May 18, 2024 • 25 mins
Episode title and number:
The ADNA Explores the Entrepreneurial Journey of Bold Blind Beauty's Stephanae McCoy 4-#6
Summary of the show:
In this cross-promotional episode of "The ADNA Presents," Roy Samuelson speaks with special returning guest Stephanae McCoy, founder of Bold Blind Beauty. Stephanae shares her creative passion and the evolution of Bold Blind Beauty from a simple blog to a global community. She discusses the personal and technical challenges she faces as an entrepreneur with sight loss, and how storytelling has become a central focus in demystifying blindness.
Listeners will gain insight into her self-taught skills in audio and video production, her strategic pivots, and her deep commitment to inclusivity and authentic connection. Stephanae also offers valuable advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and highlights the importance of believing in possibilities.
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Bullet points of key topics & timestamps:
00:00 | Welcome and Introduction to Stephanae McCoy
00:11 | The Entrepreneurial Journey of Bold Blind Beauty
01:01 | Exploring the Essence of Beauty Beyond Sight
04:04 | The Power of Storytelling in Demystifying Blindness
07:47 | Behind the Scenes: The Making of Bold Blind Beauty
12:27 | The Personal Challenges of Entrepreneurship and Disability
18:04 | The Future of Bold Blind Beauty and Final Thoughts
Connect With Roy & Steph:
- Website - www.roysamuelson.com
- The ADNA Podcast - theadna.libsyn.com
- LinkedIn - @StephanaeMcCoy
Connect with Bold Blind Beauty to learn more about our advocacy:
- Join our Instagram community @BoldBlindBeauty
- Subscribe to our YouTube channel @BoldBlindBeauty
- Check out our website www.boldblindbeauty.com
Music Credit: "Ambient Uplifting Harmonic Happy" By Panda-x-music https://audiojungle.net/item/ambient-uplifting-harmonic-happy/46309958
Thanks for listening!❤️
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Roy Samuelson (00:04):
Welcome to the AD& A Presents.
Today, we have another veryspecial returning guest,
Stephanae McCoy of Bold BlindBeauty.
She has joined us and shared somuch about her entrepreneurship
journey that we wanted toexplore a little bit behind the
scenes on how she gets all herstuff done.
And Steph, thanks for joiningus.
Stephanae McCoy (00:24):
You Roy, it's always such a pleasure to be
here.
Roy Samuelson (00:27):
I can hear your smile already.
We usually start with what youlove about audio description.
I'm going to change the initialquestion to you and ask what you
love about being anentrepreneur.
Stephanae McCoy (00:40):
What I love about being an entrepreneur is
the creative process.
I think it's really apparent.
I am a creative at heart.
So anything that has to do withcoming up with ideas and making
those ideas a reality issomething that I think is really
central to who I am.
(01:01):
You know, when I started theBold, Blind Beauty journey, it
started with an idea of how toHelp people to understand what
blindness is, what it lookslike, and most importantly, the
capabilities of blind people.
And so the idea came aboutthrough a talk that I did with
(01:23):
blind women about how to applymakeup.
You know, a lot of people thinkthat blind people don't like
makeup.
They don't care about how theyappear, you know, dress wise and
those types of things, andnothing could be further from
the truth.
From the truth, these women wereso engaged and asked so many
(01:43):
questions about makeupapplication and things that it
got me to thinking that this wasa need and it was something that
needed to be talked about.
Roy Samuelson (01:53):
I love it.
And it sounds like that idea youinitially came to that passion.
That's been your drivingcreative force is evolved so
much beyond makeup.
Stephanae McCoy (02:02):
Oh, definitely.
Definitely.
Cause that started out like,sort of like the.
The thing.
Uh huh.
And then of course, beauty fellinto that.
And of course, the way I viewbeauty, for me, it's always been
a personal thing.
It came from my grandmother.
My grandmother used to say, youknow, you can take a person
who's ever so beautiful on theoutside, but if they're ugly on
(02:26):
the inside, you'll know it.
You know, it's just veryapparent.
And yet on the other hand, youcould have someone who may not
be as physically attractive, butif they have a beautiful spirit,
a beautiful soul, you see thatjust as well.
And honestly, when I think aboutit, I, you know, when we're
young, all of us are likebeautiful when we're young,
(02:49):
right?
Cause we place a high priorityon youth.
Aren't focused on that.
What's inside when we're young,we are going to get older.
If we're less fortunate enoughto, to get older, what are we
going to have to fall back on?
You know, because as we getolder, depending on our genes,
(03:11):
sometimes that exterior beautyfades, you know, if you don't
have anything else, that's moresubstantial inside of you, you
know, where are you at?
So for me, beauty has alwaysbeen deeply personal.
It's always been something thattruly resides on the inside.
And one of the lessons that mysight loss has has shown me is
(03:34):
that beauty is just, it can beexperienced in a myriad of ways.
Even having the background of mygrandmother's stories and things
about beauty is far deeper thanwhat I thought.
Roy Samuelson (03:46):
I love how you explore that.
That deepness beyond the, themakeup, the people that you
involve in your podcast, thepeople you involve in your
articles, the, the videos, allof that substantialness, the,
the, the bold of the bold, blindbeauty really revolves around
the story of, of people's sightloss.
I love how you say in the, onyour actual website, How you've,
(04:07):
how you've crafted what BoldBlind Beauty is.
Demystifying blindness throughstorytelling.
That seems to have been a supercore value that you've brought
to the website.
And everything really tethersand anchors to that.
