Podcast
Chatter that Matters
Hosted by Tony Chapman · EN
Chatter That Matters is an award-winning podcast that champions human perseverance and the power of possibility, countering the storm of negativity and the growing sense of impossibility.
Hall of Famer Inductee Tony Chapman hosts the show and shares inspiring stories of individuals overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges to make things happen. Guests include athletes, artists, activists, entrepreneurs, immigrants, refugees, survivors, and leaders from all walks of life.
Through these stories, listeners gain powerful life lessons and insights that inspire them to chase their dreams and achieve what they want, need, and deserve.
In doing so, we learn life lessons that help us chase our dreams.
15episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Opportunity Knocks - Robin Devine
3d ago00:28:27Tap to summarizeRobin Devine has spent her life knocking on doors, sometimes literally, and finding opportunity on the other side. Raised by her grandmother, Robin learned early that hard work, honesty, courage, and instinct could take you places credentials could not. As a little girl, she sold lilacs and rhubarb door to door. As a young woman, she walked into an advertising agency with no portfolio, no experience, and talked her way into a job. By twenty-three, she was selling Checker automobiles out of a broken-down garage, turning old taxis into reverse status symbols. What follows is a remarkable conversation about grit, reinvention, and seeing value where others see nothing. Her energy and passion are contagious as she shares her life story from advertising to automobiles, from Expo 86 to Canadian Tire, from Russian generals to Bestselling Books, Food banks, Shelters, and a Canada Watch she proudly markets with proceeds helping those in need. This episode is timeless. It is about agency and refusing to wait for permission. You can also help support Canada's Food Banks and Shelters, by purchasing a special edition Canadian Watch. https://www.timeisticking.ca/
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The Liar's Playbook - Leslie Bradford-Scott
1w ago00:27:15Tap to summarizeLeslie Bradford-Scott grew up inside a story so spectacular it felt unreal. Her father drove a Rolls-Royce. A promoter, he brought Pink Floyd and Paul Anka to Hamilton, moved through a world of million-dollar diamonds, and lit up every room he entered. Then the story cracked. At twelve, Leslie came home to the police on the lawn. At fifteen, she had a gun pressed against her arm. At sixteen, she lost her brother, the one person who made her feel less alone. Trying to outrun her father's shadow, Leslie joined the Coast Guard to save lives and fight crime, only to find corruption there, too. Later, she married a man who felt familiar in the worst possible way: charming, dangerous, and destructive. But Leslie kept moving. She wrote screenplays on Post-it notes while selling cars, built a business from a farm, and reinvented herself again and again. Years after his death, her father's 175,000-word prison manuscript surfaced, reopening everything she thought she had buried. Was he a villain, a victim, a con man, a hero, or all of the above? This is a gripping conversation about crime, family myth, buried truth, and what happens when the story that shaped you collapses. Leslie's lesson is unforgettable: where you are born, and whom you are born to, may shape you, but they do not get to define you. As she says, "My entire life, I didn't feel I mattered. And now I know that I matter." And then please stick around for an important announcement about Chatter that Matters. To buy Leslie's book: https://www.amazon.com/Liars-Playbook-Memoir-Family-Crime/dp/1668069393
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An unexpected surprise - Bailey Gee
2w ago00:32:54Tap to summarizeSome episodes entertain. Some inspire. And some remind us what it means to be human. This is one of those episodes. Bailey Gee was born with the most severe form of spina bifida. Her life became a cycle of surgeries, pain, bullying, isolation, a wheelchair, and battles with mental health that often left her wondering if life was worth fighting for. Every day she prayed to be happy. Then one day, happiness found her. A random YouTube search introduced Bailey to Cesar De La Rosa, whose music and stage presence became an unexpected light during one of the darkest periods of her life. What started as fandom became friendship, healing, and hope. In this deeply emotional episode, Bailey shares her journey through disability, loneliness, and resilience. Cesar reflects on the responsibility artists carry when their work touches lives in ways they never imagined. The conversation also features Paralympian Joel Dembe, who challenges us to rethink disability, accessibility, and what it truly means to be seen. And thanks to RBC Avion, Cesar will meet Bailey for the first time. This is a story about pain, music, humanity, and the unexpected angels who help us find the light.
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Celine Dione - Vito Luprano
3w ago00:24:51Tap to summarizeStep inside the recording studio to understand more about one of the greatest voices of our time, Celine Dion. My guest is Vito Luprano, the Sony Music executive and creative force who worked on 21 of Celine's albums and helped shape her rise from a shy francophone teenager into an international superstar. Vito found the songs. Fought for the sound. Pushed for the reinvention. And helped Celine move from French-language success to global domination. He shares some of Celine's iconic moments, from "Where Does My Heart Beat Now" to "I Drove All Night," "Taking Chances," "Alone," and the unforgettable story behind "My Heart Will Go On." This is a rare look behind the curtain at one of the world's greatest stars, her journey to the top, her songs, the tension, and her heartbreak when she lost Rene, the love of her life.
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Write your Own Story - Nick Ferguson
May 700:39:41Tap to summarizeNick Ferguson grew up in inner-city Miami in a world that tried to define his future before he had a chance to dream. With no father figure, surrounded by poverty, prejudice, and expectations that narrowed life to "jail or a casket," Nick chose another path. He chose books. He chose belief. He chose football. He chose the hard road. Undrafted, overlooked, cut, injured, and forced to fight his way through the CFL, Germany, and countless closed doors, Nick refused to let circumstance become his identity. He built a remarkable 10-year NFL career, but this conversation is not really about football. It is about taking the pencil back and writing your own story. Nick speaks with raw honesty about anger, isolation, faith, failure, mentorship, and reinvention. His message is simple and powerful: life will test you, people will doubt you, and adversity will find you. The question is whether you retreat or move forward. Today, Nick is a broadcaster, mentor, and motivational speaker, helping others escape the victim mindset and discover their own gift. This is a story of resilience, accountability, and the courage to say, "I am here."
