Networking

Steffi G

My name is Steffi and I was born in Colombia, and raised in Miami, Fl

I was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (brittle bones), I was originally given 24 hours to live. Well, at 32 years old I can say I’ve made it a bit past that!

My husband played a key role in opening my eyes to self-love, it's thanks to him that today I don’t use the term “in spite of my disability” instead, I like to say I am thriving WITH my disability.

Because my disability is not something to overcome, overlook or live in spite of – my disability is something I’ve embraced, accepted and learned to love myself with. I am aware that I’m different, I am aware that I don’t look like the average adult, and I still love myself, every part of me.

I started sharing pieces of my life on social media, and I would receive messages from people telling me how inspiring I was, how they wished they were as confident as I am, etc.

This fueled my passion to start my journey as a content creator, but sharing wasn’t enough, I knew I wanted to be part of making a difference.

I applied to be an inclusive model for Runway of Dreams, I was accepted and invited to my hometown Miami to take part in the inclusive fashion show! It was then that something sparked in my heart, and I knew my life was about to change.

Shortly after, I became an Aerie ambassador, and this past May I was invited to headquarters to shoot for an upcoming campaign!

I still felt like something was missing, and then it hit me – there’s still a lot of work to do when it comes to inclusion in the beauty industry, and I knew this is where I wanted to make a difference next.

I knew it was time to do more. I filled out an application for the Sephora Squad, a program I have followed since its launch in 2019 and I dreamed of seeing someone like me in it – but never me God no! I’m confident but not THAT confident.

2 months later I received an email from Sephora with a title that only headlined “confidential”.

My heart sank, All my eyes saw was “on behalf of the Sephora team, we would like to congratulate you on being accepted as part of the 2022 #SephoraSquad!” What an honor, I still get goosebumps every time I think of that moment, and every single time it hits me again – I did it, I did the hard thing and it turns out people believe in me, and that’s all the motivation I need to keep going.

Big things are coming, my journey is just getting started! I am here to serve as a change maker, and the beauty industry is ready to listen.

Bridget Finkeldey

Bridget is an organized and empathetic leader with demonstrated success in event coordination, stakeholder relations, digital marketing, copywriting, project management, human resources management, and public speaking.

She currently is PowerToFly's Summit Coordinator, managing logistics and day to day operations of the Virtual Diversity Reboot Series. She previously served as Marketing Project Manager at The Finance Marketing Group while simultaneously coordinating event logistics for the National Alliance Of Commercial Loan Brokers.

Bridget is military spouse, yoga teacher, and dog mom. She holds a B.A. in Media and Communication from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY and also played four years of NCAA basketball.

Jillian Curwin

Jillian Curwin is a public relations professional and lifelong activist in the little person and disabled communities. Born with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism, she learned from her parents how to advocate for herself and is now using what she learned to advocate for voices in her communities that are often unheard. She is the founder and owner of Always Looking Up, a personal website and podcast that brings awareness to living life as a little person in an average-height world. Professionally, she has used her experience as a little person to contribute to agency diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Outside of the office she has created a platforms for herself to amplify her advocacy efforts. Always Looking Up came from the fact that, as a little person, she is often looking up at the world, noticing all the little things. On her platforms she discusses adaptive and accessible fashion, disability representation, and the impact of civil rights on the disabled community. Past guests on her podcasts include Judy Heumann, international disability rights activist, Rebecca Cokley, program officer at the Ford Foundation, Jim LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham, the co-directors and co-producers of Crip Camp, and Maria Town, President and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities. Her motto, “Height is just a number, not a limit,” reflects her mindset that being of short stature does not inhibit what one is capable of achieving.

Aida Martinez Freeman

DEI Strategist & Speaker | Certified Personal & Executive Coach | Workplace Culture of Inclusion Geek | Big Fan of Mid-Managers | Inclusive Leadership Enthusiast

Dom Hyams

Dom Hyams is a media professional who consults and educates internationally on a range of topics including diversity, inclusion and accessibility. He was born with a severe form of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (Brittle Bones).
Dom’s career started in TV as a producer at Sunset+Vine, working across varied sporting output including Channel 4’s groundbreaking Paralympic coverage in 2012 and 2016.
Dom joined Purple Goat as Head of Strategy at the beginning of 2021. He is the founding editor of the Disability Power100 - Power List of Disability

​Harriet Carroll

Harriet is a marketing professional with a range of sector experience. Upon graduating in HR & Business and Marketing Management from De Montfort University, she relocated to Barcelona to join TripAdvisor as a UK Sales and Marketing Specialist where she lived for almost two years before heading onto Dublin working freelance at a Digital Marketing agency, working closely with Start-up companies, supporting with their product launches and full funnel strategy.
Harriet started her Purple Goat journey in 2020 and joined the team as the third employee - she now heads up the Campaign management team and works closely with our portfolio of clients.

Dani Roberts

Dani is a Campaign Manager with a background in Entrepreneurship. After graduating with a MA in Entrepreneurship and International Business, she created a fitness app for disabled people due to her struggles of trying to find accessible workouts that she could participate in herself.
After meeting Martyn and becoming Purple Goat’s first client, Dani then started freelancing for Purple Goat before joining the team permanently in March 2021.

Carmen de Castro

Carmen joined Purple Goat in December 2021 as a Social Media & PR Executive. She has a background in marketing, social media and media psychology.
Originally from Spain, she graduated from a BSc in Psychology and decided to pursue a career in media by moving to the UK and completing a MSc in Media Psychology. Throughout her career she showed a passion for diversity, especially in the media and advertising industries, producing several research projects around those topics. Right after graduating, she started working in marketing and social media in the finance and wellbeing sectors.

Hunter Canning

Hunter Canning is a New York based actor, puppeteer, producer and photographer. A conscience citizen of the world, his ethos is bringing people together through all the facets of his life. Be it producing live performance downtown, creating corporate recruitment content or photographing portraiture, red carpets and live events; Hunter has a passion for bringing people together to foster growth, kindness and a true understanding of each other.

Raised in the outer canyons of Los Angeles, Hunter has been a professional actor in New York for the past decade. Notable credits include Broadway’s War Horse (Lincoln Center), Blue Bloods (CBS), The Baker & The Beauty (ABC) and Ray Donovan (Showtime). A career that has seen dizzying heights, all the while remaining with his two feet on the ground.

It is with great pleasure that Hunter joins the Power To Fly community to host and mediate its forums. He looks forward to meeting you all and connecting you with the amazing team of professionals they have brought together.