Latest / The Splitting Atoms Podcast / Ep 14 | Embracing Change with Monifa Miller

Transcript

Ep 14 | Embracing Change with Monifa Miller · The Splitting Atoms Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: You have essentially taken something that scares a lot of people.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Change and getting out of maybe our routines or what feels comfortable, and you have turned it into almost a skill set.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: Life is full of changes.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_02: There are ups and downs.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_02: It's like a mantra.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: You land on your feet, all will be well.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: What becomes possible when we choose to see change not as something to fear, but as an opportunity to build something new?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_02: I think we have to be creative.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: How can we break into through the noise of which is so much information that's out there, and just find pockets and places where you can start introducing the idea of nuclear?
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: But in order for people to care, they have to go, oh, I need this to happen.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: Let's make sure that, you know, we bring in those stories so that it resonates with people.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Throughout our lives, we're constantly stepping into new chapters, new careers, new communities, new ideas, and sometimes entirely new dreams.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: The question isn't whether change will come, it's how we'll choose to meet that change.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: In today's conversation with Monifa Miller, she shares a journey shaped by optimism, purpose, and a willingness to embrace each new opportunity with curiosity and confidence.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Join me now as I Split Atoms with Monifa Miller.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, Monifa, to the Splitting Atoms Podcast Studio.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: I am so excited that you're here.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_02: I am thrilled to be here.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Very excited.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be good, and I mean we're we're lucky we just settled in because you and I are actually friends first.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_02: So this this could go off the rails, is what we're saying.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: People could get more of a friendship talk than they bargained for, maybe.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: But we'll do our best to keep it uh keep it where it should be.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I was thinking on my walk over here today, do you remember when we first met or like how Oh, that's a good question.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: It must be CNA.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: It was it must have been CNA.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_02: And how did you being as personable and dynamic as you are, or probably chatting to obnoxious group of people, and I probably was in it and I was like, I like this girl.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_02: She's obnoxious.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: She's obnoxious and very dynamic.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_02: I like that.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: I like your marketing words better.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it's you know, you were I think you are right.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I do you know what I think it was though?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: You were at the table.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is when you were still with BWXT.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: Probably.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you were at the booth.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: The first time I really remember kind of invading your space was remember I took the photos for you guys.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's right.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Of all of you, I was like, Do you guys want a picture of all of you at the booth?
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And no, no, no, we're gonna move you in front of the booth and we're gonna do it.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I was very demanding for someone that was just getting to know you.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_02: It sounds like you.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna go with that story and very take charge.
• 2:39
  unknown: I know.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: I yeah, I was walking over and I was like, I know we're we're really good friends now, and we've obviously been to a lot of things and done a lot of things together now, but where was the first kind of connection where it's like, oh yeah, this is my friend now?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it developed over time, right?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_02: Even though, you know, you see each other at CNA.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: CNA is very much what they call it the nuclear prom.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's true.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: But it's more serious than that.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: It is the opportunity to just reconnect with people on an annual basis.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_02: And it always feels like this big reunion, and you're just like you've never it's like you saw saw old family.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that every time we saw each other, it just, you know, we just chatted more and connected more, and then we found out that we had some similar likings and similar interests, and here we are.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: It blossomed.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: It blossomed.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: And now you're stuck with me forever.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: Is that a threat?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Or it's a promise.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so normally at this part of the uh podcast, I ask people for a 60-second high level of their organization, but I have a feeling we might spend a little bit more time here because you have some very exciting it probably when this drops, it's not going to be new news anymore.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's already gonna be around that time that I would have shared the news.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: So tell me about your organization, Monifa.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the the big news is that I've decided to go out on my own and I've started my own consulting firm and it's called Stratus Strategies.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_02: And um it's it's really exciting because I've it's something I've always wanted to do.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I just felt like at the age I am with the experience I have and the moment that is now, and we'll talk about this I know, not only for the industry, but for Canada, I just felt like it made sense that I venture out and do what I always wanted to do, which is bring all the experience I have in various areas, which we'll talk about, and just make kind of provide a new perspective and help to bring storytelling and more compelling communications and marketing to an industry that's just thriving.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_02: Really.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: In a country that's thriving, as you said.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, talk about it.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I like so I'm so excited because uh, you know, you and I are kindred souls in in the way we want to tell stories and communications is so important to us, and we really have a passion for it.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just excited to have another uh, you know, storytelling choreographer entering into the space and consulting and helping the industry as a whole.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I know you're gonna work with beyond just nuclear, but I think our hearts are in this industry.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it's I'm so happy for you, first and foremost, as your friend.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: But I also think you are the right person for the job at the right time.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because if we look at your experience within the nuclear sector, you've worked for some of the heaviest hitters in the industry, but from different perspectives, right?
