Meet the Voices Behind the Vision
Somia Sadiq
Somia Sadiq is a Pakistani Canadian peace negotiator, planner, and award-winning entrepreneur with ancestral roots in post-colonial Punjab and Kashmir. She is the founder of Narratives, an acclaimed planning and design firm that centers human-centric, trauma-informed story work to amplify lived experience and ancestral identity. As the founder of Kahanee, Somia brings her expertise in conflict transformation to amplify storytelling and facilitated dialogue as tools for peacebuilding, both in Canada and globally. Somia began her career in impact assessment, focusing on resource, energy, and infrastructure projects. Her doctoral research explores identity, othering, and trauma in conflict transformation, deepening her commitment to creating space for marginalized voices. A published author and sought-after keynote speaker, she shares insights on trauma-informed leadership, women's leadership, and cultivating resilience in a rapidly changing world. Recognized nationally and internationally, Somia was recently inducted into the Canadian Institute of Planners' College of Fellows, the highest honor in the profession. She is currently completing her debut novel, Gajarah, set to release in Fall 2025.
A reflection on a conversation with planner Donovan Toews about how cities communicate care through everyday design and experiences. It argues that beyond infrastructure and policy, the small details; like clean streets, healthy trees, inclusive spaces, and shared belonging; shape how people feel in a place, suggesting that the most meaningful cities are those that show care for both people and community.
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A reflection on a conversation with Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum about sacredness, belonging, and peacebuilding. It explores the idea that people can hold deep, simultaneous soul connections to the same place, and suggests that storytelling, humility, and recognizing others' sacred relationships are essential to building peace.
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This reflection explores a conversation with Métis tattoo and mural artist Justine Proulx on creativity, storytelling, and the ways art helps us navigate identity, transformation, and belonging. Through tattoos, murals, and community-based art, the piece examines how we reshape personal and collective stories while creating spaces that reflect who we are.
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This reflection explores a conversation with Isha Khan, CEO of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, on leadership, systemic change, and the importance of slowing down to engage with complex human stories.
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This reflection explores how stories shared during impact assessments can hold deeper knowledge about relationships, responsibility, and our connection to the land. It challenges practitioners to move beyond extracting data and instead listen for the worldviews, teachings, and questions embedded within stories.
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This reflection explores how storytelling can transform conflict by helping people move beyond the narratives that keep them stuck. Drawing on Gajarah and peacebuilding traditions from around the world, it argues that lasting change begins not with agreement, but with a shift in the stories we carry about ourselves and one another.
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A childhood memory of conflict expressed through an extra-spicy meal becomes a reflection on how culture shapes the ways we communicate, protest, and care. The post explores why planners and peacebuilders must look beyond words to understand the emotional and cultural dimensions of conflict.
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Kahanee Founder, Somia Sadiq, emphasizes that cultural competence comes from relational learning and shared experiences.
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We've all heard about legendary storytellers when bringing people together. But who is a story listener... Are you one?
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This Saturday marked the launch of Kahanee. What is Kahanee? Read on!
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