And I'm curious about how thatstorytelling anchors to your
creative process.
Stephanae McCoy (04:27):
So initially, when I started Bold Blind
Beauty, the tagline was becauseit did revolve around beauty,
real beauty transcends barriers,and those barriers were not just
the physical barriers in ourworld, but those barriers that
are erected by us humans insociety.
And I do believe that, and itdoes go much deeper.
(04:50):
But then as.
The site has evolved over theyears and this creative process,
I started going through it as Ido periodically.
And I thought about it and it'slike all these stories and I'm
sharing of these, these amazingpeople who are all on the
blindness spectrum.
It is through storytelling thatwe're able to make a change.
(05:12):
And impact society and challengepeople to think beyond the
exterior to think beyondpeople's disabilities to think
beyond the differences, becausereally differences.
Are not a bad thing.
I think differences arebeautiful, and it does make the
(05:34):
tapestry of life so much moreinteresting, you know, to have
those interlocking threads ofdifferent colors and textures,
and it just makes it so.
So beautiful, you know, and whenyou think about the world and
everything that's in it, and,you know, we're all the world's
(05:54):
populated with all thesedifferent people.
If we just had 1 sort of person,or 2 sorts of people, it'd be
rather dull, but we don't.
And so when I think about thecreative process with bold,
blind beauty and the thingsthat.
You know, I do here and thestorytelling really came to the
(06:16):
forefront.
You know, I couldn't articulatethat in the beginning.
It's grown.
Um, I like the word pivot,although I think it is overused,
but we've had to pivot so manydifferent times and so many
different directions.
Even that process has been soilluminating to me.
Because I'll think of somethingand it's like, okay, I want to
(06:38):
do this.
This is the idea.
This is how we're going to doit.
This is the plan we're going tofollow to get to the end goal.
And then as we're like midwaythrough, sometimes not even
midway through, we have to pivotand it ends up being a great
detour.
You know, a lot of people getanxious with uncertainty.
I'm one of them.
But when it happens, when welean into it, it can really, um,
(07:03):
bring about some miraculousthings.
Roy Samuelson (07:06):
Yeah, I hear that.
I love the, uh, the pivot fromthe focus on barriers to the
focus on demystifying blindnessfeels like it's also so aligned
with, with where you're headed.
That seems to also align withthe, the spectrum of blindness
that you talked about thenuance.
We've been talking about thenuance and audio description
since as far as I can remembertalking about how those
(07:29):
different approaches reallymatter.
And I see in your weaving of thetapestries of these different
people's stories within the boldblind beauty, um, content that
demystifying comes through soclearly now that you focused on
demystifying blindness throughstorytelling, that clarity.
Just source and it's no wonderthat you're having the successes
(07:50):
that you are in the outreachthat you have Can we talk a
little bit about the behind thescenes?
One of the reasons I wanted tointerview you again is to to
really explore how you get whatyou get done like you ship You
deliver.
You have articles.
You have podcasts.
You have videos.
You've got newsletters.
You're an entrepreneur.
(08:11):
How?
How?
Stephanae McCoy (08:14):
Honestly, you know, I sit here and I ask
myself the same thing and thenit's like, you know, there must
be something wrong with mebecause when I really sit down
and think about it, there's alot.
Bold, Blind Beauty started outas a simple blog.
Roy Samuelson (08:28):
Yeah.
Stephanae McCoy (08:29):
Just a simple blog, writing some articles.
And then I reached out to otherpeople and asked them to submit
articles.
And then, uh, later on down theroad, we started doing videos.
So we had to have a YouTubechannel to host those videos.
And then someone on my teamthought it'd be a great idea to
create a podcast.
(08:49):
And I'm like, okay, I did theresearch and found that that was
a great idea.
It was a matter of how to do it.
Because I had no idea, you know,I had to learn how to build out
the website.
I knew nothing about blogging.
I knew nothing about web design.
I knew nothing.
I actually took a whole year ora year and a half or so just to
(09:12):
do research.
I took some online courses toteach myself how to do it.
And then how to deliver soeverything that I have done
behind the scenes, I've taughtmyself for editing the audio for
the podcast.
I use audacity when I firstopened up audacity.
I was scared to death because Ihad never seen an audio editing
(09:34):
program before.
And I'm looking at this thingand it made no sense.
And I'm thinking, there's justno way, you know, I don't know
how I'm going to do this, butthank goodness we have YouTube.
Because YouTube is where I goto, to learn most of the things
that I do.
Actually on our YouTube channel,I took courses on how to make
the best out of our channel andhow to do thumbnails and how to
(09:58):
do the uploads, what to put intothe description, putting in
channel markers, all All of thatstuff was stuff that I had to
learn how to do, and I'm stilllearning every day.
I'm learning more stuff with thewebsite, particularly WordPress.
That's who I use for my websitehas changed so significantly.
Through the years, since I firstbegan, I honestly can't keep up
(10:21):
with all of the changes becausenot only am I working with
WordPress, but also the ecommerce component and then my
print on demand service, whichprovides the products.
That I host on the store, it'slike so many things are
(10:41):
interconnected.
I am pretty tech savvy.
So with, you know, platformsthat I use, I use Google for
nearly everything becauseeverything's hosted in cloud.
So if I lose access to, youknow, my computer or whatever,
it crashes, everything is hostedthere and I can get it.
I I don't lose anything.
It's really a lot.
(11:03):
It's a lot.
And organization, I think is, isvery key because I have to know
where to pull the differentpieces of information that I
have.
