July 16, 2025 • 33 mins
The global disability market represents a staggering $18 trillion dollars in spending power. And in this powerful episode, Tiffany Yu, founder of Diversability, TEDx speaker, and author of The Anti-Ableist Manifesto is sharing how she turned her own disability into a global movement for inclusion.
After a car accident made her disabled and took her father's life, Tiffany eventually found the courage more than a decade later to share her story, helping others unlearn shame and embrace their own identities.
You’ll hear how Tiffany built Diversability from a college club into a thriving international community, why employers must rethink job descriptions and office norms to foster true accessibility, and how storytelling paired with data can radically shift public perception.
If you want to build more inclusive communities, Tiffany's magnetic energy and practical wisdom will inspire you to see lived experience as a superpower rather than a limitation.
Resources & Links
Connect with Tiffany on her website, order her book, The Anti-Ablelist Manifesto, and watch her TED talk, The Power of Exclusion.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today's guest is someone whose work, words and
presence truly leave a mark, andI am so excited to share this
conversation with you.
Tiffany Yu is the CEO andfounder of Diversability, a
three-times TEDx speaker and theauthor of the Anti-Ableist
Manifesto, smashing Stereotypes,forging Change and Building a
Disability-Inclusive World.
(00:22):
She's also spoken on some ofthe biggest stages in the world,
from Davos to TEDx, and is avery powerful voice in the
global movement for disabilityinclusion.
But her story didn't startthere.
At just nine years old, tiffanybecame disabled as the result
of a car accident that also tookthe life of her father.
For over a decade she didn'ttalk about that experience
(00:42):
publicly.
We talk about what changed andhow she's really turned that
story into community, inclusivecommunities, and inspired
thousands along the way.
Her energy is magnetic.
She's going to talk about whyour lived experiences yes, yours
too can be our greatestleadership superpowers that
create stories.
Her insights are practical,they are powerful and her
(01:05):
message is one that everynonprofit leader needs to hear.
Welcome, tiffany, to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I saw myself as a community builder first.
I did not set out on this pathto become a leader or an
advocate in any way.
I just looked around at what Iknew and I saw like I grew up
feeling I don't know if I feltshame, but probably more
embarrassed about beingTaiwanese or being Asian in a
place that didn't have a lot ofother Asian people, and I know I
(01:34):
internalized a lot of shamearound growing up with a visible
disability and by seeing that Icould build community around it
.
I think that kind ofkick-started the very early
beginnings of, I think, who I'vebecome today.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
So, Tiffany, I in my research, I dive into LinkedIn
and websites and videos, and Iwas watching one of the videos
on your website that you didn'ttalk publicly about the accident
that you had for over a decadeI think it was around 12 years
and I wanted to really ask nowit is a beautiful story and part
of why what you do is over adecade I think it was around 12
years and I wanted to really asknow it is a beautiful story and
(02:08):
part of why what you do is whatyou do.
What changed that for you?
Like, can you tell us a littlebit about that experience that
shaped your path into talking somuch about diversability and
having the book and the speakingengagements that you do right
now?
What was that switch?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Ooh, I wish I could tell you it was a switch, but I
don't feel like it was a momentin time.
And so I'm the daughter ofAsian immigrants, my dad is from
Taiwan, my mom is a refugeefrom the Vietnam war, and I
wanted to share that because intheir cultural upbringing they
were brought up to say you know,to learn, don't share anything
(02:44):
that might make your family lookbad or that might be seen as
shameful.
And so if I look at the detailsof the car accident that I was
in that made me disabled, my dadhad passed away.
I now acquired a physicaldisability, and the fact that
there was even a car accident,like all of those three things,
like dad passing away, me nowhaving a disability, the fact
(03:07):
that there was this familytragedy that happened, were all
seen as things that might beshameful.
And as I did additionalresearch on it, I realized death
in the immediate family meansthat somewhere in the ancestral
lineage there was bad luck forsomething, and this is, you know
, in more traditional culturalupbringings.
(03:29):
And so at the same time, I havea lot of compassion for my mom
and the way that she grew up.
You know she was not born andraised in the US, like I was,
and so how do I respect, butalso break those
intergenerational patterns?
Yeah, so essentially, the caraccident was my secret, as you
said, for over 10 years, and acouple things happened and I
(03:52):
actually wonder if part of theconfidence with sharing your
story does come with time ordoes come with new experiences.
So really, the first thing thatended up happening was I
actually didn't identify asAsian up until I was 18 years
old and, again, with my parentsbeing immigrants, I think they
(04:14):
had learned that assimilationand erasure of our race was
going to be our pathway tosuccess.
And so, while my family didcelebrate Lunar New Year, I
didn't know why it wasmeaningful, and both of my
parents their first language wasnot English but mine was, and I
never actually learned eitherof their languages up until I
(04:38):
got to college.
Yeah, so it was kind of thisdisconnect that I think.
Maybe they saw the way theywere treated as immigrants or
refugees during a time the 1970s, where there was anti-Asian
sentiment and we saw kind oflike a revival of it happened in
2021 as well, and that'sactually when I started to
connect the dots in a way to say, oh, what I'm experiencing now,
(05:01):
as an adult, in 2021, with therise of anti-Asian violence now
it kind of makes sense thedecisions that they made in the
1970s to not bring attention toourselves.
So when I was a freshman incollege, I met another Taiwanese
student this is at freshmanorientation and I made this joke
that we should start aTaiwanese club.
But she actually took that toheart and we actually became the
(05:24):
co-founders of the TaiwaneseAmerican Club at my university
and that was the first time thatI gained a sense of pride,
identity, culture in beingTaiwanese and in some ways I
feel a little sad that ithappened after my dad had passed
.
We couldn't see that I hadbecome so proud of where he grew
(05:46):
up and his cultural upbringingand you know who he was.
But you know, better late thannever and I'm super proud right
now.
Super proud so fast forward acouple years.
Really, all I knew how to dowas I knew how to start clubs.
So now it was my senior year ofcollege and I'd actually just
come back from the summerinternship in investment banking
(06:06):
and while I was there I gotreally actively involved in a
couple of their differentemployee resource groups.
So they had one for Asianemployees and I actually got to
meet with the head of the Asianemployee resource group and
share some of the learnings Ilearned starting a Taiwanese
club.
So I was like, oh, here I am,the most junior person at this
(06:26):
company.
Even less than junior, I'm asummer intern giving advice and
sharing learnings with a verysenior person at this school.
Were they receptive?
And they were receptive,amazing.
And I also got plugged into thebank's disability employee
resource group and it wasactually there that not only did
I have access to amazingnetworking again super junior
(06:50):
but all of the people who werepart of this disability employee
resource group were indifferent departments at the
bank and vice presidents andmanaging directors again very
senior.
And I was like, oh, this isreally powerful.
And so when I went back toschool again, I had co-founded
the Taiwanese American Club andI said.
You know what.
