Bio – Fellow – Past Fellows

National Leadership Program, 2022

Isabella Vargas

Isabella Vargas was an Entertainment and News Media Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program for Spring and Fall 2022, and is now working as the Entertainment Media Program Coordinator. RespectAbility is a national nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so that people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community. [continue reading…]

National Leadership Program, Spring 2022

Elizabeth Pezone

Elizabeth Pezone was a Policy Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program for Spring 2022. RespectAbility is a national nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so that people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community. Pezone’s Fellowship was funded by the Fox Family Foundation.

Pezone was born in Long Beach, California and resides in Artesia, California. She decided to go back to college in 2016, after difficulty finding any employment in early education. She transferred to California State University Los Angeles and recently graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitation Services. [continue reading…]

National Leadership Program, Spring 2022

Kim Chua

Kim Chua (she/they) was a Communications Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program for Spring 2022. RespectAbility is a national nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so that people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community.

Chua was born in Inglewood, California but most of her upbringing was in Lawndale (all within the South Bay Area of Los Angeles). While the two cities are relatively neighbors, Chua became all too familiar with how policy and community dictated quality of life and unfortunate crime rates. The starkly ignored inequalities led her to a path of empowering others through advocacy and design. [continue reading…]

National Leadership Program, Spring 2022

Christina Lisk

Christina Lisk was a Philanthropy Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program for Spring 2022. RespectAbility is a national nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so that people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community. Lisk’s Fellowship was funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

An outspoken Philadelphian, Lisk is a writer committed to disability advocacy in the nonprofit sector and the arts. Lisk graduated from Bryn Mawr College, where she studied English Literature and Creative Writing and co-founded the disability group EnAble. Her publications include articles for The Mighty, Yahoo Finance, and Hearinglikeme.com and a short story entitled Fox Hollow Secrets in Nothing Ever Happens in Fox Hollow Anthology: Volume 2. In 2019, Lisk presented part of her novel in progress, a disability love story, at Middlebury Bread Loaf in Sicily. [continue reading…]

National Leadership Program, Spring 2022

Alex Hilke

Alex Hilke was a Public Policy and Employment Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program for Spring 2022. RespectAbility is a national nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so that people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community. Hilke’s Fellowship was funded by the Fox Family Foundation.

Hilke was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois with Cerebral Palsy, and a cluster diagnosis of lost peripheral vision in his right eye and optic hypertension. He was raised in Ferguson, Missouri before moving to California as a teenager. He earned an Associates’ degree in Liberal Arts at Ohlone Community College, and went on to earn a Bachelor’s degree in Government at California State University, Sacramento. He is currently completing a Master’s degree in Public Administration at California State University, Dominguez Hills. [continue reading…]

National Leadership Program, Spring 2022

Riccardo Ricciardi

Riccardo Ricciardi was a Jewish Nonprofit Management Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program for Spring 2022. RespectAbility is a national nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so that people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community.

Ricciardi was born in Los Angeles, California, but he spent most of his childhood in La Paz, Bolivia. He served in the US Air Force and was based in San Antonio, Texas.  He then moved to London, England where he worked for Pan American World Airways as a flight attendant, and eventually returned back to the United States to attend New York University. Currently he lives in the Los Angeles area. [continue reading…]

National Leadership Program, 2022

Becca Block

Becca Block was a Jewish Inclusion Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program for Spring and Fall 2022. RespectAbility is a national nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so that people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community.

Block is a proud Jewish, queer, disabled, and chronically ill person who resides in Montgomery County, Maryland. Block graduated cum laude from the University of South Carolina School of Journalism & Mass Communications in December 2021. She majored in mass communications and minored in education. [continue reading…]

National Leadership Program, Spring 2022

Andrew Reid

Andrew Reid was an Entertainment and News Media Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program for Spring 2022. RespectAbility is a national nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so that people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community. [continue reading…]

National Leadership Program, Spring 2022

Leah Ilana Craig

Leah Ilana Craig was a Jewish Nonprofit Management Fellow in RespectAbility’s National Leadership Program for Spring 2022. RespectAbility is a national nonprofit organization fighting stigmas and advancing opportunities so that people with disabilities can fully participate in all aspects of community.

Born in Los Angeles, California, Craig has lived in New York City; northern New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; Roanoke, Virginia; and London, England only to return to Los Angeles—thus proving you never truly escape your hometown. [continue reading…]