Episode 9: The Pressure To Advocate

To kick off May being Mental Health Awareness Month, Taryn is joined by April Aguilera as they discuss the pressure to advocate (and publicly) in the disability community. Both women share their perspectives on their respective children's diagnosis and when they felt comfortable stepping into advocacy, their why and what all that looked like for them.

April Aguilera is a filmmaker currently living in Savannah Georgia with her husband and three daughters. Her second daughter, Paloma, was born with the unexpected birth diagnosis of Down syndrome. April processed her daughter's diagnosis through creating. April opened her one woman dramatic musical, A Sea Full of Stars, in New York in 2019 and was invited to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe when the world came to a screeching halt. April was then accepted into The Savannah College of Art and Design to pursue a graduate degree in screenwriting. While in graduate school she shot her multi Student Emmy award-winning drama film, For Paloma. April is currently writing the Biopic of the artist Judith Scott, whose work can be seen at the MOMA and the Guggenheim along with Judith’s twin sister, and Author of the book Entwined, Joyce Scott. April has worked in film and television for companies such as SONY and Apple Tv and has coordinated for Showtime and Array.

You can find April on instagram @aprilm.aguilera and learn more about For Paloma @forpalomathemovie. All of April's work is at www.moonroseproductions.com.

Episode produced by Sprouting Productions.