I have a very advanced filesystem that I use on my desktop
and on Google drive.
As well as even in my email andeverything where I sort of pull
(11:26):
everything together.
Roy Samuelson (11:28):
Uh, the laundry list from YouTube to Google to
WordPress to Audacity.
You and I have a personal jokethat's been running for several
years about, uh, why iPhones arebetter than Androids.
And I think you've proven mewrong yet again.
Stephanae McCoy (11:41):
To be honest, they both have their values,
right?
And it is a matter of personalpreference, but you know where
I'm, I'm always team Android.
But I love, I love my iPhonefriends too.
I love you guys.
Totally, no.
Roy Samuelson (11:57):
We just went public.
I love how the self tie fromYouTube to everything else that
you have taken the initiative toto get done what you need to get
done.
And I can't help but think thatit comes back from that initial
idea, that passion that you haveto get this message out, that
that has been the driving force.
I'd imagine a lot of thefrustrations being a person on
(12:20):
the blindness spectrum addsextra challenges to the, to the
process.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
Stephanae McCoy (12:27):
It definitely does.
And that's the one story that Ialmost never talk about.
Roy Samuelson (12:32):
Really?
Stephanae McCoy (12:32):
I share the stories of all these other
people.
But I never share the story thatI'm actually living and just how
challenging it is.
You know, entrepreneurship ishard for anyone and you will
never hear me say, it's allabout coming up with an idea and
(12:53):
putting it out to the universebecause there's so much more to
it than that.
And honestly, anybody who willtell you that they either have
the fine.
Finances, the resources, people,whatever they have behind them
to get them up and running, orthere's something else going on.
And if, if somebody saying thatyou need to question how, how
(13:14):
they're doing it, it's, it'sdifficult not being able to see
very well.
And when I say not being able tosee very well, I cannot see out
of my right eye at all.
I have no, no vision.
Functional vision in my righteye, my left eye can only be
measured with finger counting orhand waving.
So I very rarely use a screenreader.
(13:36):
I rely very heavily onmagnification.
Thank goodness.
I can still do that.
However, um, I will use screenreader technology when there is
a lot of text or something, butyou add in the time that it
takes to do the task that I dowith my level of sight, sight
(13:57):
loss, it will blow your mind.
And, and it also increases myanxiety and stress levels
because it is so important toget the message out there.
To me, the message is soimportant.
It supersedes everything.
And that means even my ownstory, which I don't talk about.
So thank you for asking that.
Roy Samuelson (14:18):
Yes.
It's an honor to hear your storyand to know the level of
dedication that's going onbehind the scenes.
The challenge is, as aentrepreneur.
Adding on the disability just,uh, compounds things, but that
drive seems to keep you going.
When those obstacles inevitablycome up, those, the irony,
(14:38):
barriers in technology, what areyour go to ways to, to get
through the, the anxiety, to getto the finish line when things
feel like they're just not goingthe way you want?
Stephanae McCoy (14:52):
Oh, that's such a good question.
And it's a complicated one atthe same time.
Honestly, I think it justdepends on the situation.
It depends on the day, you know,what else might be going on in
my life?
Because that's the other thing,uh, to it, you know, this that
I'm doing is.
Is difficult and I still have alife, you know, I, I have a dog
(15:16):
that I have to care for.
He needs my attention.
I have, uh, grown children andgrandchildren, you know, when
they're here, I can't do mywork.
That means so much to me.
So it's about prioritizing, youknow, what comes first and
trying to really be present inthe moment.
But when I'm feeling superanxious, a lot of times, the
(15:41):
thing that helps me most is justto unplug.
Just to stop everything, it'sstill sometimes causes me a
little bit of anxiety and I'llfeel it because my heart will
race a little bit.
But when I unplug and pull away,it allows me to rest and then to
refocus.
So, then, when I come back toit, the answers are usually
(16:03):
there.
They're, they're a little moreclearer to me because sometimes
when I'm working through theproblem, I'm so focused on that
barrier.
That's right in front of me thatI can't see whatever is right
behind it because I'm justliterally, I'm going to say it.
I'm blinded by the barrier.
(16:25):
This right in front of me, ormaybe it's not even right in
front of me.
Maybe the answer is right infront of me, but I can't see it.
Because I'm so clouded by the,uh, the anxiety and the stress.
Roy Samuelson (16:39):
To be able to see how staying present and also
unplugging, it's almostcounterintuitive that that is
the solve.
That that perspective changegives you the ability to see the
barriers in a different light,in a different perspective.
I'm still using the, um, uh, thesight analogy here.
But there's something about the,that perspective change.
I think about a quote that Iheard.
(17:00):
10 years ago, SalvatoreAmbulando, I'm probably
mispronouncing it, but it, itbasically translates in Latin
to, it is solved by walking.
And it's that step of literallygetting outside, getting some
fresh air and moving andchanging perspective.
Somehow that, that helps.
And it's, it is socounterintuitive.
It feels like nothing.
I can hear your work ethic is sostrong that, that.
(17:25):
That heart racing of, I'm goingto unplug now, I can relate to
that.
Stephanae McCoy (17:29):
It's true.
And, you know, as I said before,to, to friends that are close to
me, I had to literally write outthe word breathe.
Wow.
On post it notes.
So, I have it on my laptop, Ihave it on my mirror in my
bathroom, and I have one on mynightstand.
I have it everywhere to remindme when I look at that word,
(17:51):
it's like, okay, it's time tojust step away.
