Non-Profit Episodes

For our final episode of 2025, Mai Ling and James revisit some of the highlights from the past year of excellent guests. They go over the top takeaways from all of the exceptional leaders who have appeared on the show to share their expertise and experience with our community. This great retrospective will remind you of all the great info we’ve heard and perhaps entice you to re-listen to some of your favorite shows from 2025.

Our guest for today’s episode is the founder of the Be Perfect Foundation, Hal Hargrave. Mai Ling talks with Hal about the horrific car accident that left him with a spinal cord injury, which then led him to the genesis of the foundation. Hal also shares his thoughts on the importance of leaders knowing when they need to pivot, the value of staying positive despite setbacks, and how he also founded a second organization called The Perfect Step where he serves as president, all in an effort to be...

James speaks with this week’s guest, Diego Mariscal, about his disability advocacy and entrepreneurship. Diego is the Founder, CEO, and Chief Disabled Officer of 2Gether-International (2GI), the leading nonprofit startup accelerator run by and for...

In this episode, Mai Ling is joined by guest Anna Voelker, founder and Executive Director of SciAccess, Inc. SciAccess is an international nonprofit that promotes disability inclusion in STEM education, outreach, and research and Anna speaks with Mai...

Don’t miss the final episode of the Xceptional Leaders podcast for 2023! Our hosts, Mai Ling and James, share some valuable information as they look back over this past year. They talk about the strides that were made in the area of disability in...

Mai Ling chats with Nikki Powis about some fantastic resources for disability entrepreneurs in today’s episode. Nikki is the Director of the National Disability Institute and she shares how she started at NDI and some of the top challenges for...

In today’s packed interview, James chats with Merlee Jayme, Chairmom® and Founder of the Misfits Camp. Merlee shares some of her backstory, including some experiences in her early, formative years which had a profound impact on her life and her...

Today, we welcome to the show Vanessa Castañeda Gill, the Co-Founder and CEO of Social Cipher, a game-based, social-emotional learning platform for neurodiverse youth. Social Cipher launched their first game called Ava, and Vanessa shares the story...

Speech-language pathologist and educator, Sandy Dorsey, is our guest this week on the show. As a global advocate for children with special needs, Sandy talks with James about how disability is viewed in developing countries and what she’s doing to...

As we kick off the first episode of the new year, Mai Ling and James share their thoughts on new year’s resolutions. Then Mai Ling sits down with Chanda Hinton, Executive Director of the Chanda Center for Health and Chanda Plan Foundation, to talk...

Today Mai Ling chats with Mike Adams, the CEO of Purple, a disability organization working to bring disabled people and businesses together. Mike talks about his work building a fully accessible online marketplace, why he and his team took the...

Attending live events can be stressful and challenging for people with disabilities so that’s why we’re so excited about what today’s guest is doing! Today Mai Ling chats with Austin Whitney, an accessibility consultant for event producers,...

Creating a Support Community for Parents of Autistic Children with Rob Gorski

Accommodating Restrooms for ALL People with Christina Abernethy

Speech-language pathologist, Amanda Charney, is our guest today. Amanda founded Small Steps in Speech, an organization that provides grants to families with children with speech and language disorders who are either not covered or not fully covered by...

Kenny Salvini is our guest today to share about his journey since a skiing accident made him a quadriplegic as a young adult. After a meeting with other individuals with similar disabilities opened his eyes to the importance of community, Salvini took...

Stuart Duncan runs the Minecraft server, Autcraft, and he is with us on the show to share his experiences with us. Autcraft is a Minecraft environment created especially for kids of all ages with autism to play the game in a safe setting. Stuart tells...

Abigail David and Erin Nealy are the co-founders and co-executive directors of Bridgeway Academy in Columbus Ohio and they are our guests on today’s episode. Bridgeway is a non-profit educational institution created to serve children with autism and...

Ifunanya Nweke is our guest today. She is the founder of Jazz Hands for Autism, an organization that works with musicians who are on the autism spectrum to help them hone their skills and find work doing what they love. Ifunanya talks about the...

Our guest today is Mindy Scheier, a fashion designer and mother of a child with a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy. She is a TED speaker and the President and Founder of Runway of Dreams, a nonprofit organization which works with top clothing brands to...

Today’s guest, Karin York, shares about her journey as the mother of a son with Down syndrome and her work with special needs children in the Arizona school system. She also expounds on what led her to start a coffee shop designed for persons with...

Our guest today is Ariel Sansom. She is the Director of Development and Programs for DSNetwork Arizona, an organization which offers resources, support, and advocacy to families touched by Down syndrome. Ariel shares her journey to stepping into a...

In this final installment of our Hollywood series, our guest is actor and comedian, Nic Novicki.

Our guest today is Pam Gaber, Founder and CEO of Gabriel’s Angels.