After her accident in 2010, Chelsie Hill imagined a life of unlimited opportunities where women like her, with physical disabilities, could achieve their goals with great success. For Chelsie, this meant to move to LA and become a dancer. At first she wasn't seeing other wheelchair dancers and decided to re-imagine the world of dance. Since then, Chelsie and her team of other Boundless Babes, have become a national sensation teaching others to dance, find their inner strength and beauty and find success.
Listen in to hear Chelsie Hill and long-time Co-founder Maria Rabaino talk about the roots of the LA Rollettes and what they see for the future.
To find out more about our guest, visit these links:
Website: https://www.rollettesdance.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rollettes
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rollettes_LA?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rollettes_la/?hl=en
Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rollettes_la?lang=en
Rollettes Experience: https://www.rollettesexperience.com/
Want to be a guest on our show? Connect with us at: https://www.abilitiesinmotion.org/podcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbilitiesinMotionPA
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/abilitiesinmotion/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BerksCountyCIL?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/instaaim/
After her accident in 2010, Chelsie Hill imagined a life of unlimited opportunities where women like her, with physical disabilities, could achieve their goals with great success. For Chelsie, this meant to move to LA and become a dancer. At first she wasn't seeing other wheelchair dancers and decided to re-imagine the world of dance. Since then, Chelsie and her team of other Boundless Babes, have become a national sensation teaching others to dance, find their inner strength and beauty and find success.
Listen in to hear Chelsie Hill and long-time Co-founder Maria Rabaino talk about the roots of the LA Rollettes and what they see for the future.
To find out more about our guest, visit these links:
Website: https://www.rollettesdance.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rollettes
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rollettes_LA?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rollettes_la/?hl=en
Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rollettes_la?lang=en
Rollettes Experience: https://www.rollettesexperience.com/
Want to be a guest on our show? Connect with us at: https://www.abilitiesinmotion.org/podcast
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbilitiesinMotionPA
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/abilitiesinmotion/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BerksCountyCIL?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/instaaim/
Welcome to DisAbility Talks, a podcast produced by Abilities in Motion. I'm your host, Shelly Houser. Join us for real conversations and no nonsense talk from everyday people with disabilities, living their most independent, everyday lives. Tune in for the latest news surrounding disability, accessibility and independence. Where conversations aren't dissed and stories that need to be told aren't missed. So let's talk.
Shelly:Today's guests are part of a group of seven powerful, talented and energetic women that are redefining the dance world with their wheelchair dance troupe, the LA Rollettes. Founder, Chelsie Hill and her longtime friend, and co-founder Maria Rabino created their tribe to empower other Boundless Babes through dance. Today they join us to tell us more. Welcome ladies, how are you today?
Chelsie & Maria:Good. How are you? Thanks for having us! Hi!
Shelly:Tell out listeners tell us who you are and a little bit about yourself.
Chelsie:Yeah, so, um, my name is Chelsie. I started the dance team back in 2012. I was paralyzed in 2010. I had this idea of just meeting other girls like myself. I didn't know anyone else like myself. I really just wanted friends. And actually Maria is one of the first girls I reached out to that year. She was only like three months injured at the time. And it's really actually cool to be on a podcast with Maria cause literally Maria is one of the founding members. Like she has been there through it all. So, so yeah, I live in Los Angeles now I take dance classes down here and we have a women's empowerment weekend that we throw. So that camp I invited Maria to is now an international camp for women with disabilities. So yeah. Maria, go ahead.
Maria:Hi, I'm Maria. And just like Chelsie mentioned, I've been with the teams is that first started back i n 2012. This camp was going to be just a one-time thing for me. It was to get to know other women with disabilities. It was to finally learn what it was like to be a woman in a wheelchair, a sk questions that my doctors couldn't teach me how to take care of. And so getting that independence and feeling like a woman for the first time and feeling just normal for the first time, since my injury was a really, truly special moment, I currently live in M onterey with my husband and we are loving life and watching how far the team has grown, watching how far t heir l ast experience has come from. The very beginning has just been a truly magical moment.
Shelly:You guys have some new sisters in the group, correct?
Chelsie:We sure do! We have Maya, we have Missy and we have Josie. So every year, like we bring on new girls. And so we wanted to start this little SIS program, just kind of a way to bring in more girls because you know, Maria is married and Maria wants to get, you know, have some babies. I'm about to be married. I want some babies, you know, we're kind of like, well, we want this to keep going. So we have to bring in some new girls, how do we pick girls? It's really like an internal process. And we're really excited to just bring on more girls to just help this grow. Because being around just a positive, powerful group of women that are confident that are also going through their own stuff really helps us as the, as a group of girls feel like we're not alone. It's nice to connect with people via social media. But when you know, you can just pick up the phone and text a group of girls and one of them is going to be able to relate. It's just really nice.
