Archive for the ‘Women Who Stutter Podcast’ Category
Episode 30 features Nina Zito, who hails from Queens, New York. Nina is 21 years old and is in her last year at St Joseph’s College in Brooklyn NY. She is studying to become an elementary school teacher.
I was introduced to Nina through friend and NSA member, Dr Mitchell Trichon. Mitch had met Nina at a NSA support group and told me that this young woman had an amazing story and that I should meet her.
I did get the chance to meet Nina and her mom and brother at the NSA conference this summer in Cleveland. I was so impressed that Nina’s family came with her for her first conference, and I was so happy to meet such an enthusiastic, ambitious young woman.
Nina has some huge speaking challenges ahead of her this year. She is student teaching and is President of her Student Government at her college. Listen as she explains how she manages this and makes room for stuttering in her life.
Listen in also as we chat about advertising, fluency communication and all that it entails, and Nina’s very inspiring story about being high school graduation salutatorian. She also offers heartfelt advice to teen girls who stutter.
Music used in this episode is podcast safe music from Dano Songs.
Feel free to leave comments or ask Nina questions.
Episode 29 features Suzana Jelčić Jakšić who hails from Zagreb, Croatia. Suzana has been a speech therapist for over 20 years, and currently works in a children’s hospital.
Suzana shares an important turning point in her life – both as a person who stutters and professionally as a therapist. She attended a workshop for specialists in stuttering and realized that she “didn’t have to be fluent”. That other therapists who stuttered were talking and expressing themselves.
She felt free to speak and to stutter if it happened. From then, she began accepting invitations to speak publicly. She felt comfortable to educate others about her specialty – stuttering.
Ten years ago, Suzana created and founded the Croatian Stuttering Association. She served as the Chair of the association up until last Spring. She is currently on the Board of the International Stuttering Association.
Listen in as we discuss Suzana’s early memories of stuttering, her parent’s reactions and early therapy experiences. We also discuss how stuttering is perceived in Croatia and important people in Croatia who stutter and have served as role models.
Suzana also mentions Marilyn Monroe and about the difference between her female and male clients. She believes that women seem to be able to deal with stuttering easier than men!
Credit for the podcast safe music clip “Echoed” goes to ccMixter.
As always, feel free to leave comments and let Suzana know what a great job she did by sharing her story!
Speaking Of Courage – Episode 28
Posted on: October 1, 2010
Episode 28 features Carolina Ayala,who hails from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Carolina works supporting people with intellectual disabilities. She is passionate about putting a positive spin on the label”disability”, and shares her personal perception of stuttering as a disability.
Carolina attended York University in Toronto and fulfilled the requirements in 2009 for a Master of Arts in the graduate program in Critical Disability Studies. She wrote a thesis research paper on stuttering, identity and acceptance.
I met Carolina at a NSA Conference in New Jersey in 2008, but really got to know her better this year at the NSA Conference in Cleveland. We spent a lot of time talking and she gave me a copy of her thesis research paper. I read it over the summer and asked Carolina to consider sharing her story in this forum.
Listen in as we discuss self image, friends and fitting in, discrimination, authenticity, or as Carolina puts it, being robbed of her true self. Carolina also discusses her role as a child in a documentary about stuttering called “Speaking of Courage.” And she reminds us of the importance of “listen to what I say, not how I say it.”
Credit for the podcast safe music “Scott Waves to April’s Salty Grace” goes to ccMixter.
Feel free to leave comments. Carolina would be especially interested if anyone would like to further discuss her thesis research on stuttering as related to a disability. She welcomes feedback or questions.
Episode 27 features Aileen, who hails from Long Island, New York. Aileen is a senior in high school and already finding it unbelievable that she will be heading off to college next year.
Aileen is a member of Friends and an active mentor for Friends through the Stepping Up program. She has done classroom presentations and compiled ideas for other kids about talking openly about stuttering.
I had the chance to hear Aileen share part of her story at the Friends Convention held this past summer in Chicago. I was so impressed with her willingness to help others by sharing her personal journey. I was honored when Aileen accepted my invitation to share her story with us.
Listen in as we chat about positive therapy, moving from embarrassment to acceptance and the impact Friends has had on her perspective and attitude. Aileen has tremendous insight into her stuttering and its place in her life already!
I noticed in my dialogue with Aileen that I used a lot of filler words – lots of “uhms” and “like”, which I was not comfortable with! In my listen-back, it seemed I was trying to avoid more stuttering. Wonder why?
Credit for the podcast safe music clip “Echoed” goes to ccMixter.
As always, please feel free to leave comments and especially let Aileen know what a great job she did!
