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 two Shameless Women, the amazing Madeleine Shaw and Suzanne Siemens…

Showing that “it is possible to build a successful business with feminist and social values while bringing prosperity to the local and global community,” partners Madeleine Shaw and Suzanne Siemens have combined their passions, creativity and business skills to defy cultural taboos and successfully bring Lunapads to the masses while helping to reduce the estimated 14 billion pads, tampons and applicators that are deposited into North American landfills every year.
(more inside…)

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 Pearl Luke…

Pearl Luke is the author of two critically acclaimed novels: Madame Zee, which was a book club pick for Chatelaine, Flare, and CanadianLiving magazines and was long-listed for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, is a fictionalization of the life of the mistress of one of Canada’s cult leaders.

Burning Ground, which was a Globe and Mail notable book of the year, won the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Novel in the Canada/Caribbean region, and was short-listed for the Chapter/Robertson Davies Prize, the Georges Bugnet award, and the Canadian Booksellers’ Libris award, is the story of a bi-sexual woman and her unconventional love relationships.

Also a former writer-in-residence for the city of Taipei, Taiwan, Pearl currently writes and mentors writers online, privately from her website, www.be-a-better-writer.com. As this week’s Shameless Woman, she tells us why we shouldn’t be afraid to follow what excites us.
(more inside…)

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 Abena Malika…

Photo by Sandy Nicholson

Have you ever felt the jitters? If Abena Malika has, you wouldn’t know it from the amazing work she does as both an actor and equally talented singer. With an impressive resumé that includes credits from both television and theatre, Abena is also the recipient of the 2007 NAACP Theatre Award for ’Da Kink In My Hair (San Diego Repertory Theatre) and has toured as a singer with Toronto band Jacksoul, as well as opening for James Brown on his last Canadian tour.

Currently performing in Soulpepper’s production of Jitters, which previews today (June 24th) and opens June 30th, Abena has taken time to answer our questions as this week’s Shameless Woman.
(more inside…)

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 Suba Sankaran…

Suba Sankaran is a DORA award-winning, JUNO-nominated multi-musician (voice, piano, percussion). Regularly performing across North America, Europe and Asia with world music ensembles Autorickshaw and Trichy’s Trio, she also seamlessly crosses genres with artists such as the FreePlay Duo (with Dylan Bell) and Retrocity (80s a cappella revue). She has also performed for Nelson Mandela, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and Peter Gabriel.

In demand as a choral director, arranger, educator and composer, she has composed, recorded and produced music for theatre, film, radio and dance, including collaborations with Oscar-nominee Deepa Mehta. And she’s this week’s amazingly Shameless Woman.

(more inside…)

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 Shaheen Ashraf…

Sitting on the Board of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Shaheen Ashraf was born in Karachi and grew up in a little town called Khulna (then East Pakistan). She came to Canada in 1976 with 4 young children and once they were grown, she became involved with several volunteer organizations “to help other human beings,” her aim in life. Holding a diploma in Hotel Management, she is presently enrolled in a Psychology & Social work course and works full time with her husband as an administrator of a Ship Brokering firm. She also takes the time to answer our questions to let us know why being pushed into a corner can make you resilient and empowered.
(more inside…)

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 Donna Linklater…

Lead vocals and autoharp player for The Billie Hollies, Donna Linklater founded the female folk-noir quartet two and a half years ago when she moved to Toronto after studying opera at Brandon University. The band was most recently involved with the event Torn From The Pages where Donna composed a piece of music based on the novel “Stunt” by Claudia Dey, which will be expanded into a full-length oratorio. Now she tells us why, as a Shameless Woman, she challenges the expected norm and why this is a very exciting time to be a female musician.
(more inside…)

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 Tanya McGinnity…

Photo credit: Marianne McEwen

Tanya McGinnity is proudly a geek and the founder of the Montreal Girl Geek Dinners, an offshoot of the London Girl Geek Dinners, started by Sarah Blow. With the desire to provide a welcoming atmosphere and platform for learning in an informal environment, the goal of these monthly events is to make technology accessible and interesting to all age groups and all people, particularly women.
(more inside…)

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 Amber Dawn…

Vancouver writer, filmmaker and performance artist Amber Dawn is also currently the director of programming for the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. Her award-winning, genderfuck docu-porn, “Girl on Girl,” has been screened in eight countries and is now part of the gender studies curriculum at Concordia University (anyone of our readers currently studying it?). She has toured three times with the infamous Sex Workers’ Art Show in the US and was voted Xtra! West’s Hero of the Year in 2008.

The editor of Fist of the Spider Woman and co-editor of With a Rough Tongue: Femmes Write Porn, she has just released her debut novel, Sub Rosa, (“…a teenaged runaway unable to remember her real name; in her struggle to get by in the world, she stumbles upon an underground society of ghosts and magicians, missing girls and would-be johns: a place called Sub Rosa.”) which is a must-read for all of you shameless women.
(more inside…)

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 Robinson…

Creating independent games since 2005, Erin Robinson’s work has been featured by both Boing Boing and PC Gamer UK. Erin has also spoken at multiple conferences, including GDC where she, along with Heather Kelley, presented the winning design in the annual Game Design Challenge last year. Erin’s game Nanobots was a much-lauded indie title, and she is now working on the casual adventure game Puzzle Bots. She’s most definitely a Shameless Woman.
(more inside…)