MELSAYS PODCAST

Hi and welcome to another edition of the MELSAYS PODCAST. Hope you're all hanging in there. This week, I am conducting my very first podcast en français, with one of the top female surfers in the world. Hailing from Anglet, France, Pauline Ado is currently ranked 8th on the WSL Tour. She's had an amazing last couple of years winning titles all around the world. I spoke with her live from New Zealand, where she has been the past couple of weeks due to the pandemic. I hope you'll enjoy my chat with her. Sans plus tardé, voici Pauline! Follow Pauline: https://www.instagram.com/paulineado/ Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hi and welcome to another edition of the MELSAYS PODCAST. How are you all holding up? I’m happy to share with you today another great interview! My guest for this episode is BC-based artist Jessa Gilbert. She is renown for her colourful murals and works of art that depict beautiful landscapes from her outdoor adventures. Over the years, she has received several awards for her art and has worked with many renown brands such as MEC, Nature’s Path Organics, Burton Snowboards, just to name a few and has created murals in different cities across the province. She was a joy to speak to, so without further ado, here’s Jessa Gilbert! Follow Jessa: https://www.instagram.com/jessagilbert/ Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hi and welcome to another edition of the MELSAYS PODCAST. How are you all doing? I know these last couple of weeks have been filled with many ups and downs for a lot of us. I’m hoping that you and your loved ones are healthy and safe! I’m hoping that today’s podcast will bring you sense of joy and inspiration. My guest for today’s episode is Mirna Valerio. Mirna is a former school teacher, that began a blog several years ago called Fat Girl Running. In a short amount of time, she’s become one of the most popular ultrarunners and adventurers thanks to not only all of the incredible races she’s run, but also with the publication of her book A Beautiful Work in Progress as well as the public speaking work she’s been doing, breaking down barriers for all types of athletes. I had been wanting to chat with her for almost two years now, so I’m so incredibly grateful she took time out of her busy schedule to chat, it was an honour. So without further ado here’s Mirna Valerio. Follow Mirna: https://www.instagram.com/themirnavator/ Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hey what’s up everyone! Welcome to another edition of the MELSAYS PODCAST. I hope that you and your loved ones are healthy and safe during these unprecedented times. It’s been a hard couple of weeks for everyone, including myself. I didn’t know if I wanted to keep the podcast going or not during this time, but figured it might bring some relief, distraction or even entertainment your way, so I figured I would keep at it. I will try to record a few episodes from home for the first time this week, so stay tuned for that. My guest for this episode is Jennifer Hollinshead, she is the founder and also the clinical director at Peak Resilience, a women-run counselling practice located in Vancouver. I think during times like these, the work that Jennifer and her colleagues do is paramount. This was obviously recorded previous to the pandemic and everything that’s currently going on, but she still shares some awesome tips and advice during our chat, which I hope might help some of you. So here’s my chat with Jennifer! Follow Peak Resilience: https://www.instagram.com/peakresilience/ Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hi and welcome to a brand new episode of the MELSAYS PODCAST. How’s everyone doing? Got a brand new interview for you all this week. My guest is Tofino longboarder Lydia Ricard. She is one of the best long boarders in the country and one to watch out for in the coming years. I had the chance to sit down with her a little while back in Tofino to talk about the growth of the sport in Canada, her journey as a Canadian surfer and more! Hope you’ll enjoy our chat! Follow Lydia: https://www.instagram.com/lydiaric/ Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hi and welcome to another edition of the MELSAYS PODCAST! Happy New Year! Hope you have wonderful holidays and that 2020 is off to a fantastic start! 