Season 5

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...

Our guest today is neurodivergent Ukrainian entrepreneur and mental health enthusiast, Julia Ovcharenko. She talks with Mai Ling about the stigma around ADHD and adjusting to ADHD and neurodiversity diagnoses as an adult, which is a very personal...

James and Mai Ling kick off the episode with some updates and top takeaways from the conversation with today’s guest. AAC user and disability advocate Brooke Brown speaks with Mai Ling about her experience as Ms. Wheelchair Arizona 2022 and the...

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...

Today Mai Ling has a chat with the founder of AccessAbility Officer, Tanner Gers. AccessAbility Officer’s aim is to make work and the web better through the services they offer, including digital accessibility training and certification, as well as...

Dr. Mona Minkara chats with James in today’s episode about how to use other senses beyond eyesight to observe scientifically. Mona is a blind assistant professor of Bioengineering at Northeastern University and a travel vlogger who lives by the...

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...

Mai Ling sits down with founder and CEO of YellowBird, Michael Zalle, to talk about being a successful leader as a person with a disability. As a veteran tech entrepreneur, Michael pulls from his extensive experience in the business world to share...

In our opening segment, Mai Ling and James talk about the importance of networking in your local area, in addition to building a national or international network. This valuable discussion is followed by Mai Ling’s interview with founder and CEO of...

Today we’re featuring an informative conversation between James and fellow speech-language pathologist, Alan Vu. As an SLP and an AAC specialist, Alan was able to leverage his professional background and his personal experience as a person who...

Mai Ling starts off this solo-hosted episode with an update about our new episode collections that make it easy to do a deep dive into a specific topic. Then she brings founder and CEO of Space Dream Productions, Koura Linda, onto the show to talk...

The topic of today’s episode is personal for Mai Ling. Before our guest joins the show to talk about ADHD, Mai Ling shares her own personal experience with her diagnosis. James then sits down with startup founder and expert ADHD/neurodiversity...

Our guest today is Elisa Shipon-Blum, or Dr. E, as her patients call her. She is the President and Director of the Selective Mutism Anxiety and Related Disorders Treatment Center (SMart Center). Dr E is an expert on Selective Mutism (SM) and has...

In the introduction to this episode’s interview, Mai Ling shares an exciting announcement about an upcoming project that she’ll be working on. Then we jump into a conversation between Mai Ling and Dr. Li-Rong “Lilly” Cheng, who is the Director...

Comedian and screenwriter Greg Roque joins the show today for an insightful conversation with James. As a teen, Greg had a spinal injury which paralyzed him and he brings his unique perspective on life as a disabled person to his comedy. He shares...

Before we introduce our guest in this episode, Mai Ling shares a major update about a new venture that she is embarking on that has a connection to our guest. And that guest is technology explorer, evaluator, and reviewer, Yonah Welker, who has a...

Our guest today is UK-based, Disability Inclusion Specialist Michael Grimmett. Michael talks with James about an inaccessibility incident at his local pizza restaurant that he was able to use to shine light on accessibility issues. As a wheelchair...

Our hosts, Mai Ling and James, share some important updates on what is going on in their respective careers before we dive into a discussion with our guest. Sawsan Zakaria chats with Mai Ling about her participation in the Easterseals Disability Film...

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...

Just a few years ago, our guest Sandie Roberts, suddenly found herself at the intersection of being a middle-aged woman and a full-time wheelchair user. Unable to find adequate fashion options to suit both her new situation and her personal tastes,...

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...