What I Know About…

Calgary’s Michelle Minke has a calling to connect people with spirits

Michelle Minke was a successful opera singer for more than 20 years, performing on stages across Europe and North America.

Based in Calgary, the 43-year-old is a graduate of the Opera School at the Royal Academy of Music in London, England, the Solti Te Kanawa Accademia in Italy and holds a masters in a masters in vocal pedagogy from​ ​the University of Toronto.

Minke’s evolution from singer to psychic medium came about after the stillbirth of her son during the COVID-19 pandemic. She says that his passing was her spiritual awakening.

Minke will be conducting a group mediumship reading Tuesday at the Park Theatre.

Anti-racism activist hopes to make our communities mutually respectful

Dr. Rehman Abdulrehman is a clinical and consulting psychologist at Clinic Psychology Manitoba. He has a consulting and coaching firm called Lead with Diversity, he is the assistant professor with the department of clinical health psychology at the University of Manitoba and he has just written his first book, Developing Anti-Racist Cultural Competence, which aims to help people develop practical skills, insight and better empathy when working with diverse groups.

Paleontologist makes strides toward understanding the way mosasaurs behaved

Maximilian Scott is a vertebrate paleontologist who focuses on extinct animal behaviour and behavioural evolution. Scott, 27, from Ovid, Mich., is in the last year of his master’s degree at the University of Manitoba studying mosasaurs, an ancient marine lizard that lived in Manitoba during the late-Cretaceous period.

He also offers tutoring in geology, biology, animal behaviour and conservation to people of all ages. You can find him on Instagram.

Our story doesn’t start with the first book that was written, our story starts a long time before that, a long time before the first humans. It’s all one long story.

Humans have only existed for 200,000 years. The Earth has been around for 4.5 billion years. Life has been around for three billion years, and complex life has been around for 542 million years.

Manitoba Museum zoology curator’s role focuses on interpreting info about our province’s animals

Randall Mooi, 62, is the curator of zoology at the Manitoba Museum. He received his PhD from the University of Toronto, working on the evolutionary history of coral reef fishes. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in the Division of Fishes of the Smithsonian Institution, he was curator of fishes and section head of vertebrate zoology at the Milwaukee Public Museum.

Mooi joined the Manitoba Museum in 2004, focusing on fish evolution and post-glacial biogeography of snakes, toads and frogs in the province.

A zoology curator’s job… is to make sure there is a good representation of the animals we have in the area over time. The mandate for the Manitoba Museum is Manitoba. A lot of the work is baseline work to find out where organisms live in the province so we can monitor their populations and the impact of things like climate change. It’s amazing how little we really know about where organisms live in the province.

A curator has three main roles… One is looking after the collections. The second is conducting original research using the collections to try and answer certain questions. And third, once we have found new knowledge, is to share it with our academic colleagues and, as important, is to interpret that science for the public.

Drilling down: Getting to the root of dentistry with Dr. Carolyn Robertson

Dr. Carolyn Robertson, 42, has been practising dentistry for 17 years. She is a part-time clinical instructor at the University of Manitoba’s college of dentistry on Bannatyne Avenue, and the managing partner and general practitioner dentist at Harte Dental on Roblin Boulevard.

I wasn’t scared of going to the dentist as a child. I didn’t completely know what I was getting into (when it comes to) how scared people are with what dentists do.

When I first graduated I would say, ‘Oh no, it’s not going to hurt.’ Now I don’t promise anyone it’s not going to hurt, per se, because there can be some pinching moments or uncomfortable moments.

People are scared of pain and unfortunately, for anesthetics we have to use needles and that invokes a certain amount of fear from people. The fear gets so big that they’ve avoided coming to the dentist because they are so anxious about it.

Indigenous midwife aims to bring birthing rituals back to First Nation communities

Melissa Brown Sveinson is Anishinaabe/Dine from Sagkeeng First Nation and the Navajo Nation. She is a registered non-practising midwife and holds a bachelor of midwifery though University College of the North’s Indigenous Midwifery program. She is the co-founder of Zaagi’idiwin, an Indigenous-led organization that strives to centre Indigenous people as the experts of maternal child health in their communities.

Brown Sveinson currently travels across Canada and the United States delivering full-spectrum Indigenous doula training in Indigenous communities.

A doula is …

… a highly trained birth companion who provides educational support through pregnancy, labour and birth, and post-partum. It is a non-clinical peer mentorship role. It is a very well-rounded role rooted in our teachings, culture, language and traditions.

Parent coaching can strengthen family bonds

Hayley Simons, 35, helps parents to navigate the sometimes choppy waters of family life by equipping them with the right tools and supports to uplift and dignify the needs of their children.

Simons has a bachelor of human ecology degree in child and adolescent development and a masters in child and adolescent development from the University of Manitoba. She is a certified pediatric sleep consultant with the Family Sleep Institute and a certified child behaviour specialist with the Early Years Family Development Centre. Simons is on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest as @hayleytheparentcoach.

A parent coach is somebody who …

… understands how difficult and lonely parenting can feel. I am there to help support and guide parents. I often say parents are coaches for their kids and coaches need coaches.

Collaborative family lawyers help couples work through the stress of divorce, without court

Kimberly Soul is a collaborative family law lawyer who works with couples who are separating and filing for divorce. She studied political science and sociology at the University of Manitoba, graduating with a bachelor of arts. She then went on to complete her law degree, graduating with an LLB in 2008 from Robson Hall, University of Manitoba.

Soul practises with the law firm of Bennet Waugh Corne. She has her own social media, @soulfamilylaw, to showcase her services and style.

When someone is separating and when their relationship is ending…

… whether they have children or not, it is a really, really hard time in their life, if not one of the hardest.

Librarian’s job fulfilling, enriching and very rarely quiet

In Stephanie George’s workplace, you should bring a bag, an open mind and dispense with the idea of being able to hear a pin drop.

George, 33, the branch head librarian at St. James-Assiniboia Library, hopes to dispel some rumours and reinforce this city’s love for libraries.

Previous to her current posting, George was the electronic resource librarian at the U of M. She has a degree in English and a masters in library and information sciences. This is what she knows:

A public library is…

One year after being sworn in as mayor, Scott Gillingham reflects on his path to the big chair

What I Know About… is a new Free Press series where we speak to professionals from all walks of life about what they do for a living and the path they took to end up where they are today.

To kick things off, Scott Gillingham reflects on his first year as Winnipeg’s mayor.

The 44th mayor of Winnipeg was sworn in on Nov. 1, 2022. Gillingham, 55, was a Pentecostal pastor for more than 20 years before he pursued politics in 2014 when he was elected city councillor for St. James. He and his wife Marla have two adult children, Hannah and Andrew.

When I was younger… I thought I wanted to be a teacher or play professional hockey, like a lot of other Canadian kids. I grew up on a farm an hour outside of Winnipeg so I never, ever imagined or had an aspiration to be the mayor — and yet here we are.