Spark Launch Podcast
Spark Launch: Neurodiversity Ignited: You’ve landed at Spark Launch — the guide star for embracing what it means to be neurodiverse. Hosted by Chaya Mallavaram (the artsy ADHD brain behind Spark Launch) and Mike Cornell (a peer support specialist who reminds us that imperfection is where the magic happens), this podcast dives deep into the messy, beautiful, and often challenging realities of neurodivergent life. Each episode blends personal stories with expert insights to tackle issues affecting our community, such as mental health, parenting strategies, emotional regulation, workplace dynamics, executive function hacks, and neurodiversity advocacy. Whether you’re navigating life with ADHD, Autism Spectrum, or other neurodevelopmental conditions — or supporting someone who is — this is a space where neurodivergent voices can unmask, embrace their weirdness, and celebrate human diversity.
Episodes
October 2, 2026 • 39 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Marc Joubert, founder of Ruckus Media Group, who uses gaming and esports to create overlooked opportunities for learning and connection. Marc shares how working with autistic people changed the way he understood communication, patience, and his own responsibility to adapt. They explore why dismissing a child’s interests can close off more than entertainment, how games can make learning accessible,...
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September 25, 2026 • 36 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Amy Stratbucker, co-founder and CEO of Hello, My Friend, a neuroaffirming AI companion that supports autistic and neurodivergent kids. Amy shares how parenting her neurodivergent son changed the way she understood support, independence, belonging, and why children need tools that meet them where they are instead of where they're told they should be.We Also Cover:
- What neuro-affirming support looks li...
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September 18, 2026 • 33 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Donna Kargel, founder of Lotus Coaching and veteran educator, to talk neurodivergent parenting, the education system, and how early labels can shape a kid’s identity for life. Donna breaks down why standard milestones often backfire for divergent thinkers—and what actually helps kids build curiosity, confidence, and self-trust.We Also Cover:
- Why high expectations mean nothing without genu...
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September 11, 2026 • 17 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Devora Segall, therapist, parenting coach, and founder of Segall Coaching, who helps overwhelmed parents build calmer, more connected relationships at home. Devora opens up about her own experience of overwhelmed parenting, shares trauma-informed and DBT-based tools for pausing before reacting, and explains why emotional regulation is often the first step toward real change.We Also Cover:
- Why extreme...
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September 4, 2026 • 45 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Cassie Olguin, a Partnerships Specialist at Outschool and homeschool mom of 11+ years. Cassie shares how her family moved from a traditional-school mindset to homeschooling, and then navigated a new layer of needs as one of her twins was diagnosed with OCD, autism, and ADHD. Together, they explore what it looks like to protect a child’s spirit, redefine “success” beyond test scores, an...
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August 28, 2026 • 35 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Kristin Walker, founder and CEO of Mental Health News Radio Network, who returns to the show to share the profound impact of receiving an autism and ADHD diagnosis in her 50s. Kristin opens up about the strange and beautiful work of unmasking after a later-in-life autism and ADHD diagnosis, shedding old survival patterns, and rejecting the deficit mindset often placed on neurodivergent minds. We Also Co...
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August 21, 2026 • 39 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Ryan Mayer, a certified ADHD coach who helps neurodivergent adults stop trying to “discipline” their brains and start building systems that actually work. Ryan shares how drowning in corporate burnout, overwhelm, and the constant pressure to “try harder” pushed him toward a strengths-based approach to adult ADHD. Most importantly, he explains why self-care is a non-negotiable par...
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August 14, 2026 • 35 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Neal Glendenning, founder of The Neuro Inclusion Project and NdCare Group, who is building neurodivergent care systems rooted in lived experience, compassion, and real-world support. Neal opens up about ADHD burnout, hospitalization, and the moment he realized that awareness alone was never going to be enough. He explains what it means to redesign healthcare, workplaces, and power structures so neurodiv...
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August 7, 2026 • 35 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Katy Johnson, a registered nurse and founder of Reciprocity KC, who brings vital wellness support directly to burned-out healthcare professionals. Katy opens up about her late-in-life ADHD and social-phobia diagnosis, unpacks the reality of compassion fatigue, and explains why prioritizing somatic release and self-compassion is the true first step toward healing. We Also Cover:
- Misidentifying adult ...
