2010 Presenters - Mount Royal University

2010 Presenters
Elizabeth Abbott
Writer and Historian
Elizabeth Abbott is a writer and historian with a special interest in women’s issues, the lives of animals and
the environment. Her books have been translated into 16 languages, and include the best-selling A History of
Celibacy, A History of Mistresses and A History of Marriage. In 1991, Abbott’s article “Haiti: Where Rivers Run
Brown” won a National Magazine Award for Environmental Writing. Her book, Sugar: A Bittersweet History,
was short-listed for the 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction.
Abbott, who has a McGill University PhD, is a Research Associate at Trinity College, University of Toronto. She
coordinated Mt.Sinai Hospital’s pet therapy program and served as Vice-President of a local historical society.
She volunteers as a local Book Drive Coordinator and for Tafelmusik. She is a proud mother and grandmother
and lives with several rescued dogs and cats.
Buck Angel
Filmmaker, Activist, Educator
Buck Angel made history when he received the prestigious award from Adult Video News (AVN) for
Transsexual Performer of the Year in 2007 for his groundbreaking work in the Adult Entertainment Industry. As the pioneer of an entirely new genre-female-to-male (FTM) porn-Buck has received international
recognition and continues to be a huge box office hit in numerous markets. As an icon of popular culture,
Buck’s message of empowerment through self-acceptance and being sexually comfortable in your own skin
has struck a passionate chord with folks all over the world.
Buck is not only inspiring people to think “outsidethe box”, he is re-defining gender and educating an entire
generation on the fluidity of sexuality and identity politics.
Rachel Armstrong
Living Architect Designer
Dr. Rachel Armstrong is an interdisciplinary practitioner who has collaborated with artists, scientists and
architects to create a new experimental space to explore and engage the fundamental creativity of science.
She regards the discipline of architecture as holding a unique place in the cultural imagination, being
simultaneously iconic and personal, and which offers an ideal forum to engage with and re-imagine our
experience of the world and our role within it.
Dr. Armstrong is a Teaching Fellow at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, England. She is a member
of Professor Neil Spiller’s AVATAR Research Group, developing a new approach to building materials called
‘Living Architecture’ that suggests it is possible for our buildings to share some of the properties of living
systems.
Sally Armstrong
Amnesty International Award Winner & Documentary Filmmaker
Sally Armstrong is an Amnesty International award-winner, a member of the Order of Canada, a documentary
filmmaker, teacher, author, human rights activist and contributing editor at Maclean’s magazine.
Sally was the Editor-in-Chief of Homemakers magazine from 1988-99, researching Afghanistan’s women as
early as 1996, one of the first journalists to write on the effect the Taliban was having on Afghanistan’s women.
Her first article resulted in letters from 9,000 Canadian women. She has covered stories in conflict zones
including Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda and Afghanistan. Her best selling book, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power
of the Women of Afghanistan, was published in 2002.
Liv Arnesen
Educator, Explorer, Lecturer
Liv Arnesen’s rich life experiences have made her an internationally recognized leader and role model for
women and girls. A self-proclaimed outdoors enthusiast, Liv is most interested in the development of adults
and children. Through her diverse roles as a polar explorer and educator, Liv ignites a passion in others to
reach beyond their boundaries and achieve their dreams by sharing her own stories about exploring some of
the most remote places on earth.
Liv led the first unsupported women’s crossing of the Greenland Ice Cap in 1992. In1994, she became the first
woman in the world to ski solo and unsupported to the South Pole - a 50-day expedition of 1,200 km.
Highlights of Liv’s accolades include, Glamour magazine’s “Women of the Year”; Scandinavian-American Hall
of Fame’s “Trailblazer” award; the Norwegian-American Chamber of Commerce “Achievement Award”; and
recognized with the “Diploma of Honour” by the Russian Geographic Society.
Nina Arsenault
Canada’s Most Famous Transgendered Person
After sixty cosmetic surgeries and procedures, Canada’s most celebrated transsexual, Nina Arsenault,
considers herself a queer artist as well as a queer art object.
Herphysical transformation, her work and her personal life have been the subject of numerous mainstream
television shows, radio programs and internet and print articles. Nina has regained control of her image and
story as a critically acclaimed writer and performance artist who uses autobiographical material to create
challenging works of live theatre and video. After an initial sold out run, her play The Silicone Diaries is being
remounted in November 2010 at Buddiesin Bad Times Theatre. The play will also be published by Borealis
Press this year. Ninais a frequent academic lecturer at Canadian universities in sociology, sexuality studies, fashion
communications and theatre departments where her writing, performances and images are studied course
texts.
Margaret Atwood
Canadian Literary Icon
Margaret Atwood is among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history. She is a winner of the Arthur
C. Clarke Award and Prince of Asturias award for Literature, has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize five
times, winning once, and has been a finalist for the Governor General’s Award seven times, winning twice.
Margaret has written more than forty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Recent publications are Moral
Disorder, a collection of interconnected short stories and The Door, a collection of poetry (both 2007), and the
CBC Massey Lecture Series, published by Anansi as Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (2008).
Her newest novel, The Year of the Flood (2009) is, in the author’s words, “the meanwhile” or the”simultaneal” to
her 2003 Giller Prize winner, Oryx and Crake.
