Kello Inclusive: Edmonton-based Modeling Agency is Starting to Get Noticed

Not even two years old, Kello Inclusive Modeling Agency, based in Edmonton already has some massive brands seeking them out. But what's more important is the clients they represent.  We chat with founder Katie MacMillan.

 

TRANSCRIPT

 

Kello Inclusive: Edmonton-based Modeling Agency is Starting to Get Noticed

 

00:06

It's time again for Developmental Disabilities Association's Encouraging Abilities podcast. I am your host, DDA Communications Manager, Evan Kelly. Today we're talking about inclusion. We've been talking a lot about accessibility. Of course, that's important too. But inclusion is one of the driving forces of DDA and its community. Joining us from Edmonton is the founder of Kelo Inclusive. It's a modeling agency based in Edmonton.

 

00:29

You know what makes this agency different is that they're fundamentally about inclusion and striving for representation in the modeling world The clients they represent have a disability of one form or another they might be missing a limb or they may have a cognitive Disability it sort of runs the gamut so right from their website. I'll take this little quote Representation matters because when a person sees themselves represented fully and fairly in the world they live in they know they matter being inclusive means

 

00:57

taking the time to listen, learn, and adapt. Kelo exists to make that change and to be that link in the industry that is looking for to make the leap toward true authentic inclusion. So Katie McMillan is the founder of this great business. She brings her experience and drive to include through her three children, one of whom has cerebral palsy. Katie, it's great to have you on the show today. Oh, thank you so much for having me. This is awesome.

 

01:26

Now, firstly, thank you for obviously creating such a unique business in a professional, in a profession, I should say, that is normally dominated by what might call the industry standard of beauty. It's just really nice to have that.

 

01:42

Yeah, and if we, I mean, we could probably make a whole other episode on talking about beauty standards and all the ways they need to maybe expand. But we will definitely focus on disability today. Yeah, I mean, it's an industry that seems, at least in Canada, to be starting to have the conversation of inclusion and how important representing

 

02:05

body diversity, size diversity, neuro diversity, sexual diversity is, but when it comes to disability I think the conversation sometimes stops prematurely because I think it's so new in

 

02:20

It's not mainstream yet. And so I think the conversation stops sometimes because if I'm being blunt, I mean, it's scary for people. If you haven't had the lived experience, if you haven't had a close connection with someone who lives with a disability, it can be a bit scary and challenging and worrisome for people to just jump right into it. And honestly, that's what our agency is here to help with, is to make working with disabled talent less.

 

02:48

less scary, less of a question when you have the support in place to do that, then it's something that people are going to consider. Yeah, and I find, you know, after working with DDAs, that people, they don't know how to approach or they don't know how to necessarily deal with people, so they end up infant, people with disabilities, I mean, so they end up infantilizing them. So I look at a business that you're putting together here and it's just like, wow, these

 

03:16

these people belong on the front cover of a magazine. Right, and I know, and it's so funny, like, so I say this all the time, and again, okay, just to put a little context, as you mentioned, I have three children. My middle daughter is 12 years old. She has cerebral palsy. My oldest is 14, my youngest is four, so wide range. But I've been the parent of a child with a disability for 12 years. And I would say, if I'm being really honest about it, my...

 

03:42

For the first 10 years of Kelty's life, I would say that I didn't, I did a lot of things for her, but one thing I did not do intentionally was to have conversations with people who live with disabilities, people who are disabled. And about two, two and a half years ago, it was a giant shift for me where I started to listen to disabled voices. And I learned so much.

 

04:08

so much from the disabled community and it seems like you know something that would be so straightforward like if you want to learn about disability like go to the source like duh but I learned but you learn about disability through the context of ot's and pts and doctors and you know specialists and all of these people who are so knowledgeable but they are also not disabled um and one of the things I learned really I mean I could probably fill again a lot of time talking about all the things that I learned but one thing just circling back to what you said is the

 

04:36

One of the things, one message I heard repeatedly is disability gets associated with a very small number of things. It gets associated with tragedy, it gets associated with inspiration, and it gets associated with, as you mentioned, being infantilized or people are condescending or they're patronizing. And it really doesn't go beyond that very often. And I'm trying to reconcile this with my 12-year-old who's...

 

05:03

sassy and spunky and trendy and cool and kind and all of these things. And I'm like, this doesn't jive, right? And so that, I mean, that was my discussions with the disabled community were really the buddings of this agency and how much it was needed. Yeah. And I think, you know, when you when you present the disability community like you are, it's what I find even not necessarily with cognitive people who have got cognitive disabilities.

