Olivier Bernier is an award-winning director and documentary filmmaker who lives and breathes to tell stories that explore the human condition.

When Olivier and his wife Hilda’s son was born with down syndrome they were entirely unprepared. Inspired, Olivier Bernier decided to document his family experience so he applied and won grant money to make a film about inclusive education. However, his family’s experiences with Emilio’s journey took the film in a slightly different direction. Forget Me Not became a documentary film that shares a family’s fight to have their son with Down syndrome included in the country’s most segregated school system in the country, the New York City public school system. 

Forget Me Not offers a rare look at what a truly inclusive education can look like and how it can lead to a more inclusive society so that everyone has the opportunity to achieve their full potential. The production crew also included several young people with disabilities, as seen in the closing credits of the film.

In this conversation with Jay, he talks about his journey as a father advocating for his child’s inclusive education in one of the most segregated school districts in the US - New York City. Please find a transcription of this episode: https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/podcast-episode/olivier-bernier

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Meggie Palmer is a confidence creator and globally renowned speaker, facilitator, executive coach as well as the founder and CEO of PepTalkHer.

While still finding success as an award-winning journalist, Meggie was surprised to realize that she was facing pay discrimination. This opened her eyes to pay inequality and inspired her to take action not just for herself but for all women around the world. 

She left journalism to embark on a path of activism. She started her own organization - PepTalkHer - with the mission of closing the gender pay gap. ‘PepTalkHerr App’ is described as ‘fitbit for your career’, helping professionals track success and navigate their pathway to promotion. Meggie now runs a community of 60,000 professional women focused on elevating performance and supercharging their career success. 

In conversation with Jay, they discuss the importance of proactive and positive storytelling and  how her life put her on a mission to close the gender pay gap.

Please find a transcription of this episode: 

https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/podcast-episode/meggie-palmer

Looking for more insights into the world of activism? Be sure to check out Jay’s brand new book, Find Your Fight, in which Jay teaches the next generation of activists and advocates how to step up and bring about lasting change. You can find Find Your Fight wherever you buy your books, and you can learn more about it at www.jayruderman.com.

Deborah Lipstadt is an Award-Winning Author & a Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University.

Originally part I of a special series on confronting antisemitism, please join us as we revisit this timely episode of On All-Inclusive with Jay Ruderman. And, we’ll be back in two weeks with a brand new episode. 

For decades, Deborah Lipstadt has been a leading figure in writing about and combating antisemitism. She is most well-known for defeating Holocaust denier David Irving when he sued her for defamation. However, Deborah’s accomplishments span far beyond the trial that made her infamous. She is currently the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University and recently received a nomination by President Biden as Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism. 

In conversation with Jay, they discuss the history of antisemitism, why there has been an uprise in hate recently, and what we can do to combat it.

Please find a transcription of this episode: 

https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/podcast-episode/deborah-lipstat

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Meg is the CEO of Unsilenced, a grassroots organization dedicated to speaking out against institutionalized child abuse in the troubled teen and youth mental health industry.

After being sexually assaulted and expelled from school for drinking at 15, Meg's parents spoke to an educational consultant and forcibly sent her to a children's facility and boarding school. For the next 17 years, Meg dedicated herself to non-profit work before eventually coming to the realization that she had been abused and brainwashed throughout her time in the troubled teen industry. Having already done extensive work in the non-profit sector, Meg eventually founded Unsilenced and has been working since then to transform the troubled teen industry.

In conversation with Jay, they discuss her experiences, why parents and children fall victim to this industry, and how Unsilenced is forcing transparency into an industry where, not only is it not encouraged, but it literally doesn't exist.

Please find a transcription of this episode: 

https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/podcast-episode/meg-appelgate

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Dr. Lise Deguire is a psychologist, burn survivor, speaker, and author. 

At the age of 4, Lise was severely burned in an accidental yet careless fire caused by her mother.  Lise spent years in the hospital recovering, undergoing multiple reconstructive surgeries, experiencing bullying, and navigating the world in a house run by parents who she describes as outrageously flawed, gifted, and iconoclastic. 

In spite of her beginnings and losing 4 family members to suicide,  Lise continually found resilience, becoming a psychologist, mother of two daughters, and disfigurement advocate. In the multiple-award-winning memoir Flashback Girl: Lessons on Resilience from a Burn Survivor, Lise tells her story of survival and shares life lessons that will help us also find the silver linings and resilience we need to come back from the brink. 

In conversation with Jay, they discuss her experiences and why she’s on a mission to help people find pathways toward resilience and create a paradigm shift around disfigurement.

Please find a transcription of this episode: 

https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/podcast-episode/lise-deguire

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 **TRIGGER WARNING. This episode contains conversations about suicide and other mental health issues. If you are triggered or would like to talk to a confidential advocate, please dial the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. If you want to learn more about mental health and find possible resources, please visit this Ruderman Family Foundation link. 