Other books include the 2000 Booker Prize-winning, The Blind Assassin, Alias Grace, which won the Giller
Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy. Margaret lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.
Melissa Auf der Maur
Musician and Artist
Born and raised in Montreal Canada with a Fine Arts education, Melissa Auf der Maur (MAdM) spent
1994-1999 as a member, songwriter and bass player of Hole, culminating in the Grammy nominated album
“Celebrity Skin” (Geffen Records). In 2000 she joined the Smashing Pumpkins for their farewell world tour. In
2004, Melissa released her debut solo album, “Auf der Maur”, on Capitol Records / EMI. She toured Europe and North America for over a year in support of the self-titled album and sold over
180,000 copies world wide. Her photography has been published in Spin, Elle, Nylon and American Photo
among others, and exhibited internationally. In addition to her passion for collaboration, she has remained
consistently dedicated to pursuing her solo work and has maintained her position as an influential, passionate,
relevant and indefinable artist over the last 15 years. Her new multi-media project, “Out Of Our Minds”, is
available now and features a short film, comic, and full-length album.
Colette Baron-Reid
Intuitive Counsellor & Author
Colette Baron-Reid is an internationally renowned intuitive counsellor, educator and best selling author who
helps others recognize and connect with their own intuition, potential and purpose. As a speaker, broadcast
personality, performer and recording artist, Colette uses her spiritual gifts to empower people to live a life that
is “awake and authentic”, and to create a reality that is spiritual, deliberate and meaningful. Passionate about
people, Colette’s mission as an intuitive and medium is to help individuals see the magic and meaning in the
story of their lives. Her popular books and audio programs Remembering the Future, Messages From Spirit, The Wisdom of
Avalon and Wisdom of the Hidden Realms are found worldwide. Her newest book The Enchanted Map of You
and companion oracle cards will be released Jan 2011.
Aszure Barton
Choreographer
Aszure Barton was born and raised in Alberta, Canada, and is the founder and director of Aszure Barton
& Artists. As well as perpetually producing new work for her own project, Barton has choreographed for
many prestigious individuals and companies worldwide including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Fang-Yi Sheu, The
National Ballet of Canada, American Ballet Theatre, Sydney Dance Company and The Juilliard School.
She choreographed the Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera starring Alan Cumming and Cyndi
Lauper and her works have been performed on six continents. She was the Resident Choreographer for Les
Ballets jazz de Montréal from 2005-2008 and is an artist in residence at both the The Banff Centre and The
Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City. Aszure received her formal training at the National Ballet School in
Toronto. She was recently proclaimed Ambassador of Contemporary Choreography in Edmonton, Alberta. Brigitte Berman
Oscar-Winning Documentarian
German born Brigitte Berman is an Academy Award®-winning producer/director/writer who graduated from
Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, where she studied English and Film. She was also a resident in writing
and directing at the prestigious Canadian Film Center.
She has worked in the film and television industry for over 20 years, producing and directing more than
100 documentaries, both independently and for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. A number of her
documentaries have won major international awards.
Brigitte has also written, produced, and directed theatrical and television feature dramas. Her most recent film,
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel, opens in theatres across Canada in 2010, and is being showcased
at major international film festivals, as well as at NYC’s Museum of Modern Art. Her filmography includes BIX:
‘Ain’t None of Them Play Like Him Yet,’ the Academy Award®-winning Artie Shaw: Time Is All You’ve Got, and
The Circle Game. Bonnie Brooks
President & CEO of Hudson’s Bay Company
Bonnie Brooks is the President and CEO of Hudson’s Bay Company, the country’s oldest department store,
operating 94 stores across Canada. Ms. Brooks has spent more than 25 years building prestige retail formats
around the world, like Holt Renfrew, Lane Crawford, Harvey Nichols, and leading designer brand stand-alone
stores in Asia.
Most recently, Ms. Brooks was the President of the Lane Crawford Joyce Group based in Hong Kong. In this
role, she over saw all aspects of the Company which represents many of the world’s leading brands in over
500 locations in nine Asian countries; including the 158 year old Lane Crawford department stores, Joyce
Boutiques, Pedder Group, and the LCJG Distribution Company, and more specifically, the expansion of these
formats in Greater China and South East Asia.
In Canada, Ms. Brooks is best known for her roles at Holt Renfrew where she was Executive Vice President/
General Merchandise Manager and Senior Vice President of Marketing. In these executive positions, she had
complete responsibility for strategic planning, all marketing functions, all merchandise buying, designer brand
acquisition, and more. She has also served as Editor-in-Chief of FLARE, Canada’s largest fashion and lifestyle
magazine and has an MBA from the University of Western Ontario. Liz Canner
Award-Winning Director / Producer of Orgasm Inc.
Named one of the 10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2009 by Independent Magazine, Liz Canner is an award-winning
media artist who has created many innovative documentaries on human rights issues. Liz’s most recent
project Orgasm Inc. is a critically acclaimed documentary on the pharmaceutical industry and women’s health. It has been playing in the festival circuit and broadcast on television in many countries. The Toronto Star called
Orgasm Inc., “a sexy feature-length indictment of big pharma” that “gives a lot of great laughs.”
Since earning her BA with Honors from Brown University, Liz has received more than 45 awards, honours and
grants from institutions such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Fledgling Fund. Juliana Chen
First Lady of Magic
Juliana Chen is the first woman, and first magician of Chinese heritage, to win a world title for a solo act in the
50-year history of The World Congress of Magicians. She is “The World’s First Lady of Magic.”