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: We look at OPG, X Energy, BWXT, and of course, most recently with Atkins Realis, you have such a breadth of what this industry represents, the narratives that live here.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just excited that yes, you are my friend, and all I want is success to find you so frequently.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: But further than that, I think you are someone who is highly capable and stepping in at the right time to support an industry who's still getting better at storytelling.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: Oh gosh, thank that warms me so much coming from you, because I admire you quite a bit.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: And and I love the way you say it because I think that's it.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like when people look at kind of what I've done and who I've worked in the nuclear in particular, I have a life before nuclear, which we'll talk to talk about that.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: But certainly in nuclear over the past 10 years and working with, you know, the utility, working with uh technology developer, X Energy, working with the and advanced manufacturer, BWXT, and then the engineering firm, you know, be at Kinsrealis, I just have had the opportunity to see the industry from so many different perspectives.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: And then adding on to that just the background which I talked about, which is beyond that in science and technology, more around the healthcare piece, the public sector working at University of Toronto, working in fundraising and charitable giving.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's just provided me, I think, with just a really helpful kind of toolkit, I guess, and skill set that I'm really excited to bring forward to this industry and to others as well.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: I just love the the multiple lenses that you have seen our industry through.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: And and I mean your skill sets in terms of um marketing and brand development and really getting I uh it's funny, uh Jesse and I were talking, I guess this morning.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like a long time ago.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this morning we were talking about um some of the discovery and kind of prep I was doing to come into the studio today.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, it's so funny because you and Monifa are so alike because you both work really hard to make people uh care about nuclear, not just understand nuclear.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: She was like, I I hear you talk about it and I find myself caring.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, I it's not that I still understand, but I care.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, the more you talk about Monifa and some of the things that we're gonna talk about today, she's like, you two are you know, peas in a pot.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's really astute, and and and we've talked about this too.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know, what we've done in our careers is talk about complex matters and then try to translate it that in a way that people will resonate with and they understand.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: How do people understand it?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's through emotion, right?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's not necessarily about explaining how safe we are and how technical, how technically or rigorous the technology is in terms of the design and the operation, which is helpful for certain audiences.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: But when it comes to building trust and awareness and support, which is what I want Stratus to be doing and focusing on, it's about telling the story.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: And telling the story comes with the human element.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_02: So that's really what I want to bring forward.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_02: And again, with Canada where it's at right now and what we're seeing, how it's very much at the forefront, how we're seeing we're just really the leader in so many areas, not in terms of just geopolitics, but we're talking about you know, science and technology, we're talking about energy, talking about infrastructure, defense conversations as well, as well as community and culture.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the culture we love talking about our TV and film in Canada, so that's another aspect where I think there's a through line where we're so proud of Canada.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: And I hope that my perspective is able to help to pull that together in a way that I think is very human-forward and very meaningful in a new way that I think we haven't been able to do.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: Not all the time.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: We get very bogged down in nuclear about just, you know, defining it, what do we do?
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: What is nuclear, and getting into that conversation, but looking beyond that and saying, how can we enroll people into what we do?
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.: And there's such a a difference.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I know later in our conversation we're I, you know, I have a question here that I want to ask you about what's exciting you about what's to come.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I also think there's two forms of communications or marketing or whatever you want to call it, storytelling.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: We have the internal, where we can be a little bit, you know, dive deeper into safety and technology and more the ins and outs.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to talking beyond our industry, which is a skill set I think our industry is still developing, we're not great at that.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: The ultimate question has to be for me.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Anytime a piece of content goes out into the world that is meant for an audience who is not already in the nuclear space, it has to be why would they care?
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: Why does it matter?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do they care about the names of all the isotopes?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: But they might care because their mother's fighting cancer or their brother or their best friend is fighting cancer.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: And now they understand.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's a hundred percent.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And and they're like, oh my gosh, I didn't know nuclear, the nuclear industry was in this fight with us.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: That it's like, why would they care?
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: They don't need to know the names, they need to know how it impacts their life and and how it's going to make their life easier or more affordable or safer or more consistent in a day where we're we are, I think, starving for consistency and things we can rely on.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if enough people know that they can rely on nuclear.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's is w that's what we're trying to do, people like us.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it's such a well, it's such a part of being Canadian, our nuclear story, that I don't I think that's where we can talk to people about it in Canada.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's, you know, we talk about heritage moments, right?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_02: But here's one where we have amazing technology here in Canada that has been operating for decades.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_02: That what does it do?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: It enables us to run our businesses, to care for our families, to have entertainment.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I know we're in an uphill battle on the mainstream when it comes to like, you know, we always hear about the Homer Simpson or there's a documentary, and anytime you hear about nuclear, it is something that's in jeopardy.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_02: I do wish that we could find a way to infuse nuclear in the mainstream in a way that is positive.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_02: People working there, people just, you know, having that skill set that they could apply to something else, for example, in the medical field.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Do we talk about medical dramas?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's like maybe we can talk about the isotopes there.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: So there's then maybe we need a lobby group in Hollywood, is what I'm asking for.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_02: We'll start with Canadian Film and TV, because I love that.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: Who is it?
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: And then we'll spread that.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: We have to get heated rivalry in.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: I knew we were going to get the river.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_02: It would be viral after that.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: I um first we probably lost the younger audience audience with a heritage moment.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Even though I still I hate to admit that I'm not part of the younger audience anymore.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: I still feel like a child.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: They brought it back.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: I saw it.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Did they?
