The Bold SLP Podcast: Recent Episodes
The Bold SLP Collective
A podcast for all SLPs by Bilingual SLPs. We are a group of multilingual multicultural Speech-Language Pathologists. We hope that our listeners can gain knowledge on issues surrounding cultural and linguistic diversity from a clinical perspective. Our friendship and this idea was built on the Clubhouse App - where we host conversations on the Bilingual SLP Club. Our goal is to center cultural and linguistic diversity in every conversation. You can find a closed captioned version of this podcast on our YouTube channel and we are also available on Apple Podcasts.
It has been almost a year since we recorded together but our work and lives behind the scenes have not stopped and we have lots of exciting updates to share with you! The biggest one being that we are bringing back our summer course in collaboration with SLP Nerdcast. Check it out here: https://courses.slpnerdcast.com/courses/graduate-credit-optional-strategies-to-prevent-harm-in-bilingual-and-multicultural-evaluations-cohort-2-summer-2024
Jackie Rodriguez and Julisa Chrysafi join us to discuss the world of Bilingual Med SLPs. They share their journeys, their advice for futures SLPs, and their passion for ethical treatment of all patients but especially patients who are from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. We touch on how the lack of representation in our field impacts outcomes for patients and why advocacy and health literacy are such a big part of what they do as Bilingual Med SLPs.
This episode features an interview with Raelen Watkins, B.S.Ed., Naomi Doerr-Garcia, Dr. Nina Santus, Ph.D., CCC/SLP, from the University of Georgia's undergraduate student organization: Minorities in Communication Sciences & Disorders (M-CMSD). Raelen created the group with the support of UGA CMSD faculty with the goal of creating a supportive community for minority students, engaging in advocacy related to DEI, and hosting recruitment activities that target diverse populations of young adults to bring more diversity in newer classes of SLPs and audiologists. You'll enjoy listening to their mission and what they've accomplished so far as well as what's on the horizon.
Instagram: @mcmsd_uga
We're joined on this episode by Elaine Nguyen, MS, CCC-SLP (she/her) who came to the podcast to share with us her experience as a first-gen Vietnamese American SLP. She takes us all the way through her journey from undergrad to SLP, retelling stories of moments of cultural mismatch as well as explaining the invisible load of Asian American students & challenges that come along with that load. We also touch on her presence on social media, as she is the creator behind the IG account Embracing Wholeness, a space where she centers mental health for SLPs, women, and mothers.
On this episode we meet Symoné Pinedo, Ed. S. and chat all about her journey as a Bilingual & Bicultural school psychologist. Sym practices as a school psychologist in California and describes her work as meaningful for herself, her family, and also her community. The field of school psychology, like the field of SLP, is not a very racially, ethnically, or linguistically diverse field so meeting a Latina Bilingual School Psych was such a privilege - especially as there are so many parallels between the two fields. You can find Sym on Instagram and Tiktok @acurlyhairedschoolpsych to learn more about her advocacy and her work.
On this episode we talk about how we managed to pay for grad school - spoiler alert: we all took out student loans… but we each have different relationships with our debt and different strategies. We discuss our individual journeys with personal finances and student debt in the hopes to answer your questions and breakdown the experience for other first generation students out there.
On this episode we are joined by Michelle Posner, M.S. CCC-SLP - founder of BilingualSLP LLC. Michelle has served monolingual and bilingual children and their families since 2006. She is an advocate for linguistic diversity, ethical practices when serving multilingual & multicultural individuals, and is passionate about growing cultural humility in our field. Michelle shares her story which begins with breaking down stereotypes as a daughter of Jewish Mexican immigrants, she goes through the impact linguistic oppression in the U.S. had on her and her family, and ends with her hope for our field: that we will all lift each other up as we climb in a field that is 92% white and monolingual.
On this episode I (Ingrid) interview my mom: Martha González. Diandra’s episode on the bilingual parenting mental load got me thinking about my own parents and the work they put in in order to raise me & my sister as bilingual children even though they themselves didn’t learn English until later on as adults. This is a conversation that sparked so many memories and realizations for me. I hope you enjoy it! This episode is in English and Spanish.