Juliana was born and raised in China and, at age 10, was selected for specialized training at the Hunan
Academy for the Performing Arts. Originally trained in ballet, she later moved on to acrobatics and juggling
then took an interest in magic as a teenager. In 1986, she won the All-China Best Magician competition. As
she developed her talents further, she won numerous magic competitions in Europe and the USA, including
the 1997 world title for Manipulation (sleight-of-hand) at The World Congress of Magicians in Dresden,
Germany.
Juliana has been awarded the Chavez Memorial Cup, recognized for her professional excellence, and was
nominated for Stage Magician Of the Year by the Academy of Magical Arts in Hollywood. Mallika Chopra
Media & Wellness Guru
Mallika Chopra is the founder of Intent.com, a website focused on personal, social and global wellness. Her
intent is to harness the power of social media to connect people from around the world to improve their own
lives, their communities and the planet.
Mallika has written two books inspired by her two daughters: 100 Promises to My Baby and 100 Questions
from My Child, and has served as a spokes person for UNICEF. She is currently the Health Ambassador for
the Pepsi Refresh Everything Project in the US - an initiative that gives millions of dollars to individuals, nonprofits and companies for projects in their communities.
Mallika helped launch the Heal The World Foundation with Michael Jackson, was part of the team to re-launch
MTV India, has produced two movies, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and How to Know God, based
on books written by her father, author Deepak Chopra. Mallika is a graduate of Brown University and has an
MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Judy Collins
Grammy Legend
Judy Collins has thrilled audiences worldwide with her unique blend of interpretative folk songs and
contemporary themes. Her impressive career has spanned more than 50 years, with 45 albums, top 10 hits,
Grammy nominations, and gold and platinum status. It is certainly no wonder that this artist was the muse
for the classic Crosby, Stills & Nashsong, “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” and has been heralded as “The Voice” by
Vanity Fair. At 13, Judy Collins made her public debut performing Mozart’s “Concerto for Two Pianos” but it was the music
of such artists as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, as well as the traditional songs of the folk revival, that
sparked Judy Collins’ love of lyrics. She soon moved away from the classical piano and began her life long
love with the guitar. In 1961, Judy Collins released her first album, A Maid of Constant Sorrow, at the age of 22
and began a thirty-five year association with Jac Holzman and Elektra Records. Judy Collins is also noted for her rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” on her classic 1967 album,
Wildflowers. Judy’s version of “Send in the Clowns,” a ballad written by Stephen Sondheim for the Broadway
musical “A Little Night Music” won “Song of the Year” at the 1975 Grammy Awards show.
Nonie Darwish
Human Rights Activist & Founder of Arabs for Israel
Nonie Darwish was born and raised as a Muslim in Cairo Egypt and Gaza. Her father headed the Egyptian
military intelligence in Gaza in the 50’s and headed the‘Fedayeen’ operations against Israel under the
leadership of President Nasser of Egypt.
Nonie is the author of Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel and the War on
Terror. It is her story of why she left the culture of Islamic Jihad to support American liberty and tolerance.
Nonie has also written Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law, a
sociological analysis of Sharia’s impact on women, men, family, society and the rest of the world. Nonie holds a Bachelors degree in Sociology and Anthropology and was a journalist at the Middle East News
Agency. She founded www.ArabsForIsrael.com to promote understanding and peace. She co-founded www.
FormerMuslimsUnited.com which stands for freedom of religion and civil rights of former Muslims.
Edna DeVore
Science and Astronomy Educator
Science and astronomy educator Edna DeVore is the Deputy CEO and the Director of Education and Public
Outreach (EPO) at the SETI Institute. She’s been a researcher, planetarium director, teacher, and curriculum
writer, and currently is busy with projects related to education and SETI. Notable among these are the “Life
in the Universe” curriculum materials for students in grades 3-9 and a new high school course, “Voyages
Through Time”. Edna also co-directs the education and public outreach programs for two NASA missions:
SOFIA and Kepler. SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy) is a modified 747 commercial
jet that will carry a large (2.5 m) telescope up to 45,000 feet to observe the universe in infrared wavelengths a part of the spectrum which cannot be seen from the ground. The Kepler Mission is a space-based telescope
that will hunt for Earth-sized planets in orbit about Sun-like stars.
Edna says she was fascinated by the sky in the summers of her childhood near California’s Sierra Nevada
mountains. Brilliant stars and the glittering Milky Way shimmered overhead from her front yard, unsullied by
street lights. The sky was a part of the evening’s entertainment. Then, as an undergraduate, she took physics
and encountered astronomy. That led Edna to work in planetariums, further education, and eventually her
current work at the Institute. Now she’s bringing the excitement and knowledge of science to new generations.
It’s hard to think of anything more important.
Judith Dupré
Author & Cultural Historian
Judith Dupré writes about art and architecture in ways that delight and educate. Hailed by the New Criterion
as a “scholar with a novelist’s eye for detail and a journalist’s easy style,” her internationally best selling books
include Skyscrapers; Bridges; Churches, and Monuments: America’s History in Art and Memory. Her forth coming book, Full of Grace: Encountering Mary in Faith, Art and Life (Nov. 2010), attempts to capture
essential truths about the human condition and the nature of transformation. By making an empathetic,
interpretative leap into the biblical past, she finds contemporary parallels to those distant events, fusing a
fresh approach to life’s enduring questions. The book arose from her work at Yale Divinity School, where she is
doing advanced studies on the impact of memory, beauty,and ethics on architecture and community building.
