Made For Us

When it comes to improving the accessibility of video games, it’s often simple things that can make a big difference, says this week's guest, Mick Donegan. Since 2007, the charity he founded, SpecialEffect, has helped thousands of people with severe physical disabilities play video games by creating bespoke setups suited to their abilities. In today’s interview, Mick shares how SpecialEffect has b...

When pitching their inclusive eyewear brand to investors, Reframd ’s co-founders Shariff Vreugd and Ackeem Ngwenya often faced doubts about whether a market existed for their product. But if you look beyond the West, says Shariff, the opportunity is massive. In the second of a two-part series on inclusive brands disrupting the eyewear industry, we talk about how Reframd is reimagining eyewear fram...

After struggling for years to find glasses that fit comfortably, Athina Wang and Florence Shin realised that it was the eyewear industry that needed to change and not them. That was the inspiration for launching Covry, an inclusive eyewear brand that came to life through an oversubscribed Kickstarter campaign.  In the interview, we discuss: Why having zero eyewear industry experience proved t...

“Where are the plus size male models?” It’s a question the Internet seemed to be asking just a few years ago. Now, a six-pack is no longer a prerequisite to grace the pages of the top fashion magazines. It’s proof, says my guest, Raul Samuel, that there's demand for more realistic-looking models. Still, as we discuss in the interview, not everyone in the fashion industry is convinced. Some of the...

Want to be the first to hear when Season 2 lands? Subscribe to the Made For Us  newsletter  for the latest updates and exclusive content. This week's episode: Sam Latif, P&G's first Company Accessibility Leader, joins me this week to share how she is driving innovation to make the company’s 65+ brands inclusive and accessible for the 15% of people around the globe who experience some...

For many people of colour, wearing a plaster, or Band-Aid, that blends with their skin tone is a novel experience. While inclusive bandages are now widely available in countries like the UK and US, that's only happened in the last few years. My two guests share their unique perspectives on this. Intisar Bashir is the co-founder and CEO of Browndages, one of the first companies to offer bandages in...

When Charlotte Griffiths’ agency BRIDGE launched the UK’s first men’s division for bigger, broader male models in 2016, it was based on a hunch that the fashion industry was ready to embrace men of different shapes and sizes. In this week’s interview, Charlotte tells me how her gamble paid off and why brands need to let go of outdated stereotypes around men and fashion. Charlotte is the owner and...

When Hector Minto joined Microsoft seven years ago, he knew it was time to bring disability inclusion into the mainstream. In this episode, Microsoft’s Lead Technology Evangelist on accessibility tells me why “this is not a niche topic anymore” and why companies need to get ahead of regulation and build accessible products. Hector drives and measures the education and adoption of Microsoft accessi...

Do you have what it takes to create your own emoji? My guest, Rayouf Alhumedhi, did just that when she launched the Hijab Emoji Project at the age of 16 to push for digital representation for Muslim women around the world. She was named one of Time magazine’s most influential teens and also featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 list. Rayouf recently graduated from Stanford University where she studie...

As emoji usage has gone global over the past decade, demand for more inclusive emoji has soared. But how effectively can emoji capture human diversity? And what challenges does this pose from a design perspective? I’ll be exploring these questions and more in a two-part special on emoji. First up is Keith Broni, the editor-in-chief of Emojipedia, the world's #1 emoji resource. Keith oversees...

This week's guest is Maura Horton, the CEO and Founder of MagnaReady, a company that provides accessible apparel for those with limited dexterity. Maura developed the concept for MagnaReady after her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and struggled to dress himself independently. She invented and eventually patented a magnetic closure system that replaces buttons and has since licensed...

Couldn’t wait for the next installment of Made For Us? Well, here’s an additional episode just for launch week. My guest is Ade Hassan, founder and CEO of the lingerie brand Nubian Skin. Founded in 2014, the company brought a simple yet innovative product to the fashion industry - nude lingerie and hosiery for women with darker skin tones. In 2017, Ade was awarded an MBE for services to fashion in...

Joining me on the very first episode of Made For Us is Cliff Weitzman, the Founder and CEO of Speechify, a text-to-speech app that uses AI to turn text from documents, websites and email to audio. Speechify has been downloaded by over 20 million users and is the #1 rated AI text-to-speech app in its category on Apple’s App Store. Among its user base are people with dyslexia, ADHD, low vision and o...

Introducing Made for Us, a new podcast exploring the intersection of innovation and inclusion. The weekly show tells the stories of the founders, inventors and nonconformists who've made it their mission to create products that work better for everyone. Produced and hosted by Tosin Sulaiman, a podcaster and former business journalist with Reuters and The Times.