💜 Empathy in action.
💡 Experience with impact.
📣 Communication with heart.

Emily Foucault is a Toronto-based patient advisor, writer, and speaker who blends lived experience, storytelling, and communication expertise to help organizations, brands, and communities connect with purpose and empathy.

Her career began on stage as a professional dancer and evolved into leadership roles in sports marketing, global advertising, and startup strategy. But it was her journey navigating multiple chronic illnesses—including mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), Glucose-Galactose Malabsorption (GGM), adenomyosis, and complex PTSD—that ultimately reshaped her purpose and voice.

Today, Emily brings the patient perspective to the forefront of healthcare innovation through her advisory work with institutions like the University of Toronto’s Department of Family and Community Medicine (DFCM), CAMH—The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) and Canadian Immunocompromised Advocacy Network. She consults on inclusive communication, co-designs engagement strategies, and helps teams transform how they speak with, and about, patients.

Her professional background includes a decade in brand strategy at agencies including MediaCom and Hill+Knowlton, as well as founding ThinkHatch in 2017—a boutique marketing consultancy supporting startups like ThreeShips, Rainstick Shower, and Joya. Her visionary work earned her the Startup Canada Honorary Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year (2018) and a nomination as a Finalist for the Notable Woman Award.

Emily is also a grounded and candid speaker, sharing insights on navigating the healthcare system, fostering workplace wellness, and reimagining advocacy through storytelling. Her work has been featured in The Kit, Healthy Debate, Yahoo!Style, CP24, and NOW Magazine.

Whether she’s advising on strategy, leading workshops, or crafting content that connects, Emily is passionate about using her voice—and platform—to drive meaningful change. You can explore her writing and reflections on her blog, Real Talk, Before It’s Too Late, where she explores the intersection of art, wellness, and personal growth.

Emily Foucault proudly leading the way and celebrating the inaugural lighting of the CN Tower for Mast Cell Awareness Day on October 20, 2023.

Emily Foucault at The University of Toronto attending the Toronto screening of the documentary: Below The Belt by Shannon Cohn and executively produced by Hillary Clinton and Rosario Dawson.

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Recent & Past Partners

✨ A whirlwind week on the West Coast ✨

First stop: Vancouver for Where’s the Patient Voice in Health Professional Education? Grateful to share the Clear & Inclusive Writing Guide that @jesstaywriter and I co-wrote with @camhnews — and to finally bring this work into a room full of people who care about changing how we communicate in healthcare.
(You can read about it in the @healthy_debate piece — link in bio 💜)

Then a much-needed reset on Vancouver Island with @peter_leahy . Ocean air, quiet mornings, the Hydropath and healing caves at @kingfishersparesort , and the most magical 7-course menu created just for me by Chef @danaiho — fully MCAS/GGM-friendly and unbelievably delicious. Dinner in a skydome under the lights didn’t hurt either ✨

Feeling refilled, grateful, and so inspired by the mix of purpose + rest this week brought.

🤍 Emily

✨ New article out today! @jesstaywriter and I just co-wrote a piece for @healthy_debate on the power of inclusive language in health care — and how the words we choose can either build trust or quietly reinforce harm.

✍🏻 We wrote this as part of our work on @camhnews upcoming Clear and Inclusive Writing Guidelines, set to be released in early 2026. In the article, we share why inclusive language can’t be written behind closed doors — and how co-creating this guide with more than 50 people, including patients, caregivers, clinicians, and community members, made the guide stronger, deeper, and more human.

This week, we’ll be sharing our learnings at the Where’s the Patient Voice? global conference in Vancouver — exploring what it looks like to move health systems from clinical to compassionate, and from “accurate” to meaningful.

💬 Are you heading to #WTPV2025? Let me know — I’d love to connect in person, share stories, and keep this conversation going.

🔗 You can read the article through the link in my bio. 👉 https://lnkd.in/gbdu5u7a

#InclusiveLanguage #PatientVoice #WTPV2025 #CAMH #HealthEquity #LivedExperienceMatters #CoDesign #StorytellingInHealthcare #ClearCommunication #pwle

For years, I was told my pain was “normal.” I was dismissed, gaslit, and labeled a hypochondriac — by people I trusted, including medical professionals.

This @yahoostyleca interview shares my journey through decades of unexplained pain, the emotional toll of being dismissed, and what it took to finally be diagnosed and undergo a hysterectomy at @sinaihealthtoronto

I’m grateful to the care team who finally listened, and to every woman and patient still fighting to be believed — your pain is real, and your story matters. 💜

🔗 To read the full interview head to the link in my bio.

Thank you @wendy.kaur for capturing my journey with care.

#adenomyosis #endometriosis #hysterectomy #realtalk #dove @dove #hormones #gaslighting #yahoo #yahoolifestyle #media #mediafeature #press

💜 Today is International Mastocytosis & Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS) Awareness Day 💜

If you’re heading downtown Toronto or watching Game 7 of the @bluejays tonight, you might spot something unexpected… 💡 The @cntower, @niagarafallstourismcanada @calgarytower, @telus_spark, and more landmarks across Canada will be lit up in purple — not for the Jays, but for MCAS Awareness.

💜 While the city rallies around baseball, patients like me are rallying for visibility, care, and action.

🎤 MCAS affects up to 17% of the population and remains drastically underdiagnosed in Canada. This awareness campaign is a milestone — and we’ve created tools, shareables, and a letter to government leaders to help spark real change.

🔗 Link in bio: https://www.emilyfoucault.com/post/mcas2025

#MCASCanada #MCASAwarenessDay #October20 #InvisibleIllness #BlueJays #Toronto #ChronicIllnessAwareness #PatientAdvocacy #Game7 #LightItUpPurple #takeaction #shareyourstory #toronto #mcas #mastcellactivationsyndrome

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