Don’t Stare, See Me: A Conversation

On this month's myFace, myStory podcast episode, host Dina Zuckerberg is joined by Naomi Levinshtein and Aaliyah Booker. They will share their personal journeys, and their advocacy work, and discuss the profound importance of the "Don't Stare, See Me" campaign for themselves and their community.

 

- [Announcer] Welcome to "myFace, myStory: Voices from the Craniofacial Community" with your host Dina Zuckerberg.

- Hello and welcome to "myFace, myStory: Voices from the Craniofacial Community." Whether you're watching on YouTube or listening on Apple Podcasts, click subscribe now so that you'll never miss a future episode. And if you're a fan of "myFace, myStory" rate and review the program on Apple Podcasts, so we can better get our message of inclusivity and empowerment to more people. I'm your host, Dina Zuckerberg, the Director of Family Programs at myFace. I was born with a cleft lip, hearing loss, and no vision in my left eye. "myFace, myStory" is about people like us being seen and heard, about sharing stories within the craniofacial community and with others. Today I will be joined by Aaliyah Booker and Naomi Heather. Aaliyah Booker is a facial difference and disability advocate. She's also a D1 student athlete at St. Peter's University, majoring in biology, aspiring to work in the medical field. She too was born with Goldenhar syndrome, which came with a long road of surgeries, therapies, and a lot of rehabilitation. Aaliyah shares her story to empower the youth who look different, that different is beautiful, and to prove to society that we are more than just our differences. You can find her on all social media platforms celebrating her uniqueness, especially on YouTube, interviewing others within the facial difference community, for them to share their story as well as their accomplishments and goals. Additionally, she recently started her own business, Born to Stand Out, that focuses on self-love and acceptance. Naomi Heather is a 24-year-old makeup artist, photographer, Brooklyn College graduate, and facial equality advocate born with Van der Woude syndrome. Naomi loves blending her art with her advocacy and believes everyone deserves to feel beautiful. You can find her on Instagram at NaomiHeatherMakeup, where she showcases her makeup and photography. Welcome Aaliyah and Naomi, and we look forward to our conversation, hi.

- Hi.

- So, can you each share about your facial difference for those you may not know, and tell us how many surgeries you've had? And I'll start with Aaliyah.

- Oh, Dina again, it's so good to see you again.

- Yeah.

- But, like you said, I was born with Goldenhar syndrome, and Goldenhar syndrome is a facial difference where your facial features is, some of them are underdeveloped, and for me, it only affected the left side of my face. And that means I was born with a underdeveloped mandible, underdeveloped ear, and underdeveloped eye. And within that, I had like multiple surgeries. I can't remember, like let's say, I had like over 26 surgeries we can say.

- Wow.

- And within that, you know, that didn't stop me for anything, you know. Right after those surgery, therapies, you know, I went straight to, you know, practice or anything, so, that's Goldenhar syndrome and it didn't affect me.

- And Naomi?

- I was born with Van der Woude syndrome, popliteal pterygium syndrome, kind of a mix between the two. I've had around 20 surgeries. It affected my lips. So I had a bilateral cleft lip and palate. I had bottom lip pits. So I have a lot of scarring here and it affected my nose and my hearing. So yeah, that's me.

- Thank you both. I can't imagine having that many surgeries. I only had six growing up, so, yeah. So how has growing up with a facial difference affected your life? Give us a glimpse into your life growing up with a facial difference. Aliyah?

- Me? Okay. So growing up with the facial difference,