
HONEST CONVERSATIONS
WITH LEADING WOMEN
The Honest Talk promises to do things differently. We are committed to engaging in real, deeply honest conversation about the experiences, challenges, aspirations and lessons shared of women entrepreneurs, business leaders, and up-and-coming female professionals.
We want to shed the layers of key messages and talking points, and create a forum that leaves women feeling connected, inspired and motivated in their careers and personal lives.
PODCAST
EPISODE 62: Lieutenant-Colonel Melanie Lake is one of the most public-facing women in the Canadian Armed Forces. Melanie
trained the Ukrainian army right before the Russian invasion as Task Force Commander of Operation UNIFIER, and she joins Jennifer and Catherine to talk about her experience as a woman in the Armed Forces and her decision to go to Ukraine when her daughter was only 5 months old. Melanie is honest about how she feels trying to manage all
aspects of her life, including the fact that – like many women - she doesn’t believe there is such a thing as work-life
balance.
Melanie also discusses her childhood, her parents, and her mom’s reaction to her first deployment to Afghanistan (spoiler alert: her mom offered her retirement severance pay if Melanie would stay home). It is a powerful conversation with a mom, wife and ranking military officer who knows firsthand the sacrifices of the men, women and families of Canada’s Armed Forces, and we hope you’ll find it as engaging and important a conversation as we did.