Because sometimes when we're sofocused, the answer's there.
It's just that we're so focusedon the problem, we can't see the
solution.
Roy Samuelson (18:03):
Wow.
Yeah.
How do you feel about wherethings are headed with bold,
blind beauty?
As far as your process, you'vetalked about the pivot, you've
talked about the new approachand you've shared some behind
the scenes, you know, the selftaught aspect.
How are things going?
Where do you see things headedwith bold, blind beauty?
Stephanae McCoy (18:21):
So the beginning of this year, we had a
plan, and unfortunately, thingsweren't going to plan, and now I
find myself in this weird spaceof, I did say I was going to put
myself out there in 2024, so,um, I have begun that process,
and I'm beginning to.
(18:41):
Share the scenes.
I begun the process of puttingmyself out there by having some
brand photos taken.
So I'm working on doing a trulybehind the scenes leading up to
that actual brand shoot.
So I'm working on puttingtogether the video, you know,
editing it and everything, andI'll share that story.
(19:04):
I want to pitch my local TV newsstations here in Pittsburgh
about the story of bold, blindbeauty, uh, specifically for
global accessibility awarenessday.
16th, so I'm hoping that I canget on if I cannot, that's fine.
I'm not going to let thatprevent me from continuing to
(19:25):
pitch to, you know, sellwhatever store it is that they
might want to be able to, uh,present and I do have some
higher goals in terms of, youknow, Cause I would like to do
it on a local level and on anational level and really
globally.
I know that this is possiblebecause we even have global team
members.
So we have a team member inRussia, a team member in New
(19:48):
Zealand, team members inAustralia and Canada.
And for me, that is so hugebecause if you would have asked
me.
You know, would I be workingwith people in these countries,
you know, several years ago, Iwould have said, well, how am I
going to do that?
How am I?
No, that's not going to happen.
You know, I'm here inPittsburgh.
We're not, no, we're not global,but we are.
(20:11):
So I think that's another storythat needs to be told the people
behind the scenes who dedicatetheir time to, um, help me share
the message of bold, blindbeauty.
I think that is just asimportant.
It's, it's just so criticalbecause when you have a story
that is so compelling that otherpeople believe in it.
(20:34):
Believe in it to the point wherethey're like, we want to help
you to do this and no, you don'thave to worry about paying us.
That to me is huge.
Roy Samuelson (20:44):
I hear the, the message of bold, blind beauty.
And I hear how you puttingyourself out there does not
contradict that message of bold,blind beauty, that you yourself
by putting yourself out thereare a part of bold, blind
beauty.
And I'd imagine that that.
Acceptance yourself was its ownprocess.
(21:05):
How was that for you?
Stephanae McCoy (21:06):
It's really kind of weird in a way, because
initially when I first startedit, Bold Blind Beauty, that is,
I created, you know, the typicalthings.
I came up with the name, I cameup with the website, the email
address and everything, then theFacebook page, and then later on
Instagram.
At some point I had Twitter.
I no longer have X.
(21:28):
However, one thing I didn't dois create a page on LinkedIn
because I felt like StephanaeMcCoy was bold, blind beauty.
And to some degree, I thinkpeople that have connected me
recognize that.
We had, uh, one of my dearfriends who helped me to get
bold, blind beauty to where itwas in 2019.
(21:50):
She passed away.
She hosted a focus group forbold, blind beauty.
And out of that focus group, thepeople who participated, the
theme that came out of that wasthey felt that bold, blind
beauty was me as, as a person.
And that, I was reachable, theycould talk to me, and that was
what set me apart from othercompanies that were out there,
(22:13):
you know, sort of selling theirwares and sort of preaching at
people.
They felt like I was talkingwith people, not talking to
people and that I listen andthat they could relate to me and
I could relate to them.
And it's truly a give and take.
Relationship with myself and thepeople that I connect with, you
(22:37):
know, when I 1st started out, Isaid, if I could reach 1 person,
then I know that I have, I havedone well, and I've reached more
than 1 person.
I have a folder that I call.
foot folder where I keepmessages that people send me
when they tell me things like,you know, that article you wrote
(22:58):
about how you felt about yourwhite cane and how you came to
accept it, how you came toaccept your sight loss that
really helped me to, uh, see myjourney a little bit differently
that.
Is powerful and that isconnection and that is why I do
what I do.
Roy Samuelson (23:18):
Wow.
Wow.
What an impact of that.
Do not quit folder and to beable to reference it.
Stephanae McCoy (23:24):
Yes.
That's the other thing that Iforgot to share.
When you asked me the questionabout dealing with the anxiety
and the pressure and stuff thatI do go back to that and look at
that because that I drawstrength from that.
Is
Roy Samuelson (23:41):
there anything else you'd like to share with
our audience about yourentrepreneurship journey, where
things are headed?
This is so wide ranging already.
We've got, we've got gold here.
Stephanae McCoy (23:49):
Yeah, I just want to encourage people that if
you do have an idea, number one,do the research.
I think that's criticallyimportant.
But don't let people dissuadeyou.
If you feel strongly enough,believe in possibilities.
That's what I believe in.
I'm not telling people tobelieve in what I believe in.
(24:10):
I do believe in possibilitiesbecause if I didn't believe in
possibilities, I wouldn't behere right now.
But do the research, be seen, beheard, be valued.
Let people hear your voice.
You're worth it.
You know, we, we need oneanother in this crazy life.
Roy Samuelson (24:28):
Steph, how can we follow bold, blind beauty?
You've already mentionedInstagram.