Shelly:That's what I love. One of your themes in following you guys, and you have this tribe for women in general, it's hard to find a non clicky, empowering tribe that loves you unconditionally. So I love the fact that you have this tribe amongst yourselves and that you're willing to share that positive empowerment and love worldwide.
Chelsie:Yeah. You know, it's so funny, Marie, I'd love for you to jump in on this, but it's so funny that you say like cliquey and stuff like that. Because the last few years we've, I've been hearing little things like, oh, the Rollettes are really cliquey. And then it's like people don't, they, you know, you only see what you see, you see what you see on the phone. You see everyone calls it a highlight reel. But for us, you know, it's so much deeper than that. The girls and I we've gone through our stuff. We've gone through like thick and thin, the rough, the good, the bad, the ugly. But it's the girls that stay, the girls that hang on and some girls head off and they do their own thing. They go to college or they, they get engaged or they move away and that's okay. But it's a really amazing feeling to know that we have a group of girls that are a ride or die. And that's what really inspired us to like, you know, the Rollettes Experience logo is a world map and it's all these dots all over. And so we were like, we want to connect those dots all over the world of women with disabilities and connect them together. Whether it's through the Rollettes experience or boundless baby society or whatever it may be, or just social media. But Maria, I would love for you to jump in because you've been around.
Maria:This is so important. I mean, having a community of people who understand get it, but having your tribe, having your family, having your team, it just makes it so much better. We're all so close as a team because we've been there for each other. Through our worst times, through our best times, we've celebrated the victories. We've had the hard needed conversations and anything and everything in between. And then to watch the Rollettes Experience grow there's people who are forming friendships because after less experience, they met somebody who only lived a half hour away. And they've never met until the Rollettes experience. We've had people who finally met somebody who has the same diagnosis as them. And they have a rare diagnosis. So to just be able to relate and connect and communicate, we love hanging out with all of them, but we love watching these other families and these other connections grow together. And it's so beautiful. I love it.
Shelly:What impact has this had on other dancers? There's a young girls that are inspired to dance by watching you guys say on you on your YouTube?
Chelsie:You know, this is that I love talking about because for me, you know, I was a dancer my entire life and then becoming disabled. I was like, what is my life going to look like? What is, how am I going to dance? And I had this like fire in me that I was like, I gotta figure it out. You know, I did my first dance routine with my back brace on and my able body dance team. My dad got all wheelchairs and that really like sparked this kind of this visual of seeing all these wheelchairs dancing together. And so when I moved to Los Angeles, I was like, I would want to move to Los Angeles and dance if I wasn't in a wheelchair and I didn't have a disability. So why can't I do it now? And I was seeing all these videos on social media. That's kind of when like Instagram started like popping off and like dance videos started being like showcased a little bit more. And I was like, I don't see any other people in wheelchairs in these dance classes. Why can't I go? Because I was like, I know I'm good. I know I can like learn this choreography. So I moved to Los Angeles and started, you know, taking classes. And then I was like, oh, Hey, can you like, can you film this for me? I asked random people. I was terrified. I was terrified. And I just asked random people and I'm like, Hey, Maria, want to come to my, this class in LA? And she's like, sure. So she'd drive down. And you know, it just became this thing that we would do as an activity. And then slowly but surely the last few years I've been seeing more people putting themselves out there on social media and showing dance videos. And it's so cool to see that people are, are really stepping out of their comfort zone. You know, Maria does adaptive classes on social media. I do adaptive dance classes, you know, Maria does like her workout stuff. I do dance. Connor does dance. So it's really cool to see people are like stepping out of their comfort zone and getting that courage. And I really truly feel like a lot of the Boundless Babes Society girls that we have part of our mentorship program is really building leaders in the community. You know? And like Maria is one of our mentors as well, but it's just really, it's refreshing. I don't know, Maria, what do you feel?
Maria:It's really cool because in the beginning, just like how you mentioned Chelsie, there weren't a lot of wheelchair dances. There was ballroom dancing. I remember that was a little bit popular when the team first started and when we were first starting out, but as the years have gone by, I've seen more people will post about them dancing or even just them posting work workouts and they're feeling more comfortable in their skin. And that's all we've learned is to just empower these women, to let them know like, yeah, you might use a wheelchair, but you're still beautiful. You're still a bad-ass you're still amazing. That's all that matters.
