Always Looking Up

In this week’s episode I sat down with Sophia Herzog Gibb. Sophia is a two-time medal-winning Paralympian, having competed as a swimmer in the 2016 and 2020 Paralympic Games in Rio and Tokyo. She is now joining NBC as a contributor covering the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. We discuss the excitement and media coverage surrounding this year's Paralympics, important language you need to know, how...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Tiffany Yu. Tiffany is the CEO & Founder of Diversability, an award-winning social enterprise to elevate disability pride, the Founder of the Awesome Foundation Disability Chapter, and the author of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto: Smashing Stereotypes, Forging Change, and Building a Disability-Inclusive World . We discuss the creation and evolution of Diversabili...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Tilly Griffiths. Tilly is a two-time Stanford graduate from the United Kingdom, recently completing her Master's degree in Communication with an emphasis on data journalism during which she focused on telling impactful, data-driven stories about the disabled experience. As a full-time power wheelchair user living with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, she also dedicat...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Shaunta-Maé Alexander. Shaunta-Maé is an incredibly gifted Public Speaker, Adaptive Athlete, Brand Ambassador, Influencer, Actress, Author, Philanthropist, Distance Runner, and 2024 “People’s Choice” Webby Award Winner. Her personal story of hard work, determination, tenacity, and faith through her disabilities has been used to help motivate and encourage the...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Kayla Hamilton. Kayla is a Texas-born, Bronx based performance maker, dancer, educator, and consultant. She is a Bessie Award-winning dancer and her performance, choreographic and disability arts work has been presented by institutions across New York City and the U.S. In July of 2024 she announced the creation of Circle O, a new cultural organization establi...

In this week’s episode I welcomed back Aubrey Smalls. Aubrey is an actor, filmmaker, and content creator with dwarfism who uses his platforms to educate people about what it means to be a little person and dwarfism history. We discuss how the historical beliefs, behaviors, perceptions and prejudices towards people with dwarfism have persisted and evolved through to present day in a world where con...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Daisy Friedman. Daisy is a writer and director based out of New York City. Her history as a multi-organ transplant recipient has drawn her to create work that centers on the intersections of tradition, intimacy, embodiment, and disability. We discuss the spaces in between disabled and not, the power in telling disabled stories that are raw, visceral, and pers...

In this week’s episode it is just me and the microphone as I sit in my thoughts and feels and reflect on the Little People of America national conference that just took place in Baltimore. I explain what the national conference is, reflect on what the week meant to me and yes, there was certainly some laughter and perhaps tears. Follow Me: Instagram:  @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast Ti...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Rebecca Williford. Rebecca is a seasoned, nationally recognized disability community leader and an ardent disability rights litigator, currently serving as the President & CEO of Disability Rights Advocates (or DRA), the leading national nonprofit disability rights legal center whose mission is to advance the rights, inclusion, and equity of people with disab...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Pamela Rae Schuller. Pamela is an internationally known disability and mental health advocate, and professional stand-up comedian. We discuss how she combines comedy and storytelling with a message about inclusion and mental health, how certain humor has to be earned, being powerfully snarky, underestimating our younger selves and much, much more. Follow Pame...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Muroj Negha. Muroj is a fashion designer who is striving to redefine the boundaries of fashion and empower individuals of short stature to express themselves authentically. We discuss trying to fit into spaces and clothing that are not designed for our bodies, the inaccessibility of adaptive fashion for people of short stature, how she is building a brand for...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Syanne Centeno-Bloom. Syanne is a prominent civil/disability rights activist, content creator and signed model. She has worked with brands like Dove, Thistle and Spire and Victoria’s Secret and also currently serves as a council member for Courage for America, confronting extremist ideologies by far-right lawmakers head-on. We discuss diversity and trends in...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Alex Barone. Alex is an actor who can be seen in The Luckiest Girl Alive , Dopesick , as well as the fifth season of Mayans M.C. where he played the character of Bottles. Alex is also an advocate for performers with disabilities and is a mentor to children with limb differences. We discuss wanting to see disabled characters that are sexy and have grit, disabi...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Joshua Castille and Caden Zane Marshall. Joshua is a Deaf performance artist who strives to form meaningful collaborations that explore the boundaries of art. He has worked on various projects in different roles including ASL master, director, actor, set designer, and more. Caden is a seasoned performer, American Sign Language interpreter, and influencer. Cad...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Madison Tevlin. Madison is an award-winning model, host, content creator, actor and advocate. She shatters the expectations people have about Down syndrome, reminding everyone that it is the least interesting thing about her. We discuss the powerful “Assume That I Can” video and the impact of authentic storytelling, how fun it is to defy expectations when we...

In this special episode I sat down with Madison Ferris, Danny Gomez, and Laura Winters to talk about the play All of Me, opening Off-Broadway The Pershing Square Signature Center here in New York City on May 14, 2024. All of Me, written by Laura and starring Madison and Danny is a boldly humorous and candid love story exploring class and disability in America today. Let’s get into it. All About Al...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Dustin Giannelli. Dustin Giannelli is the CEO & Founder of HearsDustin LLC and a DEI and Accessibility focused public speaker and consultant. He shares his lived experiences as someone who is profoundly deaf and has worn hearing aids since the age of 5 as a way to highlight DEI best practices and the importance of accessibility and communication. We discuss t...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Judge Soonhee “Sunny” Bailey. Judge Bailey sits on Nevada’s Eighth Judicial District Court . In 2018 she created the Detention Alternative for Autistic Youth (DAAY) Court , a diversionary court that focuses on providing services aimed to help youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) remain out of the criminal justice system. We discuss how the DAAY court wor...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Medusa. Medusa is a non-binary revenge-pop artist based in New York. They aim to transform stories of queer joy and agony into song “by any means necessary,” and credit their visceral production style to the somatic-emotional crossover specific to autism. We discuss having to mask parts of who we are depending on the situation, the experience of having our id...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Lachi. Lachi is a globally touring singer and songwriter, award winning social entrepreneur, GRAMMYs Chapter Board Governor, founder of the UN-recognized organization RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities), and host of PBS’ American Masters series ‘Renegades’. Born legally blind, Lachi uses her platform in music, storytelling and...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Isabel Mavrides-Calderón. Isabel is a disability justice activist and organizer. Her work focuses on advocating for policy change, accessibility, and anti-ableism. She has hosted numerous campaigns and protests for disability rights bills with the ACLU, Patients Rising and the Center for Disability Rights and, in 2022, she was celebrated as one of Teen Vogue’...

To start I would like to issue a trigger warning. In this conversation we do discuss harassment, assault, and trauma. If these are triggers for you, please feel free to skip this episode. In this week’s episode I sat down with Colin Buckingham. Colin Buckingham is a Writer, Actor, Model, and Producer based in Brooklyn, NY. His goal as a storyteller is to make projects that reflect the intersection...

In this special episode I sat down with Emily Ladau. Emily is a disability rights activist, storyteller, digital communications consultant, author of the book Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally and editor of Able News at The Viscardi Center, a monthly print periodical and digital news outlet that serves as a resource for and amplifies the perspectives of New...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Amanda Leduc. Amanda is a disabled writer and author of the non-fiction book Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space and the novel The Centaur’s Wife . She is also an essayist and public speaker where she talks about accessibility and the role of disability in storytelling. We discuss the aspects of disability that are often ignored by those...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Alycia Anderson. Alycia is a TEDx motivational speaker, corporate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility consultant, advocate, founder & CEO of The Alycia Anderson Company, and host of the podcast Pushing Forward with Alycia. We discuss making the decision to either lead or follow, disability inclusion in DEI efforts, daring to be bold and asking for wh...