Every other Thursday I profile a new incredible woman, each from a different walk of life. Different professions, causes, backgrounds, ethnicities, orientations, and anything/everything else!

So without further delay, let me introduce the awesome Lizzie Renaud…

Photo credit: Vanessa Hines

Lizzie Renaud is a 27 year old Toronto-based tattoo artist and owner of Speakeasy Tattoo. After an on/off apprenticeship, she has now been tattooing for more than 6 years and has worked in various countries including England, Belgium, Canada, USA, Netherlands, and France.

After opening Speakeasy Tattoo, her custom art studio, in July of 2009 to great initial success and participating in dozens of art shows around the city, her future plans are to travel to as many conventions as her “little hands can handle, find the time to paint every day, learn the fine art of scotch and bourbon appreciation, study crochet, and finally pick up where I left off at with my piano studies” and she’s this week’s Shameless Woman.

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Every other Thursday I profile a new incredible woman, each from a different walk of life. Different professions, causes, backgrounds, ethnicities, orientations, and anything/everything else!

So without further delay, let me introduce the wonderful Jennifer Cowan…

photo credit: Kevin Konnyu

Having written professionally for the past two decades, chances are you’ve seen something Jennifer Cowan has been a part of. With television credits that include writer and Executive Story Editor of Producing Parker, Show Me Yours, Traders and Big Sound; she also has written multiple scripts for the CBC/FoxKids teen soap, Edgemont, The Saddle Club, The Zack Files, Quads, and Ready or Not. On top of that, Jennifer has produced arts, pop culture and entertainment magazine programs and documentaries for CBC, CBC Newsworld, CTV, TVOntario and CityTV.

Her most recent accomplishment is the novel *earthgirl*, which follows the eco-evolution of 16-year-old Sabine Solomon, as well as a blog that is written in the character’s voice so that readers have an opportunity to explore the ideas in the book. As this week’s Shameless Woman Jennifer tells us about figuring out what needs to be done to make things happen.

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Every other Thursday I profile a new incredible woman, each from a different walk of life. Different professions, causes, backgrounds, ethnicities, orientations, and anything/everything else!

So without further delay, let me introduce the wonderful Amy Sedgwick…

Amy Sedgwick has a passion for women’s health and wants them to be informed. With a goal “to provide a home, a safe space for women to develop a positive and healthy relationship to their bodies - a task that is becoming increasingly challenging in our culture,” Amy, along with her sister Kimberley, started Red Tent Sisters. Combining their visions to offer women services, programs, and a retail store, Amy takes time to answer our questions as this week’s Shameless Woman.

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Every other Thursday I profile a new incredible woman, each from a different walk of life. Different professions, causes, backgrounds, ethnicities, orientations, and anything/everything else!

So without further delay, let me introduce the awesome Catherine Kustanczy…

Canadian arts and culture journalist, Catherine Kustanczy loves what she does. And what exactly is that? Let’s start with writing, producing, interviewing, and hosting for various established names like CIUT’s morning program, Take 5, Torontoist, blogTO, CBC Unlocked, and CBC Radio, as well as living abroad for two years, working in the film and music industries in Ireland and England. Her blog, Play Anon is a popular combination of cultural insights, personal experiences, and social observations – a few of which she shares here with us as this week’s Shameless Woman.

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Every other Thursday I profile a new incredible woman, each from a different walk of life. Different professions, causes, backgrounds, ethnicities, orientations, and anything/everything else!

So without further delay, let me introduce the wonderful Erin Karpluk…

Erin Karpluk knows how important life’s pivotal moments can be. As the lead in CBC’s incredibly popular Being Erica, Erin’s character has the chance to revisit key points in her life and change what she believes went wrong. A challenging role that Erin nails to perfection.

The show being just one of her many and continuing credits, we’ve definitely only seen the beginning of Erin, and as this week’s Shameless Woman, she tells us why she pushes her limits “physically, mentally, and creatively” and why you should be prepared to work your ass off.

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Every other Thursday I profile a new incredible woman, each from a different walk of life. Different professions, causes, backgrounds, ethnicities, orientations, and anything/everything else!

So without further delay, let me introduce the awesome Erin Ross…

Erin Ross is responsible for half the singing, “guitaring” and songwriting in the Montreal band Nightwood. She also contributes regularly to the band’s art/style/music blog, where you can learn about their first full-length album coming out Oct. 1st on vinyl and mp3. With a BA in literature, Erin often finds musical inspiration in the classics. As this week’s Shameless Woman, she tells us about the precious aspects of being in a band and why choosing your “bandies” wisely is so important.

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Next week is the one year anniversary of my Shameless Women column.

Since I already have profiles scheduled for the next two installments, I thought I’d post quickly this week to say THANK YOU to all the Shameless Women we’ve met so far…

I have interviewed so many kinds of women, from musicians and artists, to doulas and environmental activists, to cake-makers, radio DJs, burlesque performers, and more! I have learned so much from these women and been touched by their words. I hope you have too!

Make sure not to miss the super-exciting Shameless Women I have lined up for you in the next few weeks!

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Every other Thursday I profile a new incredible woman, each from a different walk of life. Different professions, causes, backgrounds, ethnicities, orientations, and anything/everything else!

So without further delay, let me introduce the amazing Karley Tabak…

Karley & Beta. Photo credit: Aaron Doucette, Instant Kamera http://instantkamera.ca

Karley Tabak describes herself as “a fiancée, dachshund mommy, ESL teacher, perpetual student and Etsy shop owner.” Creating incredibly cute eco coffee sleeves and felt baby name books, she certainly doesn’t lie with the business name, she sews lovely. Karley gives us some tips for running your own business and explains why taking time for yourself is so important.

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Every other Thursday I profile a new incredible woman, each from a different walk of life. Different professions, causes, backgrounds, ethnicities, orientations, and anything/everything else!

So without further delay, let me introduce the wonderful Karen Miranda Augustine…

Ritualistic Pop Artist, Writer, and Videomaker Karen Miranda Augustine uses the influences of African beliefs systems, outsider expressionism and counter-culture to create pieces that speak “to the place where earthly conditions converge with the metaphysical.”

Her current solo exhibition AMERICAN EMPRESS: Credit for the Empire’s Troubled Royalty “explores adversity as a rite of passage…contemporary pop culture figures are transformed into a series of credit-card portraits that speak to far-reaching, everyday human concerns: the transcendence of loss, social stigma, mental illness, addiction and personal crisis.”

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