Always Looking Up

In this week’s episode I welcomed back Dr. Akilah Cadet. Dr. Cadet is the Founder, CEO of Change Cadet consulting firm, a Forbes listed entrepreneur, co-owner of the Oakland Roots and Soul soccer teams, and author of White Supremacy Is All Around: Notes From a Black Disabled Woman in a White World. She literally has all the degrees, lives in Oakland, CA, celebrates her disability, is a proud Beyoncé advocate, and has an incredible ...

This week’s episode is a special episode in celebration of New York Fashion Week which just came to an end. As the tailor-made fashion girl, I wanted to share my thoughts before and after Fashion Week about the industry, representation, and being a little person who has such a passion for fashion, even though the industry still refuses to see her. This episode was originally recorded in two parts exclusively to Patreon members as d...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Ariella Elm. Ariella is a queer, Jewish, disabled political influencer offering daily visibility into the stories of Democratic fighters and inspiring activism from a place of hope, rather than fear. We discuss how our community can speak up, speak out, make an impact and make a difference, even if our bodies do not always allow us to show up, even if that means we are working on the sidelines...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Richard Whitehead MBE. Richard is a Paralympic Gold Medallist, world record holder, professional athlete, marathon runner and a passionate diversity and inclusion champion. Richard is now currently the fastest amputee runner in the world and is undertaking an epic 20 marathon challenge around the world throughout 2025, to bring him to an incredible 100 marathons of his career, connecting with ...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Ashton McGrady. Ashton is a Charlotte-based creator sharing beauty, fashion, and lifestyle content through the lens of someone living with a disability. She is especially passionate about accessibility in the beauty space and loves spotlighting inclusive products and creative ways to make your routine work for you. Alongside her creator work, Ashton is the co-founder and an accessibility consu...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Violet Ferguson. Violet is an emerging producer, content creator, and disability advocate based near Toronto, Ontario. Over the past few years, she’s focused on sharing disability-led stories and supporting disabled voices through her filmmaking and advocacy work. She recently served as the associate producer on the award-nominated series The Squeaky Wheel: Canada, a disability-focused product...

This episode celebrates 200 episodes of Always Looking Up, an incredible milestone that I am so incredibly proud of and grateful for. I wanted to take the time to reflect on what it means having gotten this far and the journey to get here, highlighting some milestone moments, look ahead towards where I want to be, where I want the podcast to be, and to say thank you to my brother, the audience, and guests past, present and future.

A...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Sheila Xu and her interpreter Justin Baldi. Sheila is an oral and signing Deaf woman who broke barriers as one of the first deaf commercial analog astronaut trainees and the first deaf Asian female pilot. As Director of Development at AstroAccess, a non-profit advancing disability inclusion in the space sector, she holds degrees from MIT, Harvard, and Wharton and promotes the leadership potent...

In the 200th episode of Always Looking Up I sat down with Ellie Simmonds. Ellie is a five-time Paralympic Champion and a fourteen time World Champion in the sport of para swimming. Ellie shot to fame when she won her first Paralympic Gold medal at just 13 years old at the Beijing Paralympics and after that summer success was the youngest ever recipient of an MBE, an award from the Queen at the age of 14. She then became an OBE afte...

Trigger Warning: In this episode we do discuss sensitive topics related to mental health such as addiction and self harm. If these are triggers for you please feel free to skip this episode.

In this week’s episode I sat down with Jen Montzingo. Jen is proud to serve in Los Angeles local politics in various ways such as serving on the North Hollywood Neighborhood Council and sitting on the Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympics Advisor...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Aariana Rose Philip. Aariana is a groundbreaking trans model from The Bronx, by way of Antigua and Barbuda, known for championing representation for disabled and trans women of color in fashion. Represented by Supreme New York, she has starred in global campaigns, graced major magazine covers including British Vogue, and continues to push for a more inclusive industry. We discuss how what many...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Catarina Rivera. Catarina is a dynamic public speaker, DEIA consultant, and content creator. She works with companies to improve disability awareness, inclusion, and accessibility. As a disabled Latiné woman, she is passionate about sharing her own unique story to help build a more inclusive world. We discuss how her life experiences shaped her career, changing the narratives and language arou...

Welcome Back!

In this week’s episode of Always Looking Up I sat down with Jenna Bainbridge. Jenna is an actor, singer, co-founder, disability rights advocate and executive producer of two of my favorite TikTok series. She navigates the world as an ambulatory wheelchair user and, in 2024 became the first wheelchair user to perform in a New Musical on Broadway when she made her debut in Suffs. Now she is again making history portrayin...

Dear Diary,

We have some housekeeping to do, and then let's start a conversation about how the world see's (or doesn't see) dwarf bodies.

This episode is the newest in my Jillian's Diary series on Patreon available to my "Second Step-Stool" tier.

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In this week’s episode I sat down with Liz Gutman. Liz is the Head Audio Description Writer at International Digital Centre in New York City. She has written award-winning AD for 850+ hours of movies and TV, and proudly works as an instructor with Audio Description Training Retreats. We discuss making and creating content that is digitally accessible, how she explains and defines access f*ckery and much, much more.

Editor’s Note: Th...

In celebration of May being Mental Health Awareness Month I am honored to have sat down with Kirsten Ferguson. A successful career woman turned Peloton fitness instructor, Kirsten wholeheartedly embraces the changes that life brings. After seven years of working with the NFL, she shifted her focus to family. Her journey to motherhood was not easy, and fitness helped Kirsten strengthen her body and soul during difficult times. She i...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Peet Montzingo. Peet Montzingo is one of the top social media content creators who has over 21.5M subscribers on his YouTube channel, 14.2M followers on his TikTok, and 3.1M followers on his Instagram. Known for his comedic videos that feature his family and daily life, his content also dabbles in the supernatural, where he formerly lived across the street from the infamous Cecil Hotel and doc...

In this week’s episode I sat down with Keah Brown. Keah is an award winning journalist, author, and screenwriter. Her work on disability, identity, and pop culture has appeared in Town & Country Magazine, Teen Vogue, Elle, The LA Times, Marie Claire UK, And The New York Times, among other publications. We discuss the connection between disability and celebrity, not having time for imposter syndrome, the pressure of writing an a...

In this episode I sat down with Anna Pakman, Margo Gignac and James Ian, the writer/director and stars of Emergency Plan, a new short film for the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge. Emergency Plan stars Margo and James as a disabled couple forced to send their young son out alone after a catastrophic East Coast earthquake — when it becomes clear no one is coming to help them evacuate. Ali Stroker voices the radio anchor whose w...