Episode 26 features Carol Buckingham, who hails from Manassas, Virginia. Carol was the leader of the Northern Virginia NSA Chapter for 15 years, and continues to enjoy being a member of this long time, successful chapter.
I met Carol at my first NSA Conference in 2006, but really got to know her two years ago in Parsippany, NJ . Carol missed the NSA Cleveland this year, her first time missing a conference in 19 years. Carol joined the NSA when it was first known as the NSP or National Stuttering Project.
Carol worked for many years with the federal EPA or Environmental Protection Agency. She shares how she never let her stuttering interfere with doing her job, which involved lots of telephone contact with consumers.
These days, Carol is actively involved with the Farmers Market in her area, helping out 4 or 5 days a week. It seems to really have turned into a second career for her. Check out the Farmers Market newsletter for more information.
Listen in as we discuss acceptance of self and by others. She talks about how she never thought she would find someone who would love her, and how finding that person gives her strength. She is happy with her life.
We also discuss standing up to negative listener reactions to stuttering and how Carol defines “normal”.
Feel free to leave comments. Feedback is so important. It lets me know you are listening.
Credit for the podcast safe music clip, “I’m Gonna Go” goes to DanoSongs.
(Author note about this episode: this was one of the more difficult editing tasks I have had so far. Carol and I had a poor connection the day we chatted. Parts of this audio are not as smooth as I would have liked!)
Episode 25 features Katherine Preston, who lives in Chicago, IL via London, England. I had heard about Katherine about two years ago through some of the stuttering email groups. She was writing a book about stuttering and was looking for people to interview.
I met Katherine at the Friends Convention this past July in Chicago. We got to chatting at one of the workshops. She mentioned she was writing a book and I mentioned that I had recently started this podcast for women who stutter to share their stories. We knew there and then that we would eventually have this conversation!
Katherine has a great story. She was trained as a writer/journalist, but found her way into working in Finance in London. She wanted to write a book, so that she could find the bigger meaning of stuttering. She knew it was much bigger than her own experience.
Katherine tells of interviewing two people who stutter in the UK, and then determining that if she was going to do this book right, she would need a much broader scope. She shares her decision to leave London and come to the US, where she traveled around the country eventually interviewing more than 100 people who stutter.
Part of her story includes the journey itself, which included camping out and staying at stranger’s houses. I learned about a unique form of travel adventure known as couch surfing, which I want to try!
Listen in as we talk about random moments, acceptance, voluntary stuttering, dating/socializing and of course the next steps towards the completion of Katherine’s book. I try in vain to determine what the name of the book will be!
Credit for the podcast safe music clip “Echoed” goes to ccMixter
Feel free to leave feedback or questions for either Katherine or Pam here.
Fort of Shame- Episode 24
Posted on: September 10, 2010
Episode 24 features Mady, a student at Cal State University Northridge, in Los Angeles, California. I got to know Mady at the 2009 NSA Conference in Scottsdale, AZ. We have since become face book buddies.
Mady is studying psychology and wishes to combine research of stuttering and anxiety in her eventual doctoral program. Mady is also a wonderful writer and enjoys photography.
Listen in as we discuss Mady’s “seasons of stuttering” and how she dealt with denial and covert behaviors. She shares feelings about being secretly conflicted and broken about stuttering, and how she found a good therapist who helped her make sense of those feelings.
Mady also freely shares how she built a “fort of shame” – which she describes as hating something so much that you try to protect yourself against it. She describes how it started to corrode her.
Musical credit for the podcast safe clip “Scott Waves to April’s Salty Grace” goes to ccMixter.
As always, your feedback is encouraged and welcome. Let us know what you thought.
Episode 23 features Jade Vincent Hall, who hails from Sydney, Australia, via London, England. Jade is a 20-year-old young woman who experienced late onset stuttering at the age of 16. She now works in a call center, a job where there couldn’t be any more communication!
I was introduced to Jade through a social media on-line friend, and we had the opportunity to “meet” over Skype. Jade was very willing to share her story, and share she does. She quite honestly talks about this scary and confusing time of her life, and what ultimately helped her move forward.
Listen in as we chat about how the late onset stammering occurred and felt and what a scary time it was for Jade. We also chat about moving from the UK to Australia shortly after Jade began stammering, how her school life was affected, early therapy and the McGuire program.
Jade discusses “assertive self acceptance” and being happy with who we are. This video clip features Jade and several other young people involved in the Australian McGuire program.
Feel free to leave comments or questions for Jade, or just tell her how great it was to hear her story.
