helped me exhale.” Kathleen Wynne, former premier of Ontario
Liz is an experienced public speaker and can lecture on numerous topics including:
Women in Leadership
Women are underrepresented at all levels of leadership in every field. And it’s getting worse. At a time when companies are rolling back their diversity policies, what does the future hold for women in leadership roles? Drawing upon years of reporting, interviews with leaders in politics and business, and her own story as a woman in management, Liz speaks to this fraught moment – and the future ahead.
Gender Inequality & Why It Harms Us All
We know that we are facing an unprecedented backlash to the rights of women and non-binary people, not just in North America, but around the world. Young women and young men grow farther apart in their political beliefs. How did we get to this place, and how do we find a way out that heals rather than harms?
Teamwork is Dreamwork
As the co-author of a fictional mystery series, and as a journalist who participated in many group projects, Liz can reveal the secrets of what makes for a fruitful partnership. How to choose the right collaborator, best ways of working that will not lead to divorce, and how to successfully play to a team’s strengths and weaknesses are all part of the discussion.
The Misinformation Crisis & The Power of Journalism
How do we move forward as a society if we can even agree on facts? As a journalist with decades of newsroom experience, Liz can talk about how journalism is facing this crisis, and what we can do to understand each other better.
Liz also hosts panel discussions, conducts public interviews, and gives workshops on interviewing techniques.
Karl Subban
KARL SUBBAN is the bestselling author of How We Did It: The Subban Plan for Success in Hockey, School and Life, speaker and award-winning educator. A school principal for many years, he is also a director of the Greater Toronto Hockey League and the Herbert H. Carnegie Future Aces Foundation. Subban was awarded an honorary doctorate of education by Lakehead University in 2022. He is a certified Maxwell speaker, coach and a trainer. His second book, The Hockey Skates was published in September 2023. Karl’s latest book, Raise Your Roof: The Hidden Power of Potential, will be published in April 2025. He lives in Toronto.
Speaking Topics
The Power of Potential
For more than three decades, Karl Subban has been honing his proven approach to building resilience, increasing perseverance, mastering goal setting—and bringing out the best in everyone. Every year we get bigger, but not necessarily better. Older, but not necessarily wiser. We’re not always set up for success, and despite our best efforts, we can get stuck in a place where we don’t think it’s possible to dream, let alone dream big. As a coach, educator, author and father, Subban knows that understanding and believing in our own potential are key to making changes that matter and bringing purpose to our lives and the lives of those around us. Packed with proven strategies including “raise their roof ” playbooks for leaders, parents and educators, Raise Your Roof is an inspiring and practical guide to creating meaningful change, realizing goals and finding fulfillment. The power of potential is at your starting line, not your finish line.
Developing Potential (Talk for educators)
Teachers plant seeds in the minds, bodies, and souls of young people and they don’t often see the fruits of their efforts. An example for me was Mr. Kangas, my very first teacher in Canada. He was the primary reason why I wanted to go to school. He pulled me up when I was feeling down and wasn’t aware of it until I wrote about him in my first book, How We Did It. He saw me, valued me and made me feel special. His impact on me helped me to identify the three vital qualities of effective teachers: know your students, care about your students, and inspire your students.
This keynote will explore two primary ways to empower growth in our student leaders:
- Creating a growth empowering environment
- Developing as a growth empowering leader
Potential is having the capacity to develop into something in the future. The potential of the school is directly related to the potential of the students and the staff. If we want better results, we must invest in young people.
It Always Seems Impossible Until It is Done (Talk for students)
This keynote, aimed at students, will focus on my journey, sharing stories and lessons learned working in my three worlds as an educator, hockey dad, and coach working with youth in several sports including coaching the men’s basketball team at George Brown College and being a hockey coach in the Greater Toronto Hockey League for approximately ten years.
My aim is to provide students with tools and framework to inspire them reach their unlimited potential.
Topics:
*Is your dream your dream?
*The power in your beliefs
*Facing and working through challenges and adversities
*Focusing on possibility not performance
*Using the 4 Ts to take effective action (Time, Task, Training, and Team)
*Navigating distractions
*Building confidence and overcoming fear and failure
*Are you teachable, coachable, and likable?
