Celebrate Alumni

Mamta Chail is a results-driven mental health advocate and the President/CEO of Youthdale Treatment Centres. Mamta’s biggest turning point happened after she gave birth to her daughter. She experienced severe postpartum anxiety and she details the impact of this experience including the cultural stigma she faced. We wrap up by hearing about Mamta’s mental health work and what she’s seeing firsthand when it comes to youth and their mental health needs today.

Emm Gryner is an award-winning singer, songwriter, actor and best-selling author. Emm sang and played keyboard in David Bowie’s band, and appears on numerous recordings with him. In this episode, we take a trip through Emm's biggest turning points including: getting her first record deal and being dropped by her label, touring with David Bowie, becoming a mother, getting divorced and finding new love and inspiration for her new album. Emm is down to earth and relatable and she shares valuable insight about what she's learned from each of her pivotal moments. Emm and I are both Fanshawe Alumni and we are so thrilled to have Fanshawe as a sponsor for this episode!

Leroy Hibbert is a speaker, workshop facilitator and community educator. He delivers messages of anti-racism, anti-bullying, and cross-cultural conflict and understanding to community and civic organizations, police services, schools and businesses. Through his work, he hopes to help people understand how to identify racism, interrupt it, and take action to create a more inclusive community. In this interview you'll learn about Leroy's work and also about his personal experiences with racism and why he's passionate about the work he does. Leroy and I are both Fanshawe Alumni and we are so thrilled to have Fanshawe as one of our sponsors for this season of Turning Point.

Bridget George is an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator. Their debut book is a dual Language, English and Ojibwe children’s book, called “It’s a Mitig.” Bridget opens up about taking an unconventional path. As a teen, Bridget was experiencing mental health issues and was expelled from high school but was determined to get an education. They went back and got their GED and then went on to study Graphic Design at Fanshawe College.

Dionne Sinclair is VP Clinical Operations and the Chief Nurse at CAMH, Canada's largest mental health teaching hospital. Her biggest turning point happened when she was laid off from her job as a nurse. At the time, she had two young kids and decided to move back in with her parents so she could go to university. She already had a diploma from Fanshawe College and getting her degree would open doors for her in healthcare leadership.

Fanshawe alumna Erika Casupanan is the first Canadian and the first person of Filipino descent EVER to win Survivor. She's also the first woman to win in several seasons and in this episode, you'll get all the details about her strategy and what was going on behind the scenes during the show.

You likely recognize alumna Cheryl Hickey (Broadcast Journalism ’96) from ET Canada. She has been hosting the show since it launched in 2005 and in this first episode of Turning Point season two, you'll find out how late nights spent learning to do camera work and editing eventually led to Cheryl getting her big break.