Some people become famous because they find a sound. Others become unforgettable because they find the truth. In this episode of Chatter That Matters, I sit down with Bif Naked for a candid conversation captured by one line: "I am who I am."

Born in New Delhi, adopted, and raised across borders, Bif shares what it means to grow up feeling different, and the moment her story came full circle when she met her birth mother at 21. From there, we get into the forces that shaped her voice, punk, poetry, feminism, and the decision to live out loud, even when it comes with a cost.

Bif also opens up about being diagnosed with breast cancer at 36, then facing a stroke two years later, and how those chapters rewired her priorities and deepened her purpose, including the peer support work that continues to ground her.

We talk about her philosophy of "save the rage for the stage," and we step into her current chapter: Champion, her first studio album in over a decade, unpacking the song Snowblind and why the lyrics matter now more than any time in our history, and her documentary BIF NAKED, which made her realize this story is still being written.

To find out more about Bif Naked: https://www.bifnaked.com

To find out more about First Up with RBC X Music: https://www.rbc.com/dms/enterprise/music/first-up.html

What happened to the truth? I find myself fixated on a troubling realization. It feels remarkably easy to win over an audience with a slogan, a promise without substance, or blatant mistruths, even when those are wildly disconnected from the audience's reality. And even more surprisingly, they are not only readily accepted but also often repeated and shared.

I wanted to understand why. Not from a political or media lens, but from a human one. What is it about human nature that makes us so vulnerable?

That question led me to two conversations on Chatter That Matters. What ties them together is a sobering conclusion. Our minds have not fundamentally changed, but the tools used to target them have. Unless we become more intentional about how we think as parents, citizens and individuals navigating the uncertainties and complexities of life, it will remain dangerously easy to sell comforting narratives that drift far from reality.

Gordon Pennycook, a highly regarded cognitive scientist whose journey from small-town Saskatchewan to a renowned thought leader at Cornell University gives him a rare lens on how ordinary people reason in extraordinary information environments. Gordon studies why we are so trusting, why misinformation spreads faster than truth, and why most of us are not irrational or malicious, just distracted. His research shows that people do not fail because they cannot think, but because the systems around them reward speed, emotion, and certainty over reflection and accuracy.

We discuss why falsehood often outperforms truth online, how social platforms exploit attention rather than intention, why news has become opinionated, and why there is still hope.

I then bring in Milos Stojadinovic, a cybersecurity and threat expert at RBC, who thinks like attackers, so the rest of us do not have to.

Milos explains how cybercrime has become organized, global, and industrialized, from ransomware-as-a-service to AI-powered scams and nation-state involvement. His insight makes one thing clear. Trust is still our greatest human strength, but it has also become the easiest point of entry for those who want to exploit it.

Robyne was a high school dropout who believed she wasn't worth saving.

Then her car plunged through the ice, trapping her 20 feet underwater and changing everything. This is the story of how choosing hope became a strategy for survival and healing.

I sit down with Dr. Robyne Hanley-Dafoe, bestselling author and one of the most trusted voices on resilience. As a teenager, Robyne battled addiction, dropped out of school, and was hospitalized in an adult psychiatric ward. At 16, a near-fatal accident gave her a second chance she refused to waste.

This is not a glossy comeback story. It is an honest conversation about becoming. Robyn shares why pain does not have to make sense to be real, why recovery is never linear, how stress can be worked with rather than feared, and what everyday resilience actually looks like.

This episode is about hope, not as a feeling, but as a practice, and choosing to show up again when life feels overwhelming.

To find out more:

Discover – Pre-Order 'I Hope So: How to Choose Hope Even When It's Hard'
Hope isn't just a feeling – it's the key to rewiring your brain for resiliency and well-being, even in the toughest times.

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What happens when the dream you are chasing, ends in a split second? Only to find a new one awaits. At 19, Jane Roos was chasing Olympic dreams, fast, fearless, and focused. Then, in a single moment, everything changed. A devastating car accident took her best friend's life and ended the future she had trained for. What followed was pain, survivor's guilt, and a question that quietly redefined her life: Why am I still here?

From a hospital bed, with no roadmap and no safety net, Jane founded the Canadian Athletes Now Fund, an idea that would grow into one of the most important sources of support for Canada's Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Today, CAN Fund has helped fund thousands of athletes seek their podium dreams, not by chance but by belief.

Jane also shares the quieter, equally powerful parts of her journey, including overcoming survivor's guilt, choosing service over fear, and creating community through initiatives like Random Acts of Magic. Her perspective on gratitude, courage, and living fully feels both hard-earned and deeply generous.

I then welcome Jacquie Ryan, CEO of the Canadian Olympic Foundation. We explore what it truly takes to get athletes to the starting line and beyond, and why long-term commitment matters. Jacquie reflects on the enduring role of partners like RBC and how investing in athletes is about more than medals; it is about identity, pride, and belief in what Canada can be.

If you have ever questioned your path, your purpose, or what is possible after life takes an unexpected turn, Jane's story is a powerful reminder that the worst day can become the greatest gift, and that sometimes the most meaningful victories happen far from the podium.

To learn more about the CAN Fund: https://canadianathletesnow.ca

Ben Mulroney has spent his life carrying a famous last name while choosing a different path on his own terms. That is why I wanted to share his story.