(07:10):
I'm really curious if therewould be appetite to start a
disability club.
And I actually think back tothose beginnings, and now it's
16 years ago and it was reallyhard.
I didn't know that.
Many other disabled students,and the ones that I did know, I
reached out to to see if theywanted to join this club, but I
(07:31):
never heard back from them.
So so again, kind of liketaking my and I studied business
in college, so like taking thatbusiness mind to see, like okay
, is there a product market fithere?
To say like, are there actually?
people who joined the club and Iwill say my biggest supporters
of what then becameDiversability were my Taiwanese
American peers.
Like our logo for our first,for Diversability's first 11
(07:54):
years was created by my littlebuddy in the Taiwanese American
club, so like.
So that already comes in, butbut I will share.
I think that I, you know, inthe context of thought,
leadership and advocacy, I sawmyself as a community builder
first.
I did not set out on this pathto become a leader or an
advocate in any way, I justlooked around at what I knew and
(08:18):
I saw like I grew up feeling Idon't know if I felt shame, but
probably more embarrassed aboutbeing Taiwanese or being Asian
in a place that didn't have alot of other Asian people, and I
know I internalized a lot ofshame around growing up with a
visible disability and by seeingthat I could build community
around it, I think that kind ofkickstarted the very early
(08:40):
beginnings of, I think, who I'vebecome today.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Do you remember what that first?
What was that thoughtleadership moment?
Do you remember?
Was it just leading themeetings?
Were you asked to speaksomewhere?
Do you remember that first?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I do, and I remember the day too.
It was October 22nd 2009.
And I had been invited.
I'm very into dates.
So the car accident was November29th 1997.
And on October 22nd 2009, myuniversity was exploring, kind
of like, a graduate leveldisability studies certificate
(09:15):
and so they brought together allthe DC area schools and they
invited me and two of my peersto be on a disability student
panel to just talk about thingsthat were happening.
So this was the very earlydiversability hadn't even been
formed yet.
At that point in time Iactually thought I wasn't gonna
start the club, because Iremember on October 22nd 2009,
(09:36):
that was the first time I evershared the story of the car
accident publicly and I cried.
Well, first I wanted to providecontext as to why I was on this
panel.
I just remember sharing thestory through tears.
There was so much pain anderasure, like self internalized
gaslighting, I don't know Ithat's not even a thing but like
(09:57):
kind of like erasing my ownstory and finally just putting
it out there to an audience ofpeople who could have been and
would become my biggestsupporters.
And I remember at the end ofthat student panel I said you
know, I had this idea to createa disability student club, but I
actually don't think it's goingto happen.
(10:18):
And I remember there was astudent there who went to
Gallaudet University, which is auniversity in DC that's mainly
for deaf students or people whoare deaf or hard of hearing, and
she had written diversabilityon a sheet of paper and she
handed it to me and that was thebeginning of what ultimately
became Georgetown, which iswhere I went to school
(10:40):
Georgetown's first everdisability student club.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Amazing.
That's incredible.
And is it spread out tomultiple chapters now?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
So Diversability has been on its own journey.
So in 2014, there was notransition of student leadership
, so Diversability kind of wasno longer at Georgetown of
student leadership.
So DiverseAbility kind of wasno longer at Georgetown,
Although in 2019, there thenbecame a new student group
called the Georgetown DisabilityAlliance.
So you know, I never had ego orI tried not to have ego over it
(11:12):
, but like, as long as it's someconversation.
So then, when I had heard thatthere was no transition of
leadership in 2014, I hadalready graduated.
At that time I was living inNew York and I was kind of
bummed out because I thoughtthat was going to be my legacy
and I don't know how the timingit could be divine timing.
I'm a big believer that, likethe universe, will conspire in
(11:34):
your direction.
But I was bummed out.
And a couple months later thisis the end of 2014.
I got two messages independentof each other.
One was someone who lived outin Los Angeles had come across
an article in my studentnewspaper about the community
that I built at Georgetown.
(11:55):
And then someone else had seenthat I had tagged diversability
at Georgetown in my Twitter bioand reached out saying, hey, is
diversability still active?
What's going on there and Ikind of saw that as a sign,
because both of these people whohad reached out they were both
young professionals at the time.
(12:15):
It made me think, okay, I'm notin a student university
environment anymore.
What could diversability looklike for young professionals?
And that essentially became.
When I asked a couple of myfriends in New York about this
idea, they said oh, it's kind oflike a meetup group, because
meetups are really populararound that time.
(12:36):
They were like oh, it's like ameetup.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Oh my gosh, I remember that.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Remember, I mean meetups still around, but it's
like not I mean it was.
I was like in so many meetupgroups at the time.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Oh my gosh, that's like a throwback.
I do remember that I lived inNew York city from 2013 to 2017.
And I remember that.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yeah, we overlapped, and I was 2010 to 2016.
So in spring of 2015,diversability, now as a separate
entity, hosted its first everNew York event, and I will say
up until 2020, we were doingkind of like the city chapter
slash hub type model.
But then, when the pandemichappened and we were all home,
(13:14):
we transitioned our community tovirtual and ended up growing
four times.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
It showed me that I grew up in DC.
I've lived in New York, SanFrancisco and Los Angeles, all
large metropolitan cities thatdo have some community social
fabric available.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
There's a lot of rural towns that do not Right.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Wow, like I don't know.
I was going to name some ruraltown but then I was like maybe
someone will hear it and tell methat it's not rural, but we
just started reaching a lot ofpeople that we couldn't reach
before, and then we had peoplejoining our events in the middle
of the night because they werein Europe or something like that
.
So we still mainly stayed.
We call ourselves virtual first, but every once in a while, if
(13:55):
a partner comes along orsomething like that, in a while,
you know, if a partner comesalong or something like that,
we'll explore revisiting thevirtual or revisiting in person.
But I will say, with a bookcoming out, I was talking to a
friend about it and actually thebook had just launched in the
UK in March.
So exciting, very exciting, andI hosted a handful of events
there.
But while I was there I kind oftook a step back and I said all
(14:17):
of these book events are kindof like diversability events and
I caught up with a friend whowent to one of them and she goes
, tiffany, she's like.
One thing I really appreciateis the way that you have
maintained like I don't know ifyou've gone to book events, but
I've gone to some and I'll justsit there by myself, I'll watch
the talk and then I'll wait inline by myself and then I'll go
(14:37):
get my book signed and then I'lltake a photo, and I don't know.
I've been trying at my bookevents to get people to like
meet each other, because this isthe local disability community
coming together.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Right, you should be meeting right.
The whole point is for you tonetwork and find somebody.
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
So yeah, so you know, before we started recording, we
both both had books come outaround the same time.
I'm also slowing down the bookevents, so maybe we'll start to
pick up more in-persondiversability events soon.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
And I'm a big fan, not only about what the topic is
about, but listeners.
