The Intersection Hub

S03E12 - A Full Body YES!

Have you ever dreaded going into work, suiting up in professional armour? Ever wondered how to change your situation? What would that take?

Today our guest Ashlee Livingstone shares her journey from hospital fundraiser to entrepreneur hypnotherapist and breathwork practitioner.

A combination of energy, creativity and passion, Ashlee is known for her original ideas, executed with a thoughtful logistical approach, helping bring out the best in every undertaking. After working with leaders in the non-profit and corporate sector for many years, Ashlee understands that we are all struggling with similar challenges. Whether inspiring leaders and teams to build a thriving culture of gratitude and value or working with non-profits to create meaningful donor relationships, Ashlee works to build connections - between people, their goals and the broader community.

In this episode we talk about how to get off the hamster wheel of work and the value of taking a pause. We also learn about how Ashlee uses breathwork for herself and to help her clients find clarity, purpose and joy. Let’s get into it.

You can reach Ashlee by email atashlee@ourforte.ca or her website  https://www.ourforte.ca/. 

Thank you so Ashlee for jumping into conversation. And thank you for spending time here today.

Please remember to join the conversation with comments a review or sharing this podcast. Let’s keep building community through candid conversations. See you next time!

S03E11 - Nkoyo Effiong – Lews

Did you know that over 90,000 hours or one third of your life is spent working. What would the world look like if we had a different viewpoint around what work is or should be? 

Our guest today Nkoyo Effiong-Lewis will be the first one to tell you that careers are not linear.

Nkoyo-Ene is a national speaker, advocate, strategist, and systems leader on a mission to revolutionize the world of work…one leader at a time. 

An educator at heart and attorney by training, Nkoyo speaks & consults at the intersection of purpose, power, and professionalism in law, education, and social enterprise. Using her proprietary Audacious LeadershipTM framework, Nkoyo helps individuals and organizations navigate disruption with the courage, clarity, and conviction they need to do the “heart” things that ultimately change the world. 

Through a mix of speaking, coaching, and consulting, Nkoyo equips leaders to design boldly for the future of work. She also curates dynamic solutions that accelerate personal and professional growth, overcome complex challenges, and grow through change with curiosity and confidence.
 
In this episode, Nkoyo and I have a deep and rich conversation about making sure you are purposeful in everything you do, questioning and disrupting power dynamic s and the need to redefine professionalism. Just like people, organizations need to transition and shift in response to the community around them. Particularly in this post pandemic world. 

We are living in a space where people want more agency over their work, their lives and their time. Yet, many organizations are slow to respond. Nkoyo is here with her audacious leadership framework to change that. Let’s get into it.

Join the Audacious Leadership Circle or connect with Nkoyo on social media with the links below.

And as always, we invite you to join the conversation by subscribing to this podcast, joining intersectionhub.ca mailing list and sharing this conversation with people who you think would get value from it. Thank you for spending time with us today.

https://go.leadaudaciously.com/join   

Connect with Nkoyo on social media!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nkoyoeneeffiong 
Instagram: https://instagram.com/nkoyospeaks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nkoyospeaks 

S03E10 - Constant Changes

Rickesh Lakhani is one of the most emotionally intelligent and generous thought leaders in the charitable sector he was the very first guest we hosted and he couldn’t be more perfect to celebrate our 51^st episode.

Rickesh Lakhani believes that we are all responsible for each other’s success. He is the Founder of Radiance Advisory, supporting social impact organizations and leaders to align their actions with their values and build stronger cultures based on truth and trust.

He has over 15 years of experience in the social impact sector, including serving as the Executive Director at Future Possibilities for Kids, a community-based organization serving children, and as the Director, Campaign at United Way York Region, leading an $8M annual fundraising campaign. Rickesh is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE), sits on the Global Council for the Community-Centric Fundraising movement, and has volunteered with numerous causes and boards.

He enjoys spending time with his family including his 3 children, camping, bike riding, cooking, and playing drums.