Shelly:And fearless. Yeah. I think it's our responsibility as persons with disabilities to showcase our abilities and our talents and things like that. Because if we don't show the world, what we can do, the world never gets to experience how amazing this is. And there are new people with new disabilities all the time, but you get on YouTube and that's the amazing part about the internet. Now you get on the, and you start checking these things out. You're like, my God, there's a whole world of stuff I can do out there and I'm not alone. And I think that's the importance of, of what our community gives each other as, uh, an international family of persons with disabilities.
Chelsie:Totally. And also too, on that note, you know, I talked to her, our girls that are part of Boundless Babe site. And I'm like, what's the thing you want to do. You know? And they're like, well, I really want to, you know, I want to dance or I want to do photography. And I'm like, what are the reasons you're stopping? Like what, what is it? And they're like, I'm scared that someone's not going to like it. And I'm like, okay, let's break that down. Like, what is it? What is the reason why people don't do what they love? Are they scared? Are they nervous? Do they not know how? And so seeing our community step into this whole new role, we joke around, but like disability is in! It always has been disability in people want uniqueness. And that is such a beautiful thing that, you know, we're all, we all have different types of diagnosis, but for us, we're like, okay, well let's use this to aspire or to inspire, to motivate other people and make it more normal, quote, unquote, normal for people to go after their dreams, you know? And, and the more people that are showing what they're doing, the more it's just going to be just like everyone else. You know.
Maria:We're also naturally just the best problem solvers. And we're also just like constantly thinking ahead, we're looking for the most successful route before we even get out of the car. We're constantly thinking ahead, we're constantly the best problem solvers. Of course, we're going to be really cool at everything else.
Chelsie:Exactly.
Shelly:Society doesn't realize how utterly cool we really are.
Chelsie:Honestly, Maria, it's really cool. I just have to say, I have to point out with Maria. I've known Maria for eight years and the person, she was eight years ago, the person that was newly injured, the person that didn't know what she wanted to do, she just very, Maria has always been a go with the flow type person, but to see someone injured, not knowing what that what's going to happen with their lives, not knowing what they want to do and then have this genuine passion for fitness and health. It's so cool to see her go through her journey she went through. And then be certified as a personal trainer, get her certification, get educated and want t o genuinely h elp the community. Her love for fitness and her love for a dapting fitness f or, for everyone is honestly very equivalent to my passion for dance and making dance accessible to everyone as well. So it's just really cool to see and everything M aria is doing is so awesome, especially for the community. And also like just adding on the fact that s he's educated about it. It's not just a little thing that she likes to do. She's actually educated on it, which changes the game.
Shelly:Maria, what message about stigmas do you want to crush?
Maria:My big thing is that wheelchair users are not all completely paralyzed. I get hate just because I can move my legs a little bit. I'm still a full-time wheelchair user, but because I can kick my legs out, I still get people calling me a faker. And it's just the most mind blowing thing. Disability is so diverse. What, like the surface level is that everybody knows about disability. Like that's only surface level. There's so much more to us and we are all very different. We're all very unique. Our stories or journeys are all very different, but it is what brought us together.
Shelly:You guys have partnered with some really huge names like Ulta and Nike, and you've had some sponsors with different things. So how has that helped to drive your mission with LA Rollettes?
Chelsie:You know, for us, we, we never imagined, you know, working with big brands like that. And for us, we really just, you know, we want to be around brands that see what we're doing and see like the, the vision and see how important it is. But it really just started Maria, I feel like it started with the commercial we did for TJ Maxx. And we were like, oh, okay. We, you know, we're doing a TJ Maxx commercial. Okay, cool. This is awesome. And then all of a sudden, you know, we got little gigs here and there, but it's really cool to see that mainstream brands, big brands are, are seeing us as people that they want to get behind. And it just really makes it where brands can feel like they can find a person with a disability and actually not have to like hire someone that doesn't really have a disability, you know, so like commercials or, you know, Natalie's going to be on Vanderpump Dogs. Um, stuff's been in Ulta stuff like I've done brand brand stuff as well, but it's just really cool to see that brands are finally taking people with disabilities seriously. Whether it's fitness or fashion. And there are voices are being heard and it's going to continue to be heard because uniqueness is in! People want it, people are seeing it, people are valuing it. So it's honestly a really cool feeling and not only for us as Rollettes, but also to see other people with disabilities that are getting brand deals and being in Nike and being in all these other things, it's just really cool to see that it's just spreading.