2020 is shaping up to be a crazy year, as we are expecting our first child in May. So my goal is to get as many episodes out and edited as possible before the arrival of our daughter. I’m super excited to have Valerie Duprat as my guest today on the podcast. She is a surfboard shaper, surfer and mom. She was recently featured in the new book Surf Like A Girl and today she shares how she went from growing up in Paris to shaping boards in Encinitas and become one of the first local female shapers. I hope you’ll enjoy my chat with her! Follow Valerie: https://www.instagram.com/meremadesurfboards/ Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hi, and welcome to a new edition of the MELSAYS PODCAST! I’m excited to be sharing with you today, one last episode before the end of the year. I hope you’ve enjoyed the guests I’ve had on this year. It’s been such an honour meeting all of these incredible women. I hope that I can keep bringing you even more stellar guest in the new year! We’re finishing off 2019 with a firecracker! My guest for this episode is Lucy Ulmer. She is the co-owner of two of Vancouver’s most coveted fitness studios - Hustle Up and Spin Society. She is also a Master Trainer at Lagree as well as a Pregnancy Specialist. She is a new mom and an absolute badass. I hope you’ll enjoy our chat! Follow Lucy: https://www.instagram.com/lucy.ulmer/ Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hi, and welcome to a new edition of the MELSAYS PODCAST. We are December 1st, just one month left until the new year! Finishing this year off strong with a handful of new podcast episodes coming your way soon. I recorded this one while I was down in San Diego just a few weeks ago. My guest for today is Danielle Black Lyons, she is the co-founder of, Textured Waves, a community that was founded to propagate the culture, and sport of women’s surfing, towards women of colour, and underrepresented demographics through representation, community and sisterly camaraderie. She shares her experience in the water, as a mom and as a visual artist. Hope you’ll enjoy our chat! Follow Danielle: https://www.instagram.com/texturedwaves/ https://www.instagram.com/salty.sol/ Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hi and welcome to another edition of the MELSAYS PODCAST! how are you all doing? I’ve mostly been at home here in North Vancouver working on a ton of different projects as of late and am hoping to be able to record more episodes of the podcast during my upcoming travels in California and in Arizona later this month. Today’s guest is Elaine Fung, she is a Vancouver trail runner who recently launched, along with her friend Linda Barton-Robbins (another BC trail runner and the wife of Gary Robbins) an online platform called We Are Trail. The goal go this platform is to celebrate diversity and inclusively in the trail running community. She talked to me about what inspired her to launch this platform, her personal experiences getting into trails, etc. I hope you’ll enjoy our chat! Follow We Are Trail: https://www.instagram.com/we_are_trail/ Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hey what’s up everyone! Welcome to a brand new edition of the MELSAYS PODCAST. How’s everybody doing? I just recently got back from a week in Tofino and while I was there, I had the opportunity to chat with two incredible women that are part of the local surf community. If you haven’t been to Tofino, it’s a wonderful surf town located on the very edge of the continent in British Columbia, there’s no place quite like it. There’s a huge community of female entrepreneurs and surfers that live there so I wanted to chat with some of them for the podcast to find out more about their line of work and the community they live in. Today’s guest is Bryanna Bradley, she is a local photographer and visual storyteller from Tofino, who has photographed not only the local surf community in Tofino but has been able to travel around the world and document a ton of incredible surfers and surfing events. I was thrilled she invited me into her cozy home in Tofino and we got to sit down for a nice chat! Follow Bryanna: https://www.instagram.com/bryannabradleyphotography/ Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hi and welcome to another edition of the MELSAYS PODCAST! I hope you’ve been well! I just got back from a few weeks of travels and seeing family, so im excited to buckle down and get some more great episodes of the podcast recorded and out for you guys this fall. My guest for today’s episode is Filsan Abdiaman. She is a fitness instructor, a Reebok ambassador, an ultra runner as well as the founder of the amazing community called Project Love Run. It’s a women’s only run and brunch that aims to teach women how to “love themselves” and form friendships with other women in this modern world. She has such a beautiful presence, which I hope you will be able to feel even through this podcast. It’s always a pleasure to chat with her so without further ado, here’s Filsan. Follow Filsan: https://instagram.com/runnersinstinct Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hey what’s up everyone, welcome to another edition of the, MELSAYS PODCAST. How’s it going? Thanks for all of your positive