Phương Liên Palafox, CCC-SLP joins us in this incredibly healing and uplifting conversation. She shares her story with us as we discuss Boldly & Quietly disrupting systems that keep our field from growing. We talk about advocacy often on our podcast but we've never asked: Who advocates for us (Bilingual Bicultural SLPs)? Phương advocates for us and just hearing her speak lightens the load. Phương supports speech-language pathologists with her work and with her words. She shares: "My hope for our field is rooted in supporting our most vulnerable human beings. It’s seeing the relevancy & value of every person we serve, including ourselves. It is honoring native languages, valuing the rich tones influencing our second languages & setting ego aside to see the value of multilingual communicators. It is holding space for People of Color & making room at the table to digest the narratives that have been annulled in mainstream culture. It is unveiling the truths of our profession, safely speaking up/speaking out about our workload. My wish is for each human being to be seen, understood & be catapulted to the most authentic, empowering versions of himself/herself/themselves." This episode was an absolute dream to record and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Connect with Phương on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phuonglienpalafox/?hl=en
Check out her website here: https://www.phuonglienpalafox.com/
Diandra Morse joins us today for a critical conversation on how bilingualism and culture intersect in beautiful ways but also how ignoring these intersections can place undue burdens on BIPOC families working to preserve their heritage languages.
Diandra Morse, LCSW is a Dominican American Afro Latina Licensed Clinical Social Worker, raised in both the Dominican Republic and New York City. Diandra currently lives in Upstate NY and is raising two bilingual boys alongside her husband, who’s a non native speaker of Spanish. She has over 10 years of experience in trauma treatment, child advocacy, and identifying the social emotional needs of children and their families.
Following her passion for supporting children and families, Diandra created Bilingual Playdate, an Instagram account dedicated to parents and educators of bilingual children. Diandra uses her Bilingual Playdate platform to highlight resources available to parents and educators of bilingual children, provide education around language variations and linguistic oppression, and support the intentional use of Spanish indoors and outdoors via Spanish vocabulary cheat sheets and play based ideas.
Diandra also co-creates bilingual social emotional learning educational resources with Mikaela Martinez, a Project Based Kindergarten teacher and translates her educational resources to Spanish to increase access to quality educational resources.
You can connect with Diandra here: https://www.instagram.com/bilingualplaydate/
On this episode we are joined by Barbara Fernandes, M.S. CCC-SLP. Barbara Fernandes, is the founder and CEO of Smarty Ears. She is well known for her innovative and breakthrough products for speech and communication disorders. She is a trailblazer in our field and has transformed an entire industry to adopt mobile technologies through the design and development of over sixty mobile speech therapy applications and an entire symbol library: Smarty Symbols. Most recently, Barbara has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant by the National Institute of Health, and she released a ground-breaking technology called the Speech and Language Academy. She has received multiple awards, and is an Amazon best selling author. She is also a mother, a daughter, a friend, and a generous mentor. On this episode Barbara shares her story from Bilingual SLP to Business owner and takes us through her journey to finding joy in her work and creating projects from moments of adversity.
Drisana Medina shares her journey from SLPA in California to SLP grad in the Midwest as a Non-traditional First Generation student. This field is for you no matter how you get here!
On this episode Dr. Ianessa Humbert shares her story. Her story is one of resilience, self-actualization, and strength. Dr. Humbert takes us through her experience as a daughter of immigrants who later became an immigrant to the U.S. herself. She connects those experiences to how she's been able to navigate a field that is 92% white - and she shares how her story and the story of those before her propel her in building new spaces for herself and other SLPs. We are thrilled that she took the time to share her wisdom with us! Dr. Humbert is an accomplished scientist and entrepreneur in the areas of swallowing and swallowing disorders but her expertise and her outlook for our field applies to every single one of us.
This episode features a conversation we had with Arynn Byrd, MA, CCC-SLP, a PhD student in Communication Sciences. She joins us to tell us about her doctoral degree experience and to talk about the importance of having the right supports in place to navigate graduate school. Arynn also lays out ideas for finding the right PhD mentor, establishing your network, and how students of color can advocate for themselves in the pursuit of a graduate degree.
We chat with Jeannie I. Henriques, M.A., CCC-SLP, TSSLD-BE about her journey to SLP. From Switching Careers to Discovering her Passion for Bilingual SLP and advocacy.