Our books are both beautifulsunset ombre colors, and we both
happen to be on camera wearingour like brand colors, which I
think is pretty spot on whichwe'll talk about brand and the
importance of that and speakingout.
So it is the Anti-AblistManifesto and you have a TEDx
(15:22):
talk about this and you reallychallenge the way that society
talks about disability and Iwanted to really like dive deep
for a second into our listeners.
So these are nonprofitprofessionals.
They probably are more awarethan other sectors because they
may be working with people withdisabilities or serving them,
but sometimes maybe we don'tthink about truly inclusive
spaces.
(15:44):
What are some areas within youtalked about it shifting towards
young professionals.
What are some things thatemployers can do that might not
be like consciously aware of?
Like, I think something thatyou talked about in a video I
don't know if it's a video or aninterview that I heard you
speak about was like theergonomic ways of like a desk.
Like what are some simplethings that we might not think
(16:04):
about that can make a space somuch better and thoughtful for
somebody who might have adisability that we're working
with?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, I guess I'll start with the example that you
brought up around the ergonomicassessment.
So, ergonomic assessment sowhen I started my corporate
career, every single new hirehad an ergonomic assessment done
by workstation.
And if that's something that'snew to you, it's essentially
someone who comes by.
It never happened for me.
They look at the way you aresitting at your desk and they'll
(16:30):
make some suggestionsproactively.
And so some of the suggestionsthat my peers and I all got many
of us got a second monitor, allof us got a keyboard wrist pad.
I got a left-handed mouse,because now I'm left-handed, I'm
also petite, so my feet hangoff the chair.
So I got a footstool, becauseif you're sitting for long
periods of time I and I neverthought about this right you
(16:52):
don't want your feet hangingbecause then they'll fall asleep
and I don't know so.
And at the same time theergonomic specialist proactively
asked me if I could benefitfrom a headset so I could use
speech to text technology.
So I would essentially justtalk and it would type my emails
.
And I actually wrote the entirefirst draft of my book using
(17:13):
speech to text.
Interesting, but I also,because I type with one hand, I
can type emails, but 90,000words like that.
And I have friends who typewith two hands and develop, you
know, carpal tunnel over time onboth of their hands.
And I remember seeing a photoof one of my friends and she was
wearing like wrist stabilizerson both of her arms.
(17:34):
And as someone who haspredominantly only been able to
use one arm for the last almost30 years, I don't want to put
more strain on an arm that isalready under a lot of strain.
But all of that to say, I kindof love the idea of an ergonomic
assessment, because what I likeabout it is that it
(17:55):
incorporates accommodations andaccess in there without making
people feel like they're aburden or getting special
treatment, because essentially,the keyboard wrist pad or the
left-handed mouse or speech totext for Tiffany is just helping
her get her work done.
At the end of the day, you get abook or the pitch book or the
financial model at the end ofthe day, right, it's just the
(18:17):
way I did.
It was a little bit differentthan how you would imagine it.
But I guess the other thingI'll say too is I really think
that we and this is one of thethings I tried to embed within
Diversability too is so much ofmy own work and our broader work
outside of diversability isaround flipping the script.
(18:38):
So I think about even fiveyears ago if I knew that many
disabled authors and I actuallydidn't, or maybe I'll say 10
years ago and so essentiallywhat was happening?
Right, because even if you lookat the publishing industry in
itself, you have literary agentswho are determining like, oh,
this story or this book is goingto sell, and if they haven't
(19:01):
been exposed to disabilitynarratives or they don't know
the data that's out there aboutour $18 trillion global
disability market, then they'regoing to say, oh, this is too
niche, right, and so even at thepoint of entry, we're not
getting our stories out there inour own way, so other people
are co-opting them for us, right?
And so we actually did an eventrecently, which was as nonprofit
(19:26):
leaders, how do we tell storiesthat aren't our own, like
they're the stories of ourbeneficiaries, but do them in a
way that upholds dignity?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
And it's talked about a lot.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
And that's something I think about too, which is I
think about and I didn't get toinclude this example in the book
of, like a disability nonprofitduring the holidays is trying
to do some fundraising so theyask a kid with very apparent
disabilities to be on thephone-a-thon, and so people then
feel bad for the kid and thendonate.
(19:59):
I do have friends who when theywere kids, they were that kid
and it doesn't feel like it'sdone with dignity.
But I digress and I guess whatI wanted to take a step back
when I went in the sidebararound publishing was, I think,
really challenging theassumptions that we make about
someone's experience, and inthis case someone who.
We make about someone'sexperience, and in this case
(20:19):
someone who has a disability,lived experience, and what I
mean by that is some of theassumptions that we make are oh,
there are no disabled people inour office and you can even
take a step back and say okay,is it in our job listings?
Have we put on nominalrequirements on there that a
person doesn't actually need tohave?
So I'll share two examples.
(20:39):
You'll often see on joblistings that not shouldn't be
on there but could be rewarded.
Okay, so one is must have adriver's license, okay.
So a different way you couldsay, that is must be able to
transport between meetings,between client meetings.
Right, right Because you don'tactually and I don't know why
(21:02):
you know if maybe you're adelivery person or something.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Now you definitely don't need that.
Many people don't even havecars anymore.
They just take an Uber, or youcan take the bus, or, if you
live in New York City I'm suremany people might you just take
the subway.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yes.
So that's an example.
One and then another one thatis mentioned a lot is must be
able to lift 20 pounds, and myupdated version of that is must
be able to transport 20 pounds.
Because I may not be able tolift 20 pounds.
Actually, I've been doing someweightlifting so maybe I can
lift 20 pounds.
But I can transport 20 poundsif I put stuff in a carry on
(21:34):
luggage with wheels or Iactually have an obnoxious wagon
that I use sometimes when I gogrocery shopping.
Such a good point.
But if you're a disabled person,yeah, it's kind of just
thinking about like where are weinadvertently excluding
disabled people even at thestart of the hiring process,
because we assumed that theyaren't going to be within our
organizations.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I love those examples .
You are a great storyteller.
You can tell, and you have.
Now.
You have spoken on some prettyincredible stages and I want to
dive into this.
Something I'm really trying tohone in this year to listeners
is around.
You talked about at the verybeginning of when you feel
(22:14):
comfortable and confident insharing your own story, and that
can happen in a multi-differentways.
When you did decide that, youwere like okay, I feel confident
in this, I feel open aboutdoing this.
What's helped you?
Craft messages for those stagesthat create messages that stick
with people.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Ooh, I have always been a big proponent of data
with story and if you decide topick up my book you'll see that.
You know every single chapteris not only seven to eight pages
, so it's very short.
But it will say here's the data, here are the stories, here's
the action items, yourreflection questions.
That's like pretty much theformat of every chapter, and so
(22:54):
for me, I think a really strongopener can help.
I guess I'll take a step backand I'll say, because I actually
did a podcast episode withother storytellers and one of
the points that was brought upis what's the context in which
you are sharing this story?
So I guess I'll share twodistinct examples of how stories
(23:18):
may show up differently.
