Features 2026

The Collaborators: because we’re better together.

Pamela Hackett April 7, 2026 3


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Podcast cover art for “The Collaborators,” featuring two young children sitting inside an open suitcase, wearing vintage aviator hats and goggles as if pretending to fly. One child stretches an arm forward like a pilot, while the other leans back with eyes closed. A teddy bear sits beside them. The background is split yellow and purple with the title “The Collaborators” and the tagline “A podcast about friends making an impact,” plus a small note indicating new episodes weekly.

We all know that feeling of trying to do something meaningful alone. It can be hard. Then you team up with a friend, a collaborator, and suddenly it feels possible.

Better together.

This is The Collaborators: a podcast about friends who don’t just talk about making an impact, they do it. Two people, one idea, and the messy, real, human process of trying to make a dent in the world.

Each episode follows a pair of collaborators – friends, co-founders, teammates – who decide to do something that matters. Not perfectly. Not easily. But together.

Because it doesn’t have to be perfection.

It starts with purpose.

Pamela Hackett hosts a weekly series featuring guests who started as friends and became collaborators.

Pilot Episode 1: One Jar, One Week, Zero Waste

Podcast cover for “The Collaborators,” featuring a yellow and purple background with a microphone icon and the tagline “A podcast about friends making an impact.” The text reads “Episode 1: One Jar One Week Zero Waste with guests Sofie Gelder & Kayla Solway.” At the bottom right are headshots of Kayla Solway and Sofie Gelder, two young women smiling at the camera.

What happens when two Gen Z friends stop talking about sustainability and actually live it?

In this pilot episode of The Collaborators, TMU journalism students and cofounders of the media platform The Undercurrent, Kayla Solway and Sofie Gelder, take on a zero-waste challenge inspired by a Toronto woman who produces just one bag of garbage a year. Their rule? Don’t just report it, experience it.

For one week, every piece of garbage they produce has to fit into a single mason jar.

What starts as a well-intentioned collaboration quickly turns into something messier, smellier… and far more inspiring.

Listen to Sofie and Kayla’s story

Hosted by Pamela Hackett, this episode follows friends Kayla Solway and Sofie Gelder as they take on a one-week, zero-waste challenge, fitting everything they throw out into a single mason jar.

What they uncover is less about perfection and more about the reality of convenience, consumption, and what we choose to notice.

Transcript, script, audio, sources & research trail

This podcast is submitted as the feature assignment: ‘individual, pilot episode, 8 minutes.’

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