Always Looking Up

In this week’s episode I sat down with Karina Camile Parker. Karina is a Brooklyn-based director, performer, and teaching artist. Karina is the co-founder of Killer Queen Opera, an innovative fem-led opera company, and The Music Co-Lab, a voice studio for singers of all ages and musical backgrounds. We discuss accessibility in and at the opera, what the world would look like if disabled people des...

In this week’s episode I am honored and proud to have sat down with Hope Walz. Hope is a 25-year-old Montana-based lifestyle creator who shares her day-to-day life, showcasing an active, outdoors-driven routine rooted in fitness, wellness, adventure, and everyday moments. She is known for her grounded, relatable perspective and is positioning herself as an emerging voice among Gen Z. We discuss be...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Aditi Mahajan. Aditi is a physician and lifelong lover of fashion and the arts who is completing her training in New York City. Her work explores the intersection of rehabilitation, disability, and design, and what happens when we start thinking about medicine as something that should support not just how we function, but how we live and express ourselves. We...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Bryanna Copeland. Bryanna is a disability advocate, social worker, and single mom who shares her experiences navigating motherhood and everyday life as a bilateral above knee amputee and wheelchair user. She uses her voice and platform to challenge assumptions about disability and advocate for greater accessibility and inclusion. We discuss how we learn about...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Chef Lay Alston. Lay is a chef, culinary producer and advocate for accessibility in the hospitality industry and beyond. Her work sits at the intersection of food, storytelling, and possibility while inspiring others to build their dream lives out loud. We discuss understanding the history and culture of food, navigating inaccessibility in the kitchen, the co...

In this week’s episode (The 250th!) I sat down with Sarah Hartshorne and Pamela Rae Schuller. Sarah is a writer and comedian best known for none of those things: she was the plus size contestant on Cycle 9 of America’s Next Top Model. In addition to writing her first book, You Wanna Be On Top?, she has also written for the Guardian, Vogue, Gawker, Teen Vogue and more. She has also performed standu...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Cassidy Huff. Cassidy is a content creator, best-selling author, director, actress, and disability advocate passionate about creating and amplifying diverse voices in media. We discuss dwarfism history and understanding the culture, navigating the healthcare system and trying to meet guidelines that were not created with the bodies of people with dwarfism in...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Steffi Gonzalez. Steffi is a beauty, travel, lifestyle creator and model redefining disability representation. The first disabled Latina creator to join Sephora Squad, she has partnered with brands including Sephora, Rare Beauty, Disney, Aerie, and Amazon. Through her acclaimed series, My Normal Is Not Your Normal , she challenges perceptions and creates visi...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Sugandha Gupta. Sugandha is the Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Materiality at Parsons School of Design. She creates multi-sensory textiles and garments that reflect her identity with Albinism. Her research intersects disability, environmental and embodied justice. We discuss our fashion origin stories, the relationship between culture and disabilit...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Chase Merriweather. Chase is a 16-year-old track athlete and Paralympic hopeful who competes in the 100m and 400m. A quad amputee, Chase’s journey began after a life-threatening flu virus led to septic shock and eventually his amputations in 2013. Today, he has turned his challenges into determination, competing at the highest levels of adaptive track and fie...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Justin Dougan-LeBlanc. Justin is an artist working across sculpture, installation, and wearable forms. Using sculptural garments and textile-based structures, his work explores how communication, gesture, and spatial environments shape the body and organize movement through space. We discuss fashion, both the industry’s and the art form’s, relationship with d...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Lylli Stapper. Lylli is a creator based out of Los Angeles who creates a wide variety of content from comedy to discussions of accessibility. She uses her platform to break down social barriers by simply being herself, and showing just how “normal” she really is. We discuss the ways in which being a little person is seen, represented and understood through an...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Marsha Elle. Marsha is a bionic model, actress, recording artist, and disability advocate redefining beauty and representation in fashion and entertainment. Featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Essence, and People, she brings authenticity, confidence, and lived experience to every project. Her work challenges stereotypes while creating space for greater visibi...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Meredith Lynch. Meredith is an LA-based writer, comedian, and TikTok sensation. In just under four years, she has captivated a dedicated audience with her bold take on pop culture, fearlessly dissecting everything from the Kardashians to the climate crisis. She is the co-creator and cohost of The Moment LIVE a female-led news show that streams wherever you sc...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Lillian Carrier. Lillian is an autistic actress and advocate from Los Angeles, best known for her breakout role in Freeform’s Everything’s Gonna Be Okay. In 2025, Lillian starred in her first leading film role in HorseGirls, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Directed by Lauren Meyering and co-starring Tony Hale and Gretchen Mol, the film follows M...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Carrie Gillispie. Carrie is the Early Development & Disability Project Director in New America’s Education Policy program, where she focuses on equity in education for young children and students with disabilities. Before joining New America, she led early childhood and disability equity work at The Education Trust and held roles in education policy, rese...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Jameisha Prescod FRSA. Jameisha is a multidisciplinary artist and writer from South London. With work grounded in a research-based practice, Jameisha explores how culture, identity, black history and colonialism influence the way illnesses are experienced. By combining multiple art forms their work reimagines how disabled stories can be archived in more exper...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Emily Gerhardstein. Emily is the CEO and Co-Founder of  LS Adaptive™, a mission-driven minority and female owned company utilizing proprietary magnetic technology, Hana Fasteners™, to restore independence and dignity to those with limited mobility, aging, or disabilities. As an FIT graduate, retail veteran, and former caregiver, Emily combined her personal jo...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Belle Bakst. Belle, is a stylist, fashion editor, content creator and disability advocate. Also known as “Little Fashion Stylist”, her work has been featured in Cosmopolitan, InStyle, Harper's Bazaar, Brides, and more. We discuss who is driving the conversations around representation and inclusivity, especially in this new era, the permanence of fashion a...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Sonia Vera. Sonia is a Venezuelan-born model who is seeking to transform how the disability community is represented and celebrated within the fashion industry. She is a passionate advocate for radical, long-overdue change, using fashion as a platform to normalize inclusion and disability, and to shine a light on the significant and largely overlooked spendin...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Kate Robinson. Kate built a career spanning retail management and the nonprofit sector, most recently working at Nike, Inc. Now, in an exciting career transition, she is an enthusiastic advocate for creative expression and the power of amplifying individual voices. We discuss her career working at the intersection of sport and fashion, finding community that...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Julie Forrest Wyman. Julie is a filmmaker, writer, and Associate Professor of Cinema and Digital Media at UC Davis. Her work engages issues of embodiment, body image, and the possibilities and problematics of media spectatorship. We discuss her most recent film “The Tallest Dwarf”,  the ways in which the bodies of people with dwarfism have been seen and perce...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Maegan Blau. Maegan is the founder and principal designer of Blue Copper Design, an Arizona based studio recognized for its accessibility forward approach and for pushing the industry beyond minimum standards to create spaces that truly support how people live. We discuss the differences between adaptive and accessible, the importance of blending access and d...

In this week’s episode of Always Looking Up I welcomed back Melanie Waldman. An advocate for disability rights and overall inclusion, Melanie's history & career include sharing her professional connection(s) with a wide range of audiences. In 2025, she launched her platform "Disability Reality Media", which she’s taken to Sundance, Tribeca, and SXSW.  Through her platform, she ha...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Isaac Zablocki. Isaac is the Co-Founder and CEO of the ReelAbilities Film Festival, a disability film festival that has developed into a leading independent nonprofit and the premiere global exhibitor of disability-focused cinema. We discuss the beginnings of ReelAbilities and its continued, evolving success, the importance of building community through the w...