Always Looking Up

To start, I would like to issue a trigger warning. This week’s episode talks about body image and disordered eating. If these are triggers for you, please feel free to skip this episode. This week it is just me and the microphone talking about my new year's resolutions for 2022. I explain why I'm not resolving to change my body and what I am looking forward to in the year to come. Follow Me: Insta...

To start, I would like to issue a trigger warning. This week’s episode talks about self harm and suicide. If these are triggers for you, please feel free to skip this episode.  I sat down with Danielle Gray, model and founder of the app Train Like A Gymnast. We discuss how Train Like A Gymnast came to be, our mental and physical health journeys, and how we turn our perceived limits into our g...

This week's episode is part two of my conversation with fashion designer Kathy D. Woods and her husband, actor Dana Michael Woods where we continue to discuss family, faith, fashion and adversity.  Follow Kathy: Instagram:  @kathydwoods  Website: www.kathydwoodsstore.com   Follow Dana: Website: Oh So Small - Dana Michael Woods IMDb: Dana Michael Woods Follow and Support Grace 4...

This week's episode is extra-special because it is part one of a two-part episode. I sat down with fashion designer Kathy D. Woods and her husband, actor Dana Michael Woods. Over the next two weeks we discuss family, faith, fashion and adversity. Follow Kathy: Instagram:  @kathydwoods  Website: www.kathydwoodsstore.com   Follow Dana: Website: Oh So Small - Dana Michael Woods IMDb: D...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Martino Cartier. Martino is a celebrity hair stylist and philanthropist. We discuss the impact he and his non-profit Wigs and Wishes has made over the last ten years and how we are both striving to make the world a better and more beautiful place.   Follow Martino: Instagram:  @martinocartier   Follow Wigs And Wishes: Instagram @wigsandwishes W...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Maria Town. Maria is the President and CEO of the American Association of People With Disabilities. Prior to joining AAPD, Maria served as the Senior Associate Director in the White House Office of Public Engagement under President Obama where she managed the White House’s engagement with the disability community and older Americans. We discuss her wor...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Gabi though you may know her as Lil Gabi D. Gabi is a digital content creator, using her platforms to advocate for dwarfism awareness. We discuss the portrayal of little people in the media, the perpetuation of certain stereotypes, and why representation matters. Follow Gabi: Instagram: @lilgabid  Twitter: @lilgabid TikTok: @lilgabid YouTube: Lil...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Mark Povinelli. Mark is an actor and activist, currently serving as the President of Little People of America. Mark’s credits include Modern Family, Mad Dogs, My Dinner With Hervé, and Water For Elephants. As President of the Board, Mark is the face of LPA and oversees the board and various committees, along with presiding over all national meetings. W...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Nancy Volpe Beringer. Nancy is a fashion designer who competed on season 18 of Project Runway, making it all the way to the finale. Since then, she has launched The Vault by Volpe Beringer, an online luxury resale store that caters to both the able-bodied and disabled. She believes in sustainability and adaptability- that fashion can and should include...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Lucy Jones. Lucy is a fashion designer who focuses on solution-based design. In 2017 she founded FFORA, an adaptive fashion accessories label of which she is the CEO. She also happens to be one of my best friends here in New York City. We discuss FFORA, disability in fashion, and what it really means to be an ally to the disability community.  &nb...

In that week's episode I am in the hot seat. My brother Ben, who is also the show's editor and producer, sat in the host's seat and asked me questions about what being a little person means to me. I had no knowledge of the questions being asked and nothing was off-limits. We discussed growing up in a world where I was often the only little person in the room, how I almost became an athletic traine...

In this week’s episode I am talking to Kelsey Lindell. Kelsey is a disability advocate and fitness influencer. In August she was named Well+Good’s first ever disabled trainer of the month. On a daily basis Kelsey uses her platforms to combat ableism, a prejudice that no one wants to talk about and affects everyone. We discuss our disabled experiences, the many forms of ableism, and the changes we...

