The Human Challenge
by Vanessa Ferlaino
Latest episode
Indigenous Language: The Heart Of The Home
Indigenous Language: The Heart Of The Home
About this podcast
The Human Challenge is an award-winning podcast that shares gripping, untold stories of underrepresented voices in society overcoming and even escaping systemic barriers. Each episode showcases a new deeply intimate story, using documentary-like storytelling, featuring incarcerated people, refugees, immigration, Indigenous voices, women’s issues, disabilities inclusion, climate justice, gender diversity, and more. With an aim to increase media representation, The Human Challenge is hosted and produced by award-winning artist, Vanessa Ferlaino, who has Hispanic and Italian-immigrant roots. Over 70% of our guests are diverse, and 90% identify as women. Past guests have included returning citizens, displaced people, astronauts, GRAMMY and JUNO nominees, and more.
This is a space for underrepresented stories. This is a space for the stories that are not always told. This is The Human Challenge, challenging what it means to be human, one story at a time.
** New Episodes every 2 weeks! Now Airing on Rogers TV! **
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Episodes
The newest 20 of 64 episodes
- Indigenous Language: The Heart Of The Home · 15 min · Season 3"It's this really complex feeling where you're feeling culture shock to what's supposed to be your own culture," says John-Paul Chalykoff, Indigenous performer and Assistant…
- Finding My Voice: Embracing Palestinian Identity · 42 minWith Palestinian parents, Noora Sharrab had to fight long and hard to push past their traditional “Walk By The Walls” mentality to embrace her Palestinian identity. Questioning…
- Living OUTLoud: A Life In Two Halves · 27 minDespite what his parents told him, at the age of four, Seth Compton knew he was not a girl. But it wasn’t until the age of 43 that Seth made the biggest decision of his life — to…
- Shirley: A Residential School Story · 40 minAs we mark National Indigenous Languages Day on Turtle Island, Shirley Horn shares her residential school story, growing up in not one, but two residential schools. She would…
- Eleven Years In The Making · 21 min“I just never felt safe,” says Jessica Compton, after running away from a young life of kidnapping, abuse, and sexual assault. Deciding it was best she take care of herself, she…
- Rebulding The House: Canada's Justice System · 47 minSince childhood, Sara developed maladaptive behaviours growing up in a tiny shack with no electricity and an abusive father who sold her to the sex trade at the age of three. In…
- Dear God: Is Anyone There? · 37 minCheri Chafin Norris was 16 years old when she became addicted to methamphetamine — and her father’s drug dealer. She wrote to God through her journals for 20 years, recently…
- SPECIAL: The Making Of... Transform The Night · 11 minIn this episode, I talk about headlining Transform The Night and how it all came to be with opening act, DJ Seith, and speaker, Karen Bird, Founder of Nakehndan. Transform The…
- SPECIAL: Transform The Night · 1 h 23 minOn Sunday, September 28th, award-winning artist, Vanessa Ferlaino, headlined Transform The Night. With a contribution from Northern Credit Union, we were able to contribute…
- The Road To Liberation · 34 min · Season 3Injustice comes in many forms in Hebron, the largest city in The West Bank, and the epicentre of The Arab-Israeli Conflict. Jehad has not forgotten the survival mechanisms, the…
- Mother Of A Survivor · 37 minIn 2012, Karen Bird’s life took a turn; her teenage daughter disclosed she had been sexually abused. "Mother Of A Survivor" shows the eleven-year healing journey of a mother and…
- Empathy in Storytelling: Behind the Scenes with Vanessa Ferlaino · 8 min · Season 3In this episode of The Human Challenge, host @vanessaferlaino reflects on her conversation with Bayan Khatib, co-founder of The Syrian Canadian Foundation. Vanessa shares…
- From Silence to Activism: A Journey of Syrian Resilience · 17 min · Season 3Join Vanessa Ferlaino on "The Human Challenge" as she sits down with Bayan Khatib, co-founder of The Syrian Canadian Foundation. Bayan recounts her journey from Aleppo, Syria to…
- Ep 50 Connecting Inner and Outer Worlds: 50th Episode Celebration · 11 minWe made it! There's so much to celebrate in this 50th milestone episode of The Human Challenge! Join host, Vanessa Ferlaino, who confirms our recent announcement that we are…
- Ep 49 Small Town, Big Dreams ft. NCAA Champion Abigail Fogg · 31 minIn this episode, we dive into the remarkable journey of professional basketball player, Abigail Fogg, who rose from the humble roots of smalltown Sault Ste Marie in Northern…
- Ep 48 Healing Together: Chip's Path from Prison to Purpose · 22 minIn this heartfelt episode, we hear from Chip Skowron, MD/PhD and former CEO of Prison Entrepreneurship Program, who takes us through the double life he lived since childhood and…
- Ep 47 Feed U With Trees ft Author Elspeth Hay · 21 minIn this episode of The Human Challenge, Elspeth Hay, author of ""Feed Us With Trees" and host of the Local Food Report on Cape Cod's NPR station, joins us. We explore the…
- Ep 46 Emily O'Brien Makes A Comeback With Comeback Snacks! · 18 minIt's been 10 years since Emily O'Brien found herself in prison. "A lot of people think in prison that you have nothing," she says, "but if you reframe it as a place where you…
- Ep 45 Sparrow in the Razor Wire ft Defy Ventures' Quan Huynh · 24 minQuan Huynh has been described as a mighty warrior, a magician, and a mountain of goodness. He spent 22 years of his life behind bars for murder. In the midst of a life sentence…
- Ep 44 Rewriting the History of The Americas: Decolonizing Archaeology · 19 min25 years after finding herself divorced, a single mom of three kids with a truck, 26 cents, and a grade education, Dr. Paulette Steeves, Cree Métis author of "The Indigenous…