You've mentioned the websites,Facebook, it's all bold, blind
beauty.
Stephanae McCoy (24:36):
Yes.
You too.
The podcast is bold, blindbeauty on air, and it's actually
found on all the major podcastplatforms.
Just bold, blind, beauty on air.
But yeah, everything else isbold, blind, beauty.
Uh, if you want to reach out tome, uh, personally on LinkedIn,
just under my name, StephanaeMcCoy.
Roy Samuelson (24:56):
Very good.
And if we could add one moreplug, the bold, blind, beauty on
air.
I love air acronym.
Could you share that acronymwith our audience?
Stephanae McCoy (25:05):
Yes.
I love the air acronym.
Everyone on a planet needs airto survive.
People with disabilities needair.
access, inclusion, andrepresentation, not only to
survive, but to thrive.
Roy Samuelson (25:23):
Oh, you've got it down.
Thanks so much for joining us,Steph.
Stephanae McCoy (25:28):
Thank you.
Welcome to the AD& A Presents.
Today, we have another veryspecial returning guest,
Stephanae McCoy of Bold BlindBeauty.
She has joined us and shared somuch about her entrepreneurship
journey that we wanted toexplore a little bit behind the
scenes on how she gets all herstuff done.
And Steph, thanks for joiningus.
Stephanae McCoy (00:24):
You Roy, it's always such a pleasure to be
here.
Roy Samuelson (00:27):
I can hear your smile already.
We usually start with what youlove about audio description.
I'm going to change the initialquestion to you and ask what you
love about being anentrepreneur.
Stephanae McCoy (00:40):
What I love about being an entrepreneur is
the creative process.
I think it's really apparent.
I am a creative at heart.
So anything that has to do withcoming up with ideas and making
those ideas a reality issomething that I think is really
central to who I am.
(01:01):
You know, when I started theBold, Blind Beauty journey, it
started with an idea of how toHelp people to understand what
blindness is, what it lookslike, and most importantly, the
capabilities of blind people.
And so the idea came aboutthrough a talk that I did with
(01:23):
blind women about how to applymakeup.
You know, a lot of people thinkthat blind people don't like
makeup.
They don't care about how theyappear, you know, dress wise and
those types of things, andnothing could be further from
the truth.
From the truth, these women wereso engaged and asked so many
(01:43):
questions about makeupapplication and things that it
got me to thinking that this wasa need and it was something that
needed to be talked about.
Roy Samuelson (01:53):
I love it.
And it sounds like that idea youinitially came to that passion.
That's been your drivingcreative force is evolved so
much beyond makeup.
Stephanae McCoy (02:02):
Oh, definitely.
Definitely.
Cause that started out like,sort of like the.
The thing.
Uh huh.
And then of course, beauty fellinto that.
And of course, the way I viewbeauty, for me, it's always been
a personal thing.
It came from my grandmother.
My grandmother used to say, youknow, you can take a person
who's ever so beautiful on theoutside, but if they're ugly on
(02:26):
the inside, you'll know it.
You know, it's just veryapparent.
And yet on the other hand, youcould have someone who may not
be as physically attractive, butif they have a beautiful spirit,
a beautiful soul, you see thatjust as well.
And honestly, when I think aboutit, I, you know, when we're
young, all of us are likebeautiful when we're young,
(02:49):
right?
Cause we place a high priorityon youth.
Aren't focused on that.
What's inside when we're young,we are going to get older.
If we're less fortunate enoughto, to get older, what are we
going to have to fall back on?
You know, because as we getolder, depending on our genes,
(03:11):
sometimes that exterior beautyfades, you know, if you don't
have anything else, that's moresubstantial inside of you, you
know, where are you at?
So for me, beauty has alwaysbeen deeply personal.
It's always been something thattruly resides on the inside.
And one of the lessons that mysight loss has has shown me is
(03:34):
that beauty is just, it can beexperienced in a myriad of ways.
Even having the background of mygrandmother's stories and things
about beauty is far deeper thanwhat I thought.
Roy Samuelson (03:46):
I love how you explore that.
That deepness beyond the, themakeup, the people that you
involve in your podcast, thepeople you involve in your
articles, the, the videos, allof that substantialness, the,
the, the bold of the bold, blindbeauty really revolves around
the story of, of people's sightloss.
I love how you say in the, onyour actual website, How you've,
(04:07):
how you've crafted what BoldBlind Beauty is.
Demystifying blindness throughstorytelling.
That seems to have been a supercore value that you've brought
to the website.
And everything really tethersand anchors to that.
And I'm curious about how thatstorytelling anchors to your
creative process.
Stephanae McCoy (04:27):
So initially, when I started Bold Blind
Beauty, the tagline was becauseit did revolve around beauty,
real beauty transcends barriers,and those barriers were not just
the physical barriers in ourworld, but those barriers that
are erected by us humans insociety.
And I do believe that, and itdoes go much deeper.
(04:50):
But then as.
The site has evolved over theyears and this creative process,
I started going through it as Ido periodically.
And I thought about it and it'slike all these stories and I'm
sharing of these, these amazingpeople who are all on the
blindness spectrum.
It is through storytelling thatwe're able to make a change.
(05:12):
And impact society and challengepeople to think beyond the
exterior to think beyondpeople's disabilities to think
beyond the differences, becausereally differences.
Are not a bad thing.
I think differences arebeautiful, and it does make the
(05:34):
tapestry of life so much moreinteresting, you know, to have
those interlocking threads ofdifferent colors and textures,
and it just makes it so.
