Beauty Buzz/Blog Biz | 2021 Year In Review
It’s that time of year again where we reflect on our progress and noteworthy achievements here at Bold Blind Beauty. From the development of our podcast Bold Blind Beauty On A.I.R. to the Up In The A.I.R. panel sessions, this year was all about Access, Inclusion, and Representation.
It is always an honor to be recognized for the work we do as advocates within the disability community. This year Bold Blind Beauty was the recipient of a generous donation to help offset the costs we incur to keep the lights on. Out of respect for our anonymous donors while we cannot mention them by name we feel it’s essential to publicly acknowledge their gift—THANK YOU!!
We hope you enjoy the presentation we put together to celebrate everyone who participated in our success in 2021. Please note in lieu of audio description, below the YouTube video we’ve provided detailed descriptions of each slide.
Wishing you and yours all the best for the Holiday Season and a joyous New Year! ~Bold Blind Beauty
2021 Year In Review YouTube Video
Presentation Description:
The presentation is a scrapbook theme with slides in the deck in alternating colors teal, tan, gray, and white. Following is the content and image description for each slide:
- Title Slide with 2 photos: 2021 Year In Review
- Shayy Winn is laying on the floor propped against an ottoman wearing a stunning gold gown trimmed with black feathers along the hemline.
- SOVAS (Society of Voice Arts & Sciences) A teardrop-shaped golden statue — an artistic rendition of a microphone and pop filter atop a round base.
- 2nd Slide 1 image 1 text box: January
- In January 2021 we launched our monthly podcast Bold Blind Beauty On A.I.R. Everyone on the planet needs air to survive. A.I.R. (Access, Inclusion, and Representation) is essential for people with disabilities, not only to survive but to thrive. Bold Blind Beauty On A.I.R. is clearing the air for more A.I.R.
- Bold Blind Beauty’s podcast logo is a bright yellow illustration of a hot air balloon on a black background with the words “Bold Blind Beauty” in white text and a curved arc around the top of the balloon. Under the balloon are the words “On A.I.R.”
- 3rd Slide 4 text boxes: Beyond Sight Monthly Features
- Men In Motion – Showcasing male influencers across the blindness spectrum.
- Women On The Move – Profiles of inspirational women across the blindness spectrum.
- Monthly Beauties – Cover features that shine the spotlight on bold, blind, and beautiful women.
- Cane EnAbled – Highlighting broad perspectives of those in the field of blindness.
- 4th Slide 1 text box: Strength Resilience Tenacity
- The Young & The Motivated – Strength, resilience, and tenacity are qualities that all of the young people we featured this year possess. Despite the barriers they encounter daily, they persist and are remarkable self-advocates.
- 5th Slide 2 phtotos and 1 text box: February
- Multi-Talented Leaders – Kai Owens is a college student, advocate, amazing skimboarder, and drummer. College student and advocate Kaleigh Brendle is a public speaker, singer, and choir director.
- Kai Owens – A surf photo of Kai smiling while standing on the beach in a black wet suit holding his skimboard. His long dark wavy hair is pulled back in a ponytail.
- Kaleigh Brendle – A pretty young white woman with long blonde hair and eyeglasses, is wearing a black top and smiling.
- 6th Slide 2 photos and 1 text box:
- Advances In Technology – Like Louie Voice make life so much easier for people who are living life on the spectrum of blindness. There are so many options from which to choose and we need to ensure that everyone who has a need can access these remarkable tools.
- Mady Amirah – Mady is posing with her white cane while wearing her roller skates. She has on black jeans, a pink crop top with a dark gray sweater.
- Pramit – A waist shot photo of Pramit sitting at a table holding up a cell phone with the Louie Voice logo on the home screen. The logo is a bold white ‘donut’ hole circle on a dark navy background. Under the circle is “Your Friend For Life.”
- 7th Slide 2 photos and 2 text boxes:
- Jahron Black AKA @JDollaz – A young hip hop artist, athlete, and role model, Jahron is helping others rise up through the ranks.
- Karla Saenz College Student – First-generation college student considering becoming a social worker, and working with immigrant women who have suffered from domestic violence.
- An attractive African American man with dreadlocks Jahron is wearing sunglasses. In this photo he’s in a yellow hoodie with his hand to his chin as if he is in deep thought.
- A headshot of Karla smiling and wearing a light colored v-neck sweater. She has long dark hair and is wearing eyeglasses.
- 8th Slide 2 photos and 1 text box: Scribely
- Accessible Web Design “I’m passionate about accessibility because I’m passionate about inclusion. I feel like we all need to think about ways that we can embrace our diversity, because that’s really what makes us human, after all.” ~ Caroline Desrosiers
- Caroline Desrosiers – A headshot of a smiling Caroline, a white female in her 30s who has wavy copper-colored hair and bangs. She is wearing a dark top.
- Danara Barlow – Danara is standing outdoors smiling with her hand on her hip. She has dark shoulder-length hair and is wearing a black top with light-colored pants. In the background is a tree and a building.