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have cable.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I don't have cable either, but there's one they brought back before.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was around the 9-11 and how the support we provided.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Southeast our support that we did.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: But also I still haven't lost, if you recall, in Paris 2025, when we were there for the World Nuclear Exhibition, we were out to dinner with yourself and a bunch of colleagues at the time from Madkins, and I I told them, I feel we need like a Grey's anatomy or an X-Files, but it's called the core.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it takes place at a at a power station, and all of the drama or um, you know, high-tension moments would happen outside of the reactors and things.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Just like how it is in normal normal, right?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like we don't we very rarely see emergencies actually happening with our technologies.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: But it's like, you know, there's a shutdown on the highway and a snowstorm's moving in.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: But I I I think I told them um your team just looked at me like this girl is crazy, which I am.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: It was a bridge too far at the moment, is what we're saying.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_02: But we can make it happen.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because we see, and and I mean on a more serious note, we need workforce to also be buying into the story.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And when you look at things like the um the X-Files and Gray's Anatomy, we see the Scully effect.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Where young people, especially women, they see these shows, they start to understand kind of the coolness or the things that draw you into those shows.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we see an uptick on people entering into STEM-based careers, whether it is science or medical or whatever it is.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: We need that.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: I remember we need those influences because I remember when I started at OPG, that was the first time I was in nuclear at all.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: And um a lot of the people who were working there, I heard a lot of stories of, oh, it was my father or my mother who worked at OPG or worked in nuclear, and that's how they got into it.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember thinking, gosh, I I never heard about nuclear as an option.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: And again, I am in communications.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not going to be an engineer, I'm not going to be operating a plant.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't I want to leave that to the more expert people to do.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm, you know, communications is something that is needed in order to again build the trust and support and to help educate, right?
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_02: So they understand it, and then you get the impact out of that too.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_02: So I I I do wish that we heard more about that.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I was growing up in Canada, but as well as Jamaica.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: So I had a different kind of um I guess growing up experience.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: I had an immigrant experience.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of Canadians actually have that.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: But um in both instances, nuclear, I don't remember being introduced to me as, oh, that's an internet that's a sector where we could work, right?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's so funny because uh as I do this this podcast and I talk to more people about their stories, it is shocking how many people who have found success in this industry and would not leave this industry, have really come to love it, had no idea.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was just luck and circumstance, right?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like me, proximity.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was dating someone who is an operator, Bruce Power.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: I moved up to that area.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Proximity made a lot of my clients in contacts in nuclear, boom, I'm now nuclear.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the same for people, they were working somewhere else, they got a call from a friend, hey, why don't you come apply to this?
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Or you know, they they just it it's been such a interesting thing to see how people find nuclear, and more often than not, they didn't know.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't think they had no like it's just I it's funny, I think of someone like Christina Mohan with Atkins Realis.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: She is on an upcoming Powering Tomorrow episode.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Or at this point, it it she may have already aired, but in her conversation, we talk a lot about the fact that she is one of the few who she learned about nuclear when she was young and knew right away that is the job I want.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: And she actively went out and got herself in this space.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: Amazing.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I she's one of the only ones that I have spoken to who's like, yep, nuclear.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's my thing.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I hope that's changing because as we talk about the the industry is thriving right now and we need people.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I know, you know, when I was at various companies, the hiring was just increasing, right?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: So there are going to be new to nuclear people, and I'd be interested to know how they're finding their their way in.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: Is it those government announcements talking about investments in nuclear?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: And then the parent, like I tell my son, like, hey, nuclear is an option if you're interested in it.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know what you're into you and what you want to do, but there is a a sector where people don't necessarily intro go into where you can really build a career.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I'd be interested in hearing more about that.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's so funny because you use the word hope.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that's changing.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I would take that one step further.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: I hope we take action to make it change.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: We have to.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we have to.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: We have to as an industry.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: We everyone talks about the things that you and I do in a lot of marketing and communications, but then they get so busy with actually conducting the work, right?
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Some a lot of the people you and I work with and will work with are building plants, are are developing technology, are um sorting out solutions for our long-term waste uh storage sites.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so they get busy at what they're doing.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: And my fear is even though we know we have to get better at telling these stories, it doesn't fall to the wayside because the whirlwind of the actual work taking place by engineers and constructors and things takes pri like priority as it should for them.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: And we forget that, oh yeah, we need to really be telling our story because that is how new workforce is going to enter in and how people are gonna be moving into areas where we need them.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it just kind of that thing.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_02: I I hope we take the action necessary to change the and you're bang on because that is why in one of the things or reasons I started Stratus, because I saw that as an opportunity.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's you know, again, the companies I worked with so busy and just delivering the project, right?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: But who who is working towards, and I know there are a number of different organizations doing it, but who those people who are organizations who are trying to find those new people to bring in, I want to work with them.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: I want to work and say, how can we develop a campaign?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: How can we educate?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: How can we make sure that the opportunities are getting out there in a way that I don't think we've been doing before?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think we have to be creative.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: People have such short attention spans nowadays.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: They're and you they get the information in just fragmented ways.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: We have to use those different channels and just think a little bit differently.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what I know we talk about that.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_02: How can we break into through the noise of which is so much information that's out there, and just find pockets and places where you can start introducing the idea of nuclear, right?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: Or a project and supporting it.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: And the thing is, and just to pick up on this, where we talk so much in nuclear about getting support for a project, it's it's more turning that around and saying, how is this uh helping you support this because it helps you?
