Improve your Writing
April 5th, 2015
It could be a stressful exercise. But by the time we force our commentary writing workshop participants into allowing others in the room to vote on the engagement capacity of their opening sentences, they’ve already laughed and commiserated enough that the “thumbs down” votes don’t feel personal. And the collective intelligence of the colleagues present invariably serves up a […]
read more...How to engage readers from the first sentence — and repurpose your content, too
Our Advocacy Work
December 31st, 2014
EXPLOITING CELEBRITIES How do you draw public attention to rampant discrimination against women restaurant workers? I played the celebrity card, and heightened the drama by contrasting the red carpet behaviour of Hollywood A-listers, Sandra Bullock (rooted to the spot by her heels) and Hugh Jackman (bounding down Yonge Street posing for selfies with fans). […]
read more...Mandatory High Heels and Facebook Feedback
Better Writing and Our Advocacy Work
July 12th, 2014
Although 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 is that the perspective you’re sharing isn’t one that’s already received wide coverage. As just one example, here’s my personal take on some of the […]
read more...What’s your definition of shame?
Improve your Writing
May 12th, 2014
Informed 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 forum. And previous blog posts have offered lots of content that expands on the hand-outs we supply and the examples we offer in the session. […]
read more...3 Tricks to Improve Readership of your Op Ed
Our Advocacy Work
January 27th, 2014
Last 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 she is. She confessed that, “…receiving constant accolades about her physical appearance gives my daughter the impression that her value is predicated on how she […]
read more...7 Ways to disable gender stereotypes for your daughter
Our Advocacy Work
September 23rd, 2013
The 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, serves on a number of boards, and is one of thousands of Canadian women qualified to do so and capable of making a significant contribution. […]
read more...Women on boards to counter “affirmative action plan for men”?
Improve your Writing and 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. Although I’m clear about the benefits provided by the tips and strategies we teach, I’m also keenly aware of how much additional value participants derive […]
read more...Changing lives through media commentary
Improve your Writing
July 28th, 2013
I have no legal training or experience in the sex trade. No one would ever mistake me as a candidate for the corner office of a large corporation. I am not a celebrity and have never been pregnant. And yet in recent months, major daily newspapers have published my commentary about: a supreme court hearing […]
read more...Expert status less important than insightful context
Our Advocacy Work
June 16th, 2013
For a few years in the 1990s I had the enormous privilege of a regular column in the Vancouver Sun. Every week, I’d write 750 words on pretty much any topic I wanted, and the Sun (a broadsheet not affiliated with the tabloid chain) would disseminate it to hundreds of thousands of readers. That’s where […]
read more...Of privilege and prostitution
