The Unexpected Journey
Summiting and skiing an 11,000 foot volcano, completing a DIY adaptive sport decathlon in one day, harnessing a passion for art to help spinal cord injury survivors adapt and bond, flying in a wing suit as a double amputee, giving birth to and mothering twin girls as a quadriplegic...these are just a few of the powerful stories you will hear on The Unexpected Journey. Adaptive athlete and quadriplegic, Tim Brown, talks with other disabled folks to learn how they challenge preconceived beliefs, push boundaries, and get after it - ultimately leading to a life fulfilled. The Unexpected Journey gives you the experience of listening to two friends sitting at a kitchen table, around a campfire, or on a boat, letting you eavesdrop on an intimate conversation about their shared experience, their passions, and the challenging, rewarding and exhilarating elements of their life. The episode plays like an audio memoir of the guest with the host providing clarity and narrating the biographical details so you can enjoy and appreciate the real and raw moments of the conversation. You’ll hear a sonic backdrop of original music to add emotional richness and additional sound design to bring into the moment with the guest as they describe their most formative and powerful experiences. The host, Tim Brown, is quadriplegic from a ski accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury 11 years ago. He prefers to listen before speaking and shares his own experience along with the guest. Our mission is to elevate, educate, and empower our disabled and able-bodied listeners on the disabled experience through creative and powerful storytelling. Our vision is to be a leader in the creation and distribution of empowering disability-centric storytelling and to provide an accessible platform for participants in the disabled experience to share their stories with the world. The Unexpected Journey is a podcast about adaptive athletes, adventurers, and creators. Each episode features an individual with a disability sharing their powerful story of learning how to challenge preconceived beliefs, push boundaries, and get after it - ultimately leading to a life fulfilled. Listen to guests like Anna Soens talk about being the first paraplegic woman to summit and ski Mount Hood, Greg Durso share his love for adaptive sports and completing an adaptive decathlon, and Channing Cash on her childhood and Laos and becoming a Team USA ocean paddle racer. Hosted and produced by Tim Brown, a surfer, sailor, and skier who is quadriplegic from a skiing accident 10 years ago.Our goal is to Educate. Elevate. Encourage.
Episodes
After talking with Tanja Kari in Episode 57 we were super excited to learn more about the TetraSki, an emerging technology for the adaptive alpine skiing community. If you haven't already, I recommend giving episode 57 a listen before continuing this episode. We wanted to hear from several voices, so I reached out to athlete Becca Farewell who is now in her fourth season skiing and racing in the tetra ski. Becca lives in Salt...
Tanja Kari is a Paralympic gold medalist in cross country skiing from Finland. In 2010 she was inducted into the Paralympic Hall of Fame, she has been nominated for the Laureus World Sports Award for Sports Person of the Year with a Disability, and in 1998 and 2002 she was voted Finland's best disabled athlete. Since retiring from competitive sport she has become a strong and passionate advocate for the expansion of para sport...
Geoff Krill is a self-described adventure athlete, competitor, innovator, and motivator. He is also a national team member of PSIA, the Professional Ski Instructors of America. Since acquiring a spinal cord injury in his 20s he has competed in downhill mountain biking and skiing races both nationally and internationally, and continues to push boundaries as a wheelchair user. He is passionate about the impact of outdoor recreation a...
Anna Soens was the first guest on The Unexpected Journey. In episode one she shared the story of her pioneering para-mountaineering ascents of Mount Hood and Mount Baker in the Pacific Northwest. If you haven't listened yet, go check it out. In this conversation, the first in a short series of episodes on adaptive skiing, Anna returns to talk about her freeskiing career, her rapid rise as an adaptive downhill ski racer and her...
For this episode, we decided to switch things up. Louis Arevalo, Unexpected Journey editor and sound designer, gets behind the mic to interview Tim Brown, Unexpected Journey founder and host. We talk about Tim's Journey, the origins of the The Unexpected Journey, what goes into creating the podcast, connecting with listeners, and the future of the pod!!
Guest info:
- @timjobrown
Additional Resources:
- www.empowersci.org
- ...
Nate Bibaud was born in 1984 in Amesbury, Massachusetts, where he grew up skateboarding and playing goalie in hockey. After studying architecture, he moved to St. Croix to work in print and graphic design. In 2010, a car accident left him paralyzed from the neck down, with limited arm movement and no hand function. During rehab at MGH and Spaulding, he began drawing with the help of a recreational therapist. Over time, Nate gained ...
Joel Brown is a paraplegic dancer, choreographer, and musician. He grew up in Salt Lake City in a large creative family and was paralyzed as a boy. Not one to slow down, he pursued many sports living an active life, and eventually found his way to dance. His professional dance career took him to California, then London, and around the world. Now in his 30s and back in California working as a choreographer, Joel has extensive exper...