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Less is More - Paul Meehan
Apr 3000:37:30Tap to summarizeI have had the privilege of knowing Paul Meehan for many years. I am a better person for it. There is no finer handshake or twinkle in the eye. Paul is a serial entrepreneur, a lover of family, life, and is guided by a higher purpose to help others. Did I mention that Paul and his wife, Melissa, created, self-funded, and built one of the world's most quietly brilliant brand stories by refusing to shout, by embodying the expression: Less is More. In a category crowded with sugar, swagger, and sameness, they created NUTRL Vodka, a brand defined by restraint, simplicity, taste, trust and brilliant creativity. This episode radiates positivity and possibility. I encourage dreamers and doers, creative thinkers, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants to celebrate the human in humanity. Paul is a partner, father, strategist, entrepreneur, music lover, mentor and a proud Canadian. What you will learn is that success is not luck. It is listening. Learning. Knocking on doors after they have slammed shut. Finding joy in better. Making music when everyone else is trying to make noise. I then invite Kim Mason to provide context on what it means to be an entrepreneur and to care. One of Kim's big takeaways is this: 'It's not about demonstrating empathy, it is about being empathetic.'
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Tea for the Tillerman - Michael D. Ham
Apr 2300:29:30Tap to summarizeI borrowed the title of this episode from Cat Stevens, and you will soon see why. To Cat Stevens, Tillerman represented, "the man of the Earth," working to make things on this planet. And Tea, well, my guest knows tea. In honour of Earth Day, I sit down with Michael Don Ham, entrepreneur, wellness advocate, and co-founder of Wild Orchard Teas, for a beautiful conversation about purpose, resilience, and what it really means to build a business that matters. A business in constant conversation with Mother Nature. From the son of immigrants to a teacher to arriving in New York just before 9/11, to finding his passion in regenerative farming, clean air, and human health. Michael's journey is anything but conventional. But what ties it all together is a higher calling: to help people live healthier, more connected, more meaningful lives. This is a conversation about longevity, leadership, and the courage to choose purpose over quick profit. It is also a reminder that in a world moving too fast, slowing down, sharing time with others, and building with intention may be exactly what matters most. Enjoy Michael's words of wisdom over a cup of Tea.
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There is only one Jesse Hirsh
Apr 1600:55:12Tap to summarizeJesse Hirsh is one of the most unbridled, unrestrained, intelligent, and entertaining individuals I know, and he doesn't disappoint in this interview. Jesse makes you think, laugh, question, and lean in all at once, on subject matter that is near and dear to all of us. We also talk about his early hacking arrest, which made him question authority; his warnings about the rising power of platforms; how our education system needs a major reboot; and his decision to leave the mainstream media behind and build a very different life through farming in rural Eastern Ontario. Jesse calls his farm the Academy of the Impossible, an experimental, high-speed fibre-connected, wired-up space that researches the intersection of agriculture, media, technology, and culture. I don't stray far from the farm to invite Lisa Ashton from RBC's Thought Leadership Team to talk about Canada's potential to become a food superpower.
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Dancing with Parkinson's - Sarah Robichaud
Apr 900:36:03Tap to summarizeIf you have ever doubted the power of art to change lives, this episode will make you think again. It is a reminder that movement can be medicine, joy can be transformative, and community can be as important as any treatment plan. Above all, it shows how one person's calling can become a lifeline for thousands of others. What if dance could do more than move the body? What if it could unlock joy, restore confidence, build community, and become a vital part of brain health? In this moving episode of Chatter That Matters, I sit down with Sarah Robichaud, founder and CEO of Dancing With Parkinson's, a program changing lives everywhere. What began with one class and one big idea has become a powerful national movement, helping people with Parkinson's and others reconnect with their bodies, their minds, and each other through music, imagery, storytelling, and dance. Sarah shares her journey, from a young girl who knew she was meant to dance, to an artist and teacher who discovered a profound calling to help others find freedom through movement. She explains how dance can bypass limitations, spark new neural pathways, elevate mood, and create a sense of belonging that many participants describe as life-changing. Later in the episode, Wayne Bossert joins the conversation to discuss the importance of brain research, the role Brain Canada plays, and why supporting brain health matters to you, to me and to RBC. To learn more about Dancing with Parkinson's. https://www.dancingwithparkinsons.com/ To learn more about Women's Brain Health - https://www.rbcwealthmanagement.com/en-ca/insights/why-women-need-to-be-more-proactive-with-their-brain-health
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Live a Little Better - John Beyer
Apr 200:31:06Tap to summarizeJohn Beyer grew up amidst chaos. His parents were alcoholics. By his mid-twenties, both parents had passed away, grief weighed heavily, and alcohol took over his life. In this episode, I speak with John about the moment he finally confronted that truth and the long journey that ensued. The conversation covers addiction, recovery, family, and the quiet strength of rebuilding a life step by step. John shares how he found sobriety, started a business, became a husband and father, supported a son with autism, and kept moving forward through profound personal and health challenges. What makes this story so impactful is that it is shared from experience, scars, gratitude, and a sincere desire to help not only himself but others, and the book he authored, Live a Little Better. To buy John's Book: https://www.amazon.com/Live-Little-Better-Survival-Sobriety/dp/1637634013
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