"Life owes us absolutely nothing. But when we're handed a bag of sh*t, no one says we have to eat it."
(EP 01: New Beginnings)
"We all have moments when we stumble - most painful to our egos than anything. As a blind person I stumble both literally and figuratively. but the physical bruises help to remind me that the bruises to my ego are self-inflicted." -Lis Malone
Lis Malone is legally-blind, stemming from a degenerative retinal disease called retinitis pigmentosa (RP). She was diagnosed at age twenty, and within a decade was declared legally-blind due to a progressive loss in her field of vision. As an advocate for the blind & visually-impaired and persons living with disability, Lis shares her personal experiences having served as a fundraiser and keynote speaker, radio and podcast guest, and appearing in both local and national media features, where she spoke candidly and passionately about the impact of disability on her life both personally and professionally.
Prior to losing her eyesight, Lis was no stranger to overcoming adversity, as she faced racial ignorance from an early age. As an Asian-American and interracial adoptee, she grew up with strangers staring and whispering, making her already awkward adolescent years even more challenging.
“When you’re a child in what may appear to others as an unusual family situation, it makes you grow up fast. Each and every time I caught someone staring, pointing or whispering, it felt as though a pieced of my childhood joy was lost. Adoption is one of the most beautiful gifts to both the family and the child, so it’s heartbreaking how ignorance can affect a child's struggle with understanding their own identity.”
In her professional career, Lis spent more than fifteen years working in the New York media industry for prominent companies, holding leadership roles in media sales, marketing and sales training. Her extensive media background, coupled with her analytical and methodical approach, and natural curiosity of human behavior, served as inspiration and foundation for her to follow and pursue her own interviewing and journalistic instincts by self-producing her first podcast series, "Access Point with Lis Malone". The show served as a platform for her true mission -- bridging the gap between the mainstream public with the disabled community through meaningful dialogue designed to help listeners discover, learn and share thoughts and ideas on accessibility, inclusion and overall acceptance and understanding.
After wrapping up her eight episode podcast series, Lis made the decision to leave New York City and begin her next life chapter. As she researched and prepared for a relocation, as a creative outlet she challenged herself to write a full-length screenplay which would highlight a main character living with a disability in a more positive and realistic light. Lis’ first completed work, “My Blind Faith” was born.
Now settled in Charlotte, NC, Lis soft-aunched her latest podcast, "Breaking Dishes”, in May of 2019, where she speaks truth about a wider range of topics and issues while maintaining her commitment to keeping disability, diversity and inclusion as part of the dialogue. The early appeal to her unique brand of motivation and inspiration, with a large helping of "take no crap" attitude, positions "Breaking Dishes" for much longer-term potential and aspirations.
Lis is committed to continuing use of her professional skills to communicate on behalf of disability inclusion, by sharing the world through the eyes and minds of the disabled, and communicating the vast value of their contributions to society both now and for the future.