The music clip “Fireproof Babies” used in this audio is podcast safe music and is credited to ccMixter.
Episode 22 features Heather Baier, who hails from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Heather is an apprentice meteorological technician. She explains precisely what this is, after it is evident pretty quickly that I have no idea!
I first met Heather through the Twitter community. We periodically ran into each other on-line, and chatted together in a couple of group Skype calls. We eventually became Face book friends too. But we didn’t really get to know each other until we did this podcast episode.
Listen is as we chat about Heather’s work in a non-traditional career path, as well as her prior military experience. She has always been interested in electronics and science, and a secret passion for FLYING.
We also chat about the importance of her close-knit family, life lessons she has learned, and how positive attitude and choosing happiness has indelibly shaped her life.
You can find out more about Heather by reading her fantastic blog, The Adventures of an Apprentice Met Tech Ti-ger. Here, she talks about her work, stuttering acceptance and how everything all fits together.
Musical credit for the clip “Silver Shine” goes to Dano Songs, which is podcast safe music.
Feel free to leave comments or questions for Heather. She’d love to hear your feedback. I would too.
Stuttering Well – Episode 21
Posted on: August 26, 2010
Episode 21 features Stephie Hirsh, M.A. CCC-SLP, who hails from Highland Park, Illinois. Stephie had been teaching 4th and 5th grades before deciding to return to graduate school to pursue a career as a SLP. She chose to pursue speech language pathology after being inspired by the FRIENDS organization.
Stephie’s story is really one about “paying it forward”. She shares how profoundly impacted she was by meeting therapist Kristin Chmela when Stephie was just 16. Meeting Kristin was the first time Stephie had ever met another woman who stuttered. She was struck by how strong and confident and successful Ms. Chmela was and by how important it was/is to have strong women as role models in our lives.
I first met Stephie last year at Friends 2009 in Tampa, Florida. We only briefly talked then, but I was impressed with Stephie’s confidence being a woman who stutters and a SLP. I got to talk with her more this year at Friends 2010 in Chicago. I wanted to find out more about what makes her so passionate about working with kids and teens who stutter.
Listen in as Stephie shares her story of finding her voice and wanting to help others do the same. Stephie also talks about what it was like going to her first self-help conference at 18, and meeting so many guys who stuttered. We also discuss acceptance and how important it is to find and embrace good therapy.
Stephie founded The Center for Communication & Fluency Therapy and has also been actively involved with Camp Speak Up, which is a stuttering camp for children and adolescents. She is a member of ASHA’s fluency special interest division (4), and the National Stuttering Association (NSA), as well as FRIENDS.
Credit for the clip “Echoed” goes to ccmixter, which provides podcast safe music under the creative commons license.
Feel free to leave comments or feedback for Stephie, and for Pam as well if you like!
Episode 20 features Cheryl, who hails from the Bay area of California. Cheryl is a recent college graduate with a degree in psychology and a minor in creative writing. She is presently unsure of her career path, but knows that someday she wants to write.
She envisions writing fiction, either novels or short stories. She also is considering speech pathology with a special interest in research of brain pathways of people who stutter. What a great combination, huh? Creative writing, brain research and psychology.
I first met Cheryl on the email group, Stuttering Chat. We learned that we had both attended the same NSA conferences, but just had not met in person. We eventually connected on Face book and Skype and began actually chatting instead of just virtually chatting.
Not surprisingly, Cheryl is a lover of books and calls herself a bookworm. She also enjoys travel, with a special penchant for Paris. She studied abroad in Paris for four months, falling in love with the city of enlightenment. (thanks to B for gently correcting me!)
Listen is as we chat about school experiences, social skills development and how stuttering influences self-esteem. Cheryl also shares her therapy experiences and how it feels to “relapse” after experiencing fluency.
Feel free to comment or leave feedback for either of us.
Music used in this episode is podcast safe music from CCmixter. The title of the clip is “Scott waves to April’s salty Grace”. (I love this title!)
Episode 19 features Laura San Martin, who grew up in New York but now calls California home. Lori, as she is known to friends, is co-leader for the NSA Chapter in Los Angeles.
I met Lori at this year’s NSA Conference in Cleveland. I participated in a workshop that she and Joseph Diaz co-presented for teens about stuttering fears. Lori used examples from her own life to illustrate how she has learned to cope with fear.
Lori has an interesting story. Stuttering runs in her family, on her mom’s side. Four women in her family share the stuttering experience.
Lori is a civil engineer and she explains what that is for us non-engineers. She also candidly shares how she allowed her speech to somewhat dictate her career choice.