So beautiful, you know, and whenyou think about the world and
everything that's in it, and,you know, we're all the world's
(05:54):
populated with all thesedifferent people.
If we just had 1 sort of person,or 2 sorts of people, it'd be
rather dull, but we don't.
And so when I think about thecreative process with bold,
blind beauty and the thingsthat.
You know, I do here and thestorytelling really came to the
(06:16):
forefront.
You know, I couldn't articulatethat in the beginning.
It's grown.
Um, I like the word pivot,although I think it is overused,
but we've had to pivot so manydifferent times and so many
different directions.
Even that process has been soilluminating to me.
Because I'll think of somethingand it's like, okay, I want to
(06:38):
do this.
This is the idea.
This is how we're going to doit.
This is the plan we're going tofollow to get to the end goal.
And then as we're like midwaythrough, sometimes not even
midway through, we have to pivotand it ends up being a great
detour.
You know, a lot of people getanxious with uncertainty.
I'm one of them.
But when it happens, when welean into it, it can really, um,
(07:03):
bring about some miraculousthings.
Roy Samuelson (07:06):
Yeah, I hear that.
I love the, uh, the pivot fromthe focus on barriers to the
focus on demystifying blindnessfeels like it's also so aligned
with, with where you're headed.
That seems to also align withthe, the spectrum of blindness
that you talked about thenuance.
We've been talking about thenuance and audio description
since as far as I can remembertalking about how those
(07:29):
different approaches reallymatter.
And I see in your weaving of thetapestries of these different
people's stories within the boldblind beauty, um, content that
demystifying comes through soclearly now that you focused on
demystifying blindness throughstorytelling, that clarity.
Just source and it's no wonderthat you're having the successes
(07:50):
that you are in the outreachthat you have Can we talk a
little bit about the behind thescenes?
One of the reasons I wanted tointerview you again is to to
really explore how you get whatyou get done like you ship You
deliver.
You have articles.
You have podcasts.
You have videos.
You've got newsletters.
You're an entrepreneur.
(08:11):
How?
How?
Stephanae McCoy (08:14):
Honestly, you know, I sit here and I ask
myself the same thing and thenit's like, you know, there must
be something wrong with mebecause when I really sit down
and think about it, there's alot.
Bold, Blind Beauty started outas a simple blog.
Roy Samuelson (08:28):
Yeah.
Stephanae McCoy (08:29):
Just a simple blog, writing some articles.
And then I reached out to otherpeople and asked them to submit
articles.
And then, uh, later on down theroad, we started doing videos.
So we had to have a YouTubechannel to host those videos.
And then someone on my teamthought it'd be a great idea to
create a podcast.
(08:49):
And I'm like, okay, I did theresearch and found that that was
a great idea.
It was a matter of how to do it.
Because I had no idea, you know,I had to learn how to build out
the website.
I knew nothing about blogging.
I knew nothing about web design.
I knew nothing.
I actually took a whole year ora year and a half or so just to
(09:12):
do research.
I took some online courses toteach myself how to do it.
And then how to deliver soeverything that I have done
behind the scenes, I've taughtmyself for editing the audio for
the podcast.
I use audacity when I firstopened up audacity.
I was scared to death because Ihad never seen an audio editing
(09:34):
program before.
And I'm looking at this thingand it made no sense.
And I'm thinking, there's justno way, you know, I don't know
how I'm going to do this, butthank goodness we have YouTube.
Because YouTube is where I goto, to learn most of the things
that I do.
Actually on our YouTube channel,I took courses on how to make
the best out of our channel andhow to do thumbnails and how to
(09:58):
do the uploads, what to put intothe description, putting in
channel markers, all All of thatstuff was stuff that I had to
learn how to do, and I'm stilllearning every day.
I'm learning more stuff with thewebsite, particularly WordPress.
That's who I use for my websitehas changed so significantly.
Through the years, since I firstbegan, I honestly can't keep up
(10:21):
with all of the changes becausenot only am I working with
WordPress, but also the ecommerce component and then my
print on demand service, whichprovides the products.
That I host on the store, it'slike so many things are
(10:41):
interconnected.
I am pretty tech savvy.
So with, you know, platformsthat I use, I use Google for
nearly everything becauseeverything's hosted in cloud.
So if I lose access to, youknow, my computer or whatever,
it crashes, everything is hostedthere and I can get it.
I I don't lose anything.
It's really a lot.
(11:03):
It's a lot.
And organization, I think is, isvery key because I have to know
where to pull the differentpieces of information that I
have.
I have a very advanced filesystem that I use on my desktop
and on Google drive.
As well as even in my email andeverything where I sort of pull
(11:26):
everything together.
Roy Samuelson (11:28):
Uh, the laundry list from YouTube to Google to
WordPress to Audacity.
You and I have a personal jokethat's been running for several
years about, uh, why iPhones arebetter than Androids.
And I think you've proven mewrong yet again.
Stephanae McCoy (11:41):
To be honest, they both have their values,
right?
And it is a matter of personalpreference, but you know where
I'm, I'm always team Android.
But I love, I love my iPhonefriends too.
I love you guys.
Totally, no.
Roy Samuelson (11:57):
We just went public.
I love how the self tie fromYouTube to everything else that
you have taken the initiative toto get done what you need to get
done.
And I can't help but think thatit comes back from that initial
idea, that passion that you haveto get this message out, that
that has been the driving force.
I'd imagine a lot of thefrustrations being a person on
(12:20):
the blindness spectrum addsextra challenges to the, to the
process.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?
