Brad Ferguson spent years building an animation career most people would never walk away from. Emmy-winning shows. Directing for Disney. Showrunning over 180 episodes of animated television. Then he quit to teach kids how to draw in Barrie, Ontario.

In this conversation, Brad talks about getting rejected from Sheridan College twice before getting in on his third try, what it actually takes to work in animation, and why he believes anyone can learn to draw. He gets honest about the perfectionism he sees in young artists growing up on social media, why embracing mistakes is the whole point of the creative process, and how his childhood in the middle of nowhere shaped everything he makes today. He also shares how Upchuckle Education's student sponsorship program is making creative learning accessible to families in the community who wouldn't otherwise have access to it.

Brad Ferguson | Upchuckle Education

Website: https://upchuckle.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UpchuckleEducation/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upchuckleeducation/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@upchuckle.education

Who are we

Behind the Village is a podcast about how to live a life worth living. Real conversations about mental health, personal growth, and finding fulfillment.

Follow Us

Website: https://villagermagazine.ca/podcast/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/behind-the-village-podcast/id1763310022

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/11fe4qRCPB22ybBg2wDznK

Newsletter: https://villagermagazine.ca/subscribe/

Chapters

0:00 Intro

0:30 From aspiring actor to animator

4:40 Leaving animation for teaching

9:05 The creative process and embracing mistakes

17:43 How animation actually works

23:28 Getting started with animation

30:04 Giving back to the community

Sport has a way of giving people something to hold onto. Michael Fredson is helping build an entire organization around that idea.

Michael is the owner of Manticore Books in Orillia and Chair of the Board of the Canadian Street Soccer Association, Canada's partner organization for the Homeless World Cup. In this conversation, he breaks down what it actually looks like to use soccer as a social tool, what the Homeless World Cup is and why it's unlike any other sporting event in the world, and what happened when Team Canada went to Oslo. The stories from that trip alone are worth the listen.

Michael Fredson

Website: https://manticorebooks.ca/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ManticoreBooks/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manticorebooks/

Canadian Street Soccer Association

Website: https://canadianstreetsoccer.ca/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Canadian-Street-Soccer-Association-61563800721692/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/canadianstreetsoccer/

Who are we

Behind the Village is a podcast about how to live a life worth living. Real conversations about mental health, personal growth, and finding fulfillment.

Follow Us

Website: https://villagermagazine.ca/podcast/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/behind-the-village-podcast/id1763310022

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/11fe4qRCPB22ybBg2wDznK

Newsletter: https://villagermagazine.ca/subscribe/

Chapters

0:00 Intro

0:29 The Canadian Street Soccer Association

6:28 The Power of Sport to Change Lives

9:46 Inside the Homeless World Cup

13:48 Team Canada at the Oslo Tournament

17:12 The Street Soccer Format

22:27 How to Get Involved

Angel Power was groomed by her father's friend, trafficked for nearly a decade, and told by everyone around her that she was safe. She wasn't. This is her story of survival, reclaiming her voice, and turning darkness into purpose.

In this episode of Behind the Village, Angel shares the reality of how human trafficking happens in ways most people don't expect. Not by force or at gunpoint, but through trust, unmet needs, and a system that failed her at every turn.

She talks about writing her way out of the pain, reframing survivor's guilt into survivor's responsibility, and why long-term support for survivors matters just as much as getting them out. If you've ever wondered what trafficking actually looks like in small-town Canada, this conversation will challenge everything you thought you knew.

Who are we

Behind the Village is a podcast about how to live a life worth living. Real conversations about mental health, personal growth, and finding fulfillment.

Follow Us

Website: https://villagermagazine.ca/podcast/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/behind-the-village-podcast/id1763310022

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/11fe4qRCPB22ybBg2wDznK

Newsletter: https://villagermagazine.ca/subscribe/

Chapters

0:00 - Intro

0:32 - How Angel Was Groomed and Trafficked

9:40 - Escaping the Darkness

15:13 - Reclaiming Her Voice Through Writing

17:41 - Why Education and Awareness Matter

19:45 - Supporting Survivors Today

23:50 - Hopes for Systemic Change

27:18 - Outro

Dillon Bickell is an Anishinaabe quill worker from Chippewas of Rama First Nation, and one of only a handful of people in his community still practising this craft. In this conversation, he walks us through the entire process, from harvesting birch bark and sourcing porcupine quills to creating intricate designs held together by nothing but friction.

Dillon talks about blood memory, the connection he feels to a grandmother he never met, and why he's driven to document and teach an art form that was nearly lost. He shares how he's pushing quill work into new territory with pop culture designs, commissioned medallions, and plans for a children's book that could give the next generation something he never had growing up.

Dillon Bickell

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quillinbydillon/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@quillinbydillon

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEc-c9z-JCKvd1RD78mtawQ

Who are we

Behind the Village is a podcast about how to live a life worth living. Real conversations about mental health, personal growth, and finding fulfillment.

Follow Us

Website: https://villagermagazine.ca/podcast/

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/behind-the-village-podcast/id1763310022

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/11fe4qRCPB22ybBg2wDznK

Newsletter: https://villagermagazine.ca/subscribe/

Chapters

0:00 Intro

0:30 Meet Dillon Bickell, Anishinaabe Quill Worker

2:35 Blood Memory and His Grandmother's Legacy

5:06 How Porcupine Quills and Birch Bark Are Harvested

9:29 Tobacco Offerings and Cultural Teachings

10:26 Traditional and Pop Culture Quill Art

14:22 Commissions, Medallions, and Quill Boxes

17:51 Preserving Indigenous Art for Future Generations

Rodaysha Red Ashes is a local drag performer who turned shyness, anxiety, and a casual conversation at Home Depot into a stage career that changed their life. In this episode, we talk about what drag actually teaches you about confidence, how sobriety reshaped their relationship with performing, and how their indigenous heritage shows up in everything from their drag name to the beaded earrings that start conversations.