In this thoughtful and intimate conversation Rickesh and I cover a lot of territory. Rickesh openly shares why and how he chose to gracefully transition away from his executive director role at Future Possibilities for Kids. His realization that he was chronically burnt out and how he recovered.

We talk about the need for our sector to treat their staff and volunteers better and how he is now using his voice to elevate important conversations during these times of great change in our sector and in the world.

What I really appreciate Rickesh tackles tough topics with such thoughtfulness and kindness.  Please join me in welcoming my friend Rickesh back into The Hub.

Please remember to share this podcast so that we can invite others into The Hub. Let’s keep building community and connection through candid conversation. See you next time.

 

S03E09 - Reinventing Yourself

Today we pull back the curtain on the personal life of Sam Laprade. Sam’s resilience, grit, strength and the beautiful green eyes of her daughter, have helped her overcome many hurdles to build what is now resonant and abundant life.

As a radio broadcaster and professional fundraiser Sam works closely with her community to give a voice to new ideas, tough topics and philanthropy.

Sam has a massive portfolio of work that spans over three decades, in fundraising, media and municipal politics.

Over a 32-year period Sam has raised money for important charities in her community such as: The Ottawa Hospital Foundation, the Ottawa Humane Society and the Ottawa Mission Foundation.

As a fundraising consultant, Sam helps non-profit and charity organizations engage with donors to maximize the impact of the important work they are doing every day. Through donor data analytics, fundraising and stewardship reports, board training and fundraising audits, Sam helps local, national, and international organizations with their fundraising strategy. Sam also helps small and medium sized organizations recruit for important roles such as development director and fundraising manager.

Sam is the creator and host of “An Hour to Give” on CityNews 101.1, Ottawa and CityNews 95.7, Halifax.  This radio show highlights non-profit organizations and philanthropy.

On July 5, 2021, The Sam Laprade Show was launched on CityNews 101.1 Ottawa. This daily radio show, which airs 12-2PM, is an opportunity to feature the stories that matter to the residents of Ottawa and the Valley. Sam also covers breaking news to ensure listeners are kept up to date with local, national, and global issues.

Sam is living a joyous and abundant life. But it wasn’t always this way. In this episode Sam gets deeply personal about her setbacks and the break-up of her marriage.

If you are caught up in or recovering from a dysfunctional relationship this episode will help inspire you to know that you are not alone AND that you can get through challenging times and become wildly successful. Just like Sam is. 

As Sam said – everybody has their story. Sam thank you for sharing yours.

Thank you for spending time here. Please remember to share this podcast to invite others in. Let’s keep building community and connection through candid conversation. See you next time.

S03E08 - Untraditional Philanthropy

A colleague once described our Chandler as “kindest person to ever challenge you”. I have to say I also think he is my new best friend. If you can put up with the first few minutes of banter we then dive right into a super-rich conversation about how Chandler is working to transform the philanthropic space.

Chandler is the Founder and CEO of Untraditional Philanthropy, a bespoke donor advisory reimagining philanthropic decision making by partnering with 40+ social impact leaders worldwide who serve as one-on-one advisors to donors and clients. More than 80% of these experts identify as people of color, women and/or members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Chandler honed his skills in the impact sector over 25 years as a successful Founder, Executive Director, COO, CEO, and Board Member of a range of local, national and global social enterprises. As the COO of First Book, for example, Chandler led day-to-day operations and fundraising efforts for a global education equity organization which distributed 160 million new books—valued at $1 billion USD—to children in need during his tenure.

Chandler has also developed social impact efforts with some of the country's wealthiest families and leading brands; including Disney, Ford, KPMG, Pizza Hut, Ralph Lauren, Target and others. Chandler's private sector experience also includes working as a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group and in strategy and marketing with The Coca-Cola Company.

Chandler is a proud social innovation geek. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with a concentration on social change in American History and Literature and earned his MBA at Stanford. A frequent speaker about innovation and social change, Chander has given guest lectures on social innovation at Yale, Columbia and Georgetown.

Chandler, his husband, and their two young children live in Washington, D.C.