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like it needs to be turned around a little bit so that it's not about serving us because we're developing the project, that's nice.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_02: But in order for people to care, they have to go, oh, I need this to happen because I see opportunity for myself, my children, my friends in different ways, whether that's work or whether that's l literally living and experiencing the world and not having to worry, you know, clean energy is important.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_02: You're concerned about climate change, how does that you're concerned about health care.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_02: Let's make sure that you know we bring in those stories so that it resonates with people and then they can go out.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_02: And and third-party endorsement is the best thing.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_02: So get them to be the ambassadors, right?
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: The supporters.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: And and do it in a way that um gives the reverence to our industry that it needs.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because we we are such something that um I think there should be a lot of respect for what we do as serving the but like so maybe we're not gonna do like TikTok dances and tell you about our reactor technologies.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: But we have to find a way, like you said, where it's stories that people want to tune into with a a relevant understanding of what attention spans are at, what matters to people, even what are our strongest stories and and what is really resonating with people.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: But so that is what Stratus is gonna come in.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's the longest 60-second overview I've ever left.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I appreciate that.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_02: And they keep wanting to keep talking about it, but I know you have other questions, but uh we can always pick up on it at the end.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: They put a clock behind the thing just for you know they know I'm bad.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a I'm a chatty, I'm a chatty Kathy.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: No, and so okay, I do want to touch on something really quick there that you said though.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: So your entrance into nuclear was because of proximity to the job offering, not nuclear.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: It you just needed a job.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I was working at the University of Toronto and the Faculty of Medicine and the fundraising side of things, and that work ended, the contract ended, I moved on.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so I was living in Curtis, which is near Darlington um station, and never thought about Darlington nuclear station in my life.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Did you did you even know it was there?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_02: Vaguely aware that it was there.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_02: There's something down there.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_02: I just knew, okay, we've got something.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: That was just not my my thoughts.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_02: I was focused in Toronto.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_02: That's where I was working.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_02: And when, you know, I had young children at the time, and I was like, you know, I don't want to do that commute.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: There must be something in the area that I could work on.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: Like, where where is the work in Darlington, in Clarington in particular?
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_02: And um, it was right at the time when the Darlington Nuclear Refurbishment Project was starting up, and it was so I guess, uh, serendipitous.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: I guess is that the word?
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_02: We'll go with the marketers.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: We are the communications people.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: It was such good luck because at that moment they were looking for communications people.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_02: So I came in with a number of other um professionals who were new to nuclear.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_02: They might have had family in there, but the team that was working on the refurbishment project was mostly new to nuclear.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: And I was just so surprised that all of this science.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: And technology was happening eight minutes from where I worked.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I stayed there for almost five years working on that project and had a great time meeting with the people, learning about nuclear and um and really learning about just the supply chain involved in that and just how deep that is in terms in Canada.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_02: And um and the community engagement part of it too.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: It was just it just opened my eyes.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, this was a world that I had never thought about.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you think about those typical um industries.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: When I say typical, ne nuclear's so specialized in niche.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_02: But it was really, really fortunate for me to have flow in that space.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I love it because here you are as a new person who you yourself are just learning about nuclear and the you know everything that means.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you are right.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think the tip of the iceberg is what people know and they don't see the below surface of how this really hits into the um Canadian economy, communities, like everything, the supply chain and and the people that are all part of this whirlwind of nuclear.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I like it because you're coming in, you're new to nuclear, and your job is to tell the story and communicate nuclear.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: But what an opportunity, right?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's kind of forcing you to dig in and really understand before you can turn around and tell the story.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: Because you know when you're in the weeds of something, sometimes you can't realize like I you know, you go into a meeting in nuclear and they're using all these acronyms and you're like, Acronyms.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody's like, sure, I understand, and you're new, and you're like, what does that mean?
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes they they they know, but sometimes they it they still are so used to it.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's just the acronym is the word, right?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: So it did make me, I think, um, have to explain it in a way with all the other professionals I was working with that I think um might have challenged the approach at the time.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_02: But I think, again, they were so ready for it.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, they because they realized if this refurbishment project was gonna work, we needed to get the support of the community.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_02: We needed to get the support of government, the continued support of government.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um so it was certainly a place where I could exercise my skill set and refine it and very much learn the jargon and the language of nuclear and and then meet people and understand the industry and the and the supply chain and who was involved.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_02: So it was great.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: That was great.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I I like it because even looking beyond nuclear, right?
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like this could apply to anyone, oftentimes we are very hesitant to step into something that we don't know because we see it as a um a weakness of ours, that, oh well, I don't know enough about that, so how could I do that?
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes not knowing to me is actually the advantage.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because you look at two individuals like us who part of our task is to tell the story of nuclear beyond the industry of nuclear, it's a benefit to me sometimes that I don't know what the heck they're talking about.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: And can you explain that to me?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because I then have to go and explain that same theory or concept or narrative or impact to someone like my mom or my sister or my girlfriend who doesn't work in nuclear.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Just kidding, I don't have girlfriends that don't work in nuclear.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um but um or even like Chelsea and Taginder, right, who are part of my production team on the podcast.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: So us not knowing is an advantage sometimes because we have to get them to explain it to us in a way that we can then go and explain it to people who know even less than us.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I I hope people remember that.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: You might not be coming into nuclear and having to tell this story, but never count out the fact that sometimes fresh eyes are your biggest advantage.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: And don't be scared.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: If it's something you want to do, go and do it, learn quickly, take initiative.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: But it it can be um a tool in your toolkit, as you have uh mentioned toolkits.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: I think fresh perspective is so beneficial to the nuclear industry because again, it's such a specialized industry that it can and it's it's small in relation to maybe other countries' nuclear industries.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: And you you know each other and then you start having this the group think, it can happen, right?