Jason Docton is the CEO and founder of Rise Above The Disorder (RAD) a nonprofit promoting mental health in the gaming world and beyond. 

Not realizing he was experiencing agoraphobia, Jason dropped out of med school and became increasingly isolated besides being an avid player of World of Warcraft. On the brink of suicide, he decided to do one last final act - save someone else's life first. Jason began crowd-fundraising for mental healthcare via his gaming guild, Anxiety Gaming. 

Since then, Jason and his organization, which is now Rise Above The Disorder have helped over 40,000 people from across 135 countries receive free mental health care. 

In conversation with Jay, they discuss his incredible personal journey into activism and how creating RAD taught him that mental healthcare is a basic human right.

Please find a transcription of this episode: https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/podcast-episode/jason-docton

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Katy Sullivan is an award-winning actress, producer, writer, athlete, bilateral above-the-knee amputee and is the first actress who is an amputee to ever star on Broadway.

Raised by parents who encouraged her to try everything and decided to become an actress. After she got her first pair of running prosthetics at 25, she discovered a love of running and became a four-time US Champion. She was among the first bilateral above-the-knee amputees to compete in the Paralympics in ambulatory track when she ran in the London 2012 Paralympic Games. However, she never lost sight of her dream to become an actor. Among her many acting accolades, Katy has recently made history again. she developed and starred as Annie in the hit show “The Cost of Living” - turning her into the first female amputee to star on Broadway. 

In conversation with Jay, they discuss inclusivity and diversity in theatre, TV, and film and Katy talks about how living with a disability gave her a higher level of adaptation and how her family helped to teach her to believe that “can’t is just four letter word.”

Please find a transcription of this episode: https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/podcast-episode/katy-sullivan

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eleanor Reissa is a Broadway/television actress, director, prize-winning playwright, author, and host of the Yale University/Fortunoff Video Archive podcast: Those Who Were There: Voices from the Holocaust.

A Brooklyn-born native and daughter of what she now calls Holocaust fighters, Eleanor embraced her Jewish identity and channeled that into her artistic expression. When her mother died at 64 in 1986, her father having died 10 years earlier, she discovered 56 letters written to her mother from her father in the years after the war and between his move to America.

Unable to read them, she kept them for many years until she decided to have them translated. What she discovered changed her whole perception of her family’s life and began a journey to uncover her parents' past, which she turned into her memoir, THE LETTERS PROJECT: A Daughter’s Journey. 

In conversation with Jay, she talks about her life growing up in Brooklyn, the many discoveries that she made while researching her family, and how studying the anti-semitism of the past can help counteract the growing antisemitism and identity-based intolerance that we're facing today.

Please find a transcription of this episode: https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/podcast-episode/eleanor-reissa/

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Becky Margiotta is an author, change-maker, leader, veteran, and host of the Unleashing Social Change Podcast. Becky is also the co-founder and owner of The Billions Institute which has trained thousands of leaders from every corner of the globe and from every sector of social change in designing and leading large-scale change.

The 100,000 Homes Campaign for Community Solutions, where Becky served as director,  mobilized 186 cities to permanently house more than 100,000 people who had previously been living on their streets in just under four years. Most recently, Becky authored Impact with Integrity: Repairing the World Without Breaking Yourself, a call to action for change makers that provides a step-by-step framework for doing the inner work that is necessary for advancing social change. 

In this conversation with Jay, she talks about life in the military under Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, recounts her incredible career in social activism, and explains why if you want to change the world, the most important work you should be doing is on yourself. 

Please find a transcription of this episode: https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/podcast-episode/becky-margiotta/ 

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As we take time to reflect on the work of Martin Luther King, Jr, we would like to share an encore of this important episode that discusses inequalities in the American justice system and social justice movements that are responding to it.

“What is it we need to do as a society to lift up our most vulnerable population?” asks Niambe McIntosh, daughter of Peter Tosh and fierce advocate for prison reform, cannabis legalization, and justice everywhere.

Peter Tosh is the legendary Grammy Award-winning reggae musician and, along with Bob Marley, founding member of The Wailers. Known for the passionate political and social messaging in his songs, Tosh was tragically killed during a home invasion in 1987 when Niambe was only five-years-old.

Today, Niambe is head of the Peter Tosh Legacy & Brand and founder of the Peter Tosh Foundation, where she carries on her father’s message and memory. In 2017, her brother Jawara was incarcerated for cannabis possession in New Jersey. After a brutal attack in prison led to Jawara’s death, Niambe threw herself into the world of prison reform.

Listen to the latest episode of All About Change as Niambe discusses preserving the legacy and work of her father, her passion for prison reform, and the necessity of legalizing cannabis nationwide.

Please find a transcription of this episode here.

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