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July 31, 2026 • 46 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Briana McCallum, founder of Divine Empowerment Coaching, who helps neurodivergent people and caregivers build regulation, self-trust, and resilience. Briana opens up about her path from an medication-resistant kid to becoming a Reiki master, how alternative healing finally brought her peace, and drawing insight from her own lived experience as a neurodivergent woman and parent. She breaks down the gut-m...
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July 24, 2026 • 30 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Dr. Uli K. Chettipally, an emergency medicine physician and autism-tech innovator, who is reimagining what support can look like for non-speaking autistic people. Uli shares how his daughter Siri’s autism diagnosis changed the course of his life and work, leading him from frustration with existing therapies to building new tools rooted in dignity, movement, communication, and belief. We Also Cover...
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July 17, 2026 • 41 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Enrique Cachafeiro, an education innovator and serious game designer challenging the industrial-era classroom model. Enrique explains why traditional education systems are fundamentally misaligned with neurodivergent minds, why school accommodations often fall short, and how gamification and immersive learning can help build a system centered on curiosity instead of conformity. We Also Cover:
- Why th...
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July 10, 2026 • 39 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Jodi Davidson, founder of Leader Within coaching and consulting, who opens up about how shame, perfectionism, and masking can quietly run the show. She shares the story behind her Kintsugi-inspired approach (release, repair, renew), plus the reality of late-diagnosed neurodivergence, the exhausting weight of masking, and how growing up as a sibling to someone with autism shaped her. We Also Cover:
- W...
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July 3, 2026 • 41 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Lainey Hills, founder of Curiously Divergent and Neuro Curiosity, to talk about why neurodivergent employees struggle at work because of workplace design—not lack of capability. Lainey shares her experiences with autism, ADHD, masking, and workplace discrimination, leading to greater understanding of practical accommodations, EEOC rights, and what supportive leadership should look like. We Also Co...
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June 26, 2026 • 40 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Elissa Renee—speech-language pathologist, autism clinical specialist, and the founder of Speech Works by Elissa—for a conversation that challenges what we assume “communication” looks like. Elissa shares how her own experience with selective mutism and speech apraxia shaped the way she supports non-speaking kids today, and what changed when she later realized she’s autistic...
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June 19, 2026 • 40 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Candace Gillhoolley: author, and co-host of the #1-rated quantum computing podcast Impact Quantum. The daughter of an IBM inventor who was working on quantum algorithms decades before the world caught up, and someone who didn't learn to read until she was 10, Candace makes a compelling case that the neurodivergent brain doesn't just navigate complexity — it's built for it. We Also Cover:
- How d...
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June 12, 2026 • 47 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Dr. Ravi R. Iyer, a Harvard-educated physician, entrepreneur, ADHD thought leader, and creator of IR Focal Point, to talk about the one force that turns potential into reality: attention. Ravi unpacks why desire alone is not enough, the hidden mechanics of human potential., and why so many people live as consumers of life instead of creators. We Also Cover:
- ADHD focus and attention training
- Dopamine ...
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June 5, 2026 • 29 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Sam Mitchell, autistic creator and host of Autism Rocks and Rolls, to talk about autism advocacy, identity, and why special interests can be a gift, not something to erase. Sam shares how years of bullying, depression, and exclusion shaped his early life, and how a creative outlet grew into a nonprofit, a speaking platform, and a mission to help people see autism through a more human, strength-based len...
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May 29, 2026 • 43 mins
Mike opens up about his personal history with depression, suicidal ideation, and self-harm as an AuDHD individual — from his earliest memories of struggling as a child to his last attempt in 2018. He and Chaya explore what it means to feel "out of frequency" as a neurodivergent person, the coping strategies that kept him alive, and what actually helps (and what doesn't) when someone you love is in crisis. Content Warning: Thi...
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May 22, 2026 • 46 mins
Mike and Chaya sit down with Stéphane Mousseau, learning strategist and founder of LIX Learning, a framework designed to bring clarity, trust, and neuro-inclusive design to the world of digital course creation. Stéphane opens up about his own ADHD, the years he spent masking it in rigid corporate environments, and how the frustration of broken systems — at work and in learning — drove him to build something better. We A...
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