Join us as we interview and chat with Melanie Y. Evans, MS CCC-SLP (she/her), the Pediatric Speech Sister as she’s known on Instagram. She shared with us how she found speech-language pathology, how she learned to take care of herself, and how she became a Spanish-bilingual SLP. Melanie also talked with us about finding your power as a BIPOC SLP as well as what projects she’s got on the horizon.
On this episode, Liza, Desi, and Ingrid reflect on 2022, Season 2, and discuss what's next. Tune in to celebrate the beginning of 2023 with us! Our last words for the year: empowerment, community, impact. Happy New Year!
In this episode, we interview Dr. María Cioè-Peña, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who specializes in sociolinguistics and the intersection with disability and educational policy. As stated on her faculty page, her research "focuses on bilingual children with dis/abilities, their families, and their ability to access multilingual and inclusive learning spaces within public schools." Ingrid and Desi know her as the author of the book (M)othering Labeled Children: Bilingualism and Disability in the Lives of Latinx Mothers. This episode is full of insight into the challenges faced by Latinx families whose children are identified as dis/abled.
Dr. Maria Resendiz is a professor at Texas State University. Her research focuses on providing access to evidence-based speech services for populations who live in places with limited access, both locally and internationally. She directs and participates in research that involves interprofessional education collaborations. She joins us with two of her students, Joslyn and Amarilis. They share their insights and experiences from the student perspective as they participated in a cross-cultural service learning program.
SLP Jordyn Carroll from JRC the SLP walks us through the ways in which we can bring about positive change in our field. She recounts the blatant racism she went through in college and offers practical tips on how ASHA can take steps towards authentic inclusivity.
SLP/Quebec Orthophoniste Melissa Farkouh is a fierce private practice owner who candidly shares her passion for offering bilingual services to her clients and educating professionals in our field, all while balancing her family and full time private practice. Join us this week as we discuss the pros and cons of running a private practice in a diverse setting.
On this episode, SLP Tiffany Vuong shares about her experiences as an Asian-American SLP in the world of early intervention and we venture into an interesting conversation around stigma, culture, and what defines a bilingual SLP.
We chatted all things SLP and music-related with Scooter. He's a Japanese-American SLP whose first love was music. Learn about how he integrated his passions for beatboxing, languages, and musical performance to be where he is today.
Dr. Valencia Perry joins us to talk all things equitable school-age language assessment. She shares her amazing insight, knowledge, and resources for all clinicians.
Michelle Juarez, an SLP from Guatemala, asks questions about what it’s like to be a Bilingual SLP in the U.S.
We learn so much about the role of SLPs from a different perspective and a different part of the world, we chat with Michelle an SLP in Guatemala.
Camille is a Bilingual Researcher she joins us to share about her experiences working with bilingual adults facing language loss due to degenerative diseases , we make connections about how that relates to bilingual language development and have a lot of fun along the way.
Season 2 premieres with our first guest, Marlene Medina- Nero joins us to talk about the unique experience of being a trilingual bimodal SLP! Ingrid is our host for this conversation. Part 2 will air next week!
On this episode, we reflect on the conversations that we've had since releasing the podcast, the importance of mentorship, discuss plans for attending the 2022 ASHA Convention in New Orleans, and upcoming content and interviews we hope to have on the podcast. We're looking forward to recording season 2 over the summer!
Balancing motherhood and our careers, digging deep into how our SLP skills impact our parenting. We hear a lot about parents questioning the skills of clinicians who are not parents themselves. We posit that the only requirement to serve families is empathy and examining of our own biases. So we focus this discussion on how our skills and experiences as SLPs have impacted our parenting decisions.
On this episode you’ll get to hear us talk about the various platforms that brought us together from Canada, to New England, to the Southwest somehow we ended up becoming internet friends.
We talk about how Covid-19 impacted us as clinicians and what we are taking away from this time as SLPs during a global pandemic.
Desi, Ingrid, & Liza share their Grad School Experiences. Desi asks the tough questions about the diversity in our cohorts, the factors that guided us to each of our individual programs, and the most pressing question of all: Would we do it all over again?
We get to know the child, the daughter, the student behind the SLP. Ingrid shares her story from little girl sitting in a classroom not understanding a word of English to master clinician working with dual-language learners in the schools for almost 10 years.