This is one of those conversations that covers a lot of ground, from the nerves that never fully go away to the community that carries you through the hard parts. Rodaysha is honest about all of it.

Rodaysha Red Ashes

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rodaysha.red.ashes/

Who are we

Behind the Village is a podcast about how to live a life worth living. Real conversations about mental health, personal growth, and finding fulfillment.

Follow Us

Website: https://villagermagazine.ca/podcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheVillagerCommunityNews/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevillagermagazine/

Newsletter: https://villagermagazine.ca/subscribe/

Chapters

00:30 How Rodaysha discovered drag

02:52 First performance and getting started

04:30 Performance as a lifelong pull

05:59 Where the confidence actually comes from

09:00 What drag means to Rodaysha

11:02 Evolving as a performer and the drag clown

13:20 Indigenous culture in drag and the story behind the name

16:24 How drag shaped their identity off stage

18:30 Sobriety, substances, and choosing yourself

21:57 Why the people around you matter

23:40 Advice for drag beginners

Reducing unhappiness isn't the same as being happy, and most people don't know the difference. In this episode of Behind the Village, we explore why avoiding what makes you unhappy only gets you to neutral, not fulfilled.

This is the introduction to our next podcast theme on hobbies and passions, where we break down one of the most important insights about happiness: you can spend your whole life removing sources of unhappiness, clearing your plate, avoiding discomfort, but at a certain point, there's nothing left to remove. You're just neutral. Real happiness requires actively pursuing something. It requires caring deeply about things outside of work, building communities around what you love, and making space for the hobbies and passions that give you something you can't get anywhere else.

You'll hear us discuss why hobbies aren't optional extras in a good life, how fear-based decisions keep you stuck, and why the people who light up when they talk about what they love are onto something essential. This episode sets the stage for conversations with people who've found belonging, purpose, and sometimes survival through the things they're passionate about, even when it's hard, even when it's inconvenient.

Who are we

Behind the Village is a podcast about how to live a life worth living. Real conversations about mental health, personal growth, and finding fulfillment.

Follow Us

Website: https://villagermagazine.ca/podcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheVillagerCommunityNews/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevillagermagazine/

Newsletter: https://villagermagazine.ca/subscribe/

Chapters

0:00 Introduction

0:14 How to Be Happy vs Reducing Unhappiness

4:49 Why Hobbies and Passions Are Important for Mental Health

7:44 Finding Community and Belonging Through Hobbies

11:28 What's Coming in This Series

What happens when you build your entire identity around work, then realize it's not enough? In this episode of Behind the Village, we sit down with animator and production company owner Anne Douris to explore her journey from working 12-hour days to redefining what success actually means.

Anne opens up about the hard work of separating self-worth from productivity, why COVID forced her to confront what was missing in her life, and how becoming a parent completely shifted her priorities. You'll hear honest insights about learning to say no, the guilt that comes with slowing down, and why physical community matters more than ever in our low-stakes digital world. Anne's story challenges the hustle culture narrative and offers a different path forward for creatives trying to build careers that actually fit their lives.

Anne Douris Animation

Website: https://www.annedouris.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bossieperson/

Behind The Village Podcast

Website: https://villagermagazine.ca/podcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheVillagerCommunityNews/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevillagermagazine/

Newsletter: https://villagermagazine.ca/subscribe/

Chapters

01:03 - Learning to say no

02:55 - How COVID revealed that work wasn't enough

05:14 - Separating self-worth from productivity and performance

10:08 - Protecting your time and being present as a parent

16:00 - Trading city opportunities for family support and community

18:38 - Why physical presence matters more than digital connection

21:07 - Building a creative career through in-person connections

Ever wondered how Santa actually pulls off Christmas Eve, or what he does the other 364 days of the year? In this special holiday episode of our Behind the Village podcast, we sit down with the man himself, Santa Claus, to get answers to the questions kids (and adults) have been asking for generations.

Santa reveals the surprising blend of Christmas magic and modern technology he uses to visit every house, shares which reindeer might secretly be his favourite, and settles the great cookie debate once and for all. You'll hear about tropical post-Christmas vacations, year-round reindeer training, the secret to staying on the nice list, and his heartfelt message to children everywhere. Whether you're watching with kids who still believe or you're curious about the logistics of global gift delivery, this conversation brings the magic of Christmas to life.

Santa Claus

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NSimcoeSanta/

Behind The Village Podcast

Website: https://villagermagazine.ca/podcast/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheVillagerCommunityNews/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thevillagermagazine/

Newsletter: https://villagermagazine.ca/subscribe/

Chapters

00:05 - Welcome to the North Pole

00:54 - How does Santa visit every house in one night?

02:38 - Which reindeer is Santa's favourite?

04:09 - Do the reindeer get rest time?

05:04 - Flying in wind and blizzards with GPS technology

07:08 - How to stay on the nice list

08:15 - Santa's casual wardrobe

09:43 - What Santa does during the rest of the year

11:59 - The favourite cookie debate

13:39 - How people don't wake up when Santa visits

14:34 - Do reindeer eat as many carrots as Santa eats cookies?

15:25 - Santa's message to children