To start, I want to issue a trigger warning. This week’s episode talks about sexual harassment and sexual assault. If these are triggers for you, please feel free to skip this episode. I am starting by talking to Stacie Lick, a family friend and Lieutenant in the Gloucester County Special Victims’s Unit, basically a real-life Olivia Benson. We are discussing disability and sexual assault- the stat...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with disabled model and advocate Bri Scalesse. Bri is a true queen in every sense of the word. Paralyzed at age six, Bri has refused to let her disability, or society’s perception of disability, stop her from pursuing her dreams. She has wheeled the runways at New York Bridal Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week and opened designer Nancy Volpe-Beringer’s...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Colleen Ditro. Colleen is a Doctor of Nursing Practice, certified nurse practitioner, and the lead Advanced Practice Registered Nurse for the orthopedics, pain and wound care teams at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. In addition, she serves on the medical advisory board of Little People of America and is the camp nurse at Camp Seneb- a s...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Kristina Thibault. Kristina has always been someone I’ve looked up to and is practically a big sister to me. She just got married in March so we are talking about dating, wedding, and marriage. Specifically, we discuss the struggles and successes of dating as an LP, planning a wedding, and the happily ever after. Follow Kristina: Instagram: @kristinath...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Sophia Herzog, a Paralympic Silver Medalist and a swimmer for the US Paralympic team. At the time of this recording, Sophia is preparing to leave for Tokyo to compete in her second Paralympic games. We discuss her journey to the games, what she's most looking forward to in Tokyo, and what it means to be a Paralympian. Follow Sophia: Instagram: @sophiah...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Zach Shattuck, a swimmer for the US Paralympic team. At the time of this recording, Zach is preparing to leave for Tokyo to compete in the 2020 Paralympics. We discuss his journey to the games, what he’s most looking forward to in Tokyo and what it means to him to be a Paralympian.   Follow Zach: Instagram: @zshattuck96  Follow US Paraly...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with someone who is not a little person but has grown up in this world, my younger brother Ben. Ben grew up going to LPA conventions with me and lived in a house with sideways sinks and too many stools. He could be the biggest pain in the butt, cracking the good joke whenever he can, but he is also one of my biggest (no pun intended) supporters. I sat down...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Camila Falquez. Camila is a photographer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Italia, Vogue Spain along with many other publications. She photographed Jillian Mercado for Teen Vogue, Secretary Deborah Haaland for InStyle Magazine, and President Biden and Vice President Harris for TIME Magazine. Earlier this year she rea...

In this episode I am sitting down with Dave Duminuco. Dave is my personal trainer at Equinox and today we are talking all things health and fitness. I am the first little person he has ever had as a client and it has been quite an adventure for the two of us. We discuss how I came to be his client, his approach to training me, and what we’ve both learned from this experience so far. Follow Dave: I...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with not one, but two badass, beautiful women- Christina Chambers and Liv Hope Bender. Both in wheelchairs, they host the podcast Sit The Fuck Down where they talk about what it means to be disabled. We discuss our similar and different disabled experiences, along with the changes we want to see and make in order to make the world accessible. Listen to Sit...

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Lakshmi Shyamakrishnan. Lakshmi is a writer, a TED conference speaker, and an advocate within the little person community. She is currently an MS Candidate for the Marketing Analytics program at the University of Maryland and was recognized in 2021 as a Disability:IN Next Gen leader. We discuss the issue of public accommodations, her work advocating fo...

In this week’s episode I am talking to Michaela Healy. Ever since being diagnosed with hydrocephalus, water on the brain, at the age of one, she has been giving Wonder Woman a run for her money. Simply put, she is the strongest person I know and, through a series of very fortunate events we became best friends. She has survived over 300 surgeries, the halls of Washington Township High School, and...

This week  I am sitting down with Rebecca Cokley, someone I have always looked up to in the little person and disabled communities. Rebecca is currently serving as a program officer in the President’s Office of the Ford Foundation, a global grant-making philanthropy that challenges inequality, where she is developing the U.S. disability rights program strategy. Prior to joining the Ford Found...