Tea With A Titan: Conversations Steeped In Greatness |achievement | Olympics | Olympians| Success | Athletes | Entrepreneurs

What we cover: In this moment, we are safe. Today's guest is Dr Russ Kennedy – someone I have known since 2004, when I launched my brief stint into the stand up comedy world. Russ was a fellow comic, and I got to know him then, and I always really liked him. I eventually set that aside as I evolved as a writer and instead focused more on my foray into the world of one-woman shows – but Russ remained in my orbit because my brother Julien Dionne and his girlfriend Jennifer Grant are comics and so I continued to see Russ perform over the years. The thing I dug about Russ is that he wasn’t just a comic, he had this whole other side to him. He was a neuroscientist and a medical doctor as well. It’s not everyday you meet someone so robust in background. But that’s who Russ is. As a physician, and someone who very openly speaks about his own struggle with anxiety and his father’s battle with mental illness, he has recently launched a fantastic course and online resource called The Kennedy Method. Which you can learn

What we cover: "I took the road less travelled by, and that has made all the difference." -- Robert Frost Today’s guest is Stacey Shand. If there is a woman more easy to have a Girl Crush on that Stacey Shand, I have yet to meet her. Stacey is an ultra-extreme endurance athlete and adventurer. She is affectionately known as ‘Racey Stacey’, and she has been keeping a promise she made to herself from her hospital bed following a near tragic auto accident a number of years ago. When she was faced with the realities of what could have been, she vowed never to take her physical abilities -- her physical and mental strength -- whatever that might look like, for granted again. She went from being virtually inactive and even skipping gym class… to giving her first 5km a try at the age of 25… to the woman she is today – someone who has done approximately 100 marathons, and a woman intent on completing what are known as the toughest races on the planet. I’m not just talking about Ironman, I’m talking about Ultraman and

What we cover: "Take the past for what it is. And then, focus on moving forward." -- Kevin Reynolds Today's guest is Kevin Reynolds. He is, of course, the Canadian figure skating super star who won silver at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, as part of the mixed team event. According to the official Olympics athlete site, he is the first skater in the world to ever land a quad-triple-triple combination, and in 2010 he became the first man ever to land two quadruple jumps in the short program – and we talk about all that goodness. But this is by no means just a talk about skating. You don’t have to be up on your figure skating lingo to follow along – despite the fact that many of us will be up on it on account of we Canadians following the recent success of our own ice dancers, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. This is a conversation about getting up after we fall – figuratively and literally. It’s about recognizing what Kevin calls that “glimmer of hope” in order to set the wheels in motion and turn a dream

What we cover: “Addiction is the body’s way of telling you that you’re not listening to your soul.” – Sherry Strong Today's guest is Sherry Strong – and strong she is. She is a woman who, after 35-years of playing the “victim”, which so many of us are guilty of from time to time – and who also struggled with an addiction to sugar to numb the sadness, took a good look in the mirror and said enough is enough. She was, as she puts it: “sick, obese, tired, and wanted to die.” Today, she is a professional chef, a nutritionist, and a food philosopher – and she can fit her entire body into one leg of her former pants. She has some really wise insights in terms of what it means to have a healthy relationship with food. And it’s all about looking to nature and our relationship to nature – look to the natural abundance of whole foods; what nature intended. She can also help you get off of sugar in as a little as 8-weeks with her famous online program. And if 8 weeks feels too daunting for you, she’s devised a new 7-day

What we cover: In the interest of full disclosure, I have been ridiculously spread thin – as we all can get from time to time – and completely run down, wrapping up deadlines before I shut the office down until the new year. I have been up late into the night with a sick 2-year-old. And I have been going through this incredibly heavy sadness on account of learning that someone I cared for very much in my high school life, died – but the thing of it all is that he died many years ago. Nearly 25, in fact. And I only just found out. Grieving after-the-fact is a strange and lonely thing. If you’ve ever been there, have found out news in a delayed fashion and have had to grieve alone, I feel your pain – the solitary sadness. Long story short, I have felt anything but titan-y the last couple weeks. More sloggy than titan-y. A friend of mine once said to me: As achievers, we need to learn to cut ourselves some slack. To let ourselves off the hook just every once in a while. And so, as we near the Holiday season, tha