Drawing on her social commitment and knowledge of the arts, Dupré also creates innovative educational and
identity programs utilizing visual arts for clients in education, design and engineering.
Sylvia Earle
Ocean’s Ambassador
Oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle has led more than 50 expeditions worldwide involving more than 6,000 hours
underwater, and has also set the record for the deepest solo untethered dive - 3,000 feet into the Pacific
Ocean. She has served as the chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is
currently an explorer-in-residence at the National Geographic Society.
Earle is the face behind ‘Google Oceans’, a comprehensive, simulated ocean guide, with which users can
view the deepest depths and explore the evolving history of the sea.
Recently, Earle has appeared in Leonardo DiCaprio’s environmental documentary, The 11th Hour, and in
the PBS special Under the Sea With Al Giddings. Few listeners are unmoved by Dr. Sylvia Earle’s reasoned
arguments that the seas must be nurtured if we are to sustain life as we now know it on the planet.
Tavi Gevinson
Fashion Wunderkind
Tavi Gevinson is the 14 year-old creator of the hit fashion blog, Style Rookie, and contributor to Pop
magazine’s blog: tavi.thepop.com
She has contributed to Harper’s Bazaar, Love, Pop, and Spur as writer, photographer and stylist, and was
featured on the cover of Pop this past fall. Tavi has collaborated with Rodarte in a video about their collection for Target, and acted as a guest
correspondent for Fashion Television in Canada. She is currently collaborating with Diane Pernet and Talenthouse on a fashion-film project, and co-writing a
short film with Alia Raza for Six Scents.
Alison Gopnik
Developmental Psychologist
Alison Gopnik is a professor of psychology and affiliate professor of philosophy at the University of California
at Berkeley. She is an internationally recognized leader in the study of children’s learning and development
and was the first to argue that children’s minds could help us understand deep philosophical questions. Alison
was one of the founders of the study of “theory of mind, “illuminating how children come to understand the
minds of others, and she formulated the “theory theory,” the idea that children learn in the same way that
scientists do.
Alison has authored over 100 articles and several books including Words, thoughts and theories (coauthored
with Andrew Meltzoff), The Scientist in the Crib (coauthored with Andrew Meltzoff and Patricia Kuhl), and The
Philosophical Baby: What children’s minds tell us about love, truth and the meaning of life. The Scientist in the
Crib was a San Francisco Chronicle bestseller and was translated into 20 languages. Kristina Groves
Four-Time Olympic Medalist
Kristina Groves represented Canada at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, in Vancouver, capturing one silver
and one bronze medal in long track speed skating. In 2008-2009, Kristina won her second overall title in the
1500m and produced a three-medal performance at the World Single Distance Championship and Olympic
test event at the Richmond Olympic Oval.
In 2007-08, she collected eighteen World Cup medals and a historic five-medal performance at the World
Single Distance Championships including gold in the 3000m. Outside of skating Kristina is passionate about supporting Right To Play and organization that promotes the
values of sport for children in communities affected by war, conflict or famine. Erica Jong
Iconic Author
Erica Jong is a poet, novelist and essayist best known for her eight best-selling novels: Fear of Flying, which
has sold twenty million copies in thirty-seven languages, How to Save Your Own Life, Fanny: Being the True
History of the Adventures of Fanny Hack about-Jones, Parachutes & Kisses, Shylock’s Daughter (formerly
Serenissima), Any Woman’s Blues, Inventing Memory and Sappho’s Leap. Her mid-life memoir Fear of Fifty
also became a major international bestseller.
Ms. Jong is also the author of six award-winning collections of poetry. Her seventh collection, and first in
eighteen years with all new poems, entitled Love Comes First, was released from Tarcher-Penguin in January
2009. She is also the author of five non-fiction books and regularly blogs for The Huffington Post.
In June 2009, Erica won the first Fernanda Pivano Prize for Literature in Italy.
Ms. Jong is currently working on a non-fiction book and a novel featuring Isadora Wing as “a woman of a
certain age.” She is also editing an anthology that HarperStudio hopes to release in Winter 2010.
Tan Le
Co-Founder & President of Emotiv
In 2003, Tan co-founded Emotiv Systems, a neuroengineering company that has developed a breakthrough
interface technology for digital media taking inputs directly from the brain. Emotiv’s vision is to revolutionize
human-computer interface in the same way the graphical user interface (GUI) did 20 years ago. Emotiv has
developed a product prototype targeted at the gaming industry and is in discussions with several key sectors
such as defense, automotive, iTV, and health care. Emotiv is a recognized world leader and pioneer in this
field of brain-computer interface. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and has its R&D centre
located in Sydney, Australia.