For Tiffany.
So the first TEDx talk I evergave, it was called the Power of
Exclusion and that's probablylike a 10 minute talk around how
excluded I felt as a disabledkid and how community
essentially saved my life.
But that story is.
I go into a lot of detailaround the car accident, but if
(23:43):
I'm doing a presentation aroundgetting an organization up to
speed on disability andmicroaggressions and kind of how
they show up in the workplace,I'm just going to share a one
sentence version of the caraccident to provide context
around why I care so much aboutthis, and then go into
strategies, tactics, examples,scripts, Right, and so in both
(24:06):
of those examples the desiredoutcome is a little different.
So I think it's kind of takinga step back and knowing, like,
why are you sharing this story?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
And who are you sharing it to?
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Yes, and if the call to action right, because I often
think, even for diversability,we have two different audiences.
One of our audiences is thedisability community and wanting
them to unlearn shame andreally embrace their identities
and be proud of who they are asdisabled people.
That's a different type ofstory than if we're going out to
(24:37):
a corporate partner or apotential collaborator to tell
them about the impact that wehave had.
So so yeah, I think it's.
It's just knowing who thataudience is.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yes, absolutely Knowing that.
Do you have specific signaturetalks that you give and I think
this is also something that, andso I speak as well and have two
signature keynotes that can beturned into 10 minutes or half
day workshops, but they're twosignature things.
I think sometimes people mightthink we have to reinvent the
wheel for every single thingthat we do, and that's not true.
(25:07):
You just get better and betterat the ones that you're sharing.
Do you have thoughts on that?
Have you structured yoursignature keynotes and, as maybe
nonprofit professionals who areEDs or founders or leaders in
the organization, how they cancurate and figure out what is
their signature talk?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Ooh, I guess the answer that second part.
First, I often think about likewhat questions you keep getting
asked and what's interesting nowand I don't have a talk around
this.
But I am now getting asked a lotaround like navigating the
publishing process and a launchand things like that, and I
don't know if I'll develop atalk around that.
(25:43):
It's funny my literary agentsaid to me because I remember
going to her before my launchand I was like so overwhelmed
because everyone was giving meadvice, and she goes Tiffany,
sometimes you have a first-timeauthor who publishes a book and
then says that they're an expertin that thing, even though
their process may have beenunconventional or they only know
that one way to do it, and nowthey're going out giving all
(26:04):
these people advice.
So I would like to preface, likejust from my own experience of
doing this one book.
This is how I do it, but Ithink, similar to you, I have
two talks and one is more gearedtoward, again, an audience who
is more disability centered andeven if it isn't disability
centered, it's more likeunderrepresented, I guess I want
to say, and that talk is calledbeing the representation I
(26:26):
couldn't find about like how canyou use your power and
privilege, and even fornonprofit leaders, that could
even be a talk around your why,of why you care so much about
the nonprofit work that you do,how you found your way into your
mission right.
And then I do have another talk,which actually inspired the
(26:47):
Anti-Ablist Manifesto, which isfor people who might be newer on
their disability journey.
Maybe you're a professional atyour organization, maybe you are
a disabled person who just gota diagnosis.
What are the things you need toknow, or we all need to know,
so that we can collectively makethe type of change, so that
disabled people don't experiencethe type of friction of
(27:10):
encountering a job listing thatsays that they need to have a
job.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Those were such great examples that I never would
have thought about too.
But once you say it it's likeoh, of course, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Well, I will say those came to me after I wrote
the book, because I do writeabout hiring a little bit and I
talk about how sometimes thesejob listings include these like
requirements that exclude people, exclude people, right Without
meaning to.
Yes.
And then I got feedback fromsomeone and they said, well,
what would you change it toinstead?
And then I thought about it andthen I came up with the new
(27:43):
ones and I'm like, oh, ittotally makes sense, because I
can transport 20 pounds and Ican get from one place to
another and I do have mydriver's license, but I
currently don't have a car whereI live, Right.
So it then comes down to okayis the requirement?
Yeah, and some people bike, youknow.
I mean, there's so manytransport.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Amazing.
Like Tiffany, I could talk toyou forever about this.
I guess one final question towrap us up is literally, your
journey is a beautiful exampleof you.
Are the representation you talkabout with your keynote that
you once searched for, and I'msure so many people are excited
to connect with you after this,for somebody, a nonprofit
professional, who really wantsto use their lived experience
(28:21):
and to lead with authenticityand purpose, like what's one,
like next step, that you wouldsuggest.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
I will say I read a book in 2016 called Daring
Greatly by Brene Brown, and ittook me about like eight months.
I've heard of her.
You may have heard of her, buther work is so fascinating to me
because after I read that book,I really wanted to explore what
it might look like to lead withvulnerability and actually have
(28:51):
that become part of my brand.
So you know, I did shareearlier on that.
You know, I started my careerin investment banking and one
piece of advice I got when I wasin banking was to master my
poker face, like not let anyoneknow how you were feeling.
So I actually do feel likethere was a transition in, like
Tiffany as a professionalfinding her voice.
(29:11):
And I will say at the time whenI was working at the bank, it
was very frowned upon.
You had to report any externalactivities outside of the bank
that you were involved in, likenonprofit boards.
Social media was very sensitive.
So I only really startedbuilding my brand.
I want to say right around that2016 timeframe when I read this
book.
So maybe it's a bookrecommendation if you haven't
(29:33):
read Brene Brown's work aroundwhat it looks like to lead with
vulnerability or to lead withyour own story, but I'd also
again take a step back and thinkabout what is the one sentence
version of your story, and thenwhat's the 10 minute version of
it?
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Oh, that's good.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
And something I did learn from Brene Brown was was
really trying to, and we couldgo on.
This may be a different topic,but you can do your own research
and it was what's thedifference between oversharing
versus sharing vulnerably?
And there is a little bit of adifference, right.
And so if you are sharingsomething traumatic, just making
sure you've done the work, orat least you take your listeners
(30:13):
in, and then make sure you takethem out, and there's a strong
call to action at the end.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I love that.
Record yourself giving a oneminute and record yourself for
like a 10 minute voice memo andsee how that sounds.
What a beautiful way to wrap,tiffany.
Thank you so much.
Where can people find?
I'm sure everywhere, but wherecan people find the book?
Speaker 2 (30:32):
The best place to go is tiffanyucom.
You'll find links to get thebook in print, audio ebook, but
also you'll find all of mysocial links there, depending on
whatever Such good content,whatever, however, you make it.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I appreciate that.
I love it.
Tiffany, thank you so much forbeing here.
Thank you so much for writingthe book.
That takes a lot of time, a lotof effort.
I know it's a grind, but it issuch a beautiful thing to get it
in people's hands and there'snothing like it.
So appreciate you putting alittle bit of you out there and
being vulnerable to write thebook and step up there and do it
.
So appreciate you, and it wasso lovely to meet you.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of
Missions to Movements.
