Finders Grievers: Recent Episodes
The Sonar Network
“Finders Grievers” is a podcast about grief, discussing the people we have lost, and the lessons we have picked up along the way. It’s an attempt to unpack the universally felt - rarely discussed - experience of grieving. Each week, host Shohana Sharmin will be sitting down with a guest - writers, comedians, artists - to discuss love, loss, and everything in between. Sometimes they’ll laugh, sometimes they’ll cry a little bit. Both are allowed. Being a full human experiencing the full range of human emotions? Very much allowed here.
This week, Shohana sits down with writer and musician Robbie Ahmen to discuss navigating grief, queerness, and a radical manifesto for healing.
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers and write to us at findersgrievers@gmail.com
About Robbie Ahmed:
Robbie is a musician and a writer whose work covers topics of immigration, spirituality, trans rights, mental health, and healing. He has played at Toronto’s Storyteller’s Festival, Naked Heart Festival, Pride Toronto, Gladstone hotel, Soulpepper Theatre, Sellers & Newell & Queer Collective Tiny Desk series, California State University & the Handlebar. Robbie has also contributed to various publications such as Nuance, Yohomo, These Pills Don’t Come in My Skin Tone, The Living Hyphen, Elephant Journal, Rest for Resistance, and upcoming The Brown Book (2022). In 2018, his portrait was featured in a 10×10 photography project depicting 100 LGBTQ Canadians in the arts and was the recipient of 2020’s Buddies at Bad Times Queer Emerging Artist Awards. Outside of the art world, he is an avid mental health advocate and has served 3 years on the board of directors of Across Boundaries, an ethnoracial mental health organization in Toronto for the start of their first LGBTQ progamming. Robbie is also an art educator striving to bring representation of immigrant and trans voices in writing and music.
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm
Guest: Robbie Ahmed
Instagram: @run_robbie_run Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
We’re back! A whole new season of Finders Grievers starts today.
Catch up on Season 1, and subscribe (and even leave a review if your heart so desires)
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers and write to us at findersgrievers@gmail.com
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
It’s the season finale of this happy-ish sad first season of Finders Grievers! We will be back with an all new season in January 2022. Until then, take good care of yourselves and we’ll see you soon.
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers and write to us at findersgrievers@gmail.com
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week, Shohana sits down with writer, poet, and occasional rapper Mugabi Byenkya to discuss lessons in manhood, health insurance, and the unlikely possibility of keeping your loved ones around forever.
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers and write to us at findersgrievers@gmail.com
About Mugabi Byenkya:
Mugabi Byenkya is an award-winning writer, poet and occasional rapper. He was born in Nigeria, to Ugandan parents and is currently based in Kampala.
Mugabi was longlisted for the Babishai Niwe Poetry Award in 2015. His essays and poetry have been published in The Good Men Project, The Mighty, and Skin Deep, along over 25 other publications. He has been interviewed on Voice of America, NTV Uganda, and Brittle Paper, along over 40 other media outlets.
Mugabi’s writing is used to teach High School English in Kampala and GTA schools. His award-nominated debut, ‘Dear Philomena,’ was published in 2017 and he went on a 43 city, 5 country North America/East Africa tour in support of this.
In 2018, Mugabi was named one of 56 writers who has contributed to his native Uganda’s literary heritage in the 56 years since independence by Writivism (East Africa’s largest literary festival). Dear Philomena, was named a Ugandan bestseller in the same year.
In 2019, Mugabi was selected as one of ten emerging theater artists in bcHUB’s Emerging Artists Ensemble 2019/2020. In the same year, he was named a finalist for Realwheels Playwright-In-Residence and the recipient of an inagaural Realwheels Encouragement Award.
In 2020, Mugabi’s poem “If I Die Bury Me Next To My Father” was selected by Marilyn Dumont to be anthologized in “Best Canadian Poetry 2020” published by Biblioasis. In the same year, his debut ‘Dear Philomena,’ was nominated for the 2020 Nommo Awards For Speculative Fiction By Africans.