feedback, following the last episode with Farinaz Lari, I always appreciate hearing from everyone. If you haven’t listened to it already, check out episode 21. Super excited to release today’s episode, before I head off to Europe for a few weeks. My guest for today, is Kat Drew. She’s a local Vancouver runner, who recently took part in one of the most prestigious trail races in the world; the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Race. Not only did she finish it, but she placed 8th female overall! I happen to meet her while doing some trail work on the north shore, just a few days after her race, and asked her if she wanted to share her story on how she got to this legendary race. She was really lovely to speak to, and it was super interesting to get more insight on her experience at Western States. I hope you’ll enjoy! Follow Kat: https://instagram.com/katdrew Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hey what’s up everyone! Welcome to another edition of the MELSAYS PODCAST. Can you believe it, it’s already mid-august, I feel like the summer is flying by. This week, I recorded 3 new episodes of the podcast, so I’m excited to share these new episodes with you all, in the coming weeks. Today’s chat is with Farinaz Lari. Farinaz, was born in Tehran, Iran and moved to Canada almost 10 years ago. In addition to being the co-owner of the District Warrior gym in Vancouver, she is also a kickboxing World Champion. She has paved the way for other female martial artists not only in Iran but also in Canada. Her story is incredible and is definitely one of my favourite chats so far. Hope you’ll be as moved as I was by her story! Follow Farinaz: https://instagram.com/farinazlari/ Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hey what’s up everyone! Welcome to a brand new episode of the MELSAYS Podcast. How are you? Hope your summer is off to a great start! My guest for today, is a woman that I’ve been wanting to have on the podcast, since I met her in person for the first time this winter, at a local trail running race. Her name is Hilary Spires, she is an ultra runner, a coach, a former National Women’s Hockey League player, kick boxer and all-around badass. She also hosts a podcast, called the Trail Running Women’s Podcast. She recently took part in the multi-grouse grind fundraising challenge, here in Vancouver, which basically entails climbing the Grouse Grind as many times as you can in 1 day from sunrise to sunset, while being 7 months pregnant. She’s become a popular figure in the local trail running community thanks to her accomplishments and her kick-ass attitude, so I’m thrilled to have her on today to talk about her career as an athlete, that infamous pain cave and some of the challenges she’s faced while being pregnant as an athlete. Hope you’ll enjoy our chat! Follow Hilary: https://www.instagram.com/hilsport55/ Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

For this episode, I’m doing something a little different. I recently had coffee with one of my friends Mandy Gill (@mandygilldotcom on Instagram), she’s a plant-based ultra athlete, an entrepreneur, tv personality and all-around amazing lady. After sharing with her some of the hardships I went through this past year, she suggested I share my story, with you all on the podcast today. If you don’t follow me on Instagram, I recently posted about the fact that I was diagnosed with skin cancer, in June of last year and went for my super important 1-year follow up just a few weeks ago, and was told that I am still cancer free! Recording this podcast, definitely made me feel super vulnerable but I’m hoping that by me sharing my story, the struggles I went through this past year, the diagnosis, surgeries, etc. that it can raise more awareness, and maybe even inspire some of you to go get a skin check! So thank you in advance for listening! Follow me: http://melsays.com http://instagram.com/melsays http://twitter.com/melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald Melanoma ressources: https://www.cancer.ca/en/cancer-information/cancer-type/skin-melanoma/signs-and-symptoms/?region=bc http://www.bccancer.bc.ca/health-info/types-of-cancer/skin/melanoma#The--basics

