Tell your mentors how much you appreciate their impact while you can
May 21st, 2020Meg moved quickly behind me to close the door to her office not wanting her staff to overhear. I had showed up in advance of the MediaWatch board meeting in 1990 to let her know that even though I’d only joined the board six months previously, I would be resigning at this, my second meeting. […]
How to Cope with the Coronavirus Shutdown
May 12th, 2020Is it possible to eat your weight in popcorn? I appear to be trying. The pandemic lock-down has also given me permission to double my chocolate intake, consume cookies at breakfast and microwave chunks of cheese on a plate so I can scrape the stuff into my mouth with a fork. The grapes have become […]
“Poet, can you write this?” We need to write the post-coronavirus reality we want now
April 6th, 2020In Stalinist Russia, poet Anna Akhmatova’s husband was shot and her son imprisoned. Every day for months she stood outside the prison walls begging for word about her son’s fate. Recognizing her, one of the other women in similar circumstances called out to ask, “Poet, can you write this?” She responded, “I can.” And then […]
More women’s voices shaping Canada’s public conversations
February 25th, 2020In the 10 years since Informed Opinions began training women across sectors and fields to share their insights and analysis with the media, we’ve delivered almost 250 workshops to more than 3500 participants. More than half of those sessions have focused on a five-step process designed to support subject matter experts in translating their knowledge […]
The upside of getting outside (of your comfort zone)
February 14th, 2020I’m embarrassed to confess how long it’s taken me to wake up to this revelation. I ask women every day to step out of their comfort zones and speak up about things they know to be important — to share their insights, challenge ignorance, and make change. But recently it occurred to me that I […]
Running to catch the light — and creating the “Transformational 20s”
January 9th, 2020Is patience still a virtue? When teaching kids, or walking behind those forced by age or disability to slow down, absolutely. But as Australia burns, and bellicose men on either side of the world threaten war, I feel with greater urgency than ever that change can’t happen quickly enough. My partner would tell you that […]
Cry if you want to: Anatomy of a 15-minute high-stakes keynote
December 11th, 2019I don’t recommend crying on stage if you can avoid it. So I didn’t. But I wanted to. Last month, I got to deliver a 15-minute TED-style talk to a global leadership conference hosted by the International Women’s Forum. The IWF’s 1100-plus attendees were assembled in a cavernous Toronto hotel ballroom featuring massive screens designed […]
So, you want to be on television…
October 17th, 2019Good news: we have some strategies to help you get there. But first, some context. For three years in the mid-1980s, I worked for the world’s largest PR agency. My job consisted of getting client spokespeople on TV, on radio and in the newspaper. Before social media democratized people’s ability to get attention, big corporations […]
Democracy needs women; snowplowing policy proves it
September 12th, 2019Can snowplowing be sexist? Even if you live in Ottawa, a city that removes snow from its downtown core with military precision, you’ve probably never asked yourself that. Until I read Caroline Criado Perez’s Invisible Women – Data Bias in a World Designed for Men, it had never occurred to me to pose the question […]
Clear speech advocate writes; Twitter sh*t storm erupts.
May 24th, 2019These are just a few of the exchanges provoked by the Toronto Star’s recent publication of a commentary I wrote about the downside of filler phrases. Many of those who responded on Twitter took issue with my apparent ageism. (Although I referenced recent interaction with young people, I also mentioned that the habit isn’t confined to […]