- 9th Slide 1 text boxes: Virtual Work Experience Program
- Student Opportunities – Giving back to the community is important to Bold Blind Beauty. One way we are doing this is by helping our youth develop transferrable skills to assist them in their prospective careers. As an inclusive and diverse organization, we understand the importance of providing quality opportunities for our future leaders.
- 10th Slide 3 photos: April
- Lance Kestrel – A headshot photo of Lance with long blonde hair, beard, and mustache smiling for the camera.
- Shayy Winn – A headshot of Shayy with her hair styled in long braids and her chin is resting on one hand.
- Catarina Rivera – Catarina is a light-skinned Latinx woman wearing a sleeveless navy midi dress with a belt. She has her long dark brown wavy hair swept to one side. She is wearing coral lipstick and sparkly earrings. She is standing in front of a tree and green leaves. Her mouth is closed and she is looking intently into the distance.
- 11th Slide 1 image 2 text boxes: Audio Description Awareness Day
- 2021 Marked Our 2nd Annual Event – Held on April 16 each year, the annual Audio Description Awareness Day is a social media campaign designed to bring attention to the importance of Audio Description.
- Illustration of Bold Blind Beauty’s fashion icon Abby and a friend at the theater watching a movie. The movie screen is the same image in the header. Abby’s explosive black hair is smoothed back so she can wear her teal-colored headphones.
- 12th Slide 3 photos: May
- Aziza Rodriguez – A headshot of Aziza, a smiling dark-haired beauty, on a beach with the ocean in the background.
- Melva Henderson – Melva is wearing a huge smile along with a black cowgirl hat and a gray dress. She has long wavy brown hair and is standing next to a lamp and pink flowers.
- Jenice Heck – Enjoying Nature: Jenice (Jaz) is casually leaning against a tree in a field of white poppies with a sweet smile on her face. She is wearing black jeans and a black silk top in a cold shoulder style with yellow and white stripes. Her long brown hair is braided and hanging lazily over one shoulder.
- 13th Slide 1 photo 1 text box: June
- Insight & Articulation – “Whether you are disabled or not, whether you are legally blind or not, I just want you to know that beauty is not just about whether you fit in or not. It’s not just about the outside. If you’re different, that’s beautiful too.” ~Liam Cruz
- Liam Cruz – A frontal headshot of Liam who has dark curly hair and dark-framed eyeglasses.
- 14th Slide 1 photo 1 text box:
- “No one but you can decide what you are capable of. It is only when we challenge imposed or assumed limitations with a creative lens that we can discover the beauty of success and accomplishment.” ~Tamara
- Tamara – An albino woman with loose curly hair tumbling down her right shoulder looks off to the right smiling slightly. She is wearing a pale pink shimmery off-the-shoulder chiffon gown with some slight beading around the sweetheart neckline. She sits against a taupe coloured backdrop.
- 15th Slide 1 photo 1 text box:
- “But for everyone that’s involved or who’s on any level in the process of making these choices you have to push back wherever you see a situation that is lacking in awareness of diversity and inclusion. And stand up to it by pointing to the opportunity for positive change, for inclusion.” ~Rudy Gaskins, Society of Voice Arts & Sciences
- A teardrop-shaped golden statue — an artistic rendition of a microphone and pop filter atop a round base.
- 16th Slide 3 photos: July
- Ryan Maxwell College Student & Former BBB Intern – A photo of Ryan’s form as he pulls back bow string to shoot an arrow. He is wearing a black tee with blue jeans and white sneakers.
- Iliana Mejia High School Student & BBB Intern – A headshot of Iliana a pretty light brown skin Latina. Her dark hair is pulled back and she’s wearing a sleeveless black top with a bejeweled neckline.
- Marta DiVito Communications Major In College & BBB Intern – A pretty young white woman with short brown hair styled in a fashionable bob. She is wearing a blue floral scoop neck dress paired with small gold hoop earrings and eyeglasses. Her hair is slightly windblown.
- 17th Slide 2 photos 2 text boxes: August
- Lily Mordaunt – A graduate from CUNY Hunter College with a BA in English, and a concentration in creative writing and religion minor.
- Lily – a headshot of Lily an attractive African American woman smiling broadly. Lily is wearing a black and white striped top and her hair is styled in long thin braids dyed a light blue on the ends.
- Accessible Pharmacy Services – “A home delivery pharmacy specializing in blind and low vision patients. We are the only provider of its kind and we are the largest blind-owned healthcare company in the United States.”
- Home delivery pharmacy concept of a hand reaching out of a computer holding a box of prescriptions. A plant, coffee mug, keyboard, and mouse are on the desk.
- 18th Slide 3 photos: September
- Molly Watt – A photo of Molly, a pretty young woman, with long wavy blond hair and a big smile is wearing a light-colored top. Trees are in the background.
- Brittney Ellis – In this full length body shot of Brittney she is standing on a brick walkway with her white cane. She’s wearing a sexy form fitting white dress and white heeled sandals with her left hand on her hip.