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: But having fresh people and perspectives coming in and being open to that keeps us current as an as an industry.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: And we really have to welcome that.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not always the case, right?
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: And that's any industry you work in.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: But I would want that, and and I think that is what I hope to continue to bring, even though I'm in the industry.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: But the idea is why I kind of stepped out with Stratus, is like, okay, I've got the skill set, it I want to go beyond just working with a particular corporation.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_02: I want to work with a number of organizations in this space and other spaces as well.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um and how being able to work in the other spaces gives you a line of like what they're doing on that side.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: So when I'm working in like community projects right now, I can hear, oh, this is how they talk.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: You know, this is not how people talk.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: So the nuclear, we need to kind of talk like that.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: Or hopefully I start working with you know defensor major projects, yeah, that kind of thing, bring that in.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm working with education technology, um, a software tool, um virtual immersive learning solutions, um, that's which is so cool to me.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: Which is cool.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's a technology that my husband developed, and it is he is a professor, he's a geologist, and it's virtual learning, is using those kind of metaglasses, right?
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_02: And you're able to go in there and be kind of like a a newbie geologist and learn what that's like.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_02: And understanding that sector, education and tech, is helpful for me in nuclear.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I kind of wanted to have that access because that fresh perspective is key for nuclear to be successful because we need new people, we need new ways of thinking, and therefore we need new ways of communicating as well.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: You just don't know what we're taking for granted that you like.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: So for example, I grew up showing horses, right?
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, when you're around horses as much as I was, um, you take certain things for granted.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: You just assume that everyone would know.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll never forget my my stepmom mother one time, who did not have a background around horses, came out to the barn with me one day.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: And Seven was my horse.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: That was his name.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I like Seven.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love that.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, named after the Seinfeld.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's a Seinfeld episode where the licky number seven was.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, one of the one of the characters wants to name his kid, and that's the night seven was full.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: The the barn monitors were watching that episode of Seinfeld.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, so Seven, um he was in his stall, and I opened up the stall door, and my stepmother and I were standing in front of the door, and I walked away to grab something.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: And this is exactly what I mean.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: In my head, I I just knew like we don't just let the horse out of the stall.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: But she, as soon as Seven came to the stall door, she just stepped aside and he just continued walking out of the stall and down the barn aisle and to the grassy knoll out of the barn.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: And she's like, Is he allowed out of his box?
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: And in in that moment, it really gave me context of we take things for granted of how do you not know that?
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, because you didn't grow up around horses.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: How do you not know what an A O is or what OCNI is or what you know an N stamp is, what all these things are?
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: There's a promo product for the nuclear world, is someone's got to hand out some some alphabetical.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a bad idea.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Marketers are gonna market, my friend.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: But and so I I just I I think, yeah, sometimes our industry needs that little reminder of not everyone knows the horse can't come out of its box.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we have to bring in fresh eyes and say, what do you understand of this?
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: So what do you make of this?
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Or I don't know how we do that fully, but I well we we have to.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it the industry, the companies need to be open to that too.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_02: I think um, you know, again, we we're all working really hard to deliver projects, right?
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: But I think they need to allow the communications and marketing people to do what they do best, come up with some fun ideas, some creative ideas, not go too far.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: I we can inch towards that.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: We'll put the Gray's anatomy, the core on hold.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_02: Put the heated rivalry aside.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: But we can do some stuff that's more in line with, you know, nuclear can be a conservative and it's very risk-averse as it should be.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_02: But there are opportunities around that, I think, to to just present differently in a way that helps to attract the workers, right?
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_02: And and attract the support.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: So nope, so that's good.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And okay, so now we know your beginning story of nuclear, but let's take it back even further.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: So you already mentioned uh and we talked a lot about our Canadian pride and and this moment of Canada.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and you are someone that I think is very proud of what we have happening here in Canada and and you're contributing.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: But your story started in Jamaica.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so walk me through that.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: The uh the move here, and then I think there was a move back, and then a here.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like uh Yeah, I've been back and forth.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_02: So most of my life has been in Canada.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but I was born in Jamaica, and when I was two, my family moved to Calgary.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um What time of year?
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_02: In February.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: Oh wow.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's great.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_02: And that was brutal.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_02: My father and mother were like, What are we doing with my two-year-old.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, going from the tropics to the dead of winter in Calgary, that was not fun.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_02: It was quite the rude awakening, right?