Stephanae McCoy (12:27):
It definitely does.
And that's the one story that Ialmost never talk about.
Roy Samuelson (12:32):
Really?
Stephanae McCoy (12:32):
I share the stories of all these other
people.
But I never share the story thatI'm actually living and just how
challenging it is.
You know, entrepreneurship ishard for anyone and you will
never hear me say, it's allabout coming up with an idea and
(12:53):
putting it out to the universebecause there's so much more to
it than that.
And honestly, anybody who willtell you that they either have
the fine.
Finances, the resources, people,whatever they have behind them
to get them up and running, orthere's something else going on.
And if, if somebody saying thatyou need to question how, how
(13:14):
they're doing it, it's, it'sdifficult not being able to see
very well.
And when I say not being able tosee very well, I cannot see out
of my right eye at all.
I have no, no vision.
Functional vision in my righteye, my left eye can only be
measured with finger counting orhand waving.
So I very rarely use a screenreader.
(13:36):
I rely very heavily onmagnification.
Thank goodness.
I can still do that.
However, um, I will use screenreader technology when there is
a lot of text or something, butyou add in the time that it
takes to do the task that I dowith my level of sight, sight
(13:57):
loss, it will blow your mind.
And, and it also increases myanxiety and stress levels
because it is so important toget the message out there.
To me, the message is soimportant.
It supersedes everything.
And that means even my ownstory, which I don't talk about.
So thank you for asking that.
Roy Samuelson (14:18):
Yes.
It's an honor to hear your storyand to know the level of
dedication that's going onbehind the scenes.
The challenge is, as aentrepreneur.
Adding on the disability just,uh, compounds things, but that
drive seems to keep you going.
When those obstacles inevitablycome up, those, the irony,
(14:38):
barriers in technology, what areyour go to ways to, to get
through the, the anxiety, to getto the finish line when things
feel like they're just not goingthe way you want?
Stephanae McCoy (14:52):
Oh, that's such a good question.
And it's a complicated one atthe same time.
Honestly, I think it justdepends on the situation.
It depends on the day, you know,what else might be going on in
my life?
Because that's the other thing,uh, to it, you know, this that
I'm doing is.
Is difficult and I still have alife, you know, I, I have a dog
(15:16):
that I have to care for.
He needs my attention.
I have, uh, grown children andgrandchildren, you know, when
they're here, I can't do mywork.
That means so much to me.
So it's about prioritizing, youknow, what comes first and
trying to really be present inthe moment.
But when I'm feeling superanxious, a lot of times, the
(15:41):
thing that helps me most is justto unplug.
Just to stop everything, it'sstill sometimes causes me a
little bit of anxiety and I'llfeel it because my heart will
race a little bit.
But when I unplug and pull away,it allows me to rest and then to
refocus.
So, then, when I come back toit, the answers are usually
(16:03):
there.
They're, they're a little moreclearer to me because sometimes
when I'm working through theproblem, I'm so focused on that
barrier.
That's right in front of me thatI can't see whatever is right
behind it because I'm justliterally, I'm going to say it.
I'm blinded by the barrier.
(16:25):
This right in front of me, ormaybe it's not even right in
front of me.
Maybe the answer is right infront of me, but I can't see it.
Because I'm so clouded by the,uh, the anxiety and the stress.
Roy Samuelson (16:39):
To be able to see how staying present and also
unplugging, it's almostcounterintuitive that that is
the solve.
That that perspective changegives you the ability to see the
barriers in a different light,in a different perspective.
I'm still using the, um, uh, thesight analogy here.
But there's something about the,that perspective change.
I think about a quote that Iheard.
(17:00):
10 years ago, SalvatoreAmbulando, I'm probably
mispronouncing it, but it, itbasically translates in Latin
to, it is solved by walking.
And it's that step of literallygetting outside, getting some
fresh air and moving andchanging perspective.
Somehow that, that helps.
And it's, it is socounterintuitive.
It feels like nothing.
I can hear your work ethic is sostrong that, that.
(17:25):
That heart racing of, I'm goingto unplug now, I can relate to
that.
Stephanae McCoy (17:29):
It's true.
And, you know, as I said before,to, to friends that are close to
me, I had to literally write outthe word breathe.
Wow.
On post it notes.
So, I have it on my laptop, Ihave it on my mirror in my
bathroom, and I have one on mynightstand.
I have it everywhere to remindme when I look at that word,
(17:51):
it's like, okay, it's time tojust step away.
Because sometimes when we're sofocused, the answer's there.
It's just that we're so focusedon the problem, we can't see the
solution.
Roy Samuelson (18:03):
Wow.
Yeah.
How do you feel about wherethings are headed with bold,
blind beauty?
As far as your process, you'vetalked about the pivot, you've
talked about the new approachand you've shared some behind
the scenes, you know, the selftaught aspect.
How are things going?
Where do you see things headedwith bold, blind beauty?
Stephanae McCoy (18:21):
So the beginning of this year, we had a
plan, and unfortunately, thingsweren't going to plan, and now I
find myself in this weird spaceof, I did say I was going to put
myself out there in 2024, so,um, I have begun that process,
and I'm beginning to.
(18:41):
Share the scenes.
I begun the process of puttingmyself out there by having some
brand photos taken.
So I'm working on doing a trulybehind the scenes leading up to
that actual brand shoot.
So I'm working on puttingtogether the video, you know,
editing it and everything, andI'll share that story.
