Wendy Mesley
Emcee & Inspirational Cancer Survivor
Co-Host of 'Marketplace', CBC's award-winning prime-time investigative consumer show.
Style
An outstanding moderator, host or master of ceremonies. Wendy Mesley tackles challenging issues head-on, with panache and punch. Delightful on the platform. Researched, intelligent research skills applied to all her presentations.
Profile
Wendy Mesley is the co-host of CBC News: Marketplace, CBC Television's award-winning prime-time investigative consumer show.
Mesley began her broadcast journalism career in 1976 as a radio reporter in Toronto. She moved to television in 1979, first with CTV's CFCF in Montreal, then moving to CBC-TV as a legislative reporter for local news and CBC News: The National, based in Quebec City. During this six-year period she covered the first referendum on sovereignty and some of the most fascinating politicians of our times, such as Jean Drapeau, Robert Bourassa, Jacques Parizeau, Rene Levesque and Pierre Trudeau. In 1985, Mesley moved to Ottawa as a parliamentary correspondent for CBC-TV's The National. During this intensely political time, Mesley reported on such stories as the battles over free trade, the GST and Meech Lake. In addition, she was a frequent contributor to CBC Television's Sunday Report panel, and soon after became Sunday Report's anchor. She continues to be a frequent back-up anchor for CBC-TV's national news programs. In 1994, Mesley helped create and hosted CBC Television's Gemini Award-winning Undercurrents, a program that examined the media/marketing world. Lasting six seasons, Undercurrents was relevant, intelligent, fast-paced and fearless – a weekly journalistic program that brought the traditional hard reporting of a current affairs show to media culture. Mesley was awarded Gemini Awards for Best Host in a News or Talk Program or Series in 1999 and 2001 for her work on Undercurrents. The show itself also won a Gemini for Best Information Program and garnered a Gold Medal for Best Magazine Format at the New York Festival's International Television Awards. In 2001, Mesley worked on CBC Television's investigative program, CBC News: Disclosure. In 2002, she joined CBC News: Marketplace as the Toronto-based co-host.
Noted for her energy, tenacity and wit, she is regarded as one of the best interviewers in television. She also has some provocative things to say about her own craft, the media and how the public can be cheated. Wendy Mesley addresses challenging issues with an edgy, entertaining and informative presentation style; she is also an outstanding moderator, host or master of ceremonies.
Clients Comments
Mesley is noted for her energy, tenacity and wit. She has been recognized as one of the best interviewers of our time.
Topics
- LIFE IN THE EYE OF THE DIGITAL STORM
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Ever get the sense you're in the eye of a storm? You're not alone. We all love technology and the ability to communicate with anyone, anytime. And the toys, who could live without the toys? But can you ever turn the damn things off? Can you ever slow things down just a bit? Do we really want information all the time, everywhere, at light speed? CBC journalist and correspondent Wendy Mesley explores the implications for individuals, organizations and society of the digital, wireless age. She looks not just at what the new technology is, but, more importantly, how it's being used. Recognizing that wireless devices and the Internet are as much cultural as technological phenomena, she helps audiences see beyond the hype to the real promise, and peril, of life in the digital age.
Privacy, politics, family life and business. They're all being buffeted by technological change. As host of CBC Television's Undercurrents, and the new show, Disclosure, Wendy Mesley spends her working life uncovering what's new, what's exciting, what's wonderful and what's downright scary about our technology and media-saturated society. Engaging, insightful, and uncompromising, Mesley leaves audiences with an understanding where we are as a society, and where we may be headed. - CRITICAL THINKING: THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE. You just have to know where to look.
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Whether it’s politicians, corporate leaders, or health experts, it’s getting increasingly difficult to know who to believe these days. Even journalists can’t always be trusted!
Well known TV journalist Wendy Mesley takes you behind the scenes for an insiders’ look at how media, marketing and politics influence how we are informed. Full of anecdotes from her years as a political reporter for CBC’s National News, her time as host of the media savvy program “Undercurrents”, and now as host of the consumer advocacy show "Marketplace", Wendy offers informed and humorous take on the challenges of trying to figure out what’s right.
Wendy’s interest in these issues is long-standing, but took a different angle 2 years ago when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Again, politics, business and media issues were found to complicate the information available. You may have seen her documentary that ran last year called “Chasing the Cancer Answer”. There may be no such thing as “the truth”, but Wendy offers some insights into what to look for as you try to stay informed. - WHO CAN YOU TRUST? AND...WHO CAN TRUST YOU?
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Trust is one of the most powerful currencies we have. Whether it's in business, politics, the community, or our personal lives, the strength of our relationships depends on trust. It's an essential quality...yet it's also one of the least examined human characteristics.
Trust is a topic that has fascinated Wendy Mesley throughout her career, and often defined the stories she's told. Issues of trust - winning it, losing it, and abusing it - have come up consistently through her career. As a political reporter for CBC's national news, host of the media savvy program "Undercurrents" and the consumer advocacy show "Marketplace", and in many roles with The National, the issues she's explored have often come down to a single question: who should you believe?
In this engaging, irreverent, and ultimately invaluable presentation, Wendy shares anecdotes from her own experience, and the world at large, to explore some of the most important questions about trust. What exactly is it? Why does it matter? Who has it? Who had it, but blew it?
How is it earned..and how is it lost? What are the warning signs that suggest your trust may be misplaced? Why are we more likely to trust individuals than the institutions they represent? How has this "trust gap" led individuals to create new communities to rebuild the ties that bind us together - and what does it mean for our future?
With her customary humour and famously direct approach, Wendy's presentation leaves the audience with a clear sense of how understanding trust makes a measureable impact in all areas of their lives.