If you enjoyed our conversationand found it helpful, I would
love for you to take a moment toleave a review.
Wherever you're listening, yourfeedback helps us reach more
change makers like you andcontinue bringing impactful
stories and strategies to theshow.
(31:27):
Don't forget to hit thatsubscribe button, too, so you'll
never miss an episode.
And until next time, keepturning your mission into a
movement.
Today's guest is someone whose work, words and
presence truly leave a mark, andI am so excited to share this
conversation with you.
Tiffany Yu is the CEO andfounder of Diversability, a
three-times TEDx speaker and theauthor of the Anti-Ableist
Manifesto, smashing Stereotypes,forging Change and Building a
Disability-Inclusive World.
(00:22):
She's also spoken on some ofthe biggest stages in the world,
from Davos to TEDx, and is avery powerful voice in the
global movement for disabilityinclusion.
But her story didn't startthere.
At just nine years old, tiffanybecame disabled as the result
of a car accident that also tookthe life of her father.
For over a decade she didn'ttalk about that experience
(00:42):
publicly.
We talk about what changed andhow she's really turned that
story into community, inclusivecommunities, and inspired
thousands along the way.
Her energy is magnetic.
She's going to talk about whyour lived experiences yes, yours
too can be our greatestleadership superpowers that
create stories.
Her insights are practical,they are powerful and her
(01:05):
message is one that everynonprofit leader needs to hear.
Welcome, tiffany, to the show.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
I saw myself as a community builder first.
I did not set out on this pathto become a leader or an
advocate in any way.
I just looked around at what Iknew and I saw like I grew up
feeling I don't know if I feltshame, but probably more
embarrassed about beingTaiwanese or being Asian in a
place that didn't have a lot ofother Asian people, and I know I
(01:34):
internalized a lot of shamearound growing up with a visible
disability and by seeing that Icould build community around it
.
I think that kind ofkick-started the very early
beginnings of, I think, who I'vebecome today.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
So, Tiffany, I in my research, I dive into LinkedIn
and websites and videos, and Iwas watching one of the videos
on your website that you didn'ttalk publicly about the accident
that you had for over a decadeI think it was around 12 years
and I wanted to really ask nowit is a beautiful story and part
of why what you do is over adecade I think it was around 12
years and I wanted to really asknow it is a beautiful story and
(02:08):
part of why what you do is whatyou do.
What changed that for you?
Like, can you tell us a littlebit about that experience that
shaped your path into talking somuch about diversability and
having the book and the speakingengagements that you do right
now?
What was that switch?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Ooh, I wish I could tell you it was a switch, but I
don't feel like it was a momentin time.
And so I'm the daughter ofAsian immigrants, my dad is from
Taiwan, my mom is a refugeefrom the Vietnam war, and I
wanted to share that because intheir cultural upbringing they
were brought up to say you know,to learn, don't share anything
(02:44):
that might make your family lookbad or that might be seen as
shameful.
And so if I look at the detailsof the car accident that I was
in that made me disabled, my dadhad passed away.
I now acquired a physicaldisability, and the fact that
there was even a car accident,like all of those three things,
like dad passing away, me nowhaving a disability, the fact
(03:07):
that there was this familytragedy that happened, were all
seen as things that might beshameful.
And as I did additionalresearch on it, I realized death
in the immediate family meansthat somewhere in the ancestral
lineage there was bad luck forsomething, and this is, you know
, in more traditional culturalupbringings.
(03:29):
And so at the same time, I havea lot of compassion for my mom
and the way that she grew up.
You know she was not born andraised in the US, like I was,
and so how do I respect, butalso break those
intergenerational patterns?
Yeah, so essentially, the caraccident was my secret, as you
said, for over 10 years, and acouple things happened and I
(03:52):
actually wonder if part of theconfidence with sharing your
story does come with time ordoes come with new experiences.
So really, the first thing thatended up happening was I
actually didn't identify asAsian up until I was 18 years
old and, again, with my parentsbeing immigrants, I think they
(04:14):
had learned that assimilationand erasure of our race was
going to be our pathway tosuccess.
And so, while my family didcelebrate Lunar New Year, I
didn't know why it wasmeaningful, and both of my
parents their first language wasnot English but mine was, and I
never actually learned eitherof their languages up until I
(04:38):
got to college.
Yeah, so it was kind of thisdisconnect that I think.
Maybe they saw the way theywere treated as immigrants or
refugees during a time the 1970s, where there was anti-Asian
sentiment and we saw kind oflike a revival of it happened in
2021 as well, and that'sactually when I started to
connect the dots in a way to say, oh, what I'm experiencing now,
(05:01):
as an adult, in 2021, with therise of anti-Asian violence now
it kind of makes sense thedecisions that they made in the
1970s to not bring attention toourselves.
So when I was a freshman incollege, I met another Taiwanese
student this is at freshmanorientation and I made this joke
that we should start aTaiwanese club.
But she actually took that toheart and we actually became the
(05:24):
co-founders of the TaiwaneseAmerican Club at my university
and that was the first time thatI gained a sense of pride,
identity, culture in beingTaiwanese and in some ways I
feel a little sad that ithappened after my dad had passed
.
We couldn't see that I hadbecome so proud of where he grew
(05:46):
up and his cultural upbringingand you know who he was.
But you know, better late thannever and I'm super proud right
now.
Super proud so fast forward acouple years.
Really, all I knew how to dowas I knew how to start clubs.
So now it was my senior year ofcollege and I'd actually just
come back from the summerinternship in investment banking
(06:06):
and while I was there I gotreally actively involved in a
couple of their differentemployee resource groups.
So they had one for Asianemployees and I actually got to
meet with the head of the Asianemployee resource group and
share some of the learnings Ilearned starting a Taiwanese
club.
So I was like, oh, here I am,the most junior person at this
(06:26):
company.
Even less than junior, I'm asummer intern giving advice and
sharing learnings with a verysenior person at this school.
Were they receptive?
And they were receptive,amazing.
And I also got plugged into thebank's disability employee
resource group and it wasactually there that not only did
I have access to amazingnetworking again super junior
(06:50):
but all of the people who werepart of this disability employee
resource group were indifferent departments at the
bank and vice presidents andmanaging directors again very
senior.
And I was like, oh, this isreally powerful.
And so when I went back toschool again, I had co-founded
the Taiwanese American Club andI said.
You know what.
(07:10):
I'm really curious if therewould be appetite to start a
disability club.
And I actually think back tothose beginnings, and now it's
16 years ago and it was reallyhard.
I didn't know that.
Many other disabled students,and the ones that I did know, I
reached out to to see if theywanted to join this club, but I
(07:31):
never heard back from them.
So so again, kind of liketaking my and I studied business
in college, so like taking thatbusiness mind to see, like okay
, is there a product market fithere?
To say like, are there actually?
people who joined the club and Iwill say my biggest supporters
of what then becameDiversability were my Taiwanese
American peers.