(19:04):
I want to pitch my local TV newsstations here in Pittsburgh
about the story of bold, blindbeauty, uh, specifically for
global accessibility awarenessday.
16th, so I'm hoping that I canget on if I cannot, that's fine.
I'm not going to let thatprevent me from continuing to
(19:25):
pitch to, you know, sellwhatever store it is that they
might want to be able to, uh,present and I do have some
higher goals in terms of, youknow, Cause I would like to do
it on a local level and on anational level and really
globally.
I know that this is possiblebecause we even have global team
members.
So we have a team member inRussia, a team member in New
(19:48):
Zealand, team members inAustralia and Canada.
And for me, that is so hugebecause if you would have asked
me.
You know, would I be workingwith people in these countries,
you know, several years ago, Iwould have said, well, how am I
going to do that?
How am I?
No, that's not going to happen.
You know, I'm here inPittsburgh.
We're not, no, we're not global,but we are.
(20:11):
So I think that's another storythat needs to be told the people
behind the scenes who dedicatetheir time to, um, help me share
the message of bold, blindbeauty.
I think that is just asimportant.
It's, it's just so criticalbecause when you have a story
that is so compelling that otherpeople believe in it.
(20:34):
Believe in it to the point wherethey're like, we want to help
you to do this and no, you don'thave to worry about paying us.
That to me is huge.
Roy Samuelson (20:44):
I hear the, the message of bold, blind beauty.
And I hear how you puttingyourself out there does not
contradict that message of bold,blind beauty, that you yourself
by putting yourself out thereare a part of bold, blind
beauty.
And I'd imagine that that.
Acceptance yourself was its ownprocess.
(21:05):
How was that for you?
Stephanae McCoy (21:06):
It's really kind of weird in a way, because
initially when I first startedit, Bold Blind Beauty, that is,
I created, you know, the typicalthings.
I came up with the name, I cameup with the website, the email
address and everything, then theFacebook page, and then later on
Instagram.
At some point I had Twitter.
I no longer have X.
(21:28):
However, one thing I didn't dois create a page on LinkedIn
because I felt like StephanaeMcCoy was bold, blind beauty.
And to some degree, I thinkpeople that have connected me
recognize that.
We had, uh, one of my dearfriends who helped me to get
bold, blind beauty to where itwas in 2019.
(21:50):
She passed away.
She hosted a focus group forbold, blind beauty.
And out of that focus group, thepeople who participated, the
theme that came out of that wasthey felt that bold, blind
beauty was me as, as a person.
And that, I was reachable, theycould talk to me, and that was
what set me apart from othercompanies that were out there,
(22:13):
you know, sort of selling theirwares and sort of preaching at
people.
They felt like I was talkingwith people, not talking to
people and that I listen andthat they could relate to me and
I could relate to them.
And it's truly a give and take.
Relationship with myself and thepeople that I connect with, you
(22:37):
know, when I 1st started out, Isaid, if I could reach 1 person,
then I know that I have, I havedone well, and I've reached more
than 1 person.
I have a folder that I call.
foot folder where I keepmessages that people send me
when they tell me things like,you know, that article you wrote
(22:58):
about how you felt about yourwhite cane and how you came to
accept it, how you came toaccept your sight loss that
really helped me to, uh, see myjourney a little bit differently
that.
Is powerful and that isconnection and that is why I do
what I do.
Roy Samuelson (23:18):
Wow.
Wow.
What an impact of that.
Do not quit folder and to beable to reference it.
Stephanae McCoy (23:24):
Yes.
That's the other thing that Iforgot to share.
When you asked me the questionabout dealing with the anxiety
and the pressure and stuff thatI do go back to that and look at
that because that I drawstrength from that.
Is
Roy Samuelson (23:41):
there anything else you'd like to share with
our audience about yourentrepreneurship journey, where
things are headed?
This is so wide ranging already.
We've got, we've got gold here.
Stephanae McCoy (23:49):
Yeah, I just want to encourage people that if
you do have an idea, number one,do the research.
I think that's criticallyimportant.
But don't let people dissuadeyou.
If you feel strongly enough,believe in possibilities.
That's what I believe in.
I'm not telling people tobelieve in what I believe in.
(24:10):
I do believe in possibilitiesbecause if I didn't believe in
possibilities, I wouldn't behere right now.
But do the research, be seen, beheard, be valued.
Let people hear your voice.
You're worth it.
You know, we, we need oneanother in this crazy life.
Roy Samuelson (24:28):
Steph, how can we follow bold, blind beauty?
You've already mentionedInstagram.
You've mentioned the websites,Facebook, it's all bold, blind
beauty.
Stephanae McCoy (24:36):
Yes.
You too.
The podcast is bold, blindbeauty on air, and it's actually
found on all the major podcastplatforms.
Just bold, blind, beauty on air.
But yeah, everything else isbold, blind, beauty.
Uh, if you want to reach out tome, uh, personally on LinkedIn,
just under my name, StephanaeMcCoy.
Roy Samuelson (24:56):
Very good.
And if we could add one moreplug, the bold, blind, beauty on
air.
I love air acronym.
Could you share that acronymwith our audience?
Stephanae McCoy (25:05):
Yes.
I love the air acronym.
Everyone on a planet needs airto survive.
People with disabilities needair.
access, inclusion, andrepresentation, not only to
survive, but to thrive.
Roy Samuelson (25:23):
Oh, you've got it down.
Thanks so much for joining us,Steph.
Stephanae McCoy (25:28):
Thank you.
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