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: Cultural and geographic difference.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_02: But um we moved there when I was two.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: My brother was born there, and then we moved because my mother was like, you know what, it's it's just too remote.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_02: It was this is the 80s, um, much more built-up now.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_02: But found a Jamaican group that she still talks, we still are friends with now.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_02: I tell you, you'll find Jamaicans everywhere.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: So they were out and and we we hold that group very you know close to us even now.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_02: But left Calgary, moved to Hamilton.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: She just wanted to be a little bit closer to Toronto, you know, closer to Quebec, cultural centers, things like that.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then we uh, you know, I went to lived on the mountain, and anybody who's in Hamilton knows you you live on the mountain or not.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: On the brow, my yeah, my dad grew up in Hamilton.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: So you know the brow very well.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think of Jackson Square and just went, you know, riding my bike to Lamborghini Mall.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: Like it was just and yeah, anyway, I'm gonna age myself, but there's jumbo video and all these things.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: I remember jumbo store.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: I know, and I'd get popcorn with my brother because they handed out free points.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's the only reason to go.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: That was the only reason we went.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_02: Pretended that we were gonna rent videos, but we weren't.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um and then so of course, you know, unfortunately, my um hard times fell onto my grandparents who were in Jamaica, and the decision was made that my mother would move back and run the family restaurant business in Jamaica.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_02: And so we moved back to Jamaica.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I think I was 11 at the time, and I did high school there at um two really exceptional high schools in Jamaica, Glenmure High and Campion College.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I did my undergrad at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_02: And then I was like, well, what do I do now?
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_02: And I always had in my mind those formative years in Canada, and I was like, you know what, I think I I want to go back to Canada.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_02: And that's what I did, and I've been here since.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_02: And my brother came with me and and um built a life here, right?
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, of two boys, one at university and one in high school, and I can't believe that I I can say that.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_02: I'm all grown up, right?
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so, but and so you really there was just constant.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: The constant in your life was change, was movement, was flexibility.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know what?
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_02: It was there was a lot of change, and I gotta say, growing up, I'd say we probably moved ten times.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: It sounds like we were like military children or something like that.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_02: But no, we just like to move.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_02: And um I didn't I thought it was normal um growing up, and it's only when I had my kids I was like, oh, they've only lived in this one house.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_02: How strange.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_02: It's so weird.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_02: You guys are like, you don't understand.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, there are pros and cons with that much change.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: Of course.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_02: But I've always found it to be beneficial to me in that change has always been something I'm incredibly comfortable with, and maybe that's why I ventured out now at this age and starting something new.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_02: But I I've always found that, you know, I I always say it will land on my feet.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: I will find a way.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_02: And it seems to have worked for me so far.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: So it seems to be going.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_02: My name actually also means I have my luck.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what Monifa is?
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's um my mother should tell me, she'll remind me, but I think it's West West African name.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um My Luck.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: I have my luck.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: So it means I have my luck.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, it means I'm lucky.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I say that's been pretty true.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_02: So knock on wood, I won't do that now.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_02: But I think, you know, I just I kind of lean into that, you know what, it will be all will be well.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_02: It'll work out.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_02: And things are rough sometimes, but you know, and other, you know, you go through some challenges.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_02: My father passed away just a couple months ago.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um but it's always saying, Well, you know what, this is it's life.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_02: Life is full of changes.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: There are ups and downs, but there's always gonna be, you know, you go you go forward.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_02: So that's always been I think the the lesson I learned out of all that change is being comfortable with it and being willing to pivot and just always saying it's like a mantra.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_02: You land on your feet, all will be well, that kind of thing.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: So it's funny.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um Andy Forsyth, who was in the studio with me, he describes it as if you pour water down a hill, it's going to find its way to the bottom.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's and that's kind of yeah, you don't always know what path it's gonna go and what way it's gonna move around this stone or through this tuft of grass, but it will find its way to the bottom.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_02: It sure will.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the overthinker in my head is like, well, Andy, what if it gets absorbed by the ground and it never gets no, but the poor guy.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I like that because you you have essentially taken something that scares a lot of people, change and getting out of maybe our routines or what feels comfortable.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you have turned it into, as I think to your career and some of the moves that you have made, almost a skill set and an asset for you, right?
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have really embraced change as a way to further you towards things that are are finding success for you and bringing happiness.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I like the way you put that because like I when I think about the companies I've worked with, I've worked with many, um, and then therefore worked with many types of people.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_02: I'm always willing to just meet people where they're at.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, okay, this is how you want to interact, fine.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_02: I will deal with you this way.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, you know, and then move to the next like and I don't hold it's not any it's just that's how people are just different.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_02: And companies and cultures are different.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, with Stratus, it's the same thing.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm applying that as I'm gonna be working with multiple people, multiple sectors, there are different ways of operating, right?
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_02: In nuclear, I'm working on a a community project right now, and um there, of course, it's very demanding and it's very active, but in terms of nuclear, it's it's not as demanding or as like so there's there's like different levels, and you're like, okay, now I can I could I need to regulate for this.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: Because if I act the nuclear way in terms of the communications and the deadlines and what have you, it might be a little bit overwhelming for that particular culture.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like you have to kind of lead and and engage at that, at where people are at, right?
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_02: And where organizations are at.
• 37:27
  SPEAKER_02: And then there's also what's great and empowering, and you would know this too about winning your own thing, is you can Yeah, don't laugh.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's a good thing.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's empowering.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: Tell me.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: I'm telling you, it's empowering.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: What's empowering is that you know you you get to choose who you want to work with, right?
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_02: So if there are some values or things that just aren't aligned, then you go, you know what, I'm th that's not for me.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: I'll move on to something else.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_02: There's always something else, right?
