People Of Durham

People of Durham

Welcome to People of Durham, the show that spotlights the everyday legends, hidden gems, and unforgettable personalities that make the Durham Region feel like home. Each episode, our hosts sit down with local leaders, business owners, creators, and community members whose stories shape the region. Recorded in a professional studio at Blue Phoenix Studios in Whitby, every interview is turned into 30+ short-form clips for Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Real stories. Local voices. Durham’s people.

  1. 2d ago

    People of Durham #49 - Rob Chopowick

    New episode is live! 🎙️ Rob Chopowick is running for Regional Councillor, in Ward 3, Ajax. His dad grew up there in the 1950s, before it was really a town. Rob grew up in Ottawa, raised his kids in Whitby, then spent 20 years co-owning and growing Con-Test from south-west Ajax. Con-Test was a coast-to-coast laboratory service company specializing in HEPA filtered ventilation systems and workstations from Vancouver to St. John’s. They sold the company two years ago. He moved to Ajax 6 years ago and wants to retire there. That is a key reason he put his name in. He talks like an owner, not a brochure. Work the problem. Do not make a resident guess whether the flooded street is a problem for the town, region, or Queen’s Park. Follow up after you hand it off. He sits on several boards of directors and chairs industry committees. He has been a volunteer firefighter and coached youth baseball and softball, and still remembers the player on his team, in a tournament in London, who finally got a hit. 🏢 20 years, national business, one headquarters in Ajax
🌊 Lunch at the waterfront when the day went sideways
📞 One front door for residents
🚒 Volunteer firefighter, then the bench
⚾ Let the kids be kids Watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Search People of Durham Rob Chopowick.
robchopowickforward3.ca

  2. 5d ago

    People of Durham #48 - Amy Pitman, Whiskey & Walnut

    **People of Durham – Amy Pitman, Whiskey and Walnut**Amy Pitman grew up setting the table with her grandmother. The fancy glasses came out. The napkins had a fold. Then came 13 years in corporate HR because a steady cheque was the rule.In 2020 the marriage ended, COVID sat on the house, and she sat at a small art table in a townhouse bedroom with an old-fashioned and a piece of walnut. That is the name. Markets followed. Then full events. Paint nights. Weddings. Artisan weekends across Durham and beyond.Last year she went through breast cancer, a double mastectomy, and a hysterectomy. Out of that came Hope, Hustle, Heal, children’s books that speak softly about hard things, and a wellness line still in the works. The boys still come to markets when they can. Kent Farms is next.---00:00 🎙️ Welcome, Baby Shark, and a toddler in front of the Buddha 02:26 🎤 Amy Pitman and Whiskey and Walnut 04:44 👵 A single mum, a grandmother, and the finite details 07:24 🏢 Business admin, HR, 13 years in the corporation 08:09 🎨 2020, a Cricut, and custom signs 10:05 🚀 Leaving the comfortable job 11:17 💼 What HR actually taught the planner 13:41 🍎 Paint night in a Newcastle orchard 17:34 🥃 Old-fashioned, walnut, and a name that stuck 21:12 🎗️ Diagnosis, two surgeries, and a second company 22:57 📚 Children’s books for worry, illness, divorce, and a pet 32:11 📣 whiskeyandwalnut.ca and @whiskey.and.walnut 35:56 🤝 All boats rise with the tide 37:16 🍂 Kent Farms Oct 3–4, holiday market Nov 14 41:19 📈 Staff, seven more books, skincare this winter 43:44 💡 Do it anyway. Plan the jump. 46:16 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The boys, and why the calendar bends 48:27 🎧 Hope, Hustle, Heal 49:15 🥗 Lisa, and guests who have already walked it ---Watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Whiskey and Walnut: whiskeyandwalnut.ca Hope, Hustle, Heal: hopehustleheal.ca

  3. Sep 15

    People of Durham #47 - DeMario Knowles: Poet, Speaker, Pre-Med Student

    **People of Durham #47 – DeMario Knowles, Poet, Speaker, Pre-Med Student**DeMario Knowles was born and raised in Durham. Sinclair Secondary. Student trustee at the Durham District School Board. Now premed at U of T Scarborough, aiming at psychiatry.He was bullied for his voice. COVID took the last two years of high school online. A Bell Let’s Talk poem on Instagram reached Pakistan, Uganda, Afghanistan. A stranger said it saved her life. Then came Frenchman’s Bay Public School, more stages, a mentor in Durham, a tour that includes Newfoundland, and a book he has already decided to finish.This conversation is poems, perfect pitch, ADHD told out loud, and the line he lives by: a rough start does not mean a rough finish.---00:00 🎙️ Mic check, DJI Mic 2, and why audio is not just for media people 05:00 ✨ Ikigai, and DeMario takes the floor 06:23 📖 Voice, Super Mario, Sinclair, and two years of virtual school 13:04 ✍️ Dax, A Teen Perspective, and a poem he did not want to write 18:02 🌍 Messages from around the world, and one DM from Pakistan 21:01 🎤 Frenchman’s Bay, and learning to reframe the room 24:42 🏫 Student trustee, from a laptop 26:40 🎓 Scarborough, Sam Dema, and staying rooted in Durham 29:46 🎼 Second tour, perfect pitch, poetry into music 32:48 🤝 Change your thoughts, change the world 38:52 🚀 Tour, book, ADHD, depression, anxiety, said plainly 44:24 🎵 Logic Pro by hand, and a careful word on AI 50:04 🌱 Close the door, dim the light, write how it feels 57:55 🧠 Frisson, memory, and what every person can unlock 01:00:16 💛 How you made people feel 01:06:23 🌟 Embrace the unfamiliar 01:08:30 🤗 Bestie Pascal, Bestie DeMario ---Watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Instagram: @de_marioknowles

