The Lesley Hawkins Podcast
Anchored by the question, "What’s one pivotal moment in your life?",
Lesley hosts candid, personal conversations that reveal the turning points that shape who we are.
With her signature empathy, wit, and warmth, Lesley creates space for guests to open up, sparking insights that challenge assumptions, stir reflection, and ignite growth.
Each episode blends honest stories, surprising insights, and moments of laughter, leaving listeners feeling inspired, seen, and more deeply connected to the human experience.
Episodes
28 episodes
Evanka Osmak - Grief Changed Me
With a degree in civil engineering, she was set for a future of stability and success, and yet her passion lay elsewhere. So she returned to school to learn the world of sports broadcasting, and has since become a leader in the space, appearing...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 13
•
34:32
Renee Lindo - Unlocking Women's Confidence Through Style
She was successful with a big sales role in the pharmaceutical industry. She had climbed the mountain and enjoyed all the perks that came with it, but something felt off. The view from the top wasn’t what she thought it would be.So she m...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 12
•
34:58
Kevin Collins - My Journey with Easter Seals
From a young age, our guest understood what it meant to be seen through a label. Born with cerebral palsy, he could have allowed the diagnosis to define the boundaries of his life. Instead, he chose something different. At just eigh...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 11
•
43:20
Pam Shainhouse - Learning How To Live Again
There are moments in life that redefine you. And for our guest today, two such moments changed everything about her and her life. Diagnosed with a bone disorder at just five years old, her disability shaped her identity, her persona...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 10
•
50:25
David McPherson - Sobriety Gave Me My Life Back
It started as a few harmless pints in high school, but for our guest today, one early habit slowly became part of his identity. It shaped how he showed up, how he coped. Until one mistake changed his course. A moment that forced him...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 9
•
53:12
Kate Stewart - From side project to meaningful impact
Some pivotal moments only reveal themselves in hindsight.For our guest today, what once felt like a career sidebar slowly revealed itself as something much bigger, a calling rooted in service, impact, and meaning.It began with tea...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 8
•
46:00
Lindsay Knowlton - Leaning into fear and discomfort
For our guest today, two pivotal moments reshaped everything, one professional, one deeply personal, and both were sparked by the same choice: to lean into fear and discomfort and say “yes” to opportunity. The first began in ...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 7
•
40:35
Dr Amanda Tobe - When Passion Becomes The Compass
Maternity leave created a pause; a moment to reassess, to ask a hard question “what do I actually want my life to feel like at the end of the day?”What started as a passion project, just five hours a week, became a process of ca...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 6
•
40:06
Carli Yim - "You Can’t Pour From an Empty Cup"
For a long time, our guest’s identity was tied to one thing: performance in sport.Then a shoulder injury changed everything. What followed wasn’t just physical pain, but the mental and emotional toll of losing the role that defined who s...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 5
•
46:23
Kim Magnus - Finding a Love for People First Leadership
A 2023 study by the Workforce Institute at UKG found that leaders have as much impact on an employee’s mental health as their spouse or partner. Let that sink in for a moment.For our guest today, leadership became personal early in her c...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 4
•
44:46
Jordie Dunlop - A Near-Death Experience That Brought Values in Focus
Sometimes life doesn’t whisper that something needs to change, it stops you cold. Our guest was returning from a routine business trip when everything unraveled. What started as feeling unwell quickly became a hospital visit, a scar...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 3
•
47:52
Tara Talbot - A Five-Year Rollercoaster
Life-altering change doesn’t always come in a single pivotal moment. For our guest, it was a long five-year period that changed everything.It began with the end of a marriage. Then came a parent’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis and the long, emot...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 2
•
47:07
Jennifer Hawkins - The power of fitness and mindset to survive Stage 3 colon cancer
On the outside, she was doing everything right. A healthy lifestyle, fitness at the core of how she managed stress and showed up every day.Then her body started sending signals she couldn’t ignore. What began as stomach issues turned int...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 1
•
51:31
Lesley Hawkins - What Season One Taught Us
As the year comes to a close, I’ve been reflecting on the conversations that shaped Season One of this podcast. These episodes were about the moments that change us, the questions that force clarity, and the courage to choose a different path.<...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 15
•
21:59
Geoff Tait - "Better Hit Another": The Founders Mindset
He built an apparel business from the ground up. The business was booming, new partners joined the venture, and success felt endless. He was on top of the world.Until the partnership collapsed. Everything fell apart and the business shut...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 14
•
40:09
Jocelyn Pepe - Recovering from a traumatic brain Injury
Managing the emotional toll of a tough divorce with three young children, led today’s guest to turn to triathlons, to cope. Then a horrific bicycle accident changed everything. A traumatic head injury forced her to stop, slow down, ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 13
•
37:26
Rachel Mielke - Building a brand with purpose and impact.
She built a jewelry brand from passion and purpose.But the business began to stall. Then a cancer diagnosis, followed quickly by the arrival of a global pandemic. Everything changed.What began as a moment of crisis bec...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 12
•
37:14
Lisa De Nicola - Learning to trust your intuition
You’re an entrepreneur dedicated to helping leaders on their professional journey. You join a coaching group to sharpen your skills.At the same time, you are navigating the dating world, hoping to find a life partner.T...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 11
•
53:50
Jim Lang - "Everything changed when I got married."
He built his life around the game of hockey.Living the life of a true bachelor. Then everything changed. Marriage. A family. A new set of responsibilities.As a broadcaster, he traveled across North America cha...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 10
•
52:32
Beth Robertson - Caring For The People Who Raised You
Sometimes, you see the writing on the wall. The business is moving in the wrong direction. Life is too busy; you’re being pulled in too many directions at once.For our guest today, the decision was clear – step aw...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 9
•
1:04:38
Suzanne Knight - Taking a leap of faith in your own ability
Walking away from corporate life is never easy. Our guest made that leap.Choosing to start a business of their own. But the early days were anything but certain. Four months of questioning: Am I do...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 8
•
49:20
Todd Keirstead - "My scars tell a story"
What if your job required you to be outside every single day? And the more successful you were, the more sun exposure you got.And then one day, it all comes crashing down with three dreaded words: ‘You have cancer.’<...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 7
•
56:37
Lorie Kane - "Why not me?"
Imagine this: You do everything right. You play by the rules. You travel across the continent, competing in every event, collecting the points you need. And then, when it should all pay off, your association ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 6
•
40:11
Chris Miall - The Life of Wonder - Finding my biological family
Imagine being adopted and deciding to search for your birth parents.You order a DNA test kit from 23andMe. It sits on your desk for two months. Every day, you stare at the box and wonder: What will it mean if ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 5
•
56:34
Abigail Dove - "Why was I leaving what I spent 7 years creating?"
From the earliest days, the dream was clear: to become a professional athlete. Every waking minute was spent honing the craft – practicing, competing, excelling.But there was another side too. Writing for Spor...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 4
•
1:02:29