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: You are right.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's um the best part of our job, and I say our like myself and my team, we truly love our clients.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: We really like working with our clients.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: We have a great group of people.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: But when you say like I I think in in nuclear, and this maybe will sound like I've drank the Kool-Aid, I'm hard pressed to think of people that I don't enjoy coming up and meeting and saying hi, like I the people in this industry, and you and I have talked about the importance of laughter and joy and humor in our day-to-days.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: We work in a very serious indust industry, but it's an industry that is also not afraid to let let humans be humans.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like we still show up for one another and we have a lot of laughs.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: So while the work is really serious, we don't take ourselves as individuals that serious all the time.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so you're right, like we have the freedom to kind of pick what cultures we want to be part of and what ones we don't, even though for me I the whole sector is kind of like my people, if that makes sense.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_02: I get that.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_02: I get that.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not everyone, but it's Yeah.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's like a family, right?
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna have some that you're like, I just can't deal with that person.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_00: They're probably like, I can't deal with her.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_02: And they're probably thinking that about you know what, but I as I as you said too, like when you go to like CNA, you just feel like you go back to a family, right?
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_02: And it's such a great vibe.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like you don't really, it's quite rare, I think, in terms of how people get along.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_02: And even though there might be like some compet competition between companies, and there has to be.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: There's to be you know, no competition, no reason to bother.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_02: There are heated rivalries.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_02: We're friends off ice.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: And for anyone who's listening, I have only ever watched one episode, but out of support, I am a heated rivalry fan for my friendship with you.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because you you are a fan.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: There's multiple there's many women in Nuclear.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_02: We we know them.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um see, we're breaking the mold here talking about this hockey romance that everybody should watch.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um no, but I I think, yeah, there is something to be said about that.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: But I going back to just this embracing of change, I I admire your flexibility of thought in being able to adapt, being able to even recognize different scenarios and how to swim in different ponds, because it it really is a skill set that you have to be honing in.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I always love learning in in my episodes and in conversation with people, how did we become the, you know, adults that we are today?
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so often we're seeing those bricks being laid and that foundation kind of being built when we're young, like right, moving around.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: What did that teach us?
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: What did that enable us to do now as adults?
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: And for you, it's seeing change and thinking, okay, this is new and I'm gonna have to learn some things, but here we go.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I just think it's so interesting.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_02: Love that.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and you don't realize it till you're I think you're older at a certain point in your life that that's a skill set you've developed.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_02: You're just kind of living.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_02: You're just trying to get through it.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_02: But then you look back and you're like, no, I kind of like the the change.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_02: I like meeting new people.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's why I got into communications actually.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_02: I I didn't want to be pigeonholed to any particular industry.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_02: I wanted to learn.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, I can have it, I want a transferable skill that I can take to you know, nuclear, or as I mentioned, I love to work in the defense or major project side of things, science and tech, some more of the arts and culture pieces.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_02: So it's there's storytelling is everywhere.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_02: So it was I was able to bring that forward, and I think that change skill set you're talking about helps me to kind of just jump in and adapt and say, okay, now I understand that this is how we operate here, and then this is what you need just to deliver, just to get the the to deliver the results, right, is is the key.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: And have you ever find the opposite though?
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I've moved around in my careers a lot too, and I I probably like you have worked for some truly amazing companies, and I have worked with some wonderful people and I've learned things.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_00: But if I'm being really honest, a lot of me going out on my own was I was the frustrating employee that the frustrating and frustrated probably, where I was always like, Why are we doing it this way?
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: Why can't we do it this way?
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: And and why not that?
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I was always trying to push the parameters, and my clients at the time were saying, Why can't we just hire you?
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so I kind of went out on my own because I I got I got fed up, I guess, of of feeling limited in what and I might make wrong decisions and I might drop the ball and do things you know the way they shouldn't be done.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: But I I wanted the freedom to do it that way.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas you have worked for these incredible organizations and everything we've talked about, you've always talked in so highly about these places that you have worked.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think for you my my question for you is do you ever find the itch to be doing something new?
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're used to change and you want to adapt.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I I think that's going to be a benefit in your business because, like you said, you will always have there's always a new day as a business owner.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_02: I I love the change.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_02: I do.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_02: Because the truth is whenever I start feeling like, oh, okay, I figured this out, like I I see the cycle, I know what's happening, then I'm I start getting antsy and think, okay, well, what else do I do?
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_02: What's next?
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: What's next, right?
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_02: And that and I think that's why I said, you know what, I've wanted to do this.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_02: The time is now, I've got the experience, I've I I know, I know the people in the industry.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_02: I have it in and my network in previous industries too.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I and and again, time is now where Canada is.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_02: There's a demand for this kind of communications and storytelling and building trust and awareness and all that stuff.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_02: And it was like, well, this is this is the right thing to do, right?
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: I I love all of this, and I I hate to say, as we move towards the end of this conversation, because I I could just stay in here all day talking about.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Whether the viewers would stay or not, that's their choice.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: But we'll talk.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: There's no shortage.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: I normally ask guests what are they most excited about as they look forward into either nuclear or their organization or whatever.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: My guess would be stratus is probably what is exciting you the most.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: Look at that.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: Surprise, surprise.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: And if okay, so if I can warn you about one thing about being a business owner is there is nothing that makes me feel more confident and capable and like, oh my gosh, I can do this and look what I'm accomplishing than my business.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: There is also nothing that makes me feel more dumb and incapable than my business.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: And those moments can happen at 10.30 and 1031 a.m.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like the flip of the switch where you're like, oh, I've got this and look at me go to I have no idea what I'm doing.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, someone please come save me.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: Should I call my dad?
