The Brand is Female

This week’s guest thinks plastic water bottles should be history. Nicole Doucet is the CEO and Co-Founder of Open Water, a bottled water company that uses aluminum packaging as a more sustainable alternative to single-use plastic bottles. Ten years ago, while still in university and after watching a documentary on plastic pollution, Nicole and her Co-Founder, Jess Page, were inspired to disrupt the bottled water industry with an approach that puts circularity at the forefront. As we continue to face the climate crisis and its very real impact, Nicole and her partner are raising awareness on pollution caused by single-use plastic bottled water — which is, unfortunately, still the industry standard, with the world’s leading consumer goods companies continuing to sell water bottled in harmful plastic. Listen to this episode to find out how Nicole set out to create Open Water to offer a more environmentally and health-friendly solution for drinking water.This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing, and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!————Visit: TBIF: thebrandisfemale.com //TD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/business-banking/small-business/women-in-business //Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

This week, host Eva Hartling is joined by Misty Koefod. Alongside her wife Kristen, Missy co-founded the famed cocktail mixers and spiked seltzers brand 18.21 Bitters — which got its name from the 18th Amendment that enacted prohibition and the 21st which repealed it. Missy found her way to 18.21 after a career in hospitality, followed by a stint as an attorney, when a fight with cancer made her rethink her life’s priorities. Today, Missy and Kristin’s brand has been celebrated by bar owners, cocktail aficionados as well as International media conglomerates, from GQ, Vogue, Vanity Fair and more. 18.21 is available in 48 states, 6 countries, and counting. But what's most important is 18.21's commitment to fair practices and built on a strong purpose and values. Listen to this episode to hear about her road to 18.21, the fundraising round that just led to over $100,000 from just a dozen of investors through crowdfunding, what she really thinks about working in the hospitality/alcohol industry, and about her personal commitment to social justice and how that translates into their company's valuesThis season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing, and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!————Visit: TBIF: thebrandisfemale.com //TD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/business-banking/small-business/women-in-business //Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

This week, host Eva Hartling is joined by Nana aba Duncan. Nana aba is a Canadian Journalist who was recently appointed as Associate Professor and the Inaugural Carty Chair in Journalism, Diversity and Inclusion Studies at Carleton University. You may know her from her gigs as guest host of q, an arts and culture show on CBC Radio, and As It Happens, one of the network's most popular radio titles. She has also guest-hosted CBC Toronto's leading weekday morning radio show Metro Morning, the city's afternoon radio show Here & Now, and the Canada-wide Saturday radio show Day 6. After winning the International Development and Research Centre’s international journalism award, Nana aba headed back to her birthplace of Ghana, where she reported with Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and moved on to produce human rights stories and help establish the radio division of Journalists for Human Rights. In this conversation, Eva speaks to Nana Aba about racial and gender representation in media and what improvements are needed to achieve equity in the industry — a goal she gets to tackle in her new role at Carleton University.This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing, and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!————Visit: TBIF: thebrandisfemale.com //TD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/business-banking/small-business/women-in-business //Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

In case you missed it, this week, we’re re-airing one of our season’s most popular episodes again! Meet Koa Beck, acclaimed author of the best-selling book ‘White Feminism: From the Suffragettes to influencers and Who They Leave Behind,' published in January. Koa is the former editor-in-chief of Jezebel, previously the executive director of Vogue.com and senior features editor at Marie Claire.com. To add to her impressive resumé, in 2019, Koa was was awarded the Joan Shorenstein Fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School, and she published an academic paper entitled “Self-Optimization in the Face of Patriarchy: How Mainstream Women’s Media Facilitates White Feminism.” This became her jumping-off point and inspiration in writing White Feminism. In this eye-opening episode, Koa and Eva Hartling, discuss her book, and the way our society has commodified feminism and continues to systemically shut out women of colour.This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing, and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!————Visit: TBIF: thebrandisfemale.com //TD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/business-banking/small-business/women-in-business //Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

This week, host Eva Hartling is joined by Hannah Alper, a Canadian Activist, Blogger, and Motivational Speaker who addresses issues such as the environment, anti-bullying, and social justice. Hannah writes for HuffPost, has given a TED Talk, and published a book called Momentus: Small Acts, Big Change. This would already be pretty impressive on its own, but Hannah has accomplished all this incredible work at just 18 years old. Tune in to our conversation to hear about why Hannah thinks no gesture is too small when one sets out to change the world.This episode is brought to you by GLAD and the #GLADForChange initiative. Join the movement and make a goal to collect at least 50 pieces of litter this summer in your neighbourhood. To take part in the GLAD for Change program, download the ‘One Piece a Day’ app to log the waste you have collected and see the national impact our efforts have had!This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!————Visit: TBIF: thebrandisfemale.com //TD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/business-banking/small-business/women-in-business //Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