Alex Cano Gonzalez is a photographer, videographer, and artist living in Denver Colorado. He was paralyzed at a young age as a result of gun violence. He's currently rebuilding his life with a commitment to physical rehab and exercise, exploring adaptive sports, and hustling to grow his freelance career as an artist. In our conversation, I was struck by Alex's profound gratitude, inner peace, and level of maturity and wis...
Neven Hart and his fiancé Amber Cogbill are rising stars on social media. They openly and vulnerably sharing their experience navigating life together following Neven's recently acquired spinal cord injury. Neven is an athlete and is getting into adaptive sports, but most importantly, he and Amber are educating hundreds of thousands of people through their social media following on the challenging, joyful, mundane, silly, and ...
Jesi Stracham is an advocate, adaptive athlete, and founder of the Wheel With Me Foundation. She's also co-owner of Adapt Fit and the Freedom LKN facility. I first read about Jesi in New Mobility magazine when she was competing in Tough Mudder races and blazing a trail for adaptive athletes in that realm, I met her in person four years later. Jesi is passionate about taking ownership of your life and pursuing your dreams, and ...
I briefly met Erin Field and Jack Benziger several years ago at Journey Forward, a spinal cord injury exercise rehab center outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Erin had recently been paralyzed in the summer before her senior year of college, just a few months after they started dating. I distinctly remember seeing the affection and care they had for one another when they arrived for Erin’s exercise sessions. In the year since, I hav...
Roy Tuscany is the Founder and CEO of the High Fives Foundation. On April 26, 2016 Roy overshot a ski jump and was paralyzed with a spinal cord injury. Six years later, and a year and a half after I was paralyzed, Roy and I connected for the first time. I had read an article about High Fives in Powder, a ski magazine and was jolted by the energetic vibe of the organization - it felt like something different. One of my closest frie...
JoMarie Lawrence lives in Los Angeles where she is pursuing an acting and modeling career. She is a member of a cohort of disabled actors who are breaking barriers and bringing authentic representation to a wider variety of roles in media and entertainment. JoMarie has appeared in many television commercials, TV shows, and has written and starred in her own short films that explore her experience as a disabled woman with a spinal c...
Joe Stone is a disability activist, public speaker, and an adventure athlete. He is a partner and a dog dad, a team rider for Bowhead Corp, a Stio ambassador, a Project Airtime Pilot, and a co-owner of Dovetail Trail Consulting with two time previous Unexpected Journey guest Quinn Brett. Joe sets ambitious goals, pursues them with doggedly, and lives a fully adventure filled life.
Guest info:
- @meetjoestone
- @dovetail-trail-consul...
Murray Siple is an award-winning filmmaker and accessible home designer, a former snowboarder and skateboarder, a world traveler, an artist, and recently added adaptive surfer to his resume. He lives in British Columbia, Canada. Murray and I met in San Diego this past September where he surfed for the first time. Murray has always lived a wild and adventurous life, both before he was paralyzed at the age of 26 and in the 27 years s...
Billy Price is an entrepreneur and the CEO and Cofounder, with Darin Donaldson, of Billy Footwear, a Seattle based footwear brand they have built from the ground up over the past seven years. Billy Footwear utilizes the concept of universal design to make shoes that are functional and fashionable for everyone, including the disability community. Billy and I initially connected professionally and chatted about our shared experience ...
Nitra Turner and I met at the EmpowerSCI summer intensive program at Stony Brook University this past summer where Nitra was a participant and I work as the Director of Strategic Development. Nitra led an adaptive archery clinic. For the annual adaptive surf day, she showed up to the beach in a mermaid outfit and then charged in challenging waves for her first time ever surfing. At home in Las Vegas, Nitra works in a banking career...
Rachel Zoeller is a person who is very engaged with life. They are an entrepreneur, outdoor enthusiast, endurance athlete, yoga practitioner, former pediatric physical therapist, writer, occasional model, partner, and highly intelligent individual. Following an accident resulting in a spinal cord injury and paralysis a few years ago, they are now moving through space and life in a different way. Our conversation was a meditation on...
Jason Stoffer is an outdoor enthusiast, musician, and a former wildland fire fighter, EMT, search and rescue volunteer, and federal law enforcement officer. He lives with his wife and teenage kids in Montana and now works for Unite 2 Fight Paralysis alongside two time Unexpected Journey guest, Quinn Brett. Jason and Quinn met in the hospital after their accidents resulting in spinal cord injuries. They have also embarked on many im...
Quinn Brett first came on The Unexpected Journey in Season 1, Episode 7. She was four years out from her climbing accident resulting in paralysis and shared her story in a profoundly beautiful, honest, and raw manner. Three years later, we reconnected to learn about her advocacy work, get an update on her recent adventures, and hear how life is treating her. Louis Arevalo, our editor, coproducer, and previous cast - and I were both...
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