Penny Forward
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Episodes
January 20, 2026 • 31 mins
1) Episode Summary
Chris Peterson and Liz Bottner welcome Sri Ram, an engineer and serial entrepreneur based in San Francisco, who shares his connection to the blind and low vision community through his own diagnosis of cone rod dystrophy in his 30s. Sri Ram describes adapting largely through self-directed learning, community input, and partnerships (including Lighthouse for the Blind), and explains how his lived experience helped...
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January 15, 2026 • 37 mins
Episode Summary
Chris Peterson hosts solo (Liz Bottner is out for this episode) and interviews Sylvia Stinson Perez, a lifelong member of the blind community who was born legally blind and later learned she has retinitis pigmentosa, with vision declining over time to mostly light perception. Sylvia shares how she “discovered” the blindness field through training at a lighthouse agency, how that led to decades of leader...
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December 9, 2025 • 26 mins
Episode Summary
This episode continues the conversation with Bill McCann, founder of Dancing Dots, exploring the pivotal moments that shaped his success as a blind entrepreneur. Bill recounts the nerve-wracking scramble of submitting a major grant during a snowstorm—an event that ultimately became a turning point for the company.
He shares the organic evolution of forming Dancing Dots, from learning business skills ...
This episode continues the conversation with Bill McCann, founder of Dancing Dots, exploring the pivotal moments that shaped his success as a blind entrepreneur. Bill recounts the nerve-wracking scramble of submitting a major grant during a snowstorm—an event that ultimately became a turning point for the company.
He shares the organic evolution of forming Dancing Dots, from learning business skills ...
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November 25, 2025 • 24 mins
Episode Summary
This episode of the Penny Forward Podcast features Bill McCann, founder of Dancing Dots, in a deep and engaging conversation about accessible music creation for blind and low-vision musicians. Bill shares his personal journey—from learning Braille music as a child to struggling through inaccessible print scores in high school and college—and how this lived experience inspired the creation of Dancing...
This episode of the Penny Forward Podcast features Bill McCann, founder of Dancing Dots, in a deep and engaging conversation about accessible music creation for blind and low-vision musicians. Bill shares his personal journey—from learning Braille music as a child to struggling through inaccessible print scores in high school and college—and how this lived experience inspired the creation of Dancing...
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November 11, 2025 • 35 mins
Episode Summary
Chris Peterson and Liz Bottner welcome the Erb family — Sarah, Stevie, and their 11-year-old daughter Maeve — founders of Unicorn Soda Design Studios, a company creating 3D-printed accessible games and educational tools for the blind and low-vision community. The family shares how Maeve’s blindness inspired a shift in their family’s path, from Stevie’s career as a professional che...
Chris Peterson and Liz Bottner welcome the Erb family — Sarah, Stevie, and their 11-year-old daughter Maeve — founders of Unicorn Soda Design Studios, a company creating 3D-printed accessible games and educational tools for the blind and low-vision community. The family shares how Maeve’s blindness inspired a shift in their family’s path, from Stevie’s career as a professional che...
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October 29, 2025 • 35 mins
Software engineer Mike Gorse shares how early mentorship, Linux accessibility work, and steady investing shaped his career and financial freedom. Hosts Chris Peterson and Liz Bottner explore his journey from Duxbury Systems to SUSE, the lessons he’s learned about networking, relocation, and accessibility in tech, and how a simple, long-term investing approach brought stability and choice. His advice: connect with peers in you...
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October 15, 2025 • 32 mins
Chris Peterson and Liz Botner sit down with Andrew Babin, co-developer of HaloFi, a new voice-controlled money management app designed with accessibility in mind. Andrew shares his journey with Stargardt’s disease, his unexpected path from construction to finance, and how his experiences inspired the creation of HaloFi—a tool merging AI and voice technology to make financial management more inclusive. The conversation e...
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May 21, 2025 • 29 mins
Liz Bottner leads this panel discussion on the most exciting, and affordable, technology the participants saw at the 2025 CSUN Assistive Technology Conference.
New and Affordable Tech at CSUN with Unmute and Chicago LighthouseDownload
Penny Forward Links
Explore the Penny Forward My Tools for Living Shop
pennyforward.compennyforward@pennyforward.com
Clubhouse House
Facebook
Youtube
Get our app, guest members...
