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About Your Voice

Your Voice is an online resource for parents of children under the age of 12. Host Cheryl Jackson talks to leading experts in child development and education, to help you help your children succeed in school. On our site you’ll find Cheryl’s interviews, plus articles, research, links, and other resources. You can also take a poll or a quiz, join a discussion, and send us the questions you want answered on upcoming shows. If you have a show idea, send that along too. We want to hear Your Voice!

Zeelaf Majeed

Zeelaf Majeed is Lead Producer of “Your Voice”. She began her career as a news reporter for CBC Radio in Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, and Toronto. She jumped to television in 1994 for the startup of “Studio 2”,TVO’s flagship current affairs program. While there, she produced breaking news segments, one-hour specials, and regional reports. In 2001, Zeelaf moved to “More 2 Life”, the afternoon show at TVO, where she produced short documentaries, interview segments, and panel discussions. Since August 2006, Zeelaf has been working on tvoparents.com. She is responsible for supervising the editorial content that appears on “Your Voice”. When she is not working, Zeelaf enjoys books, movies, music, cooking – and is not ashamed of her fondness for karaoke! She is also the parent of a four-year-old son who is rambunctious, fiercely independent, hilarious, notorious for loving pirates and other assorted villains, a challenge, and the great love of her life.

Nicky Pulling

At first look, you may think I have little in common with you parents – and more with your kids…I’m curious, I like to ask a lot of questions, I like to know how stuff works, if I want something I don’t stop asking, and (this you’re really going to resent) I get to sleep in on weekends. Like your kids, I would like to spend more time playing, dancing and laughing. I’m not sure how we exhaust the fun in our lives as we grow up, but we often do, in our effort to be better, perfect and, therefore, happy. We need more fun. Unlike your kids (and maybe you) I could live without chocolate chip cookies and ice cream, but more on that later. I have a husband whose compassion takes my breath away, two cats whose need for petting is outpaced only by their ability to shed (on my duvet), a food blog that makes my spirit soar, and friends who are family that fill my life with love, joy and explosive, coffee-through-your-nose laughter – oh, and a serious coffee habit. I came to this job with 15 years experience in documentaries – mostly in science and health which took me around the world to some of the best and worst places on the planet – war zones, humanitarian disasters, natural disasters – and this will scare you - I’ve also done programs for adolescents, the most elusive species in the human jungle. I may not have children of my own, but I hope you see parenting at the very least as a communal effort – and in that light, I feel like I have thousands of children – and like you I want them to grow up healthy, happy and good. Not a bad gig…by the way, I couldn’t live without cheese, bread and wine.

Cheryl Jackson

“Your Voice” is hosted by Cheryl Jackson. Cheryl has a decade of experience in television and radio production. She began her career as a writer/broadcaster for the CBC in Saskatchewan, and then moved on to reporting and producing for the CBC in Toronto. She has won the Canadian Investigative Journalism Award for her three-part documentary on health care, and was named best writer by the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Association for a Rough Cuts documentary on family farming. Cheryl has three school-age children, and loves to talk about kids and school…don’t get her started on the street corner. She’s spent many, many hours as a volunteer in her children’s schools, and knows something about the ins and outs of the system - and how to run a pizza lunch. She plays in her garden, knits a lot of scarves, and tries to make beautiful – well, okay, any music on her piano. She loves to learn, and that’s what’s so great about this job. Every day, something new about raising happy, healthy, creative children.