Like our logo for our first,for Diversability's first 11
(07:54):
years was created by my littlebuddy in the Taiwanese American
club, so like.
So that already comes in, butbut I will share.
I think that I, you know, inthe context of thought,
leadership and advocacy, I sawmyself as a community builder
first.
I did not set out on this pathto become a leader or an
advocate in any way, I justlooked around at what I knew and
(08:18):
I saw like I grew up feeling Idon't know if I felt shame, but
probably more embarrassed aboutbeing Taiwanese or being Asian
in a place that didn't have alot of other Asian people, and I
know I internalized a lot ofshame around growing up with a
visible disability and by seeingthat I could build community
around it, I think that kind ofkickstarted the very early
(08:40):
beginnings of, I think, who I'vebecome today.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Do you remember what that first?
What was that thoughtleadership moment?
Do you remember?
Was it just leading themeetings?
Were you asked to speaksomewhere?
Do you remember that first?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I do, and I remember the day too.
It was October 22nd 2009.
And I had been invited.
I'm very into dates.
So the car accident was November29th 1997.
And on October 22nd 2009, myuniversity was exploring, kind
of like, a graduate leveldisability studies certificate
(09:15):
and so they brought together allthe DC area schools and they
invited me and two of my peersto be on a disability student
panel to just talk about thingsthat were happening.
So this was the very earlydiversability hadn't even been
formed yet.
At that point in time Iactually thought I wasn't gonna
start the club, because Iremember on October 22nd 2009,
(09:36):
that was the first time I evershared the story of the car
accident publicly and I cried.
Well, first I wanted to providecontext as to why I was on this
panel.
I just remember sharing thestory through tears.
There was so much pain anderasure, like self internalized
gaslighting, I don't know Ithat's not even a thing but like
(09:57):
kind of like erasing my ownstory and finally just putting
it out there to an audience ofpeople who could have been and
would become my biggestsupporters.
And I remember at the end ofthat student panel I said you
know, I had this idea to createa disability student club, but I
actually don't think it's goingto happen.
(10:18):
And I remember there was astudent there who went to
Gallaudet University, which is auniversity in DC that's mainly
for deaf students or people whoare deaf or hard of hearing, and
she had written diversabilityon a sheet of paper and she
handed it to me and that was thebeginning of what ultimately
became Georgetown, which iswhere I went to school
(10:40):
Georgetown's first everdisability student club.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Amazing.
That's incredible.
And is it spread out tomultiple chapters now?
Speaker 2 (10:48):
So Diversability has been on its own journey.
So in 2014, there was notransition of student leadership
, so Diversability kind of wasno longer at Georgetown of
student leadership.
So DiverseAbility kind of wasno longer at Georgetown,
Although in 2019, there thenbecame a new student group
called the Georgetown DisabilityAlliance.
So you know, I never had ego orI tried not to have ego over it
(11:12):
, but like, as long as it's someconversation.
So then, when I had heard thatthere was no transition of
leadership in 2014, I hadalready graduated.
At that time I was living inNew York and I was kind of
bummed out because I thoughtthat was going to be my legacy
and I don't know how the timingit could be divine timing.
I'm a big believer that, likethe universe, will conspire in
(11:34):
your direction.
But I was bummed out.
And a couple months later thisis the end of 2014.
I got two messages independentof each other.
One was someone who lived outin Los Angeles had come across
an article in my studentnewspaper about the community
that I built at Georgetown.
(11:55):
And then someone else had seenthat I had tagged diversability
at Georgetown in my Twitter bioand reached out saying, hey, is
diversability still active?
What's going on there and Ikind of saw that as a sign,
because both of these people whohad reached out they were both
young professionals at the time.
(12:15):
It made me think, okay, I'm notin a student university
environment anymore.
What could diversability looklike for young professionals?
And that essentially became.
When I asked a couple of myfriends in New York about this
idea, they said oh, it's kind oflike a meetup group, because
meetups are really populararound that time.
(12:36):
They were like oh, it's like ameetup.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Oh my gosh, I remember that.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Remember, I mean meetups still around, but it's
like not I mean it was.
I was like in so many meetupgroups at the time.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Oh my gosh, that's like a throwback.
I do remember that I lived inNew York city from 2013 to 2017.
And I remember that.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Yeah, we overlapped, and I was 2010 to 2016.
So in spring of 2015,diversability, now as a separate
entity, hosted its first everNew York event, and I will say
up until 2020, we were doingkind of like the city chapter
slash hub type model.
But then, when the pandemichappened and we were all home,
(13:14):
we transitioned our community tovirtual and ended up growing
four times.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
It showed me that I grew up in DC.
I've lived in New York, SanFrancisco and Los Angeles, all
large metropolitan cities thatdo have some community social
fabric available.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
There's a lot of rural towns that do not Right.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Wow, like I don't know.
I was going to name some ruraltown but then I was like maybe
someone will hear it and tell methat it's not rural, but we
just started reaching a lot ofpeople that we couldn't reach
before, and then we had peoplejoining our events in the middle
of the night because they werein Europe or something like that
.
So we still mainly stayed.
We call ourselves virtual first, but every once in a while, if
(13:55):
a partner comes along orsomething like that, in a while,
you know, if a partner comesalong or something like that,
we'll explore revisiting thevirtual or revisiting in person.
But I will say, with a bookcoming out, I was talking to a
friend about it and actually thebook had just launched in the
UK in March.
So exciting, very exciting, andI hosted a handful of events
there.
But while I was there I kind oftook a step back and I said all
(14:17):
of these book events are kindof like diversability events and
I caught up with a friend whowent to one of them and she goes
, tiffany, she's like.
One thing I really appreciateis the way that you have
maintained like I don't know ifyou've gone to book events, but
I've gone to some and I'll justsit there by myself, I'll watch
the talk and then I'll wait inline by myself and then I'll go
(14:37):
get my book signed and then I'lltake a photo, and I don't know.
I've been trying at my bookevents to get people to like
meet each other, because this isthe local disability community
coming together.
Speaker 1 (14:46):
Right, you should be meeting right.
The whole point is for you tonetwork and find somebody.
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
So yeah, so you know, before we started recording, we
both both had books come outaround the same time.
I'm also slowing down the bookevents, so maybe we'll start to
pick up more in-persondiversability events soon.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
And I'm a big fan, not only about what the topic is
about, but listeners.
Our books are both beautifulsunset ombre colors, and we both
happen to be on camera wearingour like brand colors, which I
think is pretty spot on whichwe'll talk about brand and the
importance of that and speakingout.
So it is the Anti-AblistManifesto and you have a TEDx
(15:22):
talk about this and you reallychallenge the way that society
talks about disability and Iwanted to really like dive deep
for a second into our listeners.
So these are nonprofitprofessionals.
They probably are more awarethan other sectors because they
may be working with people withdisabilities or serving them,
but sometimes maybe we don'tthink about truly inclusive
spaces.
