In this episode Martha and Indira have a conversation with Catherine McCauley, a remarkable administrator who has worked in both Ontario and British Columbia. She is currently a founding partner of Quinn McCauley Giving Strategies Inc. in Vancouver and is sought after for her expertise in charitable giving, public sector fundraising and foundation management. A true leader who has demonstrated “nerve” as a sought-after adviser and entrepreneur, Catherine is an exemplary role model as a...

In this episode Martha and Indira have a conversation with Lisa Coleman, the first woman and first Black person to be president of Adler University—a private graduate studies university dedicated to graduating practitioners who will lead social change and create a more just society. Founded in Chicago in 1952 to continue the work of Alfred Adler, a physician and psychotherapist who emphasized the individual’s need to engage with community and create positive social impact. In addition t...

In this episode Martha and Indira have a conversation with Nadine Caron, the first Canadian female general surgeon of First Nations descent, as well as the first female First Nations student to graduate from the University of British Columbia’s medical school, being the top ranked student. She has also received an MA degree in Public Health from Harvard and completed a postgraduate fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco, focused on endocrine surgical oncology. Nadine ...

In this episode Martha and Indira have a conversation with a woman leader who has demonstrated “nerve” throughout her entire life. Moura Quayle a renown strategic design scholar and urban systems designer. Moura has done it all—in both academia and government and community affairs. She has been an academic leader at UBC and has served in various leadership roles including Dean of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, the founding Director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affair...

In this episode Martha and Indira have a conversation with Melanie Woodin, an internationally recognized neuroscientist who studies the mechanisms underlying learning and memory in the brain. Melanie has recently been named the University of Toronto’s 17th president, the first woman to assume this position. Prior to this appointment, she was dean of the university’s Faculty of Arts and Science—Canada’s largest and most comprehensive faculty. She completed her bachelor of science degree ...

In this episode Martha and Indira speak candidly with Sara Seager, a Canadian-American, world-renowned leader in astrophysics and planetary science. A professor at MIT, she has been instrumental in advancing the study of planets outside our solar system. Her research has greatly improved our understanding of the wide variety of exoplanets that exist in the galaxy and pushed us closer to finding another Earth-like world that could support life. After obtaining her Bachelor of Science deg...

In this episode Martha and Indira speak candidly with Kim Brooks, who began her term as Dalhousie’s 13th President and Vice-Chancellor in 2023 after serving as Acting Provost and Dean of both the Law School and the Faculty of Management. Kim has had a distinguished career as a law professor at Queen’s University, UBC and McGill and is known for her expertise in tax law. In addition, she has been a recipient of a 3M Teaching Fellowship and is well recognized as an advocate for university...

In this episode Martha and Indira speak candidly with Biddy Martin, a distinguished humanities scholar and widely respected leader in higher education. For more than two decades she served on the faculty of German studies and women’s studies at Cornell University. She chaired the Department of German Studies, served as senior associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, and assumed the role of Cornell’s provost in 2000. After eight years as provost, she was appointed Chance...

In this episode Martha speaks candidly with Joy Johnson, a distinguished health scientist and researcher in gender and health with a particular focus on promoting health and modifying health-related behaviour. In particular, she has studied the different health behaviours of women and men in terms of how gender affects how they react differently to drugs and other therapies. With an impressive record of scholarship and academic administrative appointments, Dr.Johnson was the first woman...

In this episode Martha and Indira speak candidly with Anne-Marie Slaughter, a woman who has demonstrated “nerve” throughout her entire life. Currently CEO of the think and action tank New America, Anne-Marie is a global leader, scholar, and public intellectual. She was the J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign and Comparative Law at Harvard Law School. From 2002 to 2009, she was Bert G. Kerstetter '66 University Professor of Politics and International Affairs and Dean of t...

In this special live recorded episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Jill Moffatt, an elite woman athlete and 2X Olympic rower - an individual who has demonstrated “nerve” throughout her entire life. As co-founder of MOMentum, an initiative to advance gender equity in sport and the support of motherhood in women athletes, Jill is passionate about creating a more inclusive future for women in sport. If that isn’t enough, she is currently pursuing her PhD degree at Laurentian University...

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Mary Wells, a Canadian materials engineer who is highly regarded for her research advances in the processing of advanced metallic alloys. She currently serves as Dean of Engineering at the University of Waterloos, the second woman to assume this position. Prior to her appointment at Waterloos, she was Dean for the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Guelph. A consistent advocate for women in engi...

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Susan Hockfield, an American neuroscientist and the first woman to serve as president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2004 to 2012. Prior to becoming president, Dr. Hockfield served as Dean of Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Yale’s Provost. As the first life scientist to be appointed president of MIT, her scholarship involved the use of monoclonal antibody technology in brain research. ...

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell, who served as the 19th prime minister of Canada – the first and only female prime minister of Canada. She was the first young woman president of her high school student council, the first woman president of UBC’s freshman class, the first woman to serve as minister of justice in Canada and the first woman to become minister of defense in a NATO country, to name a few. She has served as Secretary-General of the...

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Elizabeth Cannon, a leading geomatics engineer, served as the eighth president and vice-chancellor of the University of Calgary from 2010 to 2018. Prior to her appointment as president, she was dean of the Schulich School of Engineering at the University of Calgary. Appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Member to the Alberta Order of Excellence, she has worked tirelessly to raise public awareness about science and engi...

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Drew Faust, an American historian who was the first woman to serve as president of Harvard University from 2007 to 2018. She received her bachelor’s degree with honors in history from Bryn Mawr College and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history from the University of Pennsylvania. As a scholar she specializes in the study of the South in the antebellum period and the Civil War, authoring seven books, including her most recent me...

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Alison Richard, a distinguished anthropologist who is widely known for her research on the evolution of complex social systems among primates, was the first woman to be appointed Vice-Chancellor (President) of Cambridge University. Before arriving at Cambridge, she served as the Provost of Yale University. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and has received numerous honorary degrees from univer...

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Anne Giardini, a Canadian business executive, journalist, lawyer and author who served as the 11th Chancellor of Simon Fraser University. She was president of Weyerhauser Company Ltd. and has written two novels, The Sad Truth About Happiness and Advice for Italian Boys. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Order of British Columbia.Anne discusses her experiences in the position and how she had the 'nerve' to ...

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Susan Christoffersen who is currently serving as the first woman to be appointed Dean of the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. Susan discusses her own experiences in the position and how she had the ‘nerve’ to get there. Episode ResourcesThe Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) at the Rotman School of Management https://www.gendereconomy.org/Babcock, L., Zackman, G., Peyser, B., Vesterlun...

In this episode, Martha and Indira speak candidly with Heather Munroe-Blum who served as Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University from 2003-2013.Heather discusses her own experiences in the position and how she had the ‘nerve’ to get there. Episode ResourcesBrown, Brené. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. New York: Avery, 2012.Hewlett, Sylvia. Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor: The New Way to Fast-Track Your Career...