Hopefully like me you are super excited about the collective impact that Chandler’s social enterprise Untraditional Philanthropy can have on our sector. You can get in touch with Chandler and learn more about Untraditional Philanthropy here: https://www.untraditionalphilanthropy.com/

Please remember to like subscribe and share this podcast so that more people can join us in conversation. Let’s keep building community through connection and candid conversation. See you next time.

Brene Brown and her interview with Jake Wesley Rogers here: https://brenebrown.com/podcast/songwriting-storytelling-and-dropping-keys/

 

 

S03E07 - The Colonial Project

This conversation might make you feel a little uncomfortable and it might be the most important podcast you listen to.

I first came to know of Martha Awojobi during an online conference when she got up on a soapbox and blew my mind! One of the first things Martha will tell you is that she does not work in the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion space. Martha has their feet firmly planted in the anti-racism space.

 Martha Awojobi, is Founder, Director and fearless leader of JMB Consulting. After spending ten years working in the charity and philanthropic sector, she was disappointed to find that the space that she believed could be truly transformational in bringing about the liberation of oppressed groups also perpetuated horrific racism.

Leaders were slow to innovate, resistant to name structural racism and reluctant to meaningfully include Black and Brown people in decision making. Instead, they were preoccupied with being seen as ‘good people doing good work’ at the expense of confronting and dismantling the very real racism that their organisations perpetuate.

 

Martha works in coalition with organisations who share her goal of liberation from oppression through her work at JMB and through #BAMEOnline series which supports fundraisers and founders of colour to navigate the philanthropic sector and generate sustainable income.

In this episode talk about the importance of really understanding the harm that systemic racism continues to cause and our respective roles in supporting that system. We talk about how most Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work is performative and that we need to back up the train and really take time to understand what racism is and our respective roles in perpetuating systemic racism in the charitable sector.

If you would like to get in touch with Martha you can reach her through her website here: https://www.jmb-consulting.co.uk/

Please join the conversation with a like, share and a review of this podcast. Let us know what you think. Let’s keep building community and fostering connection through candid conversation.

S03E06 - Building Lasting Change

I’m totally geeking out in this episode because I love talking about systemic change and how to go all the way upstream to create lasting change and culture shifts. No one knows more about this than my friend Veronica LaFemina.

Veronica Founder and CEO of LaFemina & Co., an advisory firm supporting nonprofits and social impact businesses at the intersection of strategy, culture, communications, and change management.

Veronica partners with organizations and their leaders to go beyond what "looks good on paper" to focus on what works well in real life. She is a leader, strategist, facilitator, trusted advisor, and certified change management professional with nearly two decades of experience as a senior executive at national U.S. nonprofit organizations and a high-impact consultant. Her work has been featured by Inc. Magazine, the Today Show, NPR, CNN, Capterra, and in news outlets nationwide. Veronica blogs regularly about nonprofit leadership, strategy, change management and culture at lafemina.co.

In this episode we dive right into how to work with your team to create change that gets people excited about working with you to shift your culture, advance programs and do more good in the world.

If you love change management you are going to LOVE this conversation. We talk about the humility, grace, vulnerability, compassion and patience required to create lasting system change. Get yourself a cup of tea, sit back and create some space to absorb the wisdom that Veronica shares with us today. Please join me in welcoming Veronica into the hub.

Links & Social

Website: lafemina.co

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vlafemina/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vlafemina

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vlafemina/

You can read Veronica’s article where she dives deeper into the seven steps to building yoru nonprofit’s capacity to manage change here: https://blog.capterra.com/change-management-for-nonprofits/

If you liked this episode please do share it with others who might like to join our community. Let’s come together to create community through candid conversation. See you next time.

S03E05 - Lesson Learned from Hockey Canada

It’s important to start this episode by saying that my guest Heather Nelson and I are not experts in the complicated situation unfolding with respect to Hockey Canada and the allegations that the institution has a slush fund in place to compensate victims of the rampant culture of sexual assault among its players. You can find some great articles below if you are interested in the details of this scandal.