(15:44):
What are some areas within youtalked about it shifting towards
young professionals.
What are some things thatemployers can do that might not
be like consciously aware of?
Like, I think something thatyou talked about in a video I
don't know if it's a video or aninterview that I heard you
speak about was like theergonomic ways of like a desk.
Like what are some simplethings that we might not think
(16:04):
about that can make a space somuch better and thoughtful for
somebody who might have adisability that we're working
with?
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah, I guess I'll start with the example that you
brought up around the ergonomicassessment.
So, ergonomic assessment sowhen I started my corporate
career, every single new hirehad an ergonomic assessment done
by workstation.
And if that's something that'snew to you, it's essentially
someone who comes by.
It never happened for me.
They look at the way you aresitting at your desk and they'll
(16:30):
make some suggestionsproactively.
And so some of the suggestionsthat my peers and I all got many
of us got a second monitor, allof us got a keyboard wrist pad.
I got a left-handed mouse,because now I'm left-handed, I'm
also petite, so my feet hangoff the chair.
So I got a footstool, becauseif you're sitting for long
periods of time I and I neverthought about this right you
(16:52):
don't want your feet hangingbecause then they'll fall asleep
and I don't know so.
And at the same time theergonomic specialist proactively
asked me if I could benefitfrom a headset so I could use
speech to text technology.
So I would essentially justtalk and it would type my emails
.
And I actually wrote the entirefirst draft of my book using
(17:13):
speech to text.
Interesting, but I also,because I type with one hand, I
can type emails, but 90,000words like that.
And I have friends who typewith two hands and develop, you
know, carpal tunnel over time onboth of their hands.
And I remember seeing a photoof one of my friends and she was
wearing like wrist stabilizerson both of her arms.
(17:34):
And as someone who haspredominantly only been able to
use one arm for the last almost30 years, I don't want to put
more strain on an arm that isalready under a lot of strain.
But all of that to say, I kindof love the idea of an ergonomic
assessment, because what I likeabout it is that it
(17:55):
incorporates accommodations andaccess in there without making
people feel like they're aburden or getting special
treatment, because essentially,the keyboard wrist pad or the
left-handed mouse or speech totext for Tiffany is just helping
her get her work done.
At the end of the day, you get abook or the pitch book or the
financial model at the end ofthe day, right, it's just the
(18:17):
way I did.
It was a little bit differentthan how you would imagine it.
But I guess the other thingI'll say too is I really think
that we and this is one of thethings I tried to embed within
Diversability too is so much ofmy own work and our broader work
outside of diversability isaround flipping the script.
(18:38):
So I think about even fiveyears ago if I knew that many
disabled authors and I actuallydidn't, or maybe I'll say 10
years ago and so essentiallywhat was happening?
Right, because even if you lookat the publishing industry in
itself, you have literary agentswho are determining like, oh,
this story or this book is goingto sell, and if they haven't
(19:01):
been exposed to disabilitynarratives or they don't know
the data that's out there aboutour $18 trillion global
disability market, then they'regoing to say, oh, this is too
niche, right, and so even at thepoint of entry, we're not
getting our stories out there inour own way, so other people
are co-opting them for us, right?
And so we actually did an eventrecently, which was as nonprofit
(19:26):
leaders, how do we tell storiesthat aren't our own, like
they're the stories of ourbeneficiaries, but do them in a
way that upholds dignity?
Speaker 1 (19:37):
And it's talked about a lot.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
And that's something I think about too, which is I
think about and I didn't get toinclude this example in the book
of, like a disability nonprofitduring the holidays is trying
to do some fundraising so theyask a kid with very apparent
disabilities to be on thephone-a-thon, and so people then
feel bad for the kid and thendonate.
(19:59):
I do have friends who when theywere kids, they were that kid
and it doesn't feel like it'sdone with dignity.
But I digress and I guess whatI wanted to take a step back
when I went in the sidebararound publishing was, I think,
really challenging theassumptions that we make about
someone's experience, and inthis case someone who.
We make about someone'sexperience, and in this case
(20:19):
someone who has a disability,lived experience, and what I
mean by that is some of theassumptions that we make are oh,
there are no disabled people inour office and you can even
take a step back and say okay,is it in our job listings?
Have we put on nominalrequirements on there that a
person doesn't actually need tohave?
So I'll share two examples.
(20:39):
You'll often see on joblistings that not shouldn't be
on there but could be rewarded.
Okay, so one is must have adriver's license, okay.
So a different way you couldsay, that is must be able to
transport between meetings,between client meetings.
Right, right Because you don'tactually and I don't know why
(21:02):
you know if maybe you're adelivery person or something.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Now you definitely don't need that.
Many people don't even havecars anymore.
They just take an Uber, or youcan take the bus, or, if you
live in New York City I'm suremany people might you just take
the subway.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yes.
So that's an example.
One and then another one thatis mentioned a lot is must be
able to lift 20 pounds, and myupdated version of that is must
be able to transport 20 pounds.
Because I may not be able tolift 20 pounds.
Actually, I've been doing someweightlifting so maybe I can
lift 20 pounds.
But I can transport 20 poundsif I put stuff in a carry on
(21:34):
luggage with wheels or Iactually have an obnoxious wagon
that I use sometimes when I gogrocery shopping.
Such a good point.
But if you're a disabled person,yeah, it's kind of just
thinking about like where are weinadvertently excluding
disabled people even at thestart of the hiring process,
because we assumed that theyaren't going to be within our
organizations.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
I love those examples .
You are a great storyteller.
You can tell, and you have.
Now.
You have spoken on some prettyincredible stages and I want to
dive into this.
Something I'm really trying tohone in this year to listeners
is around.
You talked about at the verybeginning of when you feel
(22:14):
comfortable and confident insharing your own story, and that
can happen in a multi-differentways.
When you did decide that, youwere like okay, I feel confident
in this, I feel open aboutdoing this.
What's helped you?
Craft messages for those stagesthat create messages that stick
with people.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Ooh, I have always been a big proponent of data
with story and if you decide topick up my book you'll see that.
You know every single chapteris not only seven to eight pages
, so it's very short.
But it will say here's the data, here are the stories, here's
the action items, yourreflection questions.
That's like pretty much theformat of every chapter, and so
(22:54):
for me, I think a really strongopener can help.
I guess I'll take a step backand I'll say, because I actually
did a podcast episode withother storytellers and one of
the points that was brought upis what's the context in which
you are sharing this story?
So I guess I'll share twodistinct examples of how stories
(23:18):
may show up differently.
For Tiffany.
So the first TEDx talk I evergave, it was called the Power of
Exclusion and that's probablylike a 10 minute talk around how
excluded I felt as a disabledkid and how community
essentially saved my life.
But that story is.
