Sheila Xu On Her Mission To Becoming The First Deaf Astronaut
Always Looking Up
08/11/25
•48m
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In this week’s episode I sat down with Sheila Xu and her interpreter Justin Baldi. Sheila is an oral and signing Deaf woman who broke barriers as one of the first deaf commercial analog astronaut trainees and the first deaf Asian female pilot. As Director of Development at AstroAccess, a non-profit advancing disability inclusion in the space sector, she holds degrees from MIT, Harvard, and Wharton and promotes the leadership potential of deaf and hard-of-hearing people and people with disabilities in all sectors. Justin is an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter with over 20 years of experience focusing on space and other STEM related fields. We discuss the importance of investing in disability entrepreneurship, how she is redefining who can be an astronaut and making outer space accessible, and much, much more.
Read The Transcript: HERE
Follow Sheila: Instagram: @sheilazxu LinkedIn: Sheila Xu Website: https://sheilaxu.com
Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast TikTok: @jillian_ilana Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: alwayslookingup227@gmail.com
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Previous Episode
Ellie Simmonds On Changing The Narrative In And Out Of The Pool
August 4, 2025
•58m
In the 200th episode of Always Looking Up I sat down with Ellie Simmonds. Ellie is a five-time Paralympic Champion and a fourteen time World Champion in the sport of para swimming. Ellie shot to fame when she won her first Paralympic Gold medal at just 13 years old at the Beijing Paralympics and after that summer success was the youngest ever recipient of an MBE, an award from the Queen at the age of 14. She then became an OBE after her home Paralympics in 2012. After announcing her retirement from the pool in 2021 she has transitioned to tv/documentary work with three documentaries to her name with My Secret Family being an awarded a BAFTA in 2024.
We discuss her journey to the Paralympics, why we are still talking about the London 2012 Games in 2025, her transition from champion to documentarian, how she decides on the stories she wants to tell and much, much more.
Follow Ellie: Instagram: @elliesimmonds
Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast TikTok: @jillian_ilana Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: alwayslookingup227@gmail.com
Read With Me:
Support Immigrant Communities (all links came from @chnge):
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (@chirla_org): https://www.chirla.org/donatenow/
Immigrant Defenders Law Center (@immdef_lawcenter): https://www.immdef.org
Inland Coalition 4 Imm Justice (@ic4ij): https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jornaleros
Relief For Disabled People Impacted By The Los Angeles Fires:
Richard Devylder Disaster Relief Fund: https://disabilitydisasteraccess.org/rd-relief-fund/
United Spinal Disaster Relief Grant: https://unitedspinal.org/disaster-relief-grant/
Inevitable Foundation Emergency Relief Fund: https://www.inevitable.foundation/erf
Next Episode
Jillian Ilana Curwin On Looking Ahead, Looking Back, And Always Looking Up
August 18, 2025
•29m
This episode celebrates 200 episodes of Always Looking Up, an incredible milestone that I am so incredibly proud of and grateful for. I wanted to take the time to reflect on what it means having gotten this far and the journey to get here, highlighting some milestone moments, look ahead towards where I want to be, where I want the podcast to be, and to say thank you to my brother, the audience, and guests past, present and future.
As always, height is just a number, not a limit.
Read the transcript: HERE
Follow Me: Instagram: @jill_ilana , @alwayslookingup.podcast TikTok: @jillian_ilana Website: https://www.jillianilana.com Email: alwayslookingup227@gmail.com
Read With Me:
Support Immigrant Communities (all links came from @chnge):
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (@chirla_org): https://www.chirla.org/donatenow/
Immigrant Defenders Law Center (@immdef_lawcenter): https://www.immdef.org
Inland Coalition 4 Imm Justice (@ic4ij): https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jornaleros
Relief For Disabled People Impacted By The Los Angeles Fires:
Richard Devylder Disaster Relief Fund: https://disabilitydisasteraccess.org/rd-relief-fund/
United Spinal Disaster Relief Grant: https://unitedspinal.org/disaster-relief-grant/
Inevitable Foundation Emergency Relief Fund: https://www.inevitable.foundation/erf
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