What we cover: “The most important things I’ve learned in life, I’ve learned on the badminton court.” – Anna Rice Today’s Guest Titan is two-time Olympian, Anna Rice – a woman who admits that, as far as life goes, everything she’s learned so far, she’s learned on the badminton court. This is a woman who is ripe with insights, and who possesses a calm wisdom that I found quite intoxicating, really. I know you’re going to love her.  This isn’t really a conversation about badminton, so much as it is a conversation about our own thought processes, the stories we make up about ourselves, our relationship with ego and Self, and even what it means and what it takes to do those things that we legitimately love. It’s also a chat that just happens to be bursting with goodness as it pertains to the way we are raising our kids and the things to take into consideration when it comes to our own desires for them and for their own achievements – like the gift of letting them fall, for one -- for those of us who have small hu

What we cover: "You have to lose sight of the shore, to discover new lands." -- Andre Gide, paraphrased    For those of you who listen to the show on a regular basis, it’s not news that I am a huge proponent of perspective shifting. And of gear shifting. Of being adaptable and of having the ability to readjust as needed. As we were planning our recent trip to California, I had a couple leads with amazing LA-based Guest Titans, both of which didn’t end up panning out at the last minute. Because we couldn’t get schedules to align. At first I was a bit disappointed, but that feeling didn’t last long when I reminded myself that it meant I would, instead, get two full days, and not just one, at Disneyland with my 2-year-old and my 4-year-old daughters. Time that, one day, when they have left home to create their own adult lives, I will pine for. And, since this podcast started as a gift to them, so that they will have an inventory of conversations with paradigm-busting perspective-shifters to draw from at various

What we cover: "For temporary results, commit to temporary changes. For permanent results, commit to permanent ones." -- Karin Fortin Jackson, 3-time Ironman finisher, who lost 120 pounds   In 18 months of conversations with people I admire, this might rank as my most favourite chat yet. And I say that with the full admission that I have loved every one of my Guest Titan encounters. Karin Fortin Jackson is so honest, so unassuming, so humble, so candid. She allows us a private peek inside her very personal journey – a journey that has a clear “before” and a clear “after”. She walks us through her “before years” – from the day as a child when she was called “fatso” to her days as an adult who chose to accept the label until she ultimately found herself as a 255-pound mother of two, who couldn’t shop from the bottom shelves at the grocery store for fear of not being able to hoist herself back up again.  Part One of our conversation delves into these years – the "before years" -- who she was and what was going

What we cover: "For temporary results, commit to temporary changes. For permanent results, commit to permanent ones." -- Karin Fortin Jackson, 3-time Ironman finisher, who lost 120 pounds   In 18 months of conversations with people I admire, this might rank as my most favourite chat yet. And I say that with the full admission that I have loved every one of my Guest Titan encounters. Karin Fortin Jackson is so honest, so unassuming, so humble, so candid. She allows us a private peek inside her very personal journey – a journey that has a clear “before” and a clear “after”. She walks us through her “before years” – from the day as a child when she was called “fatso” to her days as an adult who chose to accept the label until she ultimately found herself as a 255-pound mother of two, who couldn’t shop from the bottom shelves at the grocery store for fear of not being able to hoist herself back up again.  Part One of our conversation delves into these years – the "before years" -- who she was and what was going

What we cover: “If you want something badly enough, you don’t make sacrifices. You make choices.” – Rhian Wilkinson Today’s Guest Titan chat is a wee bit of a deviation from the norm – and I am so glad about it. Today, I have a guest co-host in the form of 12-year-old Alex Vietch, herself a serious athlete – she’s a track star and a soccer freak, in a good way. She asked me once if I ever were to interview one of the women from Team Canada, if she could maybe come and say hi, but we did one better. When I found out that Rhian Wilkinson, 3-time Olympian and today’s Guest Titan was up for it, I asked Alex if she wouldn’t mind being my co-host. And, because Alex is one of those kids who personifies carpe diem, of course she was in! The impact of women athletes on the positive self-image of young girls and boys – because they too get to see another definition of what it means to be a powerful, strong woman – cannot be understated. To that end, I want to give a shout-out to two of my young friends on the east coas