I go into a lot of detailaround the car accident, but if
(23:43):
I'm doing a presentation aroundgetting an organization up to
speed on disability andmicroaggressions and kind of how
they show up in the workplace,I'm just going to share a one
sentence version of the caraccident to provide context
around why I care so much aboutthis, and then go into
strategies, tactics, examples,scripts, Right, and so in both
(24:06):
of those examples the desiredoutcome is a little different.
So I think it's kind of takinga step back and knowing, like,
why are you sharing this story?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
And who are you sharing it to?
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Yes, and if the call to action right, because I often
think, even for diversability,we have two different audiences.
One of our audiences is thedisability community and wanting
them to unlearn shame andreally embrace their identities
and be proud of who they are asdisabled people.
That's a different type ofstory than if we're going out to
(24:37):
a corporate partner or apotential collaborator to tell
them about the impact that wehave had.
So so yeah, I think it's.
It's just knowing who thataudience is.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Yes, absolutely Knowing that.
Do you have specific signaturetalks that you give and I think
this is also something that, andso I speak as well and have two
signature keynotes that can beturned into 10 minutes or half
day workshops, but they're twosignature things.
I think sometimes people mightthink we have to reinvent the
wheel for every single thingthat we do, and that's not true.
(25:07):
You just get better and betterat the ones that you're sharing.
Do you have thoughts on that?
Have you structured yoursignature keynotes and, as maybe
nonprofit professionals who areEDs or founders or leaders in
the organization, how they cancurate and figure out what is
their signature talk?
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Ooh, I guess the answer that second part.
First, I often think about likewhat questions you keep getting
asked and what's interesting nowand I don't have a talk around
this.
But I am now getting asked a lotaround like navigating the
publishing process and a launchand things like that, and I
don't know if I'll develop atalk around that.
(25:43):
It's funny my literary agentsaid to me because I remember
going to her before my launchand I was like so overwhelmed
because everyone was giving meadvice, and she goes Tiffany,
sometimes you have a first-timeauthor who publishes a book and
then says that they're an expertin that thing, even though
their process may have beenunconventional or they only know
that one way to do it, and nowthey're going out giving all
(26:04):
these people advice.
So I would like to preface, likejust from my own experience of
doing this one book.
This is how I do it, but Ithink, similar to you, I have
two talks and one is more gearedtoward, again, an audience who
is more disability centered andeven if it isn't disability
centered, it's more likeunderrepresented, I guess I want
to say, and that talk is calledbeing the representation I
(26:26):
couldn't find about like how canyou use your power and
privilege, and even fornonprofit leaders, that could
even be a talk around your why,of why you care so much about
the nonprofit work that you do,how you found your way into your
mission right.
And then I do have another talk,which actually inspired the
(26:47):
Anti-Ablist Manifesto, which isfor people who might be newer on
their disability journey.
Maybe you're a professional atyour organization, maybe you are
a disabled person who just gota diagnosis.
What are the things you need toknow, or we all need to know,
so that we can collectively makethe type of change, so that
disabled people don't experiencethe type of friction of
(27:10):
encountering a job listing thatsays that they need to have a
job.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
Those were such great examples that I never would
have thought about too.
But once you say it it's likeoh, of course, yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Well, I will say those came to me after I wrote
the book, because I do writeabout hiring a little bit and I
talk about how sometimes thesejob listings include these like
requirements that exclude people, exclude people, right Without
meaning to.
Yes.
And then I got feedback fromsomeone and they said, well,
what would you change it toinstead?
And then I thought about it andthen I came up with the new
(27:43):
ones and I'm like, oh, ittotally makes sense, because I
can transport 20 pounds and Ican get from one place to
another and I do have mydriver's license, but I
currently don't have a car whereI live, Right.
So it then comes down to okayis the requirement?
Yeah, and some people bike, youknow.
I mean, there's so manytransport.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Amazing.
Like Tiffany, I could talk toyou forever about this.
I guess one final question towrap us up is literally, your
journey is a beautiful exampleof you.
Are the representation you talkabout with your keynote that
you once searched for, and I'msure so many people are excited
to connect with you after this,for somebody, a nonprofit
professional, who really wantsto use their lived experience
(28:21):
and to lead with authenticityand purpose, like what's one,
like next step, that you wouldsuggest.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
I will say I read a book in 2016 called Daring
Greatly by Brene Brown, and ittook me about like eight months.
I've heard of her.
You may have heard of her, buther work is so fascinating to me
because after I read that book,I really wanted to explore what
it might look like to lead withvulnerability and actually have
(28:51):
that become part of my brand.
So you know, I did shareearlier on that.
You know, I started my careerin investment banking and one
piece of advice I got when I wasin banking was to master my
poker face, like not let anyoneknow how you were feeling.
So I actually do feel likethere was a transition in, like
Tiffany as a professionalfinding her voice.
(29:11):
And I will say at the time whenI was working at the bank, it
was very frowned upon.
You had to report any externalactivities outside of the bank
that you were involved in, likenonprofit boards.
Social media was very sensitive.
So I only really startedbuilding my brand.
I want to say right around that2016 timeframe when I read this
book.
So maybe it's a bookrecommendation if you haven't
(29:33):
read Brene Brown's work aroundwhat it looks like to lead with
vulnerability or to lead withyour own story, but I'd also
again take a step back and thinkabout what is the one sentence
version of your story, and thenwhat's the 10 minute version of
it?
Speaker 1 (29:49):
Oh, that's good.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
And something I did learn from Brene Brown was was
really trying to, and we couldgo on.
This may be a different topic,but you can do your own research
and it was what's thedifference between oversharing
versus sharing vulnerably?
And there is a little bit of adifference, right.
And so if you are sharingsomething traumatic, just making
sure you've done the work, orat least you take your listeners
(30:13):
in, and then make sure you takethem out, and there's a strong
call to action at the end.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I love that.
Record yourself giving a oneminute and record yourself for
like a 10 minute voice memo andsee how that sounds.
What a beautiful way to wrap,tiffany.
Thank you so much.
Where can people find?
I'm sure everywhere, but wherecan people find the book?
Speaker 2 (30:32):
The best place to go is tiffanyucom.
You'll find links to get thebook in print, audio ebook, but
also you'll find all of mysocial links there, depending on
whatever Such good content,whatever, however, you make it.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I appreciate that.
I love it.
Tiffany, thank you so much forbeing here.
Thank you so much for writingthe book.
That takes a lot of time, a lotof effort.
I know it's a grind, but it issuch a beautiful thing to get it
in people's hands and there'snothing like it.
So appreciate you putting alittle bit of you out there and
being vulnerable to write thebook and step up there and do it
.
So appreciate you, and it wasso lovely to meet you.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of
Missions to Movements.
If you enjoyed our conversationand found it helpful, I would
love for you to take a moment toleave a review.
Wherever you're listening, yourfeedback helps us reach more
change makers like you andcontinue bringing impactful
stories and strategies to theshow.
(31:27):
Don't forget to hit thatsubscribe button, too, so you'll
never miss an episode.
And until next time, keepturning your mission into a
movement.
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