Mugabi wants to be Jaden Smith when he grows up.
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm
Guest: Mugabi Byenkya
Instagram: @mugabs
Twitter: @mugabsb Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week, we’re talking about… Green Day? Rock on and tune in. 🎧
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findersgrievers/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soleahm/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soleahm Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week, Shohana chats with writer and creator Trevor Poelman to discuss Bible college, sad shopping trips, and finding hope in unlikely places.
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers and write to us at findersgrievers@gmail.com
About Trevor Poelman:
Trevor Poelman is a writer, video essay creator, and podcaster. He created the Belief it or Not Podcast in 2018 and started doing video essays on YouTube in 2020. Trevor wrote and directed two critically acclaimed plays at the Toronto Fringe Festival. He also created a couple less well-received web series’.
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm
Guest: Trevor Poelman
Belief It Or Not
Instagram: @trevor.poelman @beliefitornotpodcast
Twitter: @TrevorPoelman @beliefitornot Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week, we drew a blank. What did we fill it with? Listen to find out. 😶
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findersgrievers/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soleahm/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soleahm Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week, Shohana sits down with writer and comedian Guled Abdi and they chat about Groot vs. Baby Yoda and grieving during a pandemic.
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers and write to us at findersgrievers@gmail.com
About Guled Abdi:
Guled Abdi is a comedian, writer and 1/4 of the multi award-winning sketch troupe TallBoyz II Men. He’s performed at OFF-JFL, Montreal Sketchfest and the Toronto Fringe Festival. You can catch Guled on TallBoyz on CBC Gem or at random bars you didn’t know had a comedy show.
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm
Guest: Guled Abdi
Instagram: @gul3d
Twitter: @guuuuuuuulead
Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week, we’re talking dates dates dates. Not the cute and flirty kind, just the calendar kind. 📅
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findersgrievers/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soleahm/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soleahm
Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week, Shohana sits down with musician and comedian Ayaka Kinugawa and they chat about sad Mardi Gras, Drake lyrics, and the meaning of life.
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers and write to us at findersgrievers@gmail.com
About Ayaka Kinugawa:
Ayaka is a Japanese musician based in Toronto and is actively involved in the comedy scene. She is a musical director at the Second City Toronto and has toured across the US, including sold out performances at the Kennedy Centre. She also composes music for multiple live and film productions and the hip-hop project, Kokophonix. She is a member of The Sketchersons as well as Bad Dog Theatre Featured Players. Ayaka also likes blueberries. You can find her on instagram @ayaka.kinugawa and you can watch her weekly cooking show Ayaka’s Kitchen on Bad Dog Comedy TV on YouTube.
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm
Guest: Ayaka Kinugawa
Instagram: @ayaka.kinugawa
YouTube: Ayaka’s Kitchen on @BadDogComedyTV
Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week’s minisode is all about tomatoes. That’s it, that’s the minisode. 🤷
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findersgrievers/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soleahm/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soleahm Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week, Shohana sits down with David Richman, author of “Cycle of Lives,” to discuss what he learned about grief and loss while cycling 4700 miles across the US.
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers and write to us at findersgrievers@gmail.com
About David Richman:
David is an author, public speaker, philanthropist, and endurance athlete whose mission is to form more meaningful human connections through storytelling. In his first book, Winning in the Middle of the Pack, he discussed how to get more out of ourselves than ever imagined. With Cycle of Lives, David shares the interconnected stories of people overcoming trauma and delves deeply into their emotional journeys with cancer.
He continues to do Ironman triathlons and a wide range of endurance athletic events, having recently completed a solo 4,700-mile bike ride. He is married, lives in Southern Nevada, and has twins who are in college.
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm
Guest: David Richman
Instagram: @davidrichman_cycleoflives
Twitter: @cycleoflives
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cycleoflives/
Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week’s minisode is for all the procrastinators out there. Don’t worry, this is a safe space.
Listen and subscribe! Do it now, not later.