Tan has been a guest of the British High Commission and Foreign Commonwealth Office, a Goodwill
Ambassador for Australia in Asia and is a Patron of the Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development
Program. She has also been an Ambassador for the Status of Women since 2001. Tan has been appointed to
a number of prominent Boards including Plan International Australia, Australian Citizenship Council, National
Committee for Human Rights Education in Australia, RMIT Business in Entrepreneurship and the Centre for
the Mind. Sandra Tsing Loh
Writer, Performance-Artist and Author
Sandra Tsing Loh is a writer/performer whose books include A Year in Van Nuys; Depth Takes a Holiday; If
You Lived Here, You’d Be Home By Now; and Aliens in America. Her newest book was Mother On Fire: A True
Mother f%#$@ Story About Parenting!, a comic memoir of her struggle to find a school in Los Angeles for her
child to attend.
Her off-Broadway solo shows include “Aliens in America” and “Bad Sex With Bud Kemp”; the original solo
stage version of “Mother on Fire” ran for seven months in Los Angeles. Her awards include a Pushcart Prize
in fiction and two National Magazine Award nominations for her work as a contributing editor for The Atlantic
Monthly. She lives in Los Angeles with her two daughters and two cats. Ashleigh McIvor
Olympic Gold Medalist
Ashleigh grew up on the slopes competing in alpine ski racing and first tried Ski Cross in January 2003.
She immediately found success qualifying for the X Games and World Cup circuit in 2004 as the youngest
competitor in the event. Her natural talent and charisma attracted fans and the inevitable attention of TV
producers who crowned her the unofficial ambassador of the sport.
When Ski Cross was named for inclusion in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, Ashleigh became one of the
first members of the newly formed Canadian Ski Cross Team. In the 2010 season Ashleigh was a finalist in 6 of8 races, earning 5 World Cup podiums, ranking 2nd in the
overall standings and winning a silver medal in the X Games.
On February 23, 2010 Ashleigh became the first ever Olympic Gold Medalist in the sport of Women’s Ski
Cross, realizing her dream and introducing herself and her sport on the international stage.
Natalie McLennan
Author
Natalie McLennan was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. When she graduated from high school, she was
awarded the school prize for achieving a perfect record in Moral and Religious Education. Eight years later she
found herself sitting in a jail cell at Riker’s Island.
With a passion and talent for acting and dreams of success, she studied theatre at Montreal’s Dawson College
and at the age of 20 flew directly to New York to “make it all happen”. She performed on some great offbroadway stages, enjoying some success, but then was offered a different role: to be an escort at the city’s top
agency. She cautiously accepted and quickly rose to the top of her new profession, making upwards of two
thousand dollars an hour. However, her life quickly spun out of control until she found herself alone and locked
in a cell.
With nothing left but her unbreakable spirit and love for all things creative, she rebuilt her life and wrote her
story into a book entitled The Price: My Rise and Fall as Natalia, New York’s #1 Escort. Today, Natalie lives a
life filled with joy and happiness back in Canada.
Cindy Meston
World’s Leading Researcher on Woman’s Sexuality
Cindy M. Meston is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning Professor of Clinical Psychology at the
University of Texas at Austin. She directs the Sexual Psychophysiology Laboratory, which is one of the few
laboratories in the world devoted exclusively to the study of women’s sexual health from both a psychological
and physiological perspective. Cindy has published over 100 scientific articles and book chapters on sexuality topics. In her most recent
book, Why Women Have Sex, she joins evolutionary psychologist David M. Buss to investigate the underlying
sexual motivations of women. They delve into the use of sex as a defensive tactic against a mate’s infidelity, as
a ploy to boost self-confidence, as a barter for gifts or household chores, or as medication.
She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of British Columbia in 1995 and completed a
postdoctoral fellowship in Sexual and Reproductive Medicine at the University of Washington in 1996. Sophie Morgan
Disability Rights Campaigner
Sophie Morgan was born in England and educated in Scotland. A few months after leaving school, she was
paralyzed in a car accident. Sophie initially planned to study Law, but decided to follow her heart and studied
at Goldsmiths Art College. She currently lives and works in London, England.
While art has remained her passion, Sophie is first and foremost a disability rights campaigner. She founded
the IMperfect campaign, a platform for showcasing the talents and achievements of young disabled people
and was nominated for Young Disabled person of the Year in the UK. Sophie is also campaigning for change
in the representation of the disabled by the fashion industry and has created a display product, which aims to
challenge how disability is perceived. Sophie Morgan appeared on the BBC reality show ‘Britain’s Missing Top Model’, which can be seen on ONE:
The Body, Mind, & Spirit Channel in Canada.
Cristina Nehring
Critic and Contrarian
After her graduate studies at Stanford University, Cristina Nehring began to publish polemical pieces in
Harper’s Magazine and The Atlantic Monthly, lectured abroad and continued her Ph.D. research at the
University of California, Los Angeles.
Cristina’s first book, A Vindication of Love: Reclaiming Romance for the Twenty-first Century, reflects a
culmination of her literary, journalistic, and quotidian passions.
2008 saw the birth, in France, of Eurydice Rafaella Tess, her beloved daughter. The publication of Vindication
to a rave review in the New York Times Book Review in the summer of 2009 coincided, tragically, with
Eurydice’s diagnosis of leukemia. Eurydice, who also has Trisomy 21, is presently living, with her mother, in
the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital; she is undergoing nine months of in-patient chemotherapy. Cristina’s
book-in-progress is Born to Fly: What I Learned From My Special Child, an ode to Eurydice.
