No Barriers

Welcome to part two of our new Alchemy Series, sponsored by Wells Fargo and Prudential, where we speak to experts and thought leaders to attain nuggets of wisdom during COVID-19. The arts have played a critical role in everyone's lives during this trying time. When crisis occurs, art and music take on a new role in our lives. Whether that is escape, relief, or outlets of creativity, the importance...

Welcome to the first episode for our new weekly Alchemy Series, sponsored by Wells Fargo and Prudential. Our No Barriers motto, " What’s Within You is Stronger Than What’s in Your Way”i s more relevant now than ever before.  We’ll be featuring thought leaders and experts in harnessing adversity. They’ll provide practical guidance, hope, and optimism during these uncertain times.  Our hosts, Erik W...

This is our condensed version of this interview. Please tune into episode 40 for the full extended version. Welcome to the first episode for our new weekly Alchemy Series, sponsored by Wells Fargo and Prudential. Our No Barriers motto, " What’s Within You is Stronger Than What’s in Your Way”i s more relevant now than ever before.  We’ll be featuring thought leaders and experts in harnessing advers...

Content Warning: Profanity and Adult Content  Visit Josh's Website to learn more. Following his groundbreaking win on NBC’s  Last Comic Standing  in 2006, Josh Blue has risen through the ranks to become a well-established headliner at venues throughout the world. In 2018, Josh crushed his set on  The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.  In the same year, he was honored with a performance at the Wi...

Laura DeMaio Roy has been training pet and service dogs for 10 years with a specialization in guide dog training and instruction. She has run successful dog training businesses in Connecticut and Colorado and currently owns DoggyU LLC where she runs a popular YouTube channel and helps owners train their own service dogs. Her YouTube channel, DoggyU, brings practical, positive reinforcement-based s...

TAPOOZ TRAVEL Laurent Roffé and Aïcha Nyström are the husband-and-wife team behind Tapooz Travel . Prior to founding their accessible travel company in 2012, their diverse professional backgrounds included architecture, technology, business consulting, design and photography.  Aïcha and Laurent have lived, worked and traveled across Europe, Africa, South America, the Middle East and the United Sta...

Ryan spoke to our hosts, Erik, Dave, and Jeff, about his own personal journey that has inspired his following his life's passion to bring recognition, agency, and awareness to the stories of migrants and refugees around the world.  Born in Kuwait to refugee parents, Ryan Letada was raised in the Philippines before his family immigrated to the Bronx.  His journey from failing student to CEO of his...

Our hosts, Erik, Jeff, and Dave, spoke with André, the other week during his training for his newest endeavor: to  explore human potential as him and his team cross continents - from the lowest point to highest summit, starting with South America. But André's story began in 2003 when, as a 23 year old student in Prague, he wound up on the tracks in front of an oncoming subway train.  His injuries...

Our hosts, Erik and Jeff, sit down with our first No Barriers Podcast guest of 2020, Anne Lorimor. Erik and Jeff had just both returned from their own adventures in Nepal and were fighting jet lag and the come down of an epic trip but as Jeff puts it: Anne was the cup of coffee they needed. Anne is a goal setting achiever at heart. She holds numerous degrees, including an RN, "as a backup career c...

Gena Harper works as a Certified Investment Management Analyst, Senior Vice President and Senior Investment Management Consultant at Morgan Stanley and provides her clients with custom financial planning that delves into and simplifies even the most complex situations.  Gena also happens to be blind and has spent her entire adult life proving that limitations are simply hurdles to be cleared.  She...

Hosts, Dave Shurna and Jeff Evans, speak with School Leader's, Jan Harrison and Jason Malone of the Compass Community Collaborative School. The Compass School is a tuition-free charter school located in Fort Collins, Colorado. Students learn through active and engaging real-world projects — and graduate with a plan, a portfolio, and the tools to make a positive impact. Today we are speaking with s...

Today we have a special episode for you. We are sharing some one on one interviews with No Barriers Summit participants from this past June at Lake Tahoe. Our host, Jeff Evans, took a “man on the street” approach and got firsthand accounts from various folks to talk about their personal experiences. He spoke with Veterans, teachers, coaches, parents and many more people who were taking part in dif...

Dave and Erik interviewed No Barriers supporters, business leaders, and co-founders of AFAR Media , Joe Diaz and Greg Sullivan for this episode’s podcast.  AFAR Media is a critically acclaimed, multi-platform media company. Founded by Diaz and co-founder Greg Sullivan in 2009, AFAR inspires, guides, and enables the world’s best travelers to have deeper, richer, and more fulfilling experiences. AFA...