  4. Sep 14

    People of Durham #46 - Cindy Davis, CEO Lakeridge Health

    **People of Durham – Cindy Davis, President and CEO of Lakeridge Health** Cindy Davis started as a nurse in a small Newfoundland community, worked in Nova Scotia and the United States, spent 13 years in Ontario, then walked into Lakeridge Health in January 2021, in the middle of COVID. She now leads about 9,000 staff, physicians, and volunteers across hospitals, long-term care, a standalone surgical centre, and more than 30 community sites. This conversation is the 2026 to 2031 strategic plan: a region whose population is expected to double, equity that is not a side project, technology only when it improves care, four foundations that buy the equipment government does not, and a master plan that includes Bowmanville, a post-acute centre in North Pickering, and a new hospital on the Whitby–Ajax–Pickering line. She also rides a dirt bike when she can get to the trails. --- 00:00 🎙️ Welcome, 9,000 people, and a nurse from Newfoundland 00:38 👩‍⚕️ Nursing school to Ontario to Lakeridge 02:34 😷 January 2021, virtual rooms, and a common cause 05:24 📈 Why a plan now: growth, diversity, aging, chronic disease 07:32 🏥 More than a hospital: sites, primary care, one system 09:34 🤝 The board took the plan to the community 11:15 ⚖️ Equity is not a project 17:01 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Culture: hire them, keep them, care stays in Durham 19:23 💡 Innovation only if it makes care better 22:20 💰 Operations from government. Equipment from the four foundations. 25:45 🎓 Ontario Tech, Durham College, Trent, and a Queen’s family-medicine MD 32:51 🗺️ Master plan: Bowmanville, North Pickering, Whitby Hospital 36:36 🏍️ Dirt bikes, Uxbridge trails, and a quiet road 39:59 💖 Anything is possible. Keep the values. 42:07 🌐 Website, social, work, volunteer, donate --- Watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

  5. Sep 12

    People of Durham #45 - Ashmeed Khan, Ajax Mayoral Candidate

    **People of Durham – Ashmeed Khan, Ajax Mayoral Candidate**Ashmeed Khan came to Canada in 2000 with young kids, looked past Markham and Scarborough, and bought a house in Nottingham because Ajax still felt like a small town. He spent four years hunting for a business, then bought Minuteman Press, went to Long Island, learned he was the salesman not the pressman, and was the only one of 14 classmates still standing.Door-knocking built the shop, the Board of Trade, cricket in Ajax, and Men Too Matter, now a registered charity. He chaired the 2021 budget, pushed on the 412 and 418 tolls, and is running for mayor on a two-year tax freeze and a review of what the town actually needs.This conversation is origin story, ink, brothers in the sauna, and why he still answers the same phone number.---00:00 🎙️ Welcome 00:07 ☕ Coffee, creatine, and showing up 02:21 🇨🇦 Canada in 2000, five kids, Nottingham 06:20 🖨️ Ink, paper, and Minuteman Press 12:48 🚪 Fourteen classmates. He was the one who kept knocking. 15:38 🫂 Men Too Matter, and why three of four suicides are men 26:01 🤝 Ajax-Pickering Board of Trade 30:18 🏏 Cricket, fields, and a sport that builds a town 34:47 🏛️ Running for mayor, on the ground 39:12 🛣️ 412 and 418, tolls off 44:09 🗣️ Hate at the door, and staying in the race 50:05 💡 Leverage: do the $100 hour, pay for the $20 hour 56:46 💰 No tax increase for two years, then not above inflation 01:00:07 🏘️ Homelessness as Ajax people, not a file 01:04:15 🥊 Coffee, family, food, a sanctioned fight 01:11:43 💖 Men Too Matter was born from women who had already lost someone ---Watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

