Podcasts By Dr. Kirk Adams: Interview with Stephanie Sanders, Owner and CEO, Walk In Thought Productions, LLC

So for those of you who don't know me, I'm the immediate past president and CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind.

And I'm a blind person.

My retina is detached from when I was five years old.

And in 2016, I was president and CEO of the Lighthouse for the Blind here in Seattle.

And I was given the opportunity to move to New York and to Washington, D.C., and lead the American Foundation for the Blind through a turnaround process.

The organization was founded in 1921.

Helen Keller was their global ambassador from 1924 until she passed away in 1968.

And at the time, I was given the opportunity to lead the iconic AFB.

They were in a severe financial downward death spiral.

And I spent six years working with a great team of staff, board members, and we did some difficult but necessary things to put AFB back on track.

And during that time, I received contact from Stephanie, who said, I admire what American Foundation for the Blind is doing, and I would love to become part of the organization.

I am a motivational speaker.

I'm a performer.

I think I could lend my talents to the good work.

And unfortunately, we were... eliminating positions and laying people off in order to cut expenses.

So the timing didn't work out well for that.

But Stephanie and I had a few conversations.

I learned she lived in Orlando and And I was headed to Orlando for the National Federation of the Blind Conference.

And we arranged to meet.

We met at the conference hotel and had a great conversation.

And we've kept in touch since.

Stephanie is a very inspirational person, a very talented person.

I am honored to be considered her friend.

And, uh, it's great to have you here on the podcast, Stephanie.

I want to just, uh, hand the, hand the microphone to you and ask you to tell, uh, tell listeners your story.