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm
Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week, Shohana sits down with actor, comedian and writer Daphney Joseph to talk about the struggles of having the world’s best moms: the disciplining, the dating advice, and well… the dying.
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers and write to us at findersgrievers@gmail.com
About Daphney Joseph:
Daphney Joseph is bilingual actor, comedian and writer originally from Montréal. She graduated from the Conservatory at the Second City Training Center and joined their EdCo cast while teaching improv workshops in English and French. She’s part of the inaugural Featured Players at Bad Dog Theatre.
Her improv duo, Coko & Daphney performed in festivals like Harbourfront’s BRAVE Festival 2018, Chicago Comedy Festival, Boston Comedy Festival, Del Close Marathon (New York) and many more. In 2015, she joined the French Improv troupe Les Improbables and met Florian Francois. They formed DaFlo, and together they improvise and write sketches in Quebec and Ontario. They’ve also performed at Montreal SketchFest with the troupe Boubbi-Trappe. Daphney has done stand-up at YukYuks for The Nubian Show, Absolute Comedy, in SheDot Festival, in Shade Festival, at Yas Kween. She has appeared in Private Eyes (CityTv), Baronness Von Sketch (CBC) and Pranks (TFO).
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm
Guest: Daphney Joseph
Instagram: @daphney1joseph
@daphney_with_a_y
Twitter: @DaphneyisJoseph Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week’s minisode is NOT about the Robin Williams movie… but you already knew that, right?
Listen and subscribe, poets.
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week, Shohana sits down with comedienne and writeress Allana Reoch to discuss the far-reaching impacts of grief – on our careers, our relationships, and most importantly, our closets.
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers and write to us at findersgrievers@gmail.com
About Allana Reoch:
Allana Reoch is a comedienne and writeress who has written for CBC Radio, CTV’s The Comedy Network, CBC, and The Second City Mainstage. She is a five-time Canadian Comedy Award nominee, a Canadian Screen Award nominee and winner of the Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award. When not writing and performing, she reviews books for Canadian website Parton and Pearl and moonlights as a freelance editor. She’d be happy to proofread your essay.
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm
Guest: Allana Reoch
Instagram: @reochnroll
Twitter: @reochnroll
Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
Need a breath? Take one here. This week’s minisode is all about hitting pause… or wanting to, anyway. Listen, breathe and subscribe.
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm
Check out Stop Psychoanalyzing Me here: @stoppsychoanalyzingme Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week, Shohana chats about toxic positivity, hyper-specific support groups, and the link between grief and comedy with Tawny Platis, host of the dark comedy podcast “Death is Hilarious.”
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers and write to us at findersgrievers@gmail.com
About Tawny Platis:
Tawny Platis is a voice actor, comedian, and influencer. She also created the Dirty Bits Podcast with her late husband, George. He passed away on November 8, 2019, in their home due to complications associated with a heart condition (hypoplastic right heart syndrome) and a respiratory disease (mycobacterium avium complex). Now Tawny chats with others about using dark humor to cope with grief on her podcast Death Is Hilarious.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findersgrievers/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soleahm/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soleahm
Guest: Tawny Platis
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tawnyplatis_voicetalent/
https://www.instagram.com/thatdeathpod/ Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
It’s another mini-sode! And this one’s all about… voicemails? Umm wow, 1999 called and they’re not finishing this joke. Anyway – listen, enjoy and subscribe!
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm
Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week, Shohana sits down with award-winning author and screenwriter Catherine Hernandez to discuss embracing failure, tuning into our #Scorpio senses, and allowing ourselves to grieve.
