Episodes

Startup founder and father to four children with ADHD/ADD, Hagay Levy joins the show today to share his entrepreneurial journey thus far. As a man who also has ADHD himself, he knows much about the unique needs of folks in that community, of which our host, Mai Ling Chan, is also a member. Hagay speaks with Mai Ling about his quest to start Iluria, a new tool for measuring the efficacy of medication for people with ADHD/ADD. They talk about identifying the problem, building a solution to the pro...

Today, James sits down for a timely conversation with celebrated soccer coach Scott Martin. In addition to a decades-long career in, and advocacy for, the game of soccer, Scott has also worked as an advocate for the disability community. He shares with James the story of his experience with disability as an amputee, his love of soccer, and how he pushed through the challenges in life to pursue his dreams. You don’t want to miss this conversation, especially if you’re a soccer fan. You can read m...

Today, Mai Ling sits down for an in-depth discussion about how to get outside investment for your disability-focused ventures with husband-and-wife entrepreneur team, Rich and Brittany Palmer. Leaning into their previous experiences with the startup world and the disability community, they founded Adaptation Ventures, a pioneering pre-seed fund and investor community dedicated to fueling tech innovation in disability, neurodivergence, and accessibility. Brittany and Rich share their individual s...

Our hosts kick off this episode with some important tips and information for folks working in the disability community. This is followed by a fascinating discussion between Mai Ling and our guest, Joyce Ko, who joins the show to talk about her experiences as a disabled clinician. Joyce shares her very personal story of a traumatic brain injury as a child and the journey that led her to a career as a speech-language pathologist. She is transparent about the challenges she faced post-injury, both ...

Today, James shares a great conversation with Dr. Kirk Adams, PhD, with us on the podcast. Kirk Adams is the founder of Innovative Impact LLC, through which he consults with corporate clients on diversity, inclusivity, and equity with a focus on the employment of people with disabilities. James talks with him about his own experience with blindness, the struggles he faced to enter the workforce, and how that led him to his work of advocacy for employment for people with disabilities.

Our guest for today’s episode of the Xceptional Leaders podcast is one who undoubtedly exemplifies that label, Dr. Tamer Abou-Elsaad. He is a professor of Phoniatrics at Mansoura University in Mansoura, Egypt. He joins Mai Ling for a conversation to share the story of how he built a medical specialty from nothing in his country. He also talks about why Egyptian insurance covers 12 speech therapy sessions per month, his efforts to stop unlicensed practitioners from treating patients, and explains...

Samantha Elandary has worked exclusively with individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s and related disorders since 1999, and for our first episode of 2026, she joins the show to talk with James about her work. She is the founder of the Parkinson Voice Project, and she shares how she built a non-profit from her kitchen table, explains the difference between speaking with intent versus automatic speech, and gives some tips for those who are starting their own disability-focused business.