Imagine you are a young professional woman calling a meeting with your co-workers to make a profound revelation: You are transgender. That's exactly what Lauren Sundstrom did a couple of years ago, as part of her ongoing journey to live her authentic self out loud, and to speak up about being in Vancouver's trans community.

Since then, Lauren has continued to share her story, opening herself up to questions from Instagram followers, participating in rallies and protests, and taking part in speaking engagements, all in an effort to encourage acceptance and promote inclusion. We sat down with Lauren to gain more insight into her own personal journey, as well as to touch on some issues the trans community faces here in Vancouver as well as around the globe.

Also this week, a chat with Kurtis Kolt, the co-founder of Top Drop, a terroir-based wine event taking place later this month in Vancouver. Kurtis has the lowdown on taking the fear factor out of diving into learning about wine, as well as the array of kick-ass food and wine parties on the schedule as part of Top Drop Vancouver's programming this time around.

Credits:
Produced and hosted by Lindsay William-Ross and Adam Nanji. 

Our Associate Producer and Editor is Albert Van Santvoort. Additional support from Bob Kronbauer and Elana Shepert.

We record in the studio at Glacier Media, 303 West 5th Avenue in Mt Pleasant.

Theme song is Vancouver BC by The Smugglers ©1990, available on iTunes.

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Ep. 64 - Trans activist Lauren Sundstrom; Top Drop co-founder Kurtis Kolt

A weekly podcast featuring awesome people, places and things in Vancouver BC Canada. Hosted by Lindsay William-Ross and Bob Kronbauer.

Ep. 64 - Trans activist Lauren Sundstrom; Top Drop co-founder Kurtis Kolt

Vancouver Is Awesome