Welcome back Kevin.  Since we last spoke Kevin's career has taken off, both in the profit and nonprofit world. In business, Kevin's journey as a wealth manager with GVA Wealth Management has taken off.  Brian now uses Kevin as well and says that "nobody will work harder for you than Kevin".  In the nonprofit world, Kevin is the Treasurer of The Stuttering Springboard, the new organization that was formerly known as The Noan Stuttering Foundation (listen to the podcast for more details!).  Kevin explains his professional journey, through college, internships and  his new level of acceptance of his stutter.  His advice: disclose, disclose, disclose.  It will change your world. Enjoy the podcast!

There is a lot of silence around stuttering. Many of us who stutter spent years running from it and doing everything possible to hide it…  to “not be found out”.  It was the stigma, how people think about people who stutter, that forced us into hiding.  So, we don’t talk, we switch words and avoidance becomes our operating system.  With some of us, like Pat Festa, our guest today, the light bulb goes off; the realization that we have to become activists for people who stutter, to educate the world about what it means to be a person who stutters in a fluent world.  Pat is our neighbor, from Collegeville, just a few towns over. The beauty of this experience is that Pat, a young adult who stutters, found us, because we at the Nolan Stuttering Foundation have decided to stop hiding and to start educating the world.  Pat is doing some exciting things.  He is a teacher, an actor and about to launch a new program called “Stutter4You”. I’m joined by Pat and my associate John McDermott.  John is on the Board of NSF as well as a Master Sergeant in the US Air force.  Enjoy the podcast!

Meet Aidan Marchall-Cort: Co-Chapter Leader of the National Stuttering Association's DC Chapter and the Young Adult Committee Chair for the entire organization. Aidan is also founder of the support group/interview series called Manifest - a community and space for black men who stutter. This is a podcast that should provide hope for all young people who stutter as Aiden is proudly leading the way in educating the community on what it means to be a person who stutters.  He is also speaking to classes of speech and language pathology students, addressing the trauma associated with stuttering and  defining what he calls “Reverse Shame”. Enjoy the podcast!

U.S. and Irish participants unite in Ireland for cultural immersion, leadership training, and a celebration of stuttering pride.

The inaugural Clonakilty Stuttering Leadership Exchange brought together 17 young adults who stutter from the United States and Ireland for a groundbreaking program promoting personal growth, acceptance, and leadership development.

From August 1–8, 2025, participants traveled from Philadelphia to Ireland, where they immersed themselves in the country’s rich culture, sports, and history, while engaging in transformative leadership workshops and team-building activities. The program’s mission extended beyond cultural exchange—its goal was to identify and equip future leaders who happen to stutter with the tools, confidence, and vision to make a difference in their communities.

Take a listen as members of the trip share lessons learned the amazing express they shared together!

Meet Jake Sniras, a recent graduate of Garnet Valley High School in Glen Mills, PA and incoming Freshman at Wilkes College. Jake was the leading boys scorer in Basketball at Garnet Valley and will be joining the Wilkes College basketball team. Brian had the privilege of recently traveling to Ireland with Jake as part of the Clonakilty Stuttering Leadership Exchange. This podcast spans two timeframes: the day before Jake left for Wilkes and three weeks into his college life. We explore the leadership lessons he learned as part of the leadership program, his anticipation of college and then in part two, Jake shares the reality of college life, as a young person who stutters. Over the last several years Brian has watched Jake mature into a wonderful young man and he is confident that Jake will be one of our great future leaders!

Kyle Pelkey is a Speech and language pathologist at the Chmela Communication Center in Illinois.  Kyle is also a person who stutters. In this deeply educational podcast, Kyle joins the Stuttering Springboard Career Peer Group to talk about how the brain governs our reaction to our stutter. In technical terms, it’s the neuroscience behind emotional reactivity (ie: stress responses).  The group discusses the power of mindfulness and pseudo stuttering to control how we think about stuttering.

Kyle is forever grateful for the relationship with his mentor Kristin Chmela, Owner and Director of Chmela Communication Center and a leader in the field of stuttering therapy.

William (Bill) Peters is a Denver-based writer, father, and advocate whose life has been shaped by the quiet, persistent challenge of stuttering. A lifelong stutterer himself, William understands the deep emotional terrain of being misunderstood-not for what one thinks, but for how one speaks. This silent struggle, paired with experiences of depression and PTSD, has only fueled his resilience and sense of purpose. With a Master's degree in Psychology and a longstanding career serving people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, William has dedicated himself to empowering others, especially those who have been underestimated or overlooked. He is also the proud father of a son who stutters, which gives his work even deeper personal meaning. 

Bill is the author of the book, “On the Mound A Rookie’s Triumph in Baseball Verse”,  which is another view of Ernest Thayer's 1888 poem “Casey at the Bat” In this emotional podcast, Bill talks about the importance of getting in the game of life; about putting yourself out there despite your stutter. It is a deep look into fatherhood and growing up as a person who stutters.  Enjoy the listen!

Meet Robert O'Brien; author, speaker and trainer from Dublin, Ireland.  Robert is  a person who stutters and is gay. Robert spent many years learning to accept and love himself. By embracing his speech and sexuality with the help of amazing people and communities, he began to find peace, and direction in his life.

Robert describes this journey in his book ‘Just One More Drive' the true story of a stuttering homosexual and his race car’. Now as an experienced speaker and trainer, He continues to explore topics such as overcoming adversity, finding self-acceptance and living our best lives.

In this podcast Robert describes his journey from disappointment, to despair and eventually hope and joy. Warning to the listeners, there is a discussion of an attempted suicide in this episode. 

Alex Koenig’s approach to his stutter is to face it head on.  He has purposely taken on bold roles in his young career to get in the reps and get his stutter out of his head. From door to door sales to selling on a floor with many other sales reps in ear shot, he has learned that being a covert stutter is not an option if you’re ambitious.   Alex says, “being covert now is out of the question”.  Alex, who makes 100 sales phone calls a day, says that you just have to jump into the deep end and find your grit. The first phone call is the hardest.  In this podcast, Alex and Brian explore what they call “the other side”.  The other side is not where you are cured of your stutter. It’s the other side of avoidance.  It’s the place where you no longer look at life through a stuttering lens. Take a listen and see what the other side looks like to a young professional who stutters.

Alex is graduate of  Ursinus College with a degree in Neuroscience. He currently works as a Capacity Portfolio representative at C.H. Robinson.

Get ready for a different approach to speech therapy for people who stutter. In this podcast Jack takes on a journey and shows us how improv and Shakespeare can shed fear and help people who stutter find their voice. Jack and Brian explore the sound of a stutter and encourage people who stutter to “stay in the pocket” and embrace it.

More about Jack Henderson:

Jack Henderson is the founder of Henderson Stuttering Therapy. He is a person who stutters with over a decade of clinical experience. His struggles and transformative journey with his own stutter are what led him to this field.

Jack graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Child Studies and Theatre. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2013 with a Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology. During his undergraduate and graduate studies he worked on the Developmental Stuttering Project as a research assistant. In 2011, Jack co-founded Camp TALKS (Talking and Learning with Kids who Stutter) and ran the camp through 2023.

Jack is an adjunct faculty at Austin Peay State University, teaching the graduate-level stuttering therapy course.