Listen in as we discuss covert stuttering, feelings about stuttering and the importance of having to be ready for therapy in order for it to really work.
We also discuss Sky Diving, which is Lori’s extracurricular passion! She talks about her first jump from the plane (sounds scary just typing it!), and what heightened senses and sensory overload feels like.
I feel so privileged to chat with such diverse women. It gives me goose bumps every time to realize that all that is needed is to ask and women keep telling these wonderful stories. Story-telling is magical.
Feel free to leave comments here on the blog for Lori. Feedback is important. It lets me know you are listening.
Musical credit for this clip of “Fireproof Babies” goes to ccMixter. As always, I use podcast safe music, under Creative Commons license.
At A Crossroads – Episode 18
Posted on: August 11, 2010
Episode 18 features Samantha Gennuso, who hails from New Jersey. Sam came to a workshop I facilitated at the 2010 NSA conference about change. Afterward, we talked about how we have experienced many of the same things in our personal journeys.
Sam just completed her graduate studies in Mass Communications at Boston University. She wrote a wonderful article for BU’s graduate magazine about her stuttering, called “What It’s Like To Forget Your Name”. She did her undergraduate work at NYU in anthropology and gender studies. Sam believes she is at an exciting, fun, but also scary crossroads in her life.
Listen in as we chat about a number of things, including effective therapy. She shares about her experiences at AIS, the American Institute for Stuttering. We also talk about career choices, job interviews and disclosure, acceptance, and stuttering as a social filter.
Sam also shares about how the NSA has helped her and how she feels strongly about “giving back” to young people who stutter. Sam likens it to “talking to her 17-year-old self”. Watch for Sam in the future as she crafts a career out of her passion for music.
The musical clip used in this episode is called “Echo” and is podcast safe music under Creative Commons Licensing.
Please feel free to leave comments or questions for Sam and Pam here on the blog. Your feedback is valuable!
Reclaiming Her Space – Episode 17
Posted on: August 6, 2010
Episode 17 features Nina G: Comedian, who hails from the San Francisco Bay area of California. This is a place I hope to visit someday.
Nina is the world’s funniest female comedian who stutters (at least until she finds another one). She performs at comedy clubs and events in her community.
Nina also does motivational speaking and keynote presentations. She blends a combination of humor, activism and education about the experience of people with disabilities.
I got to know Nina through on-line social media (Face book) and spoke with her by phone. I was quite intrigued with someone who stutters willing to test the vulnerable waters of stand-up comedy.
We have a great conversation and cover a lot of ground. As always, the time flies when chatting with women who reveal their stories. Nina will most certainly be a repeat visitor to the show. We barely scratched the surface.
Listen in as we chat about how Nina got started in comedy and the positive use of humor to teach people about disabilities. We mention one of my favorite television programs (and admitted guilty pleasure), Glee. We also mention the rather glaring absence of women who stutter (actually stutter, not used to stutter) as role models in the media.
You can learn more about Nina, upcoming performances and booking information on her Face book fan page.
Leave comments or questions for Nina. Feedback is good. For me too! It lets me know people are listening and I am getting it right.
The musical clip used in this episode is called “Scott Waves to April’s Salty Grace” and is podcast safe music under Creative Commons licensing. No copyright infringement here!
Be Open To The World-Episode 16
Posted on: August 1, 2010
Episode 16 features Irina, who hails from Burgas, Bulgaria. She is a published author and journalist, and has also worked in the disability sector.
I met Irina on Face book through another friend in Belgium. It still amazes me how technology allows us to reach out and talk with others all around the world, as easily as if we are sitting in the same room together.
Something special happens when people who stutter reach out to one another. You can hear it as we chat! Especially women! We realize immediately that we are not alone and that our feelings are very similar.
The three books she has published are I Stutter (2005) and the novels Almost Intimately (2007) and Annabel (2010). Irina stutters confidently in six languages. Her hobby and passion is Argentinian tango and she dances it regularly, also when traveling (always a pair of tango shoes in her bag).
We chat about many things in this wonderful conversation. We discuss how acceptance came into Irina’s life, her discovery of the Bulgarian Stuttering Association, and what led her to writing. This is a short essay that Irina wrote for a contest about stuttering.
Irina was also former Deputy Mayor for “Health Care, Social Activities and Integration of People with Disabilities”, Sofia Municipality (Bulgaria).
She is a woman who has touched many lives with her own story of stuttering and her advocacy.
I am proud to know her and have her share part of her story with us! She will have to visit again to share what we didn’t get to!
You are welcome and encouraged to leave feedback for us!
I use podcast-safe music under the Creative Commons license. No copyright infringements here!
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