  6. Sep 10

    People of Durham #44 - Judith Tait

    **People of Durham #44 – Judith Tait, Whitby West Town Councillor Candidate** Judith Tait wanted to be a police officer from grade three, after Officer Bill and Elmer the Safety Elephant walked into class. She got hired at 24 as a single mother, stayed 25 years, and made sergeant. When the canine unit did not work out, she built a dog-walking company anyway, took it to six figures, and sold it. She has coached women in business, hosts *At the Heart of Business*, and now runs Tate AI Tech, teaching shops how to use AI without dumping it on a messy process. She is running for town councillor in Whitby West. This conversation covers the badge, the business, the hard exit from policing, and why she is knocking on doors again. --- 00:00 🎙️ Welcome, and five years hosting *At the Heart of Business* 01:36 👮‍♀️ Hired at 24, 25 years in, 11 as sergeant 03:08 🐾 Grade three dream, then dogs when K9 did not happen 07:17 📈 Google, word of mouth, and what social media was actually for 09:48 🤝 Hiring walkers you would send into someone’s house 13:55 🔑 Systems and people, so the owner can leave 14:31 💰 Selling the company, then finding real estate was not the spark 18:29 🧠 Leaving the service in 2022, and choosing her health 21:59 💡 The dog business as a sandbox, and options when an employer says jump 29:32 🎯 Purpose after the uniform 30:06 👩‍🏫 Coaching women to six figures 33:33 📚 Curiosity as the work habit 36:05 🙏 Service, community, and faith 38:31 🤖 Tate AI Tech: literacy before tools 40:59 🛠️ Do not put AI on a messy process 43:07 🔒 Safe use: paid models, no sensitive data, check the settings 47:01 📞 How to find her 55:27 🗳️ Running for Whitby West town councillor 57:34 🏃‍♀️ Door-knocking is familiar. Asking for the vote is new. 59:55 ⏳ What she would prepare for next time she leaves an identity --- Watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

  7. Sep 7

    People of Durham #43 - Lynn MacDonald

    Lynn MacDonald went from paper maps and a drive off Prince Edward Island to 20 years inside federal and provincial government. She learned IT after an English degree, ran an international tech conference, then trained as a high-performance coach so other people would not burn out the way so many public servants do. She now lives in South Ajax. In this conversation she talks about that path, why she is running for regional councillor in Ward 3, how a regional seat differs from a local one, and what “perform better” means when residents are tired of budgets they cannot follow. Voting in Ajax is October 19 to 26. 00:00 🎙️ Welcome 00:31 🗺️ PEI to Ottawa with paper maps 02:41 💼 Twenty years in government, transformation and budgets 04:35 🎓 English degree, then IT, then Softworld 11:39 🧘‍♀️ High-performance coaching and burnout 15:42 💡 Do not open email first. Time-block. Take the break. 28:17 🏡 Downtown Toronto contract, then home in South Ajax 36:10 🗳️ Running for regional councillor, Ward 3 40:07 🎤 Why run after years of listening 44:43 📈 Cost, essentials, and talking to residents in W5 plus H 50:36 💖 Foster parents, lemonade, and pizza on the campaign trail

  8. Sep 2

    People of Durham #42 – John Meloche, Melo Technology & Pickering Ward 2 Candidate

    **People of Durham #42 – John Meloche, Melo Technology & Pickering Ward 2 Candidate**John Meloche is the founder of Melo Technology, the person behind Eyes on Durham, and a candidate for Pickering Ward 2 council. Host Mark Lorray sits down with him for a conversation that starts in call centres in 2009 and ends at the door of municipal politics.John bootstrapped a hosted phone company, watched it become a full tech shop for small businesses, and spent years giving websites, phones, and time away to people who needed a lift. He talks about hiring as a responsibility, working from a folding table in the basement during COVID, starting the Lyn Heights Neighbourhood Association after tragedy on his street, and why running Eyes on Durham gave him a front-row seat to Durham that he could not ignore.Hosted by Mark Lorray.---00:00 🤝 John is glad to be here, and has been watching the host’s videos 01:20 💼 Melo Technology, formerly Melotell, from phones to full tech solutions 04:29 💡 2009: after three failed PBX rollouts, he built his own 06:22 💰 Bootstrapped, no loan, first hire four years in 08:37 💻 Fully virtual since COVID, family time vs the water cooler 15:49 💖 Humble beginnings and why relationship building is the real product 18:08 🎁 Tech philanthropy, including a weekend website for Tub Bros Plumbing 25:47 🏙️ From Niagara to the GTA in 2005, Pickering in 2010 33:26 🗳️ Why he is running for council, and the Lyn Heights Neighbourhood Association 36:54 🗣️ Eyes on Durham: 38,000 members, Business Promo Monday, and a front-row seat 48:32 ⚖️ Why candidates and elected officials get to post without a filter 50:49 🕰️ Advice to little John: he would not change the journey ---Watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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About

Welcome to People of Durham, the show that spotlights the everyday legends, hidden gems, and unforgettable personalities that make the Durham Region feel like home. Each episode, our hosts sit down with local leaders, business owners, creators, and community members whose stories shape the region. Recorded in a professional studio at Blue Phoenix Studios in Whitby, every interview is turned into 30+ short-form clips for Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Real stories. Local voices. Durham’s people.

Information

  • Creator
    People of Durham
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    49
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © People of Durham
  • Show Website
    People Of Durham