*Do you want to be good, or do you want to excel?
*You must FOCUS to make it.
Dr. Jean Marmoreo
Dr. Jean Marmoreo is a doctor, writer, athlete, advocate and adventurer.
For 45 years she was a family physician practising in downtown Toronto, and in 2016 became one of Canada’s first practitioners of MAiD, to provide Medical Assistance in Dying. In 2022, she also began practising family medicine in the High Arctic.
Jean is a Fellow of the Canadian College of Family Physicians; is affiliated with Women’s College Hospital; and is a Lecturer in the Family Practice Department of the Temerty School of Medicine at the University of Toronto.
Graduating in 1964 from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario with a degree in nursing, Jean became Head Nurse at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto, the predecessor to CAMH, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. She then decided to pursue a career in medicine and in 1974 graduated with the highest marks in her class in clinical practice from the Temerty School of Medicine, one of the top handful of medical schools in North America.
For many years, Jean was a specialist in mid-life medicine and now in end-of-life issues, and was also a regular columnist for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, and Zoomer. Her Zoomer series, “This is what 70 looks like”, won a Silver Award in the 2014 National Magazine Awards.
The popularity of her columns led to her writing a book, The New Middle Ages: Women in Midlife which was published in 2002 by Prentice Hall. In the fall of 2022, Penguin Random House published a book by Jean and co-author Johanna Schneller titled The Last Doctor: Lessons in Living from the Front Lines of Medical Assistance in Dying, which was short-listed for the Balsillie Prize in Public Policy and is a national best-seller.
But it has been in the storied Boston Marathon that Jean Marmoreo has broken records. In seven different years, she placed first in her age group, and her 2013 time set a course record for her age group. In her final Boston Marathon in 2019, she finished first among women 75-79 with a time of 4:18.
Jean is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and has hiked 1,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail. She has also undertaken numerous treks in New Zealand, Australia, Spitsbergen, Patagonia, Bhutan, Tanzania, and to the Base Camp of Mt. Everest, and in 2019, she circumnavigated Manhattan by kayak.
In 2023, Jean was inducted into the Order of Canada, and in 2024, she was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award for the Sciences from McMaster University.
Speaking Topics
Jean is frequently called on to speak to women as a media commentator or directly to women’s audiences. In 2005, Jean was chosen as one of the “100 Most Powerful Women in Canada.” Her keynotes cover a range of topics for audiences both male and female, from aging meaningfully, to menopause, to medical assistance in dying.
Live long. Die well.
Our attitudes to life and death have changed dramatically: we all want to live long and happy lives, but when it’s time to go, we want the best for ourselves and our families as well. Dr. Jean Marmoreo, the noted family physician and MAiD doctor, discusses what to do now to give yourself the best chance at a longer, happier life — and a good end.
What are you doing in the second half of your life?
Being over 50 doesn’t have to feel like a waiting room; it can be a supermarket. The trick is to do some very simple things to give yourself the best chance to stay healthy, functional and happy in your next 30 years. Dr. Jean Marmoreo says you get old when you slow down – and she shows the life-enhancing benefits of exercise, adventure and most of all, connecting widely and deeply with your world.
Finally, you can do something about your menopause.
For most women in midlife, menopause was something to be endured in frustrating silence. Yet its symptoms (there are many more than medicine thought before) can make your life and work miserable. While menopause isn’t a disease it can feel like you have a crippling one. Dr. Jean Marmoreo was on the front lines of menopause 30 years ago when she was a midlife women’s specialist and is again today as the medical advisor to an AI-driven online menopause service.
Dying on the day you choose.
The legalization of Medical Assistance in Dying has given Canadians the opportunity for something they never before: A Good Death. But how do you qualify for MAiD? What are the rules, the myths, the trends? Renowned MAiD doctor Jean Marmoreo explains it all.
To book Jean for an event, contact Rob Firing at rob@transatlanticagency.com
Rebecca Hosey, DC, MS, PA-C
Dr. Rebecca “Becky” Hosey is a licensed chiropractor, physician assistant, speaker, and writer, with degrees from the University at Albany, New York Chiropractic College, and the Le Moyne College Physician Assistant Program. With many years of unique clinical experience, her expertise is in the fields of pain medicine and psychiatry. A life-long learner, Becky has a strong passion for education and has held several academic positions, including Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine.