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April 16, 2025 • 29 mins
Good credit can open doors to lower interest rates, better housing options, and even job opportunities. In this workshop, we'll explore how credit works, effective ways to manage debt, and actionable strategies to build or rebuild your credit score. Whether you're starting fresh or working toward improvement, you'll leave with a clear roadmap to healthier credit.
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April 8, 2025 • 29 mins
We learn about the Certified Accessibility Tester program from Tanner Gers, founder and Managing Director of AccessAbility Officer, whose vision is the US disabled unemployment rate is the same as the US unemployment rate. More powerful than these words? Tanner walks the talk. Over 80% of his team has a severe disability, and a large majority of these individuals are blind professionals who use screen readers. Everything AccessAbil...
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March 11, 2025 • 28 mins
We're joined by Craig Co and Patrick Long, co-founders of Innosearch, e-commerce platform focused on making online shopping easy and enjoyable, especially for those with internet access challenges like blind or low-vision users. Innosearch offers millions of products and deals, and our site is fully accessible, working seamlessly with NVDA, Apple Voiceover, and other popular screen readers.
We'll find out how anyone who finds curr...
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February 18, 2025 • 27 mins
In December, Penny Forward and the Chicago Lighthouse announced a partnership to open the "My Tools for Living" shop featuring nearly 300 assistive technology and independent living products for people with blindness and low vision. This week, Penny Forward founder and CEO, Chris Peterson, interviews Patrick Andrade and Brian Bussard from the Chicago Lighthouse to learn more about this collaboration and how it can help you find the...
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January 19, 2025 • 28 mins
Many of us start the new year with financial resolutions, but staying on track can be tough. This interactive webinar will explore strategies to help you stick to your goals and set yourself up for long-term success. We’ll discuss effective tracking methods, tips for staying motivated throughout the year, and how to adjust your plans as life changes. This webinar is ideal for people of all financial backgrounds and will highl...
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January 14, 2025 • 26 mins
This week, Penny Forward founder and CEO, Chris Peterson, talks about his goals for 2025 and some changes you'll see to Penny Forward throughout the coming year.
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December 31, 2024 • 30 mins
Have you always believed that you could only make a living if you went to college? George Wurtzel was the star of a 2018 Subaru Outback commercial, but he is also a blind woodworker and craftsman who believes that blind people can be successful in any type of job. In part 2 of a two part interview, we’ll learn how George’s talent and resilience helped him to succeed throughout his 50-year woodworking career, and what it...
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December 17, 2024 • 31 mins
Have you always believed that you could only make a living if you went to college? George Wurtzel was the star of a 2018 Subaru Outback commercial, but he is also a blind woodworker and craftsman who believes that blind people can be successful in any type of job. In part 1 of a two part interview, we’ll learn how George’s talent and resilience helped him to succeed throughout his 50-year woodworking career, and what it...
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December 3, 2024 • 36 mins
While the Penny Forward Podcast team is preparing for the holidays, we thought we'd re-run the last episode of 2021, we shared a recording of a Zoom call hosted by our friend Mo Carpenter. She runs a Facebook group for blind parents called "Parenting Out Of Sight Kids," and they host a biweekly zoom call discussing topics of interest to blind parents. During last month's call, we had a conversation about staying on budget during th...
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November 26, 2024 • 29 mins
"I now find advocacy really rewarding, and I realize that it's a long game, and sometimes advocacy's going to feel like you're banging your head against a brick wall, but every so often, the wall moves just a little bit. So, there is hope, and it can get better, and that's why I do believe, very strongly, in the work that the NFB does. Because it has turned many lives around, including mine."
Join us as we talk with Jonathan Mos...
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October 15, 2024 • 29 mins
Because of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, we wanted to focus on Penny Forward’s employment programs, so we brought on Jeremy Grandstaff, who leads our youth employment and advocacy programs, and is also the author of our Employment Essentials course, to talk about those things. In addition to his work with Penny Forward, Jeremy lives just outside Washington D.C, with his husband Jerry and their seeing eye dog...
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September 24, 2024 • 28 mins
James Boehm, Amanda Juetten, and Angus Kola from Kustom Canes, and the You Cane Give initiative, talk about their organizations and how they fund a need that's super important, and one we probably don't think about here in the United States, which is the needs of the blind and visually impaired in the rest of the world, who may not have access to something as simple as a long white cane.
Show notes
You Cane Give Initiative Tr...
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