Meet our fall 2019 mentees
The CBC Doc Mentorship Program is an ongoing professional development initiative that teams veteran documentary makers/editors with emerging producers to bring fresh and innovative stories to life. We regularly review applications from CBC producers, audio storytellers, and radio freelancers hoping to participate in the program. Congratulations to our most recent round of successful applicants — we look forward to hearing your stories come to life!
Catherine Cole is the host of Food For Thought on Hunters Bay Radio in Huntsville, Ont. She is Muskoka's health food guru and the owner of The Great Vine health food store. Catherine wears many hats: theatre director, performer and public speaker; she is passionate about creating community through meaningful connection. She believes the act of sharing our stories has the potential to break down barriers, overcome differences and create ties that bind. She is eternally hopeful, curious and grateful.
Creating a doc for CBC is a bucket list experience for Catherine. She is delighted to be working with mentor Alison Cook of The Doc Project to share a quirky story in which she is personally invested. Catherine's doc on library shame will give voice to the unique relationships we all have as library patrons and our obligation to return books on time and in one piece. LIbraries are beloved institutions and our bad borrowing habits are ripe with comedy and craziness.
Craig Desson is a journalist and producer with CBC Montreal. Previously he was a digital producer at CBC network talk radio.
He's reported on immigration, digital privacy and gaming. He's also worked at The Toronto Star, TVO and Journalists for Human Rights.
His radio work has won awards at The Third Coast International Audio Festival and The New York Radio Festival. He was also a 2017 Arthur F. Burns journalism fellow where he reported for CBC News from Eastern Germany.
Pauline Holdsworth is a producer with The Sunday Edition who is drawn to stories about history, philosophy and how literature shapes our world. She was born in central Pennsylvania, moved to Canada to study English at the University of Toronto, and completed a master's of journalism at the University of British Columbia. She got her start in radio at CBC Vancouver, where she worked in local current affairs radio and on The 180.
She's thrilled to be working with Nicola Luksic at Ideas to produce a documentary about how John Milton's anti-monarchist politics shaped his epic poem Paradise Lost, and how his complex, sympathetic Satan has resonated with people at moments of personal or political rebellion throughout history.
Lise Hosein is a producer and writer at CBC Arts, where she works with filmmakers across the country, writes stories and hosts a regular video segment called "Art 101." Over the course of her career, she has been an on-air arts reporter at JazzFM91, an interview producer at CBC's George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight and an instructor of visual culture-related courses at the University of Toronto, OCADU, and the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music. In a previous life, Lise was an academic at the University of Toronto. Her doctoral studies blended art history with animal studies. Despite this, she is terrified of bees and basically hates hyenas.
Until very recently, a thyroid cancer diagnosis was a pretty direct route to thyroidectomy — the partial or total removal of the thyroid gland. In this episode of White Coat, Black Art called "Choosing Cancer," you explore the very new world of choice in thyroid cancer treatment. You'll find out what life can be like living without a thyroid, and why people who are part of a new study at Toronto General Hospital have often been choosing to live with their cancer rather than lose their thyroid.
Gretel Kahn is a budding journalist and recent graduate of McGill University, hailing from the hot and humid country of Panama. She recently completed the Peter Gzowski internship at CBC Montreal which instilled in her a fascination for audio storytelling. Now she is currently working at CBC Montreal as a researcher in current affairs radio. While new to journalism, Gretel has always been a storyteller, from the page to the stage.
This will be Gretel's first radio documentary, and she is beyond excited to work with mentor Alison Cook to produce a documentary about how accents shape people's lives in anglo-Canada. Having an accent herself, she will explore this subtle but defining characteristic of a person's identity and how it marks people's journeys through life.
Thandiwe Konguavi is an adventurous and tenacious award-winning journalist with a passion for people, stories, and social justice. She is an associate producer and reporter at CBC Edmonton and has previously worked across Canada and abroad in Toronto, Yellowknife, Saskatoon and in her native country Zimbabwe.
She is proud to be Canadian and has been gripped by the high stakes stories of new migrants who contribute to the rich cultural fabric of Canada aspiring to live peacefully here with their families.
She can't wait to share the story of one such community from a small southwest African country with mentor Alison Cook and The Doc Project.
Kate McKenna is a Montreal-based journalist and author. She's been reporting for CBC News for the last six years and has covered major stories including the Quebec City mosque shooting, allegations of sexual misconduct at Concordia University and the 2019 federal election. Her work has aired on the BBC, NPR and CNN.
Kate tries to tell complex stories with simplicity and humanity.
She is looking forward to working with Alison Cook to produce a documentary for The Doc Project.
Kate will travel to her home province of P.E.I. to try and uncover a side of her grandfather's life she never knew: his work within the addiction community. Her grandfather died one year before she stopped drinking, and she hopes to glean some lessons on sobriety posthumously from her grandfather by speaking to the people he helped.