In case you missed it, we’re airing one of our season’s most popular episodes again! Soraya Chemaly is an award-winning journalist and author whose writing appears regularly in media around the world. Her work centres around defining what it means to be a woman in a world built by men. Her narrative skill, careful research, and humorous tone have been described by the New Yorker as "relentless and revelatory." In her book, Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger, Soraya uses these skills to offer a critical look at the social construction of anger and its effects on women's lives. Soraya and host Eva Hartling share an invigorating conversation about why women should be angry, the 'steps backward' we have taken when it comes to gender equity, which has now been further amplified by the impact of the pandemic, and the many other nuances of living in the 'boxes' that society has created for women.This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!————Visit: TBIF: thebrandisfemale.com //TD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/business-banking/small-business/women-in-business //Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

This week, host Eva Hartling is joined by Maayan Ziv, activist, photographer and founder of AccessNow, a connected, global platform with information on accessibility. Through mapping as many places around the world as possible, and with the help of users’ reviews and feedback, AccessNow makes it possible to locate spots that offer accessible resources to visitors, clients and guests. Living with muscular dystrophy herself, Maayan knows firsthand the limitations and stigma experienced by people who live with disabilities. In this interview, Maayan shares her thoughts on a path to greater inclusivity, her views on the impact COVID has had on people with disabilities, and her hopes for our future.This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing, and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!————Visit: TBIF: thebrandisfemale.com //TD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/business-banking/small-business/women-in-business //Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemaleFor a written transcript of this podcast interview, visit: www.thebrandisfemale.com/podcast/season4episode37

If you've ever thought your voice couldn't have impact, this episode is for you. Saron Gebresellassi is a Toronto-based lawyer, activist and entrepreneur who has amassed a reputation as a daring human rights advocate. Throughout her career, Saron has been at the forefront of several high profile cases, including a $1-million lawsuit against Starbucks, representing a barista who was forced to work with her alleged assaulter, defending Black Lives Matters protesters in Toronto, and her work with thousands of Haitian migrants trying to cross into Canada. Saron joined the race for Toronto Mayor in the 2018 elections and made it to 4th place, and today she continues to represent and fight for those facing injustice. Listen to this episode to hear all about the work she has done, and continues to bring change, as well as why she will not apologize for her activism.This season of the Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Women Entrepreneurs.————Visit: TBIF: thebrandisfemale.com //TD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/business-banking/small-business/women-in-business //Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

The Brand is Female Studios just launched a new podcast called Maple Popcorn, and this episode features a conversation our host, Marriska Fernandes, had with Canadian Indigenous filmmakers Tracey Deer and Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers.In this episode of Maple Popcorn, the two women bravely sharing their vulnerabilities, addressing both their careers and the personal struggles they continue to experience as Indigenous women in Canada. Tracey was born and raised in the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, Quebec. She is an award-winning television director and filmmaker, and her television show Mohawk Girls was nominated for four Canadian Screen Awards. Her recent coming-of-age feature-length film Beans debuted at TIFF and screened at the Berlin Film Festival, and picked up the John Dunning Best First Feature Film Award and Best Motion Picture at this year’s Canadian Screen Awards. Elle-Máijá is a member of the Kainai First Nation (Blood Tribe, Blackfoot Confederacy) as well as Sámi from Norway. In 2020, Elle-Máijá and co-director Katherine Hepburn won the Canadian Screen Award for Directorial Achievement and Best Original Screenplay for The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open. Her recent documentary Kímmapiiyipitssini – the Meaning of Empathy, won her the Colin Low Award for Best Canadian Director. Tune in to this episode and hear the duo discuss the importance of truth in their filmmaking, and the duty they feel they have to tell stories that reflect their communities’ unique experiences.Trigger warning: this episode was recorded just a few days after the tragic discovery of a mass grave containing children’s remains at the site of a former Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia.Maple Popcorn is a podcast hosted by Marriska Fernandes, produced by The Brand is Female and powered by Telefilm Canada.This season of the Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Women Entrepreneurs.————Visit: TBIF: thebrandisfemale.com //TD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/business-banking/small-business/women-in-business //Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale

Have you ever wondered where your jeans come from, or where they’ll end up once you’re done with them? This week's guest did the research for you. Maxine Bédat is the Executive Director of New Standard Institute, and an author of a freshly-released book, Unraveled: the life and death of a garment, published by Penguin. Maxine is passionate about environment conservation and uses her platforms to urge the fashion industry to make changes to its business in order to preserve our planet. Listen to this episode to hear about Maxine's role at NSI, where she works with scientists and citizens to make the fashion industry more sustainable, ethical, and equitable; to learn more about her book, which chronicles the entire lifecycle of a pair of jeans, from the manufacturing of its yarn all the way to the landfill where it ends up; and to expose the broken system that is our global supply chains, as well as the fractures in our relationships to each other, to ourselves, and to the planet.This season of The Brand is Female is brought to you by TD Bank - Women Entrepreneurs. TD is proud to support women entrepreneurs and help them achieve success and growth through its program of educational workshops, financing, and mentorship opportunities! Find out how you can benefit from their support!————Visit: TBIF: thebrandisfemale.com //TD Women Entrepreneurs: td.com/ca/en/business-banking/small-business/women-in-business //Follow us on Instagram: instagram.com/thebrandisfemale