Erna Paris
Award Winning Author & Political Writer
Erna Paris has written seven acclaimed books of literary non-fiction and the winner of ten national and
international writing awards.
She is the author of Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History, which won the Pearson Writers’ Trust Non-Fiction
Prize (2001), the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing (2001) and the Dorothy Shoichet Prize for
History (2001). In 2005, Long Shadows was chosen as one of “The Hundred Most Important Books Ever
Written In Canada” by the Literary Review of Canada. Erna’s most recent work, The Sun Climbs Slow: The International Criminal Court and the Struggle for
Justice, was first on the “Best Book of the Year” list (The Globe and Mail 2008) and was shortlisted for the
Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing (2008). The Sun Climbs Slow explores the history of global
justice, the politics behind America’s opposition to the creation of a permanent international criminal court and
the implications for the world at large.
Erna is the outgoing Chair of the Writers’ Union of Canada and a member of the Honorary Council of the
Canadian Centre for International Justice.
Cleo Paskal
Microstate Fanatic
Cleo Paskal specializes in the geopolitical, security and economic implications of environmental change. For
example, if a low-lying country such as the Maldives disappears below rising seas, does it cease to exist as a
country? Do its waters become international waters? And what does that mean for similarly compromised lowlying strategic installations such as US and UK military bases?
Cleo is a Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, London, UK; Adjunct Faculty
in the Department of Geopolitics, Manipal University, India; and Adjunct Professor of Global Change, School
of Communications and Management Studies, Kochi, India. She consults for a wide range of stakeholders
including the US Department of Energy, UK Ministry of Defence, EU, NATO, OSCE and the Canadian
government.
Cleo is also an award-winning writer who has contributed to, among others, The Economist, The Independent,
and the Sunday Times. She has hosted BBC radio shows and wrote an Emmy-winning documentary TV
series. Her book Global Warring: How Environmental, Economic, and Political Crises Will Redraw the World
Map was published in 2010.
Faith Popcorn
Trend Expert
Faith Popcorn, best-selling author of EVEolution, Clicking, The Popcorn Report, and most recently Dictionary
of the Future, is founder of Faith Popcorn’s Brain Reserve, the futurist marketing consultancy she established
in 1974. Faith applies her insight into cultural and business Trends to help Brain Reserve clients reposition established
brands or companies, develop new products, and define areas of new business opportunity. She is a trusted
advisor to the Fortune 500 including such companies as Avon, Campbell’s, Colgate, Gillette, Johnson &
Johnson, KFC, Nabisco, Nike, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble, McNeil (Tylenol), Tyson, and Visa. With a documented
95% accuracy rate Faith predicted the demand for fresh foods and four-wheel drives, as well as the spiritual
tenor of the millennium (Trend: “Anchoring”). Faith is a graduate of New York University and New York’s High School of Performing Arts. She has two
adopted daughters from China, a 12-year-old and 5-year-old.
Jane Poynter
Author & Biosphrian
Jane Poynter is a Biosphere 2 crewmember, sustainability consultant, author, and an environmental, non-profit
and technology company president. She has flown in zero gravity, performed experiments in space, worked on
projects to mitigate climate change, dived with sharks and raced motorcycles.
She is the author of, The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2, published in
2006. Her second book, Champions for Change: Athletes Making A World of Difference launched in November
2009 at the United Nations in New York.
In 2009, Jane received the National Association of Female Executives Entrepreneur of the Year for her
contributions in both business and her community. She is President of Global Sports Alliance USA, an
organization that uses the nation’s love of sports to promote awareness and motivation for positive change in
communities, emphasizing wellness, sportsmanship and ethics, and the environment. She recently co-founded
The Local Trust, a non-profit community-based carbon offset program.
Dr. Margaret Race
Planetary Protector
Dr. Margaret Race is an ecologist who works with NASA through the SETI Institute in Mountain View, CA. She
is an expert in planetary protection; analyzing issues of contamination between Earth and Outer Space during
space missions. Over the past two decades, she has been involved in numerous national and international
studies of how to handle potential contamination during both robotic and human missions to the Moon and Mars. She has served on three major studies with the National Research Council (NRC) Space Studies Board
involving planetary protection, and recently completed work on two major NASA projects related to Mars
exploration - one that developed scientific protocols for the quarantine and testing of returned Martian samples,
and another that analyzed the technical and scientific issues associated with human missions to Mars. Dr. Race’s
studies also focus on legal and regulatory aspects of Mars sample return proposals; public involvement in the
review and approval process for extraterrestrial sample return; ethical implications of solar system exploration,
and educational outreach about Astrobiology through schools, museums and the mass media.
Dr. Renee Reijo Pera
Infertility Investigator
Renee Reijo Pera, PhD, is professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the School of Medicine and director of
the Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research and Education at Stanford University. She has been
awarded numerous awards in her career including one of the 20 Top Women On Leadership featured in
Newsweek 2006.
The major focus of Dr. Reijo Pera’s laboratory is to use embryonic stem cells to better understand the very first
days of human development; she has discovered a timeline for the earliest genes that become active in the
human embryo and uncovered secrets of how early decisions are made in the genetics of egg formation. Dr
Reijo Pera works with Drs. Barry Behr and Julie Baker, as well as other scientists across Stanford University,
to develop new stem cell lines from embryos and alternative means. In an exciting new development recently
published in Nature, James A. Byrne, PhD, a new post-doc in Dr. Reijo Pera’s lab, has achieved complete
epigenetic reprogramming of a primate cell, following injection of the nucleus into a primate egg. This work
augments progress by the reprogramming group in the Reijo Pera lab as well as in the Institute and universitywide.