Our hosts, Jeff and Erik, sat down with Timmy at our studio in Golden to catch up. He was in town to train with Erik for their upcoming expedition to climb Ama Dablam, a beautiful peak in Nepal. Timmy, Erik, and Jeff have been friends for many years and know Timmy not just as a wild speed climber but as a thoughtful philosopher of sorts who has dedicated a large portion of his life to giving back...

Our hosts, Jeff Evans and Erik Weihenmayer, had the opportunity to catch Charlie for an hour during his extremely busy schedule. Charlie was in the midst of training to head off on his latest pursuit: to run from the lowest point on earth; the Dead Sea to the tallest; the summit of Mt. Everest. Jeff and Erik wanted to hear more about not only his athletic accomplishments (too many for one podcast!...

Jeff and Erik spoke with our guest, Tish Scolnik, calling in from her Boston headquarters, about her journey to cofounding and running her own company: GRIT that created the Freedom Chair. Tish has been a longtime friend and supporter of No Barriers. Her Freedom Chair, the "mountain bike of wheelchairs" has been used by many folks at our No Barriers events to navigate tough terrain and help wheelc...

Our hosts, Erik and Dave, sat down with J.R. Martinez the night before our No Barriers Summit began in a conference room at Lake Tahoe Squaw Resort to talk about his journey. Background on J.R.: J.R. Martinez is an actor, best-selling author, motivational speaker, advocate, and wounded U.S. Army veteran. He hails from a small town in Georgia, where he grew up as the son of a single working mother...

At our most recent No Barriers Summit at Lake Tahoe this past June, our three hosts were joined on stage by Mandy Harvey for a special live production of our podcast. Mandy Harvey is an award-winning singer and songwriter who also happens to be deaf. Mandy was a Vocal Music Education major at Colorado State University, when she lost her residual hearing at age eighteen due to a connective tissue d...

Warning: Adult Content, please do not play with children present. The night before our No Barriers Summit began, our hosts Dave and Erik met with Gabriel Cordell at Squaw Resort at Lake Tahoe to record. Gabriel was scheduled to speak at the No Barriers Summit opening ceremony the next evening but came in early to meet with our podcast crew. Throughout the hour, Gabriel detailed how he dealt with h...

Hosts Jeff and Erik spoke with Marisa about her trajectory from a dancer to finding her voice and her own company, Infinite Flow. After 20 years of dancing ballet and contemporary dance in both the US and Japan, Marisa discovered and fell in love with ballroom dancing while recovering from spinal cord infarction, a rare stroke which caused her to be temporarily paralyzed from the neck down. In 201...

Jeff and Dave spoke with Scott Kim a few weeks before he was scheduled to speak at our No Barriers Summit in Tahoe. Scott called in from his hometown of San Francisco (and was appropriately sporting a Warriors jersey) to tell them about his journey to success in creation of the Rapael Smart Glove. As with other innovators and entrepreneurs they have spoken with previously - Scott outlines the diff...

Erik, Jeff, and Dave connected with Mindy to talk about the leaps and bounds she's made in the field of accessible fashion for people with physical and cognitive disabilities. Although she had been in the fashion world for years she was unaware of the lack of consideration given to those with alternate needs until her son, Oliver, who was born with muscular dystrophy, wanted to fit in with his fri...

Our hosts caught up with Natasha Nurse, before they meet her in person at our No Barriers Summit this June 13th-15th. Natasha spoke with Jeff and Erik about the map to start loving yourself and the road she personally traveled to get to that point herself. Now, a successful business owner and coach who illuminates the path for others, Natasha will be speaking and sharing her pointers with our No B...

Jeff and Erik connected with Jamie to hear her story and how her drive and grit has led her to become such an accomplished actress, activist, dancer, and founder of THISAbility, a performing arts conservatory and professional theatre company, cultivating inclusion in the arts. At age 19, Jamie was given a misdiagnosis and experienced a terrible reaction to medication that led to semi-paralysis and...

Koichiro Kobayashi, known as “Koba,” is a “paraclimbing legend.” Koba went blind at age 28 from a degenerative eye disease and at age 31 decided to take up climbing. He has since racked up a number of gold medals around the world! Koba envisions a world where various groups of people can live together without being worried about their handicaps. To pursue his vision, he established a Tokyo-based n...