The Voice of Women Podcast Episodes: Women's Interesting and Inspiring Real Life Stories
Episode 95 - Atousa Sepehr
Born in Iran and raised in Tehran Atousa Sepehr received her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and worked as an electrical engineer for almost 10 years in Tehran. In 2011, she made the decision to move to Canada with her husband with hopes of finding work as skilled worker immigrants.
On this podcast, Atousa and Tanya discuss the current situation going on in Iran. Protest movements began 8 weeks ago for women and human rights due to the government's brutality on women and young girls. Atousa will share with our listeners and speak to the truth as to what is currently going on in Iran as well as share what we Canadians can do to help.
Episode 94 - Eve Aboka
Eve Aboka is a Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Advocate, and a Career and Academic Advisor with a restorative justice lens approach to informing organizational change, career development and social justice.
She is the Founder and C.E.O at Capability Career Group (CCG) and an Executive Director at Immigrant Champions of Canada (ICC).
Through the Working Workplaces Program at Capability Career Group, Aboka has coached over 70 organizations in Alberta with a result-oriented D&I overhaul approach, that invites organizations to follow the steps of Assessment, Awareness, Alignment, Action, and Advocacy; to realize holistic organizational D&I change.
Aboka's empathy style in delivering D&I sessions has seen many participants demonstrate higher levels of engagement in the sessions and recorded high participation rates in social change advocacy. Employers have also been motivated to rewrite and change their policies to reflect the change required in today's and tomorrow's workplace. Besides D&I, she has published 3 books.
Episode 93 - Beth Hoel
Beth Hoel began her career in criminal justice in 1998 at just eighteen years old when she began working in the Presentence Division of the Maricopa County Adult Probation Department while attending college at Arizona State University. During this time, Beth went to the Maricopa County jails where she interviewed hundreds of inmates awaiting sentencing for felony offenses ranging from drug sales, kidnapping, manslaughter, murder, and sexual crimes. After graduating from college with a B.A. in Sociology, she became an Adult Probation Officer where she supervised a caseload of sexual offenders on probation for child molestation, rape, voyeurism, and other sexual offenses. She supervised this caseload for nearly five years before promoting to management in 2009. Beth was a supervisor in the Presentence Division for fifteen months before transferring to a sex offender unit where she spent thirteen years managing a team of Intensive and Standard Officers who supervised sexual offenders. During her time in this role, she has managed thousands of complex cases, expertly navigating the complexities of each. Beth has developed several pieces of training related to sex offender topics regarding supervision and treatment in collaboration with treatment providers. She managed a grant for a dynamic risk assessment and is trained on several risk assessment tools for general offenders and sexual offenders. In 2022, Beth retired from Maricopa County after nearly twenty-five years of service to start BHG Consulting Group, where she believes in taking a holistic approach to cases to make families healthier and communities safer. Beth provides consultation to attorneys, clients, and their families regarding the justice system specific to sexual offenses and provides in-depth, quality mitigation reports to the Court on all types of criminal cases. Beth also collaborates with treatment providers as well to ensure clients have access to the most appropriate treatment for their specific situation.
Beth is a native of Maricopa County, Arizona where she resides today. She has been a member of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers since 2017 and serves as a Commissioner for Governor Ducey’s Commission to Prevent Violence Against Women in Arizona. You can contact her at beth@bhgconsultinggroup.com or www.bhgconsultinggroup.com
Episode 91 - Ashley Toye
Ashley is an author, recipe creator, and fitness enthusiast with a master’s degree in nutrition. After being awarded a tennis scholarship in her late teens, she moved from Kelowna to the United States to start her post-secondary studies. For over a decade, she’s worked as a nutritionist in the US and Canada – offering individualized guidance and meal prep services. She takes a compassionate approach to educating others on the importance of a healthy lifestyle, and she primarily focuses on sugar awareness and flexible balanced eating strategies. Ashley currently lives in Calgary and has recently branched into a micro-influencing role on Instagram, while creating and facilitating a home fitness program. If she’s not busy in the kitchen, she’s enjoying moments with her family, husband, friends, fur babies, and nature.
The last fifteen years of her life took her on an unpredictable journey filled with darkness and shame. She neglected her own needs and suffered through PTSD, trauma, and hurtful relationships in silence. The hardships, fatigue, pain, and feeling like a societal misfit finally made sense when she discovered she was an empath. Ashley is now breaking her silence, hoping to bring awareness and comfort to those who need it.
Episode 89 - Lisa Webb
Lisa Webb is a true global citizen, having lived on four different continents and travelled to over 60 countries with her husband and two kids. She’s spent over a decade of her adult life rebuilding her community, networking, and finding sisterhood all over the world. Lisa has chronicled her journey through writing as a Canadian Expat Mom, publishing six children’s books, two anthologies, and her memoir, ‘Becoming French’.