Erika Ritter
Canadian Playwright, Humorist & Author
Erika Ritter is a novelist, playwright, essayist and broadcaster. Her published works include: “Automatic Pilot”,
a Chalmers-Award-winning play; three collections of essays, URBAN SCRAWL, RITTER IN RESIDENCE,
and THE GREAT BIG BOOK OF GUYS: ALPHABETICAL ENCOUNTERS WITH MEN; a novel. THE HIDDEN
LIFE OF HUMANS; and most recently, a non-fiction work, THE DOG BY THE CRADLE, THE SERPENT
BENEATH: SOME PARADOXES OF HUMAN-ANIMAL RELATIONSHIPS, shortlisted for the Writers Trust NonFiction book prize for 2009, and reprinted in paperback in 2010.
At CBC Radio, she hosted “Dayshift,” (1985 to 1987) and most recently “Ontario Morning.” (2000-2005). She
also guest-hosted many programs over three decades, including “The Sunday Edition,” “Music and Company,”
and “The Arts Tonight”.
Toby Rose
Toronto’s Own CSI
Toby Rose is a Forensic Pathologist and Medical Director of the Provincial Forensic Pathology Unit of the
Ontario Forensic Pathology Service in Toronto.
In popular entertainment, Forensic Pathologists help to catch the “bad guys.” In real life, Toby performs
autopsies to determine the cause of death when people die suddenly and unexpectedly. She frequently
testifies as an expert witness in court. Toby’s expertise lies in examining dead bodies and observing,
documenting and interpreting the findings. Her most intriguing cases are those in which people die under
suspicious circumstances but her findings indicate that death is due to a natural disease or an accident
masquerading as foul play.
Toby received her M.D. from the University of Saskatchewan and trained in Pathology at the University of
Toronto. She is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in Anatomical Pathology,
a diplomat of the American Board of Pathology in both Anatomical and Forensic Pathology, and assistant
professor of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. Christina Sommers
Historian
Christina Hoff Sommers is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Before joining AEI she was
a professor of philosophy at Clark University where she specialized in moral theory. Her academic articles
have appeared in publications such as The Journal of Philosophy and The New England Journal of Medicine,
and those on social and political subjects in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington
Post, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, The Atlantic and The American. Sommers is the editor of Vice and Virtue in Everyday Life, a leading college ethics textbook, and the author of
Who Stole Feminism? and The War Against Boys-the latter was a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year”
for 2000. Her most recent books are One Nation Under Therapy. co-authored with her AEI colleague Sally
Satel, and an anthology --The Science on Women and Science. Historia
Sommers has appeared on numerous television programs including Sixty Minutes , the Oprah Winfrey Show
-and twice on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. She has lectured and taken part in debates on more than
one hundred college campuses. Margaret Somerville
Incurably Optimistic Ethicist
Margaret Somerville is Samuel Gale Professor of Law, Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, and Founding
Director of the Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law at McGill University, Montreal.
She authored several books - The Ethical Canary: Science, Society and the Human Spirit (Penguin2000);
Death Talk: The Case Against Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide (MQUP 2002); and The Ethical
Imagination: Journeys of the Human Spirit (Anansi 2006), which she delivered as the nationally broadcast
CBC 2006 Massey Lectures - and has edited others.
Professor Somerville consults, nationally and internationally, to a wide variety of bodies including governments
and NGO’s. She has received many honours and awards including the Order of Australia, seven honorary
doctorates and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. In 2003 she was chosen by an international jury as
the first recipient of the UNESCO Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science. Lara St. John & Polkastra
An eclectic and international cast of characters including a Canadian folk fiddler/jazz trumpeter, the Met’s
contra bassoonist, an Israeli accordionist and an internationally renowned violin soloist met in a New Jersey
studio to record a polka album just for fun. An idea that began as a lark quickly grew into an eccentric,
virtuosic and energetic exploration of the roots of polka: folk, classical and jazz.
Polkastra is a unique world music project that celebrates both the joy of music and the power of dance to unite
cultures. From the American Midwest and the North of Canada to the mountains of Bohemia and the deserts
of Israel, their latest CD entitled “Apolkalypse Now” poses the important question “Would you like sauerkraut,
poutine, goulashor hummus with that?”
Adora Svitak
American Child Prodigy & Internationally Published Author
Called a “tiny literary giant” by Diane Sawyer, twelve-year-old Adora Svitak is the world’s youngest teacher and
a published author. She explores new technologies and their possibilities in education through her teaching
and speaking. Adora’s daily video conferences with students from around the world have earned her Berrien
RESA’s “Best Author and Expert” award for distance learning two years in a row.
To inspire the teachers of tomorrow, she speaks at schools of education including DePaul and Bowling Green
State University. Adora advocates for education innovation around the world. A prolific writer on education and
related technology, Adora has written for EdTech Magazine. She is a prodigious blogger, posting on 21stcentury learning at The Educators’ Royal Treatment, a blog dedicated to education. She was nominated in
2009 for the Edublogs Student Blog Award. Adora’s books include; Flying Fingers, an engaging how-to hand
book on writing for parents and kids from a student’s point of view; Dancing Fingers, a collection of poetry she
co-authored with her sister Adrianna; and Yang in Disguise, a coming-of-age fantasy novel with undertones of
political satire.
