In this week’s episode I sat down with Catarina Rivera. Catarina is a dynamic public speaker, DEIA consultant, and content creator. She works with companies to improve disability awareness, inclusion, and accessibility. As a disabled Latiné woman, she is passionate about sharing her own unique story to help build a more inclusive world. We discuss how her life experiences shaped her career, changing the narratives and language around disability, who The Blindish Latina is and the platform she’s built, and much, much more.

Follow Catarina: Instagram: @blindishlatina LinkedIn: Catarina Rivera TikTok: @blindishlatina YouTube: @CatarinaRivera Website: https://www.catarinarivera.com

Join Catarina's newsletter: https://catarinarivera.kit.com/newsletter

Watch Catarina's TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbXxhuraJsE

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast TikTok: @jillian_ilana Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: alwayslookingup227@gmail.com

Read With Me:

Goodreads

The StoryGraph

Support Immigrant Communities (all links came from @chnge):

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (@chirla_org): https://www.chirla.org/donatenow/

Immigrant Defenders Law Center (@immdef_lawcenter): https://www.immdef.org

Inland Coalition 4 Imm Justice (@ic4ij): https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jornaleros

Relief For Disabled People Impacted By The Los Angeles Fires:

Richard Devylder Disaster Relief Fund: https://disabilitydisasteraccess.org/rd-relief-fund/

United Spinal Disaster Relief Grant: https://unitedspinal.org/disaster-relief-grant/

Inevitable Foundation Emergency Relief Fund: https://www.inevitable.foundation/erf

Welcome Back!

In this week’s episode of Always Looking Up I sat down with Jenna Bainbridge. Jenna is an actor, singer, co-founder, disability rights advocate and executive producer of two of my favorite TikTok series. She navigates the world as an ambulatory wheelchair user and, in 2024 became the first wheelchair user to perform in a New Musical on Broadway when she made her debut in Suffs. Now she is again making history portraying Nessarose in the Broadway production of Wicked, being the first wheelchair user to do so on stage. We discuss how she became Nessa, doing Broadway as a wheelchair user, why we all need to be asking ourselves if our outfits sit and much, much more.

Follow Jenna: Instagram: @bainbridgejenna TikTok: @bainbridgejenna Website: https://www.jennabainbridge.com

Follow ConsultAbility: Instagram: @consultability Website: https://www.consultability.org

Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast TikTok: @jillian_ilana Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: alwayslookingup227@gmail.com

Read With Me:

Goodreads

The StoryGraph

Support Immigrant Communities (all links came from @chnge):

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (@chirla_org): https://www.chirla.org/donatenow/

Immigrant Defenders Law Center (@immdef_lawcenter): https://www.immdef.org

Inland Coalition 4 Imm Justice (@ic4ij): https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jornaleros

Relief For Disabled People Impacted By The Los Angeles Fires:

Richard Devylder Disaster Relief Fund: https://disabilitydisasteraccess.org/rd-relief-fund/

United Spinal Disaster Relief Grant: https://unitedspinal.org/disaster-relief-grant/

Inevitable Foundation Emergency Relief Fund: https://www.inevitable.foundation/erf

Dear Diary,

We have some housekeeping to do, and then let's start a conversation about how the world see's (or doesn't see) dwarf bodies.

This episode is the newest in my Jillian's Diary series on Patreon available to my "Second Step-Stool" tier.

Join The Patreon: Click ⁠⁠⁠Here⁠⁠⁠

Follow Me: Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@jill_ilana⁠⁠⁠ , ⁠⁠⁠@alwayslookingup.podcast⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@jillian_ilana⁠⁠⁠ Website: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.jillianilana.com⁠⁠⁠ Email: ⁠⁠⁠alwayslookingup227@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠

Read With Me:

⁠⁠⁠Goodreads⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠The StoryGraph⁠⁠⁠

Relief For Disabled People Impacted By The Los Angeles Fires:

The Partnership For Inclusive Disaster Strategies: ⁠https://disasterstrategies.org⁠

Richard Devylder Disaster Relief Fund: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://disabilitydisasteraccess.org/rd-relief-fund/⁠⁠⁠

United Spinal Disaster Relief Grant: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://unitedspinal.org/disaster-relief-grant/⁠⁠⁠

Inevitable Foundation Emergency Relief Fund: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.inevitable.foundation/erf⁠⁠⁠

This episode was edited and produced by Ben Curwin