What we can speak to is that when this situation at Hockey Canada was reported by sports reporter Rick Westhead the organization was asked to make some changes. They to didn’t do it. Consequently, their corporate partners started abandoning ship, falling like cards and as Heather said by their action, they elevated the voices of their customers by withdrawing financial support to the organization.

Every time another fleeing sponsor hit the news cycle, I thought to myself “What would Heather say?”

Founder and President at boutique fundraising consultancy, BridgeRaise, Heather and her team help nonprofits raise more money from companies by prioritizing aligned values. Heather is a 20+ year fundraiser, corporate partnership expert, mentor, teacher, tree person, and a dog and hockey mom! Heather is also a dear friend of mine and trusted advisor to The Intersection.

There is so much that organizations can learn about the Hockey Canada Scandal and that is why I’m very pleased to have someone who is an expert in the sponsorship arena into conversation.

To learn more about the Hockey Canada Scandal:

Hockey Canada Scandal Abuse and Sexual Assault Slush Fund

 https://thehockeywriters.com/hockey-canada-scandal-abuse-sexual-assault-slush-fund/

Corporate Partners discuss permanently ending relationship with Hockey Canada

https://www.tsn.ca/corporate-partners-discuss-permanently-ending-relationship-with-hockey-canada-1.1858288

Hockey Canada Unravelled Before our Eyes

https://thehockeywriters.com/hockey-canada-scandal-abuse-sexual-assault-slush-fund/

If you have questions about your corporate fundraising please don’t hesitate Heather and her team a call. You can learn more about Bridgeraise here: https://www.bridgeraise.com/

Please remember to like subscribe, review and share this podcast so that we can invite more people into conversation. Let’s keep building community and connection through conversation.

S03E04 - Gratitude ROCKS!!

Dan Hanley is one of the nicest most authentic people I know and I’m so grateful to him for joining us in conversation today.

It you don’t know Dan you are in for a real treat – if you do know Dan you will know that this episode, as Dan would say “ROCKS”.

Dan spreads kindness everywhere he goes and is ecstatic to work with nonprofits to support their growth in relationship building and fundraising, especially those serving populations that include the unheard, forgotten and invisible. For Dan being of service is key. He loves the thrill of helping his clients to build true relationships with donors that exceed fundraising goals.

Dan’s family includes his husband and three rescued dogs. He is a Veteran of US Navy is Bilingual. He is fluent in English and Spanish and he loves his work diving into all things fundraising and leadership with some of the most marginalized communities in the United States

In this episode Dan opens up about the impact his sobriety has had on his life and inspires us with his kindness and gratitude and the value of impeccable, honourable leadership.

Learn about Dan’s work here: https://altrui.org/

Dan likes to get emails so drop him a note here: dan@altrui.org

Please remember to like, share and subscribe to this podcast so that we can keep fostering community and connection through conversation. And if you would like to talk to me about this podcast, my coaching practice or heck even my puppies I would love to hear from you. See you next time.

 

S03E02 - Tania Bhattacharyya

Okay so we may not be hanging out in Clubhouse that much anymore but there is no denying that some very meaningful relationships were forged there. Today, I am so pleased to be welcoming the lovely and generous Tania Bhattacharyya into conversation.

Tania helps purpose driven women stand out while they stand up for their mission. Tania works with social impact entrepreneurs, mental health change-makers, non-profit founders and disruptors in philanthropy and women making a difference who aren’t sure how to share their message without “simply adding to the noise.” Tania helps these busy change-makers clarify their vision, story, and messages so that they can build impactful deep relationship that will position them as thought leaders that yes raise revenue but more importantly drive positive change.

Tania and I have a rich conversation about the importance of helping everyone be successful, building community and how to find your fire and overcome self-limiting stories.

Tania also is the host of a fabulous podcast called The Campfire Circle so when you are finished with this episode be sure to check it out.

You can reach Tania on Linked In here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tania-bhattacharyya/

Check out her website and her podcast here: https://lumosmarketing.co/

Thank you for spending your time here. Remember to like, subscribe and share this podcast so that more people can join the conversation. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at https://www.intersectionhub.ca/ See you next time!