Dr. Shanna Swan
Researcher of Chemical Threats to Males
Dr. Swan is Professor and Associate Chair for Research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and
Director of the Center for Reproductive Epidemiology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and
Dentistry. She is also a member of the NIEHS-funded Environmental Health Sciences Center. She studies how chemicals that our society has lived with for 50 years may be seriously threatening future
generations. Our bodies can confuse certain chemicals with its own hormones (the “endocrine disrupting”
chemicals) and Dr.Swan has worked for over twenty years to understand the threats these chemicals pose.
Most of us carry measurable levels of 50-100 chemicals and understanding the impact of this “cocktail” on
human health is critical.
Dr. Swan is Principal Investigator of the Study for Future Families, a multi-centre pregnancy cohort study that
is examining phthalates and other environmental chemicals and their effects on the reproductive health and
development of children. She recently received funding to conduct The Infants Development and Environment
Study (TIDES). In June 2009 she was awarded Best Paper of the Year by Environmental Health Perspectives,
the leading environmental health journal.
Lionel Tiger
The Decline of Males
Lionel Tiger is the Charles Darwin Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University. His title reflects his
pioneering role in introducing biosocial data into the social sciences. . Exploring how and why is Tiger’s central
adventure.
Currently he is focused on day care, young males, the pill, college demographics, the workforce, and the ways
in which humans are becoming progressively more and more alienated from their biological roots. A graduate
of McGill University, the London School of Economics at the University of London, England, he is a consultant
to the U.S. Department of Defense on the future of biotechnology and the author of a new, controversial
book The Decline of Males. Dr. Tiger, who developed the concept of “male bonding” in his classis study Men
In Groups, has determined that women are in a trend to surpass men in economic, social and reproductive
status - and that the cause of this seismic shift is not political or moral, but biological.
Andrea Tone
Women’s Health Historian
Andrea Tone, Ph.D. holds the Canada Research Chair in the Social History of Medicine at McGill University.
A professor of history, she holds joint appointments in the Department of Social Studies of Medicine and the
Department of History. Her scholarship explores women and health, medical technology, sexuality, psychiatry,
and industry, particularly the intersection between patient experience, cultural contexts, and technological and
economic change in nineteenth and twentieth-century America. She is the author of several books and edited volumes, including, The Age of Anxiety: A History of America’s
Turbulent Affair with Tranquilizers (Basic Books, 2009), Medicating Modern America: Prescription Drugs in
History, with Elizabeth Siegel Watkins (New York University Press, 2007), and Devices and Desires: A History
of Contraceptives in America, which was named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post and
which inspired an Emmy-award winning documentary on The Pill. She is currently working on a project funded by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research on
the CIA, brainwashing, and Cold War psychiatry. Her research on women’s health has been featured on ABC,
PBS, National Public Radio, CTV, the CBC, the History Channel, and in Newsweek, Macleans, and the New
York Times. She lives with her daughter in Montreal.
Natalie Tyler Tran
Video Blogger and YouTube Sensation
Natalie is a Digital Media student who makes short videos on the side. Her videos have attracted more than
213,000,000 hits with approximately 600,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel, making her the most
subscribed and watched Australian on YouTube and one of the top 20 globally. Tran was one of the Australian YouTube celebrities invited to talk about the site at the launch of YouTube
Australia in 2007. Her videos are short satirical skits revolving around everyday observations. Natalie’s videos
tend to feature her playing multiple characters while mulling over a topic such as how joggers always find dead
bodies and whether jogging at night can help reduce this possibility.
Josey Vogels
Canada’s Favorite Sex Columnist & Author
Josey Vogels is often referred to as “The Carrie Bradshaw of Canada” ...sans the designer footwear.
She is the author of three syndicated sex and relationships columns: My Messy Bedroom, Dating Girl and The
J Spot. Josey has written five books on sex and relationships, including her most recent, Bedside Manners:
Sex Etiquette Made Easy. Her sixth book is due out this fall.
A popular radio and TV host, her fresh take on matters of the heart have made her Canada’s most sought out
sexpert. Josey is frank, funny and has one of the few careers in which playing with sex toys is part of the job
description.
Tracy Worcester
Local Food Campaigner
Tracy Worcester is a former actress and environmental campaigner. Her hard-hitting documentary film Pig
Business is provoking ire among American big business as it alleges their intensive farming techniques are
responsible for environmental pollution, animal cruelty and health problems for workers, nearby residents and
the broader community.
Tracy actively supports efforts to shift ideas of ‘progress’ and ‘development’ away from the dictates’ of
banks and giant corporations who put economic growth before the wellbeing of people and planet. She
believes that one vital way to return power to citizens and communities is by supporting informed shopping
and banking choices. To this end she has been networking, fund raising and producing films to promote local,
sustainable economies, particularly in relation to food. Her films include Is small still Beautiful? in India, The
Politics of Happiness in Bhutan, and Pig Business which charts the rise of the factory farm in the USA and
the spread of the industrial model across the globe and reveals the true cost of cheap meat.