 

05:33

I talked to one woman recently who had vision problems or mobility problems, she was in a wheelchair, and it's this notion that people with disabilities can't accomplish things.

 

05:48

you know, someone would say to her like, oh wow, I'm so happy you got outside. It's like, yeah, of course I got outside. Did you want to talk about my law degree as well? Like, it's this notion that they can't accomplish these things. And when I see your website, I think that just flips that on the head for me. Well, I mean, media shapes perceptions, right? And when we tell a single sided story in media, then we get a single sided public perception. And when disability is always associated with, you know,

 

06:17

as being an absolutely tragic fate, then that's when we have this one-sided perception that, oh my, you have a mobility aid, you need support, you have access needs, like this is so sad.

 

06:30

and how could this possibly, you know, how could you exist in a world? And I mean, it's just not the case. I mean, I can't say that as a person or a parent in my case, but when you are a person that lives with mobility issues or have a good reason to consider access needs, I mean, life is frustrating. But a good big part of that reason is because you never have to consider your access needs until...

 

06:49

you have a person with a disability in your life, or you are become a disabled or are a disabled person, then you start to have to consider these access needs. And I think the more people that are exposed to disability in media, now we all have a lens of, we're gonna look at our world through a slightly different lens of saying, wait a second, I see wheelchair users in magazines all the time, and maybe I can consider access needs from a whole different perspective, but if they're not even part of the picture, literally, then...

 

07:18

people don't even think about it. And that's the problem and leads to so much complication and frustration for folks with disabilities. Yeah, absolutely. And that goes into whole other topics of like universal design and looking at, just looking at things through a different lens. I mean, designs, I've talked to a gentleman at the Rick Hansen Foundation a little while ago for another podcast and his perspective was that, things are designed for males between the age of 15 and 50.

 

07:48

But that's it. So we've got to really shift that lens. You know, there's a disabled content creator that put it so clearly to me. He said, you know, non-disabled people have never considered their access needs because they're always met. Like, no non-disabled person is calling ahead to check if there's a staircase available for them when they arrive because there's always a staircase, right? Like, whereas, you know, so when your access needs are met by default, you don't even have to consider them.

 

08:13

And you're right, that is a bigger conversation. But I mean, that's why representation matters. And I know with Kelsey, like, you know, when she's a 12 year old girl, that is the age that you become aware of the world's opinion. And she's had moments of like, you know, why am I in a wheelchair? Why do I have hearing aids? Why do I have to wear AFOs? Like, you know, why me? I'm so different. And in a moment of real emotion for her, you know, it doesn't matter how eloquent I am as a mom, it's the only thing that pulls her out of that moment is showing her pictures

 

08:43

women who have cerebral palsy, who are successful and happy and have children and have full and rich lives and the internet is a beautiful tool for being able to do that. But I have to go searching for that, you know, I'm looking those up and I'm pinging those in my phone so that I can show them to her what I'm looking for and what we're looking for with KEL Inclusive is to just, you know, make it be part of TV shows and magazines and dialogue and all of it.

 

09:07

and it might take some time to get there to represent the full numbers. You know, if they say, you know, a quarter of Canadians, you know, live with a disability. And then if you extend friends and family that are connected to those people, I mean, a good half of the country is either associated with someone who is closely associated with someone who has a disability or has a disability themselves. It's not like we're talking about a niche market here. It's like it impacts a lot of people. But the media just seems to treat it like...

 

09:36

Like it is a niche space and it's just not. And so let's jump right into this, this whole modeling thing. Do you come from a modeling background or is this just something brand new that you started? Great question. So I'll give you the origin story. So when Kelty was about five, I saw somebody posted on Facebook a Target magazine from Australia and in the girls clothing section.

 

10:01

was just one of the models had was using a crocodile walker, that little orange if you have CP in your world, you know what a crocodile walker is. And she was just posing. They weren't calling out the fact that she was disabled, nothing. She was just with the other in the clothing section. And I remember being like, oh, that is just awesome. You never see mobility aids in fashion. And to answer your question, no, zero in modeling experience from my background. But anyway, I saw that and I sort of thought, that's so cool. And I filed it away in the back of my mind for a while. And then COVID happened.

 

10:31

And everybody, like everybody on the planet, had a little more time on my hands. And I sort of recalled that, that Target magazine. And I thought, you know what, I'm just going to, I'm just going to send Kelty's pictures to a modeling agency in Calgary, see what happens. So I did. And they got back to me and we had a intake call and they