Ciara's Pink Sparkle Podcast!

I chatted with a couple called Karen & Conor who run The Dynamic Spud which is the greatest jacket potato experience in London. We talked about their shop & about the different filings on their menu you can have on your jacket potato, we talked about disability, representation, attitudes, accessibility & chatted about our Irish Connections too. You can find the Dynamic Spud shop in Archway in London. Their Instagram link is below!https://www.instagram.com/thedynamicspud/?__d=11%2F

I recently chatted to my friend Dr Poppy Gibson is a Lecturer in Education whose key interests involve children's psychological development and mental health, and wellbeing in education.We talked about our careers, disability and attitudes and media representation and we chatted about our favourite teachers at our schools!

I recently sat down for a chat with the theatre director and writer and disability advocate and campaigner and father Stephen Unwin. We talked about his career in directing theatre shows and plays, we talked about disability issues and attitudes and stigma and media representation and he told me about his son who has a disability. He has recently written a new book which is out now called Beautiful lives which I have a mention in. The book is about the lives of people with a learning disability & society's attitudes. The link to the book on Amazon is below!https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beautiful-Lives-Learning-Disabilities-Wrong/dp/1035424738/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=54816598684&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.zQXCq3e_pw6wBjz1eYt-lFOMxahTB93LqcpzHCUFY50.oa_3my5mvJ_jKhveiOaADWENvfTGBfIYpSWaC7_ecIQ&dib_tag=se&gad_source=1&hvadid=259047585024&hvdev=c&hvexpln=0&hvlocphy=9045856&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=18137396020895001011--&hvqmt=e&hvrand=18137396020895001011&hvtargid=kwd-2420652935897&hydadcr=24436_1816130&keywords=stephen+unwin+beautiful+lives&mcid=6a00a6b399ce37908e574e92dcc62d58&qid=1758563254&sr=8-1

I recently sat down for a chat about all things cake, biscuits and bread and the famous TV show The Great British Bake Off with David Atherton who won 2019 series of the show. He told me who is favourite judge was, his new kids halloween cook book, and about why it is important to see people with a disability and people from other communities on big TV shows like Bake Off. We also talked about our careers!https://www.instagram.com/nomadbakerdavid/?hl=en-gb

I recently sat down for a lovely chat with a wonderful lady called Heather Bailey who I recently met through my work. Her daughter has Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities and she is a wonderful mum and advocate for her daughter. We talked about her experiences of becoming a mum, her campaigning on PMLD issues, we talked about learning disability and we talked about disability media representation too!

I chatted with Ken Ross OBE who is the Founding Officer of the National Down Syndrome Association and the Vice Chair of the the Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association. He has also done some amazing work with Bafta about media representation and people with a disability in the media. He also told me about his lovely relationship with his son Max who has Down Syndrome as his dad. We also talked about a fantastic event they hosted at 10 Downing Street which I got invited to a while ago. I also asked him some fun questions too!

I chatted with the super A List British Award Winning Actress Brenda Blethyn about her amazing acting career, all her fantastic awards & where she keeps them. We chatted about TV Drama Vera & what she took from the set after it finished filming. We also talked about her support for charities including the Washington Riding for the Disabled Centre which she supports & we chatted disability awarness and lots more!

I chatted with Comedian Alistair Barrie who I met at an awards ceremony. We chatted about his comedy career, cancel culture & why it's not ok to make offensive jokes about people with a disability. He told me about his kids who both have a disability & what he's learnt from them & we chatted about disability too. He told me he knew Chris who won Strictly last year & I said I would like to do Strictly to represent people with a learning disability like me!Please go & check out Alistair's career on his website!https://www.alistairbarrie.com/

I chatted with artist Minty King about her career as an artist and illustrator. She told me about the art workshops and events she runs in Manchester with students who have SEN & I told her about what I made for my GSCSE Art. We talked about how Art should be able to be inclusive to everyone & I told her I was a judge for a recent children's art competition alongside another judge Julia Donaldson who wrote kids story book The Gruffalo. You can buy products she has made with some of her groups. The link is below. https://www.sapphirepartnership.com/category/all-products

This episode of my podcast is very special. I chatted with Gareth and John from the Dublin Welsh Male Voice Choir.They told me all about how the choir formed many years ago and we chatted about some of their past concerts and we chatted about some of the songs that they perform in their concerts. We also paid a lovely tribute to my uncle who was a long standing member of the choir. If you would like to know more about the choir, please go and check out their website. They are looking for new members too!https://dublinwelsh.com/