Becky was diagnosed with Sjögren’s Disease in 2015, and stage four endometriosis in 2021 after years of undiagnosed and severe symptoms. She began sharing her story to inspire others, and is currently writing a memoir documenting her experiences and advocating for patients with chronic illnesses. Becky is a regular speaker in the general public and medical community, and her work is centered around empowering patients to advocate for themselves. In her work with medical professionals, she focuses on the importance of leading with empathy, and on the vulnerability of the patient experience, which can be easily overlooked in the current medical model.
She has appeared on numerous podcasts, news interviews, and has partnered with several autoimmune organizations to share her story. Becky has also been the keynote speaker at various events. She has many published articles, and is a regular blog writer. Becky is the recipient of the 2024 Autoimmune Advocacy Leadership Award (the Autoimmune Association) which was presented during a reception in Washington D.C. She has participated in healthcare reform lobbying while in the Capitol, and during New York State Legislative meetings.
Awards & Honors:
Autoimmune Advocacy and Leadership Award (Autoimmune Association 2024)
Summa Cum Laude Graduate (Le Moyne College 2009)
William G. Allyn Award (“Commemorating Strong Academic Performance, Exemplary Professionalism, Leadership & Community Service” 2008)
Phi Chi Omega National Chiropractic Honor Society Member (2000-2003)
Clinic Class Representative (New York Chiropractic College 2003)
Speaking Topics
Becky’s keynotes can be tailored to medical professionals or the general public.
Medical Ableism
There has never been a more dire time for the reimagining of disease, especially in light of the growing population suffering from chronic illness and disability. With infrequent discussions occurring in medicine and society, Becky educates and empowers audience members on health related prejudices, and how to eliminate these detriments.
Oh, The Medical Humanity…
An engaging presentation for medical professionals and students alike. Audience members join Becky on a journey through her personal medical mystery to ultimate diagnosis, followed by a discussion of medical humanities and the importance of incorporating these concepts into to everyday practice in order to understand the vulnerable patient perspective.
The Stigma of Health Provider Sickness
A rarely discussed and little- known phenomenon of the unique stigma a medical provider experiences when chronically ill. Becky candidly shares her own personal struggles, as well as uncovering the unwritten truth in modern medicine that healthcare providers are expected to remain healthy, or suffer the consequences of failure.
Self-Advocating on Your Health Journey
An informative talk for attendees to learn about the importance of self-advocating while navigating medicine. Audience members will discover that healthcare is a consumer based industry, with no greater service more important than their own well-being. Participants will learn to get the most out of their health visits, and how to become empowered patients.
Sjögren’s Disease: It’s More than Dry Eye & Endometriosis: The Silent Pain.
These individual disease presentations are vital for healthcare providers to learn about two common, but misunderstood conditions. Significant research gaps exist in medicine with respect to women’s health issues, which makes health providers unprepared to properly care for patients. Becky delivers both the patient and provider perspective, as well as essential information that will leave audience members feeling confident and prepared for their next patient encounter.
Connect with Becky on Social Media:
Carli Pierson
Carli Pierson is an attorney, opinion columnist and the former opinion editor at USA TODAY. She speaks on a wide range of topics, including parenting (and imperfect motherhood), feminism and sexual and gender-based violence, law and social justice (and racism in policing), mental health and resilience, history (especially ancient Greece, Rome and Sicily), fashion and lifestyle topics (including cannabis), politics, Mexico-U.S. relations, U.S. law, international human rights law, and the war in Gaza.
Carli is also an experienced moderator and has moderated discussions on abortion rights, WNBA player Brittney Griner’s imprisonment in Russia, qualified immunity and other topics for USA TODAY.
She recently finished a consultancy for the international feminist NGO, Equality Now, on ending sexual violence in Latin America through good laws, with a special focus on rape laws in the Americas (including Canada and the U.S.).
Carli was the first person in the U.S. to receive a BA in Islamic World Studies from DePaul University in 2006, and in 2012, received her Juris Doctorate from Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad Law Center, cum laude, with a concentration in international law.
