When I (Anna) first met Anne over 10 years ago while working together at Pelmorex, I was struck by her exceptional emotional intelligence and people-first leadership style — qualities that are truly foundational to creating safe, brave spaces.
Today, Anne is the Senior Vice President of Software Development at Propel Holdings, where she leads the scaling of engineering organizations and drives the delivery of innovative digital products . Her career spans more than 20 years in product development, enterprise architecture, platform engineering, AI/ML, quality assurance, and IT operations .
Prior to Propel, Anne held senior leadership roles at Wealthsimple and Pelmorex, where she helped modernize delivery practices and strengthen engineering foundations . She also serves as an Advisory Group Member with Accelerate Her Future, supporting the advancement of Indigenous, Black, and racialized women in tech .
Anne brings a powerful blend of strategic thinking and human-centered leadership, and I’ve always admired how she leads with clarity, compassion, and impact. I’m so excited for you to meet her and hear more about her journey and influence.
You can learn more about Anne through LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/annesteptoe/
Sam knows a thing or two about leading with impact in fast-moving, high-stakes environments. He’s held senior leadership roles at some of the world’s most innovative companies.
Sam’s known not just for driving growth and innovation, but for doing it the right way — by putting people, culture, and purpose at the center.
Anna had the pleasure of working alongside Sam and experiencing his leadership style firsthand. She shares without hesitation that he’s one of the most impactful leaders she has ever worked with — someone who’s made a lasting impression on her both personally and professionally.
In this episode, we’re diving into a topic that doesn’t always make the leadership playbook — the power of safe and brave spaces. Why they matter, how they fuel trust andinnovation, and what it really takes to lead with both courage and care.
Marsha-Gaye, born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, embarked on a remarkable journey that led her to become a prominent
figure in the field of sports marketing and equity advocacy. A Clinical Assistant Professor, a Public Speaker and Advocate for Women founding Black in Sport Business (BSB), an organization dedicated to connecting black professionals within the sports business industry. Through her work she has been a finalist for the GBC 5 to Watch industry awards for 3 consecutive years.
Nina is the Founder of Pure Minds Inc., a social enterprise that conducts mental wellness and mindfulness workshops for the corporate and public sector. She is the co-author of the International Bestseller Let That Sh*t Go, a no-filter, practical approach on how to find peace of mind and happiness in the everyday.
Nina has been studying mindfulness for over 20 years and practicing meditation for over a decade. Wanting to take her search for mindfulness more seriously, in 2010, she took a year sabbatical and moved to Northern California. There she took a 1-year course studying ancient wisdom and meditation. During that year, she lived in an ashram in the Redwood forest and completely unplugged.
She now follows her passion and educates on mental well-being and mindfulness across various platforms. Coming from a corporate background, she is especially passionate about bringing wellness to the workplace, to help employees find calm amid the chaos.
Find out more about Nina's work and how she can support you at www.pureminds.ca
Anna and I provide a bit of background of who we are and what are our hopes for this podcast and a broader commitment to helping curate a community to enable safe brave spaces within ourselves, our relationships and our broader communities.
Many of us are still searching for our purpose and passion late in our life, for Dennis Campbell the light went on at the age of seven while accompanying his sister on her summer job. A passion for people combined with an entrepreneurial spirit has resulted in a very special place to work in Halifax Canada. This is such a great conversation where Dennis shares some very practical approaches that have resulted in Ambassatour being voted as one of the top 10 Best Companies to Work For in Atlantic Canada. A vulnerable and inspiring leader who recognizes and activates the power of the collective organization though creating a safe brave space to release the potential of all team members. If you are interested in becoming part of this amazing team click the link https://www.ambassatours.com/join-our-team. To connect with Dennis go to LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennis-campbell-0055b54/
Over the past few years we have all seen the trauma of the refugee experience, most recently with Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. Matthew House Toronto has been providing safe brave spaces for new Canadians for over 20 years. In this really special conversation with Jacky we hear powerful stories and gain practical ideas from this amazing community and the folks that have called it their home as they begin their life in Canada. Such a wonderful dialogue and opportunity to deepen understanding of the refugee situation and uncover new ways of creating safe brave spaces within communities.
For more information about Matthew House Toronto go to https://www.matthewhouse.ca/
In 2011 Simon and his partner set out to build a different kind of company built on the philosophy to 'Lead with a Give'. An abundance centric approach to supporting others towards releasing their potential. Fast forward eleven years and the heart beat of that intention has resulted in significant growth and impact through the enablement of safe brave spaces within The Talent Company, for the clients they support and the communities that they are serving within their social impact commitments. Such a wonderful success story and some powerful insights transferable to any organization!!!
To connect with Simon go to https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonparkin1/
For more information about The Talent Company go to https://thetalentcompany.ca/
Pam Dooley, is owner of Plants Creative Landscapes, who's purpose is to enrich people’s lives by improving the relationship they have with the outdoor places they live, work and play in. In an earlier podcast, Paul Burns - Managing Director @ Twitter Canada, shared his insight that safe brave leaders focus on 'preparing the soil' for others to grow. During our conversation Pam shares many practical and powerful examples of how she lives this in her work for clients as well as how she is enables safe brave spaces within her organization. This episode is jammed packed with straight-forward creative ways to release the potential of team members which has resulted in creating impactful safe brave spaces within the communities they serve.
