In this episode, the Community Podcast Initiative (CPI) presents a panel discussion on emerging career paths in digital audio, and how this can promote a space for more authentic storytelling. The three panelists share their experiences in different forms of audio production, how it makes space for under-represented voices, and how their work today might not have been the career path they imagined when they first started their studies. The panel is moderated by the CPI’s Brad Clark, a professor in the Broadcast Media Studies program at Mount Royal University.

The Panelists:

Kyle Napier

Kyle Napier (Northwest Territory Métis Nation) is Dene/nêhiyaw Métis, with Gaelic and French connections. Kyle is a sessional instructor with the University of Victoria’s Certificate in Indigenous Language Revitalization program. He’s involved in graduate research at the University of Alberta, where he earned an MA in Communication and Technology, and supports education across Nunavut in a variety of IT roles. Kyle is a co-consultant with Tatâga, and is the Communication Manager and an audiovisual technician with Calgary Show Services. Kyle oversees the release of multiple podcasts and podcast cohorts with partnering universities. He is also co-chair with Native Land Digital maps, as well as a video game designer creating Indigenous language resources for the South Slave Divisional Education Council.

Grace Heavy Runner

Poksikainiaki Grace Heavy Runner is from the Kainai Nation in Treaty Seven Territory. For the last several years she has worked at CJSW as a producer and podcaster hosting Indigenization Across the Nation, and Treaty Nation Music. More recently she was the host and narrator for Survivors, a series on residential schools. Grace is also a fourth-year student in MRU’s Journalism and Digital Media program.

Hadeel Abdel-Nabi

Hadeel Abdel-Nabi is an assistant producer with CBC Podcasts in Toronto. A Calgary-born journalist and poet, and a graduate of MRU’s journalism program, she has bylines in HuffPost, VICE, Avenue Magazine, The Sprawl, Muslim Girl and more. She also launched, hosted and produced Muslim Girl’s podcast, which she premiered live at SXSW in Austin, TX, with an interview from congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. Hadeel’s passion has always been to bring underrepresented voices to the forefront of the conversation. She is most interested in stories about social inequity, the first-generation Canadian experience and politics.