Maria:And it takes being around amazing women to become an amazing w oman yourself. So, you know, just watching Chelsea start team from us, being young in our twenties, still figuring out our own lives to building t he strong, powerful community. I mean, this would not be possible without Chelsea and her love for dance. H er love for all of us. I have this great passion because I had the support of her and I love and appreciate you so much, girl, thank you for everything.
Shelly:And with that, I think we're going to take a quick commercial break and we'll be back with the LA Rollettes
AD:Abilities in Motion is a Pennsylvania based, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities live their lives on their own terms. Abilities in Motion strides to eliminate psychological stereotypes, physical barriers, and outdated attitudes that prevent social and civic inclusion as well as promote the independent living movement to empower, educate, and advocate for individuals with disabilities. For more information about programs and services, Abilities in Motion provides, call 610-376- 0010. Or visit our website@ www.abilitiesinmotion.org.
Shelly:Welcome back listeners. I'm here with Maria and Chelsea from the LA. Rollettes talking about their experiences. Ladies, you have a virtual and in-person Rollettes Experience this year. Can you guys tell us more, a little bit about what that's going to look like for your audience?
Chelsie:Yeah, so our event, the Rollettes Experience is July 22nd through the 25th in Los Angeles, it'll be at the Sheraton. So it's a five minute accessible shuttle ride. The event really started because we just wanted to have friends and hang out. And every year it's kind of grown. And this year, well, last year we did full virtual, obviously because we were all locked down and we couldn't not give this to the community. We had so many people that were like, are you going to still do it? And so we rented a soundstage. We went all out. I mean, of course we're the Rollettes we go all out. Um, but this year we realized, you know, with last year being so incredible, we had over 300 people watching from 14 countries. And then this year we were like, we can't not do virtual. So we have to have some sort of virtual, honestly, I've never done an in-person and virtual event don't know what to expect, but, um, honestly keep my fingers crossed. But for this, we are doing four days in person. So Thursday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, uh, Thursday is the welcome reception. Friday, we have dance classes, we have workout seminars. We have an amazing panel, all about being disabled and a boss it's called From the Ground Up. And then we also have a pajama party. We have kids classes and then Saturday, same thing. But our panel that day is going to be all about advocacy. And that is in-person and then dance classes, workout seminars, same exact thing. And then we have a Booths and Babes night where our sponsors have tables and they can chat with the attendees and there will be a bar and just music, fun times. And then Sunday is one of my favorites. It's the cool party. The day, everyone kind of like says goodbye. And we have a big pool party, but the virtual option is all day, Friday. So you get all of the classes, you get to see the event all day, Friday, and then Saturday is just two speakers. And then we have, uh, one Madonna Long. And then Natalie Goin, who is a race car driver in the UK, Madonna Long works directly with the White House. And she's going to be speaking about advocacy. And then we have an hour where girls that are virtual can meet girls that are in person. So have like a little pop-up booth. So it's a very full itinerary and we're really, but we are respecting all COVID protocols, everything that is mandated by Los Angeles, et cetera, we will have to wear a mask. They aren't enforcing social distancing, but we are asking for people to obviously social distance and just be, be careful. So we are doing everything in our power to make sure everyone stays safe. It is what it is. And we are excited to even have the opportunity to be in person and, and, u m, yeah.
Shelly:Yeah. Cool. Maria, how are you going to keep yourself and the team energized and healthy and hydrated during all this jam packed event happenings?
Maria:Well, we're definitely going to be drinking a lot of water because that will be needed to stay hydrated. But we also value like down like self time, because we know we can't give 100% if we're not at a hundred percent. So to stay energized, we're going to prioritize just like our needs for ourselves and then go right out there and give everyone the love that we really do feel for them. I mean, we were kind of touching on it with COVID and everything that has happened this year, but we know now more than ever how important community is. So just be away from everyone for so long has been hard for everyone. And it's really important to bring us all back together. We are still of course, respecting everybody who wants to stay safe, but we also want to bring the community together because it's needed so bad right now.
Shelly:Has COVID changed the way you think about connecting with women all over the world, say like last year when you were really shut down?