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's like instant, right?
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's my warning to you is just ride that wave.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I appreciate that.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I'll lean on you and for advice for sure.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_02: No, a hundred percent.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like a tilted phone cigar here.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_02: Well, this is it.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like I'm certainly very excited.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_02: And but yeah, you're venturing out on something new.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_02: But again, like I feel more excited than nervous because of the whole, you know, we talked about me cup being comfortable with change.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_02: And then seeing my mother who was an entrepreneur, she was something who someone who had to just change, right?
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_02: And go into running a family business.
• 45:31
  SPEAKER_02: She never did that before.
• 45:32
  SPEAKER_02: And then my husband does that too.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm trying to, uh, you know, one of the things I say is that you kind of um accept the worst but expect the best, right?
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_02: So that that's kind of where I am.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_02: But I think everybody I talk to has been so supportive.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_02: And whenever I tell them about, you know, where I've worked and the experience and kind of the perspective and what we're trying to do, then it it's I immediately get like really positive results.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm very excited about it, very hopeful.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_02: And um, no, you'll be hearing from me.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'll be like, so what do I do now?
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I already promised you you're stuck with me.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: So you know.
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I but I I I think for me, I think the reason why so many people are supporting you, backing you, not nervous for you, is because you are such a capable and competent woman.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think anyone who knows you or has witnessed the work and the the contributions you've made would even question that of course it will work out for you.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like it success is is yours to take.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like I don't think anyone would be like, oh, you know, I I don't know.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: It'd be different if you were coming, you know, and you were new to the.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and you're like, you know what I'd like to do is I'm gonna start telling the stories.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying that wouldn't work.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_00: We see a lot of people who are engineers doing podcasts and finding all these great storytelling niches for themselves.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I think what you are going to do and and the services you're gonna be providing for members of our industry and other sectors, no one is doubting the fact that you are going to provide value there.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, good.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_00: You already have done it for some of the, you know, most influential businesses in our sector.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'm very excited about it.
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_02: And just as you said, I you know, nuclear has been so good to me and I've learned so much from it.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_02: And again, it's so much that I can apply to those other sectors in a way that I don't think um I think it will be very fascinating for those other clients that I'm working with that like, oh, I I've never seen that.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like we know that how to engage community.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_02: We know how to work under public scrutiny and like to communicate in that kind of pressure environment, yes, it it's something that's really, really key helpful, right, for everyone else.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so but looking beyond the storytelling and the because I think you and I are both very excited by the fact that the industry is really starting to get behind.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_00: How do we tell our story and get our narratives out?
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: Beyond that, what do you think is exciting that someone should know about nuclear that they they may not already know, or or or that you wish more people did know?
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like I wish more people knew the fact that we are in the fight against cancer with them, right?
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that we're fighting um for our our climate goals.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_02: I think I one, I wish they knew how much energy enables their lives.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's number one.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_02: On a basic level, I don't we just don't think about it.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_02: And again, I get that because we're so busy, but it it's enabling everything we do, right?
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_02: So that's number one.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_02: I would love them to know that there are so many opportunities for them here.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_02: It is not just an engineering um sector, right?
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_02: There is there's communicators, right?
• 48:39
  SPEAKER_02: There's marketers, there are people who are in health and safety.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_02: There are there are people in in film and and videography because they need to do this kind of thing.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, you can work in government relations, you can work with indigenous relations.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like there's so many different aspects.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that would be helpful for them to know.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_02: And I think it would be great for them to know, just along the lines of what we talk about being a little bit more creative, is that there's room to create a storyline that is tied to the Canadian identity in a way that will be so compelling, not only for domestic but international.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_02: That this is the moment that we can pull it all together and really help elevate, because I love again, I'm Jamaican, but I'm Canadian too.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm just so proud of Canada right now.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_02: And this is the moment I think where we can use just all of this great um innovation and stories and you know, policies, and people look to us for so many different things and wrap that into a way that really elevates us as Canadians.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I think there's just there's a lot there.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_02: It can be, it can be interesting, right?
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_02: It can be sexy.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: Nuclear.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_02: There it is.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_02: That's the Jaguar.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: Next time I see you, I'm getting us two hockey jerseys with our names on the back.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_00: But our names will be um just M M and C S.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna obviously make it a um abbreviation as we do in nuclear.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it will be our heated rivalry um jerseys, and we'll see.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: CNA here we can job done.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it's in Ottawa, our nation's capital.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: In Ottawa.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: We gotta go.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is we're gonna get the hook, you know.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_00: Chelsea's gonna open the door and be like, you two are fully cooked, you know.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but no, on a very genuine note, thank you so much for coming in and spending time with me.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_02: I love this.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us for this conversation.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_00: The Splitting Adams podcast is produced by Splitting Adams Media, a division of the Carolyn Corporation.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: All of our conversations are made possible through the support of our founding partner, the Nuclear Innovation Institute.