What we cover: “Boom! Gratitude.” —Mike Shaw This week’s Guest Titan – Mike Shaw — is beyond inspiring. I have thought about our chat daily since it happened. He is just that impressive. I don’t want to give too much away, his story is incredible, and it’s best if I get out of the way – and let you hear it from his vantage point. Hear what it was like to be at the top of his game as a freestyle skier and coach, and to one day, in the moment it takes to snap our fingers, experience a fluke crash and the subsequent horror of feeling nothing from the neck down – to know that there is a very good chance that he would spend his life as a quadriplegic. This is a story of grit, determination, self-identity – and above all else, gratitude. I caught Mike’s TED Talk in Vancouver, and I knew I had to meet him. And I did, and we drank Vega shakes together, and he wowed me. Every day his feet touch the ground in the morning, he says: “Boom! Gratitude. Boom! Gratitude.” His TED Talk is amazing – he is amazing – and it’s po

What we cover: Reinvention. I have been calling myself a writer since I was 5 years old. I’ve had a fun and memorable career as an ad copywriter in agencies in Vancouver, as an editor, as a features writer for various magazines. I’ve written my one-woman show and am currently working on the sequel. I wrote my own comedy material in the days I did standup. But for me, the dream is to one day get that screenplay written – that’s the dream. I’ll be honest, though, for some reason, it’s scary to me. It’s a new format, and a new thing, and despite the fact that I’ve read countless books on screenwriting, and have taken half a dozen screenwriting courses, I continue to fall into the category – in this one area of my life – where I talk the talk, but I don’t yet walk the walk. That is my thing – my block. What’s yours? What’s that one thing you want to rock on, but instead you continue to stand in your own way? Because that’s what it is – it’s just ourselves -- getting in the way. Terri Tatchell, of course is the Os

This is a mini-episode. Just a wee one. It’s sort of Part Two in my chat with the unbelievably well-respected professional Ironman triathlete, Jeff Symonds Asia Pacific Ironman Champion, the year before last. But it’s also a stand-alone. So I’m not really thinking of it as a continuation of last week’s episode. By all means, go back and check that one out – but don’t feel you have to in order to really “get it”. I saved this installment, which technically is the last twenty minutes of our initial time together, because I really believes it sums up everything I believe about what makes a Guest Titan a Titan. And that is the ability to rise after a fall. The story Jeff tells isn’t just that figuratively, -- it is that literally. It’s the story of what goes on in the mind of someone with such unshakeable conviction and focus on desired outcome, that even when they crash their bike going at speeds of more than 60km/hour during the 180km ride that precedes the full marathon in his iron event – that he will get bac

What we cover: “A diamond is a lump of coal that did well under pressure." – Henry Kissinger This week’s Guest Titan is flipping amazing. I have loved him from afar for many years now – not like as a stalker, dressed as a plant, hiding in a corner. But just that feeling of tremendous respect you get when you know you are around someone who is truly great. Some one who personifies all that you admire in the best of humanity – he is devoid of pretension, he is the definition of hard work, he is the embodiment of his life philosophy: “Get ugly.” But professional triathlete Jeff Symonds is anything but physically ugly – his kind of ugly is the ugly that happens when you leave it all on the line. When you let the sweat and the grime and guts of pursuit ooze from wherever it is that sweat and grime and guts ooze as you stare-down the finish line. That’s the kind of single-focused, push through the pain and discomfort of “ugly” we talk about it. It’s that kind of ugly that garnered him a 3rd place finish at the Iron

What we cover: “A fall doesn't have to be perceived as a fall. It can be a trip. Or a stumble." – Teryl Rothery This week’s Guest Titan is flipping amazing. I first met Teryl Rothery, about 18 years ago – I’ll tell you how I know it was a long time ago – I was an ad copywriter at an agency here in Vancouver, and I’d written some radio scripts for a national telco. And the product we were advertising was – wait for it – the Yellow Pages. Like, the hard copy, yellow pages phone books. One of the voice actors, we hired for the scripts was Teryl Rothery. That’s how long ago I met Teryl – we were still in the days of advertising the arrival of phone books at our doorsteps, letting people know that they were on their way. And I am going to post that radio spot in the show notes – because why not?! Go to MJDionne.com, click on the podcaster tab, and you’ll see Teryl’s show notes banner there. Easy! In between Seasons One and Two, I took the summer off from recording Tea with a Titan episodes. And it’s a good feeling