Chelsie:You know, it's so interesting because in January of 2020, the Rollettes and I were talking, we feel like, you know, Rollettes Experience is so beautiful. We get to connect in person every year, one big annual event. Right? But I still realize over the last few years that people would come up to me and be like, it's so cool that I have friends now. I met other people that are like me and you know, the girls and they were talking, we were like, we need to create something where people can connect more than just once a year. Or, you know, we have this beautiful platform that we've created over the last nine years, a space where women feel comfortable to come to, but there's still some girls that don't have those friends that are also in wheelchairs. So we started a mentorship program called Boundless Babes Society in January before the pandemic. And it's so interesting how the world, God, whatever you believe in, how the world works. And we started it. And three months later, lockdown happened! And we were already three months into stage one, which is a six month program. And me and Bria, who's our COO. She helps run all of Rollettes, events, friends, everything. And she was like, well, let's keep it going. There's more we can give. So we give out every month, different topics of the month, we do a zoom chat every at the end of every month, they have one-on-one calls. We brought in some of the other Rollettes to be as well mentors. So it's been really cool because the Boundless Babes Society is over a hundred women, all with different types of disabilities, where we have a group meet chat, we have a Facebook chat, we have zoom calls every month, one-on-one calls. And we're talking about, you know, building leaders in our community and really breaking down those walls of women that feel like they can't do what they want to do in order to see light on the other side. So it it's been amazing, but it's really changed how we operate. We do all of our stuff online now. So it changed everything. And it really broadened Rollettes as a company, which I think was kind of a blessing in disguise. I guess you could say.
Maria:I totally agree. And before the pandemic even hit, like we were thinking like, how c an we connect virtually? Like we were always thinking l ike, what c ould we do to bring in more people virtually? C ause we, social media has always been our thing. It's how we met each other. It's how we grew. And so we were just trying to brainstorm ideas and then we were kind of forced into figuring it out. And I d on't, I don't ever want to go back to where virtual is never an option. We should always have some sort of hybrid version. And I love it.
Shelly:That's what I was just going to say. It seems like, uh, for all the atrocities that we've seen with, with COVID, it actually has benefited. So now you said it was women with disabilities, is it all disabilities or are women with wheelchair disabilities?
Chelsie:So Boundless Babe Society is actually women with all different types of disabilities, but we do it's more physical disabilities and Rollettes Experience is same physical disabilities. A lot of our classes are geared towards wheelchair users. So we always just have that conversation and say, Hey, you know, our dance class is geared for wheelchair users, but we do bring in able body choreographers. We love to give the option of people just getting creative or if they want to grab a chair and sit with us great, you know, but we hope to branch out and do more one day.
Shelly:I can't see society not keeping a piece of that moving forward. I think it just needs to, I think it just needs to stay. I don't know about you, but I don't think normal ever works for us.(laughter) We're all shaking our heads, No! So Maria, I want you to tell our audience, what do you hope to see for the Rollettes future?
Maria:I want to see more community. I want to see more women build themselves up and feeling more comfortable in their skin. And we're starting to see that already. And it's really powerful. I remember just talking to a few of the girls who were in the Boundless Babes Society and with the stage two girls were at the final month of it. And we're talking about, they're working on a presentation, just talking about something that they've learned throughout the year that they've been with us. Some of them were like trying to figure out what their presentation idea was. I'm like, well, who were you when we first started this? And we realized I didn't have a lot of friends, I didn't start my YouTube channel. I didn't do this. So then they were all of a sudden the ideas came flowing in and just, you know, seeing them grow. That's what I want for the future. I want to watch them grow because I know they're going to continue to build up other people and it's just going to keep lifting each other up. We're going to get stronger together and I love it.
Shelly:Chelsie, what do you want to see for the Rollettes future?
Chelsie:Oh man. Where do I start? Honestly, you know, when I first started it, I didn't know what the possibilities were. You know? And then over the years I've always been like, oh, it'd be so cool to have like a Texas R ollettes and New York and an East coast or whatever. And then I was like, O oh, it'd be cool to have like a convention, a West coast and the East coast. But w hen people don't see behind the phone and behind the computer screen is how incredibly hard it is to get the funds to even put on Rollettes Experience in general. For me, I just want to continue Rolettes Experience as it is. I want to hopefully get more sponsors involved that w ere the community, the people the companies i n the community actually value it because that's a whole nother conversation that I would love to talk about one day, but i s companies actually getting behind and taking it seriously you know? A nd, and that's the fight that Maria and I've been fighting for nine years with this is people taking it seriously. So my vision for the Rollettes and the Rollettes Experiences, hoping to continue what we're doing, because it is very hard. Um, y ou know, financially on the girls and people don't see that side of it, but also just to put the event on and find sponsors to do that. We somehow, Maria, we make it work. We f igure it out somehow. I have no idea how it happens, but you know, I really see Rolettes E xperience being almost like a Forbes wo men's s ummit, where women with disabilities, all disabilities can go to and take dance classes, workout seminars, li sten t o amazing speakers in our community outside of Ro llettes l isten to panels about advocacy, how to build a business, the pros and cons of, of an LLC versus a no nprofit. How to start, how to jumpstart you know what your career can look like, all these different topics. Because what I find with this community is people just don't know where to start. They don't have the tools because we have been so under underserved for so long. So I really want Rollette's E xperience to just be a Forbes wo men's s ummit for, for us and Ro llettes t eam to just continue what we're doing and, you know, maybe be consulting for brands. I don't know. We're just hanging out right now and figuring it out as we go, to be honest!
