Our Advocacy Work
November 9th, 2014You know that old saying, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re probably in the wrong room”? I looked up its origins today, and couldn’t find an attribution […]
read more...What difference do women’s voices make?Master Media Engagement
September 20th, 2014I first learned this lesson from the Miss Canada beauty pageant, but on Thursday three Informed Opinions’ “grads” reminded me of it… If a reporter calls or emails to solicit your informed […]
read more...What’s the easiest news hook for your next op ed?Our Advocacy Work
July 12th, 2014Although Informed Opinions focuses on helping women translate their expert knowledge into media commentary, you don’t have to be an authority on a topic to add value to public discourse. What is required […]
read more...What’s your definition of shame?Master Media Engagement
May 12th, 2014Informed Opinions’ Writing Compelling Commentary workshop is chock-full of concrete suggestions designed to help you write a timely and persuasive op ed and get it published in an influential media […]
read more...3 Tricks to Improve Readership of your Op EdEffective Communication
February 11th, 2014Up until this week, Rob Ford’s life experience — elected office, crack cocaine, domestic abuse — had little intersection with mine. But hearing his contention that he’d been “profiled” for […]
read more...Making smart advice irresistibleOur Advocacy Work
January 27th, 2014Last month, Informed Opinions’ Project Manager, Claire Bellefeuille published an op ed in the Ottawa Citizen expressing the wish that people would stop telling her daughter, Lily, how beautiful […]
read more...7 Ways to disable gender stereotypes for your daughterImprove your Writing
November 8th, 2013Hanging out with teenagers can be an enlightening experience. Last week, I participated in a panel discussion convened by MediaSmarts, “Canada’s centre for digital and media literacy” and a repository […]
read more...TL;DR – advice to ignore, but implications to heedOur Advocacy Work
September 23rd, 2013The following op ed was published in the Ottawa Citizen 23 September 2013. Constance Sugiyama, pictured at right, a respected mergers and acquisition lawyer and honorary patron of Informed Opinions, […]
read more...Women on boards to counter “affirmative action plan for men”?Master Media Engagement
August 13th, 2013“You really have to write that!” This enthusiastic exhortation — often exclaimed simultaneously by a chorus of voices — is a common refrain in the commentary writing workshops we lead. […]
read more...Changing lives through media commentaryImprove your Writing
August 13th, 2013Let’s say you have a graduate degree and/or 20 years of experience in your field, and you’re used to speaking or writing for people who are similarly well-informed. Chances are […]
read more...2 words to make your writing more accessible