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers and write to us at findersgrievers@gmail.com
About Catherine Hernandez:
Catherine Hernandez (she/her) is an award-winning author and screenwriter. She is a proud queer woman who is of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese and Indian descent and married into the Navajo Nation. Her first novel, Scarborough, won the Jim Wong-Chu Award for the unpublished manuscript; was a finalist for the Toronto Book Awards, the Evergreen Forest of Reading Award, the Edmund White Award, and the Trillium Book Award; and was longlisted for Canada Reads. She has written the critically acclaimed plays Singkil, The Femme Playlist and Eating with Lola and the children’s books M Is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book and I Promise. She recently wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Scarborough, which is currently in post-production by Compy Films with support from Telefilm Canada and Reel Asian Film Festival. She is the creator of Audible Original’s audio sketch comedy series Imminent Disaster. Her second novel, Crosshairs, published simultaneously in Canada and the US and the UK this spring, made the CBC’s Best Canadian Fiction, NOW Magazine’s 10 Best Books, Indigo Best Book, Audible Best Audiobooks and NBC 20 Best LGBTQ Books list of 2020. Her third children’s book, Where Do Your Feelings Live? which is a guide for kids living through these scary times, has been commissioned by HarperCollins Canada and will be published in winter 2022.
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm
Guest: Catherine Hernandez
Instagram: @legshernandez
Twitter: @theloudlady Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
Surprise: It’s a minisode! This is not a full-length episode (that’s coming next week! Have you subscribed yet so that you don’t miss it?) We just wanted to share some bonus clips with you all today that we could not fit into last week’s show with Jan Caruana. Enjoy and subscribe!
Instagram: @findersgrievers
Twitter: @findersgrievers
Email: findersgrievers@gmail.com
Hosted by: Shohana Sharmin
Instagram: @soleahm
Twitter: @soleahm
Guest: Jan Caruana
Instagram: http://instagram.com/twolittlesandwiches
Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
This week, Shohana sits down with Canadian Comedy award-winning writer and performer Jan Caruana, to discuss singing in your sleep, audition angels, and writing happy comedy about sad things.
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers and write to us at findersgrievers@gmail.com
About Jan Caruana:
Jan’s career has been interesting and varied. She is a multiple Canadian Comedy Award winner and has performed across North America in a variety of comedy shows. A mainstay of many Toronto stages, Jan co-wrote and performed in the Second City Toronto’s critically and audience acclaimed revues The Meme-ing of Life and We Can Be Heroes (named one of NOW Magazines Top Ten Shows of that year). Jan was a member of the cast of “One Night Only”, a fully improvised two-act musical and was part of the Off- Broadway workshop production in 2018. She was also the winner of a Dora Award as part of the ensemble for “The Wonder Pageant”. She has appeared in films and television shows including Baroness Von Sketch (where she is also a writer), Pretty Hard Cases, Odd Squad, Mean Girls and Kim’s Convenience.
Jan is a Canadian Screen Award nominated writer for her work on City TV’s Sunnyside and the YTV youth sketch show That’s So Weird, creating some of the series most memorable and colourful characters. She is also very proud to have written for the Nickelodeon shows Make it Pop and The Other Kingdom, the international sensation The Next Step.
Jan is a writer and panelist for CBC’s Because News with Gavin Crawford and you can follow her adventures in the kitchen on Instagram @twolittlesandwiches.
Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
In this episode, host Shohana Sharmin sits down with a very special guest – herself – to set the record straight: she does not have grief all figured out… and that’s okay.
Throughout this upcoming season of the Finders Grievers podcast, Shohana will be interviewing some of her favourite people – writers, comedians, artists – about their thoughts and experiences of grieving. But first, it felt only fair for her to share her own experience: of loving, losing, and grieving her mother.
Follow Finders Grievers on Instagram & Twitter @findersgrievers Brought to you By: The Sonar Network
Finders Grievers is a podcast about grief, discussing the people we have lost, and the lessons we have picked up along the way. It’s an attempt to unpack the universally felt – rarely discussed – experience of grieving. Each week, host Shohana Sharmin will be sitting down with a guest – writers, comedians, artists – to discuss love, loss, and everything in between. Sometimes they’ll laugh, sometimes they’ll cry a little bit. Both are allowed. Being a full human experiencing the full range of human emotions? Very much allowed here. Brought to you By: The Sonar Network