For more information on Plant Creative Landscape go to https://plantscreative.com/
Zulu Alpha Kilo is a trail blazer in their industry for both their creative and the way they do business. In this interview we discover that what makes them so great bubbles up from within, fuelled by what they believe and how they live as a culture. So many great insights from Mike Sutton, President & CEO, inspiring Ola and myself and providing practical examples of how to bring safe brave spaces to life in an organization. A must listen episode!!!!
What a great way to start 2022. Throughout our lives we meet special people committed to boldly making a difference. Anna Petosa is one of those people for me. An innovative, heart based leader who sparks energy and positive shifts within the individuals and communities she touches. I so love her openness to learning, her willingness to leap and her passion for improving the world. A great conversation filled with insights and ideas to strengthen safe brave spaces within yourself and the communities in which you live.
To discover more about Anna and the amazing work happening at the Weather Network/Pelmorex check out the following links:
A bit of a shift with this episode from the corporate world to helping enable Safe Brave Spaces in one of the most challenging environments, the Nigerian Prisons’ now referred to as “Correctional Centers”. Michael Bidemi Oladipupo left a successful career in banking to provide hope and a future pathway to inmates who can't afford legal representation. Himself and his wife Ololade Oladipupo founded Anchor Heritage an NGO dedicated to providing legal assistance, empowerment and after care for individuals especially the unjustly incarcerated without legal representation. Sparked by the story of one man's injustice and enabled by a deep desire to make a difference, Michael shares what led him to this work and the impact they are making to 'give voice to the voiceless”, the passion and an unrelenting love to humanity.
For more details on their work and how to support them go to either https://www.facebook.com/anchorheritageinitiative/ or http://www.anchorheritage.org/
An amazing interview where Tim shares how he transferred a powerful Safe Brave Spaces experience as a camp leader toward helping shape his organization into one of the global leads in Teal/Self Management. A humble leader, self described tech nerd and a true explorer and enabler of safe brave spaces. Fascinating stories, practical insights plus a link to all of the tools that they have developed to help support your journey to releasing the potential and ownership within your organization. Well worth the listen!!! For additional information about the organization and free tools that they have created go to https://teal.ianmartin.com/history-of-teal-os-at-ian-martin/
For more information about the cool things happening at Loopio reach out to Zak on linkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/zakirhemraj/ or check them out at https://loopio.com/careers/
Powerful, rich and practical insights and ideas from a leading thinker and creator within the workplace engagement space. Over his career, Rob has lived and breathed his commitment to improving lives at work. He has brought his vision to life at WorkTango, as Chief Engagement Officer; through co-founding InnovateWork and as Chair of Enterprise Engagement Alliance. I (Greg) personally experienced the impact of InnovateWork, as Rob's invitation to speak, was the foundation for activating my work in Safe Brave Spaces. We are so grateful for Rob's participation in our podcast and know you will enjoy both the conversation and the ideas shared.
For more information about the great work and opportunities at WorkTango you can go to www.worktango.com or reach out directly to Rob on LinkedIn athttps://www.linkedin.com/in/robcatalano/
Carolyn is a leadership and culture consultant, Dare to Lead facilitator who believes that many of us wake up and face our lives, our workplaces, and we hold back. We hold back for fear of disrupting the status quo; for fear of upsetting people; for fear of being wrong; for fear of being right. She believes we put on a mask and play this game of work and life. She is commitment to calling BS on this game and helping individuals to be exactly who they are and breathe life into their talents every day. Carolyn is the owner of Pinnacle culture, a certified coach and podcast host of PWE & ME. She is a speaker and the author of Amazon best settler Rules of Engagement: Building a workplace culture to thrive in an uncertain world.
In this episode we discover insights from loss, pathways for growth and the importance of energy and learning to pause. Such a deep and impactful conversation to help equip each of us as we emerge from these strange and challenging times. For more information about her Carolyn and her work go to www.carolynswora.com.
Paul shares many great insights around his journey to enable safe brave spaces within himself and the communities that he leads. The importance of creating the environment for folks to bring their full selves to work by reminding them who they are verses telling them what to do and remembering that people care more about you being real than being right.
One of my favourite people and leaders, as authentic as you can get! Such a beautiful conversation modeling the importance of being curious and courageous and how to lead with heart during challenging times! Thank you, Richard, for being you and sharing some great examples of how to lead in today's complex times!
Purposeful organizations led by 'heart & head led' leaders enable safe brave spaces within and beyond their companies. In this episode we hear some powerful ME stories of others who created safe brave spaces for Rena. From this place of strengthened personal, safe and brave, Rena shares some practical and impactful insights and ideas to enable it within her team and across the organization. A final treat is hearing about the amazing things SodaStream is doing to release potential and build bridges through a commitment to coexistence and safe brave spaces!
If you are interested in opportunities at SodaStream you can you www.sodastream.com/career
A must listen episode with powerful and practical insights for activating safe brave spaces in ourselves, our relationships and in our communities. Tim's experiences and person lessons spark a deep conversation and easily accessible ideas and actions for each of us to consider. For more information about the amazing work that Tim is championing, go to www.compassionseries.com.