We recorded the show in front of a sold-out room at The Toronto Hunt. Ben takes you behind his public persona and into the moments that shaped him, tested him, and surprised him. He shares wonderful stories that are funny, candid, and genuinely human, including what it really feels like to work on a red carpet and suddenly find yourself face-to-face with someone like George Clooney.

Over the past year, I had the chance to join Ben on his national radio show, on Corus, and I have watched his rare ability to take complex, sometimes controversial issues, synthesize competing viewpoints, then land on a perspective with clarity, confidence, and courage. In this conversation, that same clarity turns inward, toward family, fatherhood, identity, reinvention, and what it takes to build a life in your own voice.

If you like interviews that move fast, go deep, and leave you thinking, press play.

And as always a big thank you to RBC and RBC Wealth for all you do to allow me to share weekly stories of people who overcome circumstances to chase dreams and change their world and ours for the better.

One of the greatest lessons I've been gifted as host of Chatter That Matters is seeing how much impact one individual can have when they choose purpose over comfort. This episode is a powerful reminder of that truth.

At the centre is Tim Cormode, whose life changed during a moment of stillness alone on a glacier. That clarity led him to build Power to Be, using nature as a pathway to dignity, confidence, and possibility for people told their limits were fixed. Tim shares what two decades in the charitable sector taught him, not just about impact but about what is broken in how we give, from fear of risk to a scarcity mindset that holds good organizations back.

That experience sparked his next chapter, Power to Give, a bold rethinking of philanthropy rooted in trust, shared resources, and treating generosity as the investment it truly is. From a kayak on the water to a small-town skate park that drew an unexpected visit from Tony Hawk, Tim's story shows what becomes possible when imagination meets action.

The conversation then widens with Andrea Barrack, Senior Vice President of Corporate Citizenship and ESG at RBC. Andrea shares how RBC's new Purpose Framework is turning values into action. With a $2 billion commitment by 2035, RBC is focused on skills for a changing world and more equitable prosperity.

If you believe impact is built by people, not slogans, and that purpose is found by doing, not saying, you will love this episode as much as I did making it.

What do a McDonald's drive-through, a beat-up pickup truck, and a single, dangerous question have in common? 1-800-GOT-JUNK? is one of the most iconic service brands in North America. In this unforgettable episode, I sit down with Brian Scudamore, the school dropout who turned hauling junk into a $700 million empire by embracing a mindset he calls "WTF, willing to fail". What unfolds is not a business case study, but a profoundly human story about courage, doubt, family pressure, leadership missteps, and the power of seeing possibility where others see nothing.

Brian shares how firing his entire team saved his company, why culture is the ultimate competitive moat, and how systems, not people, fail. He opens up about the moment his father finally said, "I'm proud of you," fifteen years after Brian walked away from university.

If you are an entrepreneur, a leader, a parent, someone young searching for their ladder to climb, or someone quietly wondering whether there is another path you are allowed to take, this conversation will stay with you long after it ends. Special thanks and love to RBC for supporting these human stories that matter. Stories of ordinary becoming extraordinary.

Listen now and ask yourself the question that changed everything for Brian Scudamore.

What if?

Dear Canada. It is now or never. In this fifteen-minute podcast, I state that we stand at a crossroads. A century ago, the world emerged from the trenches of war and the shadow of a brutal pandemic. The optimism of the Roaring Twenties gave way to recklessness. We gambled our destiny, left it to chance, and crashed in 1929. Prosperity built on illusion never lasts.

Today, we face another critical time. The first quarter-century of this millennium has not been gentle, from the shock of 9/11, to the 2008 financial collapse, to pandemics, October 7, Ukraine, and a steady erosion of our freedoms.

While other nations seized their decade, Canada lost theirs. This is not partisan politics. It is our lived reality. Look around at food insecurity, job uncertainty, unaffordability, unchecked crime, and antisemitism spilling into schools, malls, streets, and places of worship, often met with a shrug by those in power. A feeling of impossibility, massive cracks in our confederation, and the Western Provinces squeezed, yet abandoned.

A decade of scathing Auditor General reports, with most buried in the shadows, without a flashlight in sight.

I end my podcast by saying our story is not over. I read a letter to Mark Carney. Why? There is no doubt in my mind that our footloose and party-free style of democracy will give the Liberals a majority.

The pen remains in his and our hands. Canadians can still choose destiny over chance, but only with courage, unity, and conviction.

Mark Carney has to make a choice. Continue more of the same and risk the fracture of this country, or earn his place among our greatest Prime Ministers by changing our course.

In my letter, I offer my thoughts on how.

Champion ideas over ideology. Restore critical thinking, law and order, and stand firmly against antisemitism and all forms of hate. Pursue smart immigration that welcomes those who will enrich our nation while sharing our values and respect for one another. Recommit to true reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and rebuild bridges with the West so all feel part of a united Canada. And practice fiscal stewardship, because we cannot borrow our way to greatness.

I even derail a $100 billion plan to connect Montreal and Ottawa with high-speed rail in favour of connecting Canadian IP and our resources to the world. R&D, Patents, Refurbished ports, Pipelines and more.

Mark Carney, don't chase the comfort of ideology or the safety of a base. Choose Canada, all of Canada. If you do, history will remember your name.

Canada, it's now or never.

Tony Chapman