Shelly:One year at a time.
Chelsie:Honestly!
Shelly:Yeah, that's all you can do! But where can our listeners around the world find LA Rollettes on social media and more about the event?
Chelsie:So the Rollettes. Um, we have our website's Rollettesdance.com and it's all about the team, the little sisters, what we've done, parades events, et cetera. You want to book us for an event, that sort of thing. And then the Rollettes Experience is actually completely separate then Rollettes. You know, of course the girls promote Rolettes experience come and hang out, et cetera. But Rollettes Experience is actually its own website and it's Rollettesexperience.com. Um, we're also on YouTube. If you want to look up any of the prior events that we've done, just Rollettes Experience on YouTube. And then we're also on Twitter. We're on Tik Tok. We're on Instagram, all the social media platforms you have over a half a million people that follow us combining with all the Rollettes and everything. So yeah, we really just want to, you know, reach out to companies that really just see the power in what this event is. Aside from the girls, aside from myself, the power and the need for Rollettes Experience for this community. And it doesn't matter what your age is. We have kids, we have adults, we have parents coming in like yourself. Like you being a mother with a disability, it would be so amazing to have a panel with all moms, with all kinds of disabilities, to talk about the process of it. What do you have to adapt, et cetera? So, you know, just a space for information for, for us.
Maria:Yes, we are all on Instagram. We all have our own pages and all come together for the Rollettes page. We do, um, we do take care of our own pages. And then like once a month, we come together or like, you know, every now and then we come together and we take photo shoots together. And it's so much fun just to be able to be with everyone. And then every week we submit in videos. So that way we can continue to keep our Tik TOK page alive. And then it's really cool how we figured out how to empower more women with disabilities while we're all still working on our own stuff at home and building our own stuff up as well.
Shelly:To wrap it up, I want to start with each one of you, Maria, you, maybe you can kick this off. What would you tell the younger version of yourself?
Maria:I want to start out by saying trust your gut, and don't be afraid to take risks. I first went to a Rollettes Experience. I first went to our dance camp when I was only like three or five months injured. And I was still figuring out my own life. Like I had barely just started driving and it was a big risks to just drive three hours away from home and spend time with seven women in wheelchairs. But I trusted my gut and I knew that I would be safe and okay with these women because they knew what I was going through, more then my family knew what I was going through, more than my doctors knew that I was going through. And just trust your gut, take those risks. It's going to be worth it in the end.
Chelsie:You know, Maria said it so well. And I feel like the only thing I have to add to that is my first suggestion to everyone is always just find other people like you, because there's someone else out there that's dealing with something similar or maybe the same as you. And that first glimpse of not feeling like you're the only one and feeling like you're alone. That first feeling really kind of like gives you this aha moment and this like sense of, and this fresh air that you have someone else out there that can talk that you can talk to. And that's what I tell everyone is find other people like you, whether it's through Rollettes, whether it's through Boundless Babes s ite or someone amazing on social media, that's killing it out there. You know, find someone like you and then go from there.
Shelly:I couldn't have said it any better. So thank you ladies. So with that, I'm going to say, this is this week's episode of DisAbility Talks. Thank you to my listeners for being out there and listening as always. And thank you to Maria and Chelsea from the LA Rollettes for joining me today and empowering us to be Boundless Babes. Thank you so much ladies!
Chelsea & Maria:Thank you. Thank you.
Shelly:You're welcome. And don't forget to hit that like and subscribe button. So you never miss an episode of DisAbility Talks.
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Outro:Thanks for tuning in to this episode of disability. Talks want to keep the conversation going then visit our website at Abilitiesinmotion.org, or connect with us on social media. And remember don't dis my ability.