In addition to academic publications, Carli’s work as a freelance opinion writer and reporter has appeared in: USA Today special edition publications, Open Democracy, Al Jazeera, PBS, Independent UK, National Catholic Reporter, Parents, Romper, Ravishly, and the Women News Network.
SPEAKER TOPICS
Carli approaches serious topics by helping audiences relax with a self-deprecating sense of humor but deep knowledge and compassionate, deeply thought out takes on big, sometimes controversial, issues of the day. She is a vivid storyteller who engages deeply with her audience and takes a solutions-oriented approach to her writing, moderating, and speaking. Carli is available for keynotes in Spanish and English.
- Sexual and gender-based violence (rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, digital sexual harassment, consent, trauma), gender-based violence (domestic abuse, working with survivors, femicide, parental alienation) from a feminist perspective.
- Parenting and the difficulties of motherhood in today’s digital, “Instagrammable” society, self-compassion, postpartum depression, “late-bloomers,” and drawing on global parenting concepts from other societies that we can draw on to be better to ourselves and our children.
- Writing and editing for non-journalism majors: How to get in, get better, get published, and how to be solutions-oriented.
- Law: U.S. Law (criminal, family, and immigration), international human rights law and international criminal law as it relates to current issues from Russia’s war on Ukraine, global heating and human rights, rape under international law, and other relevant, timely topics.
- Social justice: Racism in policing, gun violence, women’s rights, immigration, the war in Gaza.
- Cannabis: social justice issues surrounding its legalization. Lifestyle and cannabis.
- Politics: Progressive politics and finding humor and areas of agreement across the aisle (can work with conservative audiences on this same issue), political polarization and how it’s hurting our “bottom line.”
- Mental health and resilience: Failure and crisis as a source of opportunity
BROADCAST MEDIA EXPERIENCE
CNNE (IN SPANISH)
MSNBC – ABORTION BANS IN THE U.S.
ABC NEWS – PRESSURE ON MOMS TO BREASTFEED
USA TODAY – POLITICS AND FASHION AT THE MET GALA
RADIO ISLAM
NEWS NATION WITH LEELAND VITTERT – BIDEN PRESIDENCY AND POLLS (STARTING AT 22:21)
SMERCONISH PODCAST – WITH CNN’S MICHAEL SMERCONISH
Sarah Baldeo
Sarah Baldeo is an experienced neuroscientist, technologist, corporate strategist and entrepreneur, closing on 20 years of leadership experience. She holds an Executive MBA via the University of Toronto, a neuroscience degree from York University, and certifications from Princeton, Ryerson, and University of Illinois. Sarah has successfully founded and exited two consulting firms, while helping three companies IPO. A winner of the 2023 Global Business Elites Top 40 Under 40 Awards, Sarah is currently CEO at IDQ Advisory Group, a boutique IT firm founded in 2010. She lives in Miami, but is a proud Torontonian and recurring guest on Canadian National News for CTV, The Social in Toronto, and CTV Morning Live in Edmonton and Winnipeg.
In 2023 alone, Sarah graced more than 50 stages, gave 24 keynotes, was featured on 960AM radio, and was most recently nominated for the DMZ 2024 Women of the Year Award, as well as the Top 25 Women of Influence Award. You may have even seen her on TV during the Wimbledon Open Commercials!
Sarah has delivered keynotes at TED Conferences, ELEVATE Festival, CBC News, Build a Dream, Gaming Security Professionals of Canada, FEM for STEM, GirlStrong, Powerful Women in Cyber, WomenTech Global, Women in Cyber, Women Enterprise Organizations of Canada, Alberta Women Entrepreneurs, University of Calgary Haskayne Business School and guest lecturing at University of Toronto Rotman Business School.
You can see her in action below:
The Neuroscience of Vacations on The Social CTV, Canada
Neuroscience of Resilience: Ballistic Process Interruption TEDxTrinityBellwoods
Media Interviews:
Sarah Baldeo’s Speaking Topics
Sarah’s keynotes focus on demystifying tech, science, and change, and illuminating the intersection between neural resilience, innovation, and change management.