What we cover: “Where will we be 5 years from today?”   Welcome to Season #2 of Tea with a Titan: Conversations Steeped in Greatness. This is the series where I get to sit down and have tea with entrepreneurs, athletes, entertainers, artists, philanthropists, thought-leaders, difference makers, -- those people who have one of five, or sometimes five of five, things in common. After evaluating the learning I was so blessed to be on the receiving end of throughout Season #1 (episodes 1 through 55), I have come to the realization that what makes a titan a titan comes down to five recurring themes and qualities -- every time.  1) A titan is self-made; they do not depend on others to determine their fate. 2) A titan has a high adversity quotient -- when they fall, they get back up. 3) A titan believes in reinvention – they are adaptable. 4) A titan is a dreamer. But more than that, a titan is a do-er. They set the alarm earlier, they sit at their desk longer, they hit the gym or the pool or the art easel or the la

What we cover: "Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path, and leave a trail." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson    A few weeks ago, I was speaking on a panel for the organization called Dress for Success. Dress for Success is a fantastic enterprise designed to empower women to get back into the workforce by providing professional clothing for job interviews and the first few weeks of employment, as well as providing a support network and tools for them to thrive. Because I was raised by a bum-kicking single mom who not only pulled herself up by the bootstraps, but who would then go on to “pay it forward” as they say, by serving as a beacon for others, it was an honour for me to speak at their event. While I was on stage, I noticed Pamela Martin in the crowd. And because I have been a longtime admirer of her work in broadcasting and subsequently in politics, I was sort of giddy at the thought of having the chance to meet her. Not like an obsessed fan, but more as a woman in awe of another wom

What we cover: "What the world needs now is love, sweet love." -- Burt Bacharach   About three weeks ago, my four-year-old, JouJou had her first ballet recital with North Vancouver’s stellar organization Pink Petal Ballet, designed less to teach young girls the perfect arabesque, and more to teach young girls concepts like self-love and kindness. The recital concluded with 300 young girls on stage singing in questionable harmony the classic lyrical genius of Burt Bacharach: “What the world needs now, is love sweet love,… it’s the only thing that there’s just too little love.” However, thanks to artistic visionaries and thought leaders like Wendy Williams-Watt who sees opportunity for beauty and self-expression all around her, the quantity of love shown and received and felt is growing exponentially around the world. Love for oneself, love for community, love for country, love for the planet. In fact, her most talked about project to date Big Love Ball now has a home on every continent globally. If you’re not

What we cover: "We can't go over it, we can't go under it. Oh no, we have to go through it." -- Michael Rosen   JouJou very recently has taken to riding her bike up and down the carpeted hallways of our condo building in BC's wine country, and since this is the first year that Birdie can actually walk, she sort of giddily squeals and chases behind her big sister in her distinctly diaper-clad waddle. However, the other day, JouJou went out into the hallway and left our condo door open, for Birdie to come out when she was ready. I watched as Birdie made the realization that JouJou had in fact left the suite on her bike, and I watched as she processed that she too wanted to leave the unit, and be in the vicinity of the big kid who was out in the hallway. She headed over to the door, which was wide open, and then she quickly stopped. She did not proceed, despite the fact that nothing was, at first glance, physically stopping her. However, the door mat that sits at our entrance is made of sort of this grassy, sis

I’m a big believer that every once in a while, if you stay the path, dreams really can come true. And today’s episode, in my life, is evidence of that theory. Ten years ago this summer, on my 35th birthday, a group of my closest friends and I went to a party at the Playboy Mansion of all places. I’ve said it a number of times on this series: if you have a chance to peek into a portal, to experience a glimpse of life that is counter to your own everyday routine, habits, surroundings, take it. And partying at the Playboy Mansion fell into that camp. While my friends and I – I believe there were ten of us in total – had a blast overall on that special evening, there was one unique highlight that -- for me -- was what some people might call a “pinch me” encounter. I have a long history as a writer and a performer and a speaker, and I dabbled in stand-up comedy for about 3 years as I honed my comedic-writing chops. This ultimately led me to writing and producing and appearing in my one-woman show, "Glowing: A Repr