- April Lufriu – April a pretty white woman with dark wavy shoulder-length hair and a dazzling smile is wearing a coral v-neck top.
- 19th Slide 1 image 1 text box: BLIND
- Bold Leaders Illuminating New Directions – design is an artsy image with the word “BLIND” at the top and the words from the acronym are centered in a list underneath. These words are in a graphic box with lines and dots and at the very top are small words that say “Estd. 2021”
- 2021 was full of surprises and among them was the launch of our Bold Leader Illuminating New Directions(™) Ambassador Program. We began our search for Bold Blind Beauty Believers with a social media campaign requesting video submissions from prospective Ambassador candidates. We are so excited to see what the New Year will bring forth with our new team of Ambassadors.
- 20th Slide 2 photos 1 text box: October
- Choosing An Independent Life – Through their separate and uniquely different sight loss journeys, Matt Degruchy and Brittney Ellis found that choosing independence allowed them to focus on those things for which they are passionate.
- Matt Degruchy – Matt is a young white man with blond hair. In this photo he is standing in front of a clothing rack containing his brand apparel.
- Brittney Ellis – Brittney is a beautiful African American woman with long wavy dark hair. In this full length body shot she is wearing a sexy form fitting brown dress with spaghetti straps.
- 21st Slide 2 photos 1 text box: Beauty In Positivity
- Anne Marie and Ken Brandt’s sight loss stories are vastly different yet they share a common belief in embracing beauty in positivity.
- Anne – A photo of Anne@PurposeInView at the Stanley Park Seawall – Anne, an Asian woman, is walking with her white cane along the Stanley Park seawall in Vancouver, BC. She is smiling and looking out to her left at the water. She is wearing a white drop waist dress and suede espadrilles. There are low hanging trees in the background. (Photo Credit: Hayley @Flytographer)
- Ken – Ken is a distinguished-looking white man smiling broadly. He has white hair and a white mustache and is wearing a gray jacket over a black tee.
- 22nd Slide 3 photos: November
- Arturo Soto – a photo of Arturo Soto on a sandy beach kneeling next to his guide dog, Vangie (a 2-year-old yellow Labrador retriever), with a big smile on his face and his arm around the Vangie’s neck. He’s wearing a white tee, light-colored shorts, sneakers and his shades are atop his head.
- Anne Marie – A powerful street wall mural titled “The Power of Women is Infinite” painted by the talented @vernabrownart in shades of pink that is bright, colourful, vibrant and includes various shapes and sizes. Anne, an Asian woman, stands in front of this wall posing with her white cane. She is wearing a blue/grey cardigan and navy pencil skirt with wedge sandals. Sunglasses are on top of her head.
- Apprentice Butterfly – In this closeup photo Apprentice Butterfly is standing at a microphone singing. Her signature long pink hair is cascading over her shoulders.
- 23rd Slide 1 image 1 text box:
- Thank You is written on a yellow post it note
- I am so humbled and grateful for all of our guest features on Bold Blind Beauty in 2021. There are so many people who’ve contributed to our success this year from our amazing contributors, guest writers, interns, advisory board members, biz development team, podcast guests and co-hosts, superb volunteers, and loyal followers ALL OF YOU ARE VALUABLE AND APPRECIATED! ~Stephanae
- 24th Slide 3 text boxes:
- Contributors & Guests – Becky Andrews, Alex Buwan, Alicia Connor, Melody Goodspeed, Teresa Gregg, Catherine Harrison, Dana Hinnant, Rebecca Holland, Gabby Mendonca, Cheryl Minnette, Sylvia Stinson-Perez, Natalie Trevonne, Lissa Lo
- Advisory Board & Biz Dev – Roslyn Adams, Christine Bharosi, Gerald Barnes, Nasreen Bhutta, Marta DiVito, Oksana Chuchunkova, Melody Goodspeed, Dana Hinnant, Aaron Linson, Ryan Maxwell, Iliana Mejia, Sylvia Stinson-Perez
- Podcast Guests – Peggy Chong, Oksana Chuchunkova, Alicia Connor, Rudy Gaskins, Tanner Gers, Melody Goodspeed, Dana Hinnant, Jonathan Marin, Regina Mitchell, Lily Mordaunt, Michael Nye, Sassy Outwater, Roy Samuelson, Victoria Watts
- 25th Slide 3 text boxes:
- Interns – Christine Bharosi, Marta DiVito, Ryan Maxwell, Iliana Mejia, AJ Mitre
- Collabs & Volunteers – Juan Alcazar, Megan Brunner, Andrea (Andy) Chadwick, Anthony Corona, Teresa Gregg, Alexandra Herold, Alexa Jovanovic, Tekesha Saffold, Ana Sophia, Roy Samuelson, Thomas Topping, Natalie Trevonne, Natalie Watkins
- Organizations – New York City Access, River Oaks Psychology, VISIONS/Services for the Blind & Visually Impaired
- 26th Slide 1 text boxes: Get In Touch For Questions And Feedback
- Email: info@boldblindbeauty.com
- Phone: 724-318-2111
- Website: boldblindbeauty.com