- The Neuroscience of Change
Sarah explores the science behind change; explaining why change is not part of our survival mechanism and what makes it so challenging. Sarah takes the audience on a journey of delving into the mind and the brain; and enables teams with neuroscientific frameworks to enable change, drive innovation, and foster creativity.
- The Next Frontier of AI: Metacognitive Intelligence
An overview of Artificial General intelligence and the current landscape of sentient AI, how it’s tested, the results of tests and where self-aware AI is beginning to evolve. The keynote covers the implications for responsible AI and safety as well as concerns around bias in algorithms
- Quantum Computing
What is Quantum Computing? Some experts claim that it will take decades for quantum computers to be real but in late 2024 a 50-Qubit computer is slated to be released. How will quantum computers change our public key infrastructure, how we store data, and how we encrypt sensitive information. What are the risk mitigation approaches we can take in cybersecurity and fraud prevention
- AI & Deep Fakes
An overview of multi-factor authentication, KYC/AML, digital identity and the changing landscape of fraud and bias in AI as deep fakes becoming easier to create
Solutions to deep fakes and fraud
How to detect when ChatGPT or image generation has been used
- Neurotechnology – The Next Step
An overview of the newest neuro-tech available and how it will impact human relationships, brain damage, rehabilitation and the potential to become part of everyday life with wearables and even memory adjustments
Rahim Thawer
Rahim Thawer (he/him) works as a psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, EDI consultant, facilitator and public speaker, sessional lecturer, writer, and community organizer. He began working in the HIV/AIDS sector in 2008 and dedicated over a decade to LGBTQ Muslim community organizing. He was welcomed as an International Visiting Scholar with the South African College for Applied Psychology (SACAP) for the 2021-2022 academic year and has taught as a lecturer at multiple universities in Canada. He’s an appointed Fellow at the Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies at the University of Toronto for his contributions to the field of sexuality.
He was a co-editor and contributor for an anthology entitled Any Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer, which was shortlisted for the 2017 Toronto Book Awards. He’s currently working on books under contract with Thornapple Press and Blue Cactus Press. His self-published essays on shame and sexuality, the social and sexual dimensions of envy, supporting LGBTQ Muslims, and the nuances of doing clinical work in communities you belong to can be found on Medium.
SPEAKING TOPICS
Rahim has spoken on over 35 topics related to queerness, identity, social justice, mental health, harm reduction, psychotherapy, social work practice, and cultural awareness. He uniquely combines EDI topics with the lens of psychological well-being.
BEING ANTI-OPPRESSIVE IN OUR FIELD
We all offer critical front-line services for people who are vulnerable and who need very real forms of support. In the public sector, we encounter people who are constantly enduring the systems and cycles of poverty, abuse, addiction, and illness. While we aim to “meet people where they’re at” we can sometimes falter and forget to reflect on our relative position in the world to the people we work with. Further, we may feel helpless or fatigued to consider the position we’ve been placed in to support individuals who are up against grating systems. Talks that explore anti-oppression concepts focus on power, privilege and oppression and consider how they operate in our world for both our clients and ourselves.
MANAGING VICARIOUS TRAUMA
Talking about trauma has become a big business for good reason. However, it’s useful to take a step back from the jargon and explore the concepts of trauma, trauma-informed, and vicarious trauma. This talk invites participants to examine the roots of trauma and sources of vicarious trauma in their own industry followed by a discussion of micro- and meso-level interventions needed to support individuals. Rahim will present a model for creating healthy boundaries and a burnout prevention plan.
QUEER MEN’S MENTAL HEALTH
We often reduce mental health to diagnostic labels, wellness to the absence of symptoms, and queer men’s health to prevalence rates. If we take an exploratory approach to mental health and wellness we can begin to unravel some of the specific determinants of mental health concerns that affect GBTQ2S guys. As a racialized queer psychotherapist, Rahim examines 13 unique determinants that queer men come up against that impact their well-being. These will include but are not limited to, internalized shame, body image, substance use, ageing, and the landscape of connection-seeking.
OTHER COMMONLY REQUESTED TOPICS
Shame and sexuality; Supporting family members when someone comes out; The matrix of envy; Body image and wellbeing; Innovation in queer relationships; The meaning of substance use in our lives.