Lisa’s global experiences have taught her the power of community, which became the foundation of her creating Wine, Women & Well-Being; where monthly events are held in 26 cities across Canada, providing a space for women to build community, connection and belonging while getting inspired alongside like-minded women.
Episode 88 - Sarah Kirkpatrick
I owned a 6-figure digital marketing company for 9 years, working with brands to create digital 'spaces' that represented who they were through their websites and social media. After battling through another case of 'burnout' I decided to close it down, change course, and follow my own motto: 'Figure out what you love to do and find a way to make money doing it. Interior design and home staging became my new career.
Women often stay in careers because the income is good but often don't feel fulfilled. Tune in to Sarah's journey on how she discovered what she was truly meant to be doing.
As an avid traveller with a goal of visiting 1 new country per year (33 and counting), I have stayed in well over 200 Airbnb in the last 10 years, all across the world. This has given me insight into what gets clicked, what gets booked, and what earns those coveted 5-star ratings. My interior decorating business is more successful in its first year than the marketing company was in its last few, and my first retail location is opening up this fall!
Episode 82 - Linda Olsen
Award winning journalist, Linda Olsen, is a proud born and raised Calgarian. She graduated from SAIT in Calgary in 1988 with Honors in Broadcast Journalism and started her career that same year at Global Saskatoon.
Linda joined Global Calgary in 1995 and since then, as a reporter, anchor and producer, has covered some of the biggest events to hit the city, including the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic from day one, bringing audiences the important information they were looking for as the situation unfolded, as well as the 2013 Southern Alberta floods. Linda co-anchored live flood coverage for 10 hours on that first day keeping viewers up to date on the significant event.
Linda was also host and producer of Global’s Woman of Vision series from its inception in Calgary in 1998. For 15 years, she highlighted the stories of inspirational women in the community with monthly television news features and a column in the Calgary Herald. In 2001, the Alberta Media Production Industries Association (AMPIA) nominated the special as Best Public Affairs Program. In 2002, Linda received the AMPIA Award for Best Anchor, and in 2003 she accepted the Best Host award for the Woman of Vision Special. As a senior anchor at Global News, Linda was also part of the team that won RTDNA’s award for Canada’s Best Newscast in both 2018 and 2014. She was named a recipient of Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40 by Avenue magazine and received Global Calgary's Woman of Vision award for her commitment to the program and the community.
An advocate for the community, Linda is a board member with the Calgary Children’s Foundation and an honorary board member of Believe in the Gold, a local charity raising awareness and supporting research for children with cancer. Linda has also been recognized with an Honorary Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from SAIT and the Honorary Fellow Award at Calgary’s St. Mary’s University.
When she’s not on the anchor desk, Linda can be found out in the city hosting a number of charity events or spending time with her three adult children.
Episode 83 - Gloria Di Sabatino
In 2015, Gloria Di Sabatino and her husband started trying for a family. After a few miscarriages later a series of unlikely diagnoses, including a rare balanced translocation found in less than 1% of the world's population leading to recurrent miscarriage and infertility, they soon found out that her husband carried this condition. After losing six babies in 4 years, and breaking clinic records, they decided it was time to go a different route. Gloria touches on the difference between treatments, the cost of treatments and her journey with infertility.
Gloria is a nurse, a pastor and a running enthusiast. She can be found either playing the piano or baking. She’s been married to her teenage sweetheart and the love of her life for 10 years. Together they have three children, ages six, four, and two.
Episode 81 - Vanessa Ferlaino
Vanessa Ferlaino is an author, artist, and activist changing the world one day at a time. She believes that only when we hear ourselves, can we make a difference in our lives and the world around us.
At the age of 27, she has many accolades. She spent 10 years in medtech and tech as an award-winning corporate innovator, investor, executive, and advisor. The headlining speaker for Google x Women Techmakers April 2022 and Authority Magazine's "Social Impact Author" creates impact by challenging what it means to be human. Her book debut, "Human", a read that will inspire you to be your truest self, is available on Amazon and select Chapters Indigo locations. Follow her on Instagram @vanessaferlaino or subscribe to her email list at vanessaferlaino.com so you don't miss the release of her music or the launch of her next big philanthropic project - both coming in summer 2022!
Episode 80 - Darby Lee Young
Darby has over a decade of experience working as an accessibility strategist. She established Level Playing Field in 2015 and is an expert in Universal Design and international accessibility guidelines and standards. Darby has successfully contributed to the removal of barriers at municipal, provincial and national levels, ultimately establishing inclusive environments all across Canada. Darby’s expertise in Universal Design has developed throughout a wide range of public roles including her achievements as a competitive para-alpine skier. She is committed to contributing her unique lived-experience and various political appointments to passionately advocate for lasting inclusive environments that benefit everyone, regardless of age, circumstance, or ability. Darby is both a Top 25 Women of Influence (2021) and Top 40 Under 40 (2021 & 2018) honouree and recipient of the 2016 Calgary Stampede Western Legacy Innovation Award.
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