Hi and welcome to the MELSAYS PODCAST! My name is Mel and each week I chat with some of the most amazing women out there. Whether an athlete, an entrepreneur, an artist, a community leader or a woman with a remarkable journey. I hope that these women and their stories serve as inspiration for you the listener. On today’s podcast, I chat with a brilliant photographer and director, her name is Krystle Wright. She was in Vancouver a little while back for the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival and I got to speak to her, in her hotel room, just minutes before she took the stage at the festival. If you don’t know Krystle’s work, she’s an adventure sports photographer, originally from Queensland, Australia, who’s traveled the world to capture everything from extreme sports to epic expeditions. I highly recommend checking her out on Instagram @krystlejwright while you listen to the podcast to see some of her breathtaking work. Over the years, some of her work has appeared in National Geographic, The Times, Huffington Post and GQ, just to name a few. It was awesome to get her take on what makes up a good photo, what she tries to capture in her work as well as the impact of social media on photographers and beyond. I hope you’ll like this short but sweet chat, so without further ado, here’s Krystle Wright. Follow me: MELSAYS.COM Twitter/Instagram: @melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hi and welcome to the MELSAYS podcast! My name is Mel and each week I chat with some of the most amazing women out there. Whether an athlete, an entrepreneur, an artist, a community leader or a woman with a remarkable journey. I hope that these women and their stories serve as inspiration for you the listener. I’m really excited to have someone that I really look up to on today’s podcast. Her name is Kayla Brolly, she’s an ER nurse, as well as a crew member for North Shore Rescue here in North Vancouver. If you live in British Columbia or in areas surrounded by nature, you know how important the work of search and rescue crews are. I’m lucky that I get to go run and hike in the local mountains and know how crazy the terrain can be. So having a group like North Shore Rescue that is solely volunteer based is incredibly important. The work that they do in the local community is exceptional. So I’m thrilled that she came to meet me and we sat down to talk about the work that she does with them as well as the challenges she’s had to overcome on the job, etc. She was just lovely! Hope you'll enjoy our chat! Find out more about North Shore Rescue here: https://www.northshorerescue.com/ Follow me: MELSAYS.COM Twitter/Instagram: @melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hi and welcome to the MELSAYS podcast! My name is Mel and each week I chat with some of the most amazing women out there. Whether an athlete, an entrepreneur, an artist, a community leader or a woman with a remarkable journey. I hope that these women and their stories serve as inspiration for you the listener. My guest for this episode is Sarah MacPherson. She is a Canadian 1500m runner, currently training in Victoria, BC with the Vic City Elite. She is working towards representing Canada at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. I had the chance to meet up with her on a recent trip to Victoria to find out more about her journey as an athlete. Hope you’ll enjoy our chat. Follow Sarah: @sarahrmac6 Instagram. Follow me: MELSAYS.COM Twitter/Instagram: @melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hi and welcome to the MELSAYS podcast! My name is Mel and each week I chat with some of the most amazing women out there. Whether an athlete, an entrepreneur, an artist, a community leader or a woman with a remarkable journey. I hope that these women and their stories serve as inspiration for you the listener. My guest for this episode is Courtney Burt, she is the co-founder of Run Like A Girl. She is a BC-based long-distance runner who has run races anywhere from 50 to 250 kilometers long. Courtney runs all the behind the scenes stuff at Run Like A Girl and also leads some of their retreats. I’m thrilled to have her share more about this awesome community that she has helped create. So without further a due, here’s my chat with Courtney. Follow Run Like a Girl: @runlikeagirl_ca on Instagram. Follow me: MELSAYS.COM Twitter/Instagram: @melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald

Hi and welcome to the MELSAYS podcast! My name is Mel and each week I chat with some of the most amazing women out there. Whether an athlete, an entrepreneur, an artist, a community leader or a woman with a remarkable journey. I hope that these women and their stories serve as inspiration for you the listener. My guest for this episode is Sarah Leanne Hart. Sarah is a climber and she was MEC’s first ever ambassador, and still is to this day. She has traveled the world doing some epic climbs and is considered to be an “all-arounder”, climbing at an elite level, in different climbing disciplines. In addition to climbing, she also works as a facilitator for groups of women and girls. I had such a lovely time speaking with her at her home in Squamish a few weeks back, I hope you’ll enjoy our chat. Follow Sarah: @sarahleannehart on Instagram Follow me: MELSAYS.COM Twitter/Instagram: @melsays Music: "Sunday" - Otis McDonald