Always Looking Up

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with disabled model and advocate Bri Scalesse. Bri is a true queen in every sense of the word. Paralyzed at age six, Bri has refused to let her disability, or society’s perception of disability, stop her from pursuing her dreams. She has wheeled the runways at New York Bridal Fashion Week and New York Fashion Week and opened designer Nancy Volpe-Beringer’s fashion show during the Project Runway season 18 finale...and she’s just getting started. We discuss her career as a disabled model, her advocacy work, a certain airline, and what it means to be disabled in 2021.

Follow Bri: Instagram: @briscalesse

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana ; @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: https://www.jillianilana.com

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Colleen Ditro. Colleen is a Doctor of Nursing Practice, certified nurse practitioner, and the lead Advanced Practice Registered Nurse for the orthopedics, pain and wound care teams at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. In addition, she serves on the medical advisory board of Little People of America and is the camp nurse at Camp Seneb- a summer camp for children with skeletal dysplasia. I have known her since she joined Nemours in 2004. We discuss what it means, medically to be a dwarf, the various types, complications, and advantages of dwarfism, and her work in the little person community.

Learn More: Skeletal Dysplasia | Nemours Children's Health ; LPA Medical Support: Main Page ; Camp Seneb: https://harborcamps.org/camp-seneb/ 

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana ; @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: www.jillianilana.com 

Email Me: [email protected]

This episode was edited by Ben Curwin 

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Kristina Thibault. Kristina has always been someone I’ve looked up to and is practically a big sister to me. She just got married in March so we are talking about dating, wedding, and marriage. Specifically, we discuss the struggles and successes of dating as an LP, planning a wedding, and the happily ever after.

Follow Kristina: Instagram: @kristinathibault_ 

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana ; @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: www.jillianilana.com This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Sophia Herzog, a Paralympic Silver Medalist and a swimmer for the US Paralympic team. At the time of this recording, Sophia is preparing to leave for Tokyo to compete in her second Paralympic games. We discuss her journey to the games, what she's most looking forward to in Tokyo, and what it means to be a Paralympian.

Follow Sophia: Instagram: @sophiaherzog Twitter: @SophiaHerzog Follow US Paralympics Swimming: Instagram: @usparaswimming Twitter: @USParaSwimming Website: https://www.teamusa.org/USParaSwimming ; Support Team USA: https://www.teamusashop.com/team-usa/us-paralympic-swimming/t-14393661+sp-783710+z-874-703572402

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana ; @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: www.jillianilana.com This episode was edited by Ben Curwin

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Zach Shattuck, a swimmer for the US Paralympic team. At the time of this recording, Zach is preparing to leave for Tokyo to compete in the 2020 Paralympics. We discuss his journey to the games, what he’s most looking forward to in Tokyo and what it means to him to be a Paralympian.  

Follow Zach: Instagram: @zshattuck96  Follow US Paralympics Swimming: Instagram: @usparaswimming Website: https://www.teamusa.org/USParaSwimming ; Support Team USA: https://www.teamusashop.com/team-usa/us-paralympic-swimming/t-14393661+sp-783710+z-874-703572402 

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana ; @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: www.jillianilana.com This episode was edited by Ben Curwin 

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with someone who is not a little person but has grown up in this world, my younger brother Ben. Ben grew up going to LPA conventions with me and lived in a house with sideways sinks and too many stools. He could be the biggest pain in the butt, cracking the good joke whenever he can, but he is also one of my biggest (no pun intended) supporters. I sat down with Ben to discuss being an average-sized person immersed in the little people community.

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana ; @alwayslookingup.podcast

Website: www.jillianilana.com This episode was edited by Ben Curwin

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Camila Falquez. Camila is a photographer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Italia, Vogue Spain along with many other publications. She photographed Jillian Mercado for Teen Vogue, Secretary Deborah Haaland for InStyle Magazine, and President Biden and Vice President Harris for TIME Magazine. Earlier this year she reached out to me and asked if I would be willing to participate in an upcoming project where she would take my portrait. This project, BEING, is a visual essay that reclaims and re-writes ideas of beauty and power. We discuss how this project came to be, my involvement in it, and it’s immediate and everlasting impact. 

Support BEING: https://www.beinginhistory.com/print-sale 

Follow Camila: Instagram: @camilafalquez ; Website: http://camilafalquez.com 

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana ; @alwayslookingup.podcast ; Website: https://www.jillianilana.com 

In this episode I am sitting down with Dave Duminuco. Dave is my personal trainer at Equinox and today we are talking all things health and fitness. I am the first little person he has ever had as a client and it has been quite an adventure for the two of us. We discuss how I came to be his client, his approach to training me, and what we’ve both learned from this experience so far.

Follow Dave: Instagram: @daveduminuco 

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana ; @alwayslookingup.podcast Website: www.jillianilana.com 

This episode was edited by Benjamin Curwin 

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with not one, but two badass, beautiful women- Christina Chambers and Liv Hope Bender. Both in wheelchairs, they host the podcast Sit The Fuck Down where they talk about what it means to be disabled. We discuss our similar and different disabled experiences, along with the changes we want to see and make in order to make the world accessible.

Listen to Sit The Fuck Down: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sit-the-f-ck-down-podcast/id1551074126

Follow STFD Podcast: Instagram: @stfdpodcast

Follow Christina: Instagram: @christina_chambers

Follow Liv: Instagram: @livhopebender

Follow me: Instagram: @jill_ilana ; @alwayslookingup.podcast

Website: www.jillianilana.com This episode was edited by Benjamin Curwin

In this week’s episode I am sitting down with Lakshmi Shyamakrishnan. Lakshmi is a writer, a TED conference speaker, and an advocate within the little person community. She is currently an MS Candidate for the Marketing Analytics program at the University of Maryland and was recognized in 2021 as a Disability:IN Next Gen leader. We discuss the issue of public accommodations, her work advocating for them, and her upcoming book about the little person experience.

Follow Lakshmi: Instagram: @shyamwow.laksh

Follow Me: Instagram: @Jill_ilana ; @alwayslookingup.podcast 

Website: www.jillianilana.com This episode was edited by Benjamin Curwin