NAAFA Webinar Series with Little People of America

Thursday, November 16, 2023

5pM PT / 6pM MT / 7PM CT / 8PM ET

Duration: 60 minutes

[Image Description: On a gray background, the text reads: “Little People and Body Liberation featuring Little People of America (LPA). Samantha Rayburn-Trubyk (she/her), Rachel Keller (she/her), Eileen Normal (she/her), Cara Reedy (she/her), Julie Wyman (she/her), Deb Himsel (she/her). Thursday, November 16, 5pm Pacific. Hosted by Tigress Osborn (she/her). Free for fat community and fat positive folx. NAAFA.org/events for registration. ASL interpreting by Pro Bono ASL.” Black and white photos of all six guests are within turquoise circles.]

More info coming soon!

NAAFA virtual events are for fat people and fat-positive folx of all sizes. Our virtual events are offered free of charge thanks to the generosity of our community of NAAFA donors.

This webinar is presented via Zoom, in English, and with English auto-captions by Otter.ai. ASL Interpreting by Pro Bono ASL.

The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance is a 501(c)3 charitable organization with a mission to change perceptions of fat and to end size discrimination through advocacy, education, and support. Our webinars are offered to the community free of charge thanks to the generosity of those who give to NAAFA. To support this and other NAAFA programming, visit naafa.org/give.

GUEST Bios:

A headshot of Samantha Rayburn-Trubyk

Samantha Rayburn-Trubyk (she/her) lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba with her husband Ryan and son Yale. She holds a BA Adv. degree from the University of Manitoba where she majored in Labour and Workplace Studies and an Adult Learning certificate specializing in Workplace Learning from the University of Calgary and has a master's degree in Disability Studies. Samantha has worked in Human Resources for 20 years and is currently the Director of Human Resources for a large company in Winnipeg. Since 2015, she has been President of Little People of Manitoba. In 2022, Samantha was elected to the Board of Directors as the Advocacy Director for Little People of America.  

Image Description (provided by guest): A headshot of Rachel Keller, a dwarf white woman with blond curly hair. She is wearing a gray sweater and expressing a small smile towards the camera.

Rachel Keller (she/her), in addition to being the membership director of Little People of America, an organization dedicated to the support and advocacy of people with dwarfism, is a licensed clinical Social Worker in private practice, with an emphasis in sex therapy and disability, and is a parent living in western Massachusetts, on Nipmuc and Pocomtuc lands. 

Image Description (provided by guest): A headshot of Eileen Norman, a white woman with dwarfism with brown hair in a green sweater. Seated outside with a green foliage in the background.

Eileen Norman (she/her) is the current President of the board for Little People of America. She has been a member of LPA her entire life having been born to parents who also have dwarfism. Outside of LPA, Eileen is the Executive Director for a nonprofit organization that serves low-income older adults and people with disabilities in San Francisco. She lives in San Francisco with her partner Jesse, and their fur-children Maeve and Ruth Barker Ginsbark.

Image Description: Headshot of Cara Reedy

Cara Reedy (she/her) is the Founder and Director of the Disabled Journalists Association (a member organization of Storyline Partners). She is a journalist and producer who spent ten years of her career at CNN producing documentaries as well as writing for various verticals including Eatocracy and CNN Business. In 2019, she produced her most recent short doc for The Guardian entitled Dwarfism and Me, which was an exploration of the treatment of Dwarfs in American society. She has spent the last three years studying disability and its coverage in the media. Along the way she has had the opportunity to teach disability reporting in newsrooms. She also works in narrative change in the film and tv industry and is a member of the TV Academy Diversity Committee. Cara is a mentor in the Disability Justice Project fellowship program which trains disabled disability rights advocates in the Global South how to be journalists. Cara is an avid fan of the St. Louis Cardinals and spends her time between NYC and St. Louis. 

Image Description (provided by guest): A queer fat white LP woman wearing blue shirt, blue glasses and with turquoise streaks in her hair stands with hands on hips and gives a small smile to the camera.

Julie Wyman (she/her) is a filmmaker whose work engages issues of embodiment and body image - all informed by her experience of living as a fat woman with hypochondroplasia dwarfism.  Her 2012 documentary STRONG! was broadcast nationally on PBS’s Independent Lens where it won the series’ Audience Award. Wyman’s work has been awarded support from Sundance, Sandbox, IDA, SF Film Society, Points North, ITVS, the Creative Capital Foundation, California Humanities and NEH. Her films, including FatMob (2016) Buoyant (2005) and A Boy Named Sue (2000), have aired on Showtime and MTV’s LOGO-TV. She serves as Associate Professor of Cinema and Digital Media at UC Davis. Follow her at @onteejoowee

Image Description (provided by guest): A headshot of Deb Himsel, a white woman with light skin, silver glasses, and long blond/brown hair. She is wearing a black jacket over a lighter colored blouse.

Deb Himsel (she/her) is the Executive Director of Little People of America (LPA), where she has served in the role since 2018.  Deb came to LPA with a strong association management background, having served various leadership roles for a professional organization supporting those in legal technology.  Although she does not have dwarfism herself, she is the mother of a child with hypochondroplasia and a strong ally of the community. 

Learn more about Little People of America at lpaonline.org and follow @LittlePeopleofAmerica.

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