Shari Okeke
Assistant Professor
Department: The School of Journalism
Email: shari.okeke@torontomu.ca
Discipline: Journalism
Areas of Expertise:
- Audio Journalism
- Documentary Podcasts
- Journalism Standards & Practices
- Long Form Storytelling
- Justice, Equity & Society
- Newsroom Reporting in Black Communities
- Media Education
- Pedagogy of Care
Research Interests
Working with Students as Partners; Diversity of Sources in Journalism; Underrepresented/Misrepresented Communities.
Assistant Professor Shari Okeke is an award-winning journalist and podcast creator with more than 25 years of experience in radio, television, and online media, primarily at CBC Montreal. In that time, she has reported extensively on radio and television, locally and nationally, and also filled in as host on several radio and television programs. For six years, she was CBC's network business reporter based in Montreal. She is currently a senior producer for the network radio program and podcast The Doc Project.
For two seasons, her Peabody-nominated CBC podcast Mic Drop featured the stories of young people in their own words. Created in 2018, the series aimed to provide a safe space for teens to talk about what's on their minds – without any adult interruptions.
Since joining the journalism faculty at Toronto Metropolitan University full-time in 2022, she has led her podcasting students to produce three seasons of We Met U When... which are available on several listening apps. Students behind Season 3 Episode 5: The Call won a 2025 BEA (Broadcast Education Association) Award of Excellence – the only winning team in the narrative audio category from a Canadian university.
Dr. Okeke is also a story editor for Turner Classic Movies' (TCM) award-winning podcast The Plot Thickens Season 4: Here Comes Pam, and she created the Peabody-nominated CBC podcast Mic Drop, featuring stories of young people, in their own words. Shari Okeke received the 2025 Dean's Teaching Award (TFA) for excellence in teaching at The Creative School.
- 2025 Dean's Teaching Award for The Creative School – Faculty, which recognizes TMU faculty members who have demonstrated continuing teaching excellence and achievement in instruction.
- 2023 Webby Awards nominee for Best Film and Television Podcast for The Plot Thickens Season 4: Here Comes Pam
- 2021 Canadian Association of Journalists Award for Human Rights Reporting for The Brightest Licence Plate in Montreal, an audio documentary about racial profiling (awarded in 2022)
- 2021 Peabody-nominee in podcast/radio category for Mic Drop Season 2
- 2020 Gabriel Award for radio feature Dangers of Drunk Cycling
- 2019 RTDNA Canada Best Podcast Award, Central Canada Region for Mic Drop Season 1
- 2018 RTDNA Canada Dave Rogers Award - Long Radio Feature, Central Canada Region for How Men Experience Intimate Partner Violence
- 2017-2020 Gala Dynastie Finalist for Radio Personality of the Year
- 2013 Recipient of Taste of the Caribbean’s Woman of Merit Award which recognizes contribution for the advancement of Montreal’s Caribbean Community and the community of Greater Montreal
Scholarly Calling
My coursework and research stem from 25 years as a Black journalist at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). As a reporter, I often heard from Black interviewees who didn’t want to do certain interviews. My SSHRC-funded research project seeks to gather data on the experiences of Black interviewees.
In class with final-year journalism students, we co-produce We Met U When… a podcast that reaches out to interviewees from past news stories. We listen to their perspectives on those interviews and find out what happened next in their lives. Many episodes are winning awards and becoming required listening in other journalism courses.
My journalism students are challenging themselves and the industry to do better while learning to produce an award-winning documentary podcast.
Related Content
- We Met U When...podcast (17 episodes across three seasons) https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/we-met-u-when/id1660948082 (external link)
- “How ‘We Met U When...’ Podcast Students Are Teaching the Journalism Industry to Do Better” project funded by TMU Learning and Teaching Grant
- On the Record, Off the Mark: The Effects Journalists Have on Black Interviewees (project funded by Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council 2025-2027)
- Supervising a project within Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) program
Dr. Shari Okeke also had a key role in the CBC Montreal series called Real Talk on Race. In that role, she spoke to mixed-race children about their experiences and explored how young people deal with racist remarks at school that are passed off as jokes.
At the CBC, she has consistently pushed for changes in the newsroom’s reporting in Black communities and in its approach to stories about racism. She is a proven leader within the public broadcaster and has an established track record as a mentor and a coach.
At Concordia University she designed and taught a course called Writing for Radio and Television. Dr. Okeke also created and taught a course for CABJ’s J-School Noire 2021 in producing podcasts for Black youth in Edmonton, Toronto and Halifax. At Concordia, she hosted and moderated a discussion with Nikole Hannah Jones about the 1619 Project, which aims to put the consequences of slavery at the centre of America’s historic narrative, and has led a number of other conversations in the community including a panel about the politics of hair by Montreal’s Natural Hair Congress. Dr. Okeke has also participated in many university panel discussions with departments of journalism, business, McGill’s Faculty of Law and also for the National Society of Black Engineers at Concordia.
For the latest updates, please visit the faculty page linked below.
Selected Media & Activities
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Assistant Professor Shari Okeke is featured in Toronto Now for her work leading journalism students to co-produce the podcast We Met U When...The podcast tracks down interviewees from past news stories to hear what it was like to be in the news and to explore how journalism practices can improve.
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Assistant Professor Shari Okeke's podcasting class JRN 801/JN8407 class' We Met U When...Season 3 is a finalist for the Canadian Online Publishing Awards (COPAs), to be held on February 12, 2026.
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Professor Shari Okeke was deeply honoured to be among the first cohort of Mary Ann Shadd Cary Fellows. The Mary Ann Shadd Cary Centre for Belonging was created by Professor Nana aba Duncan in 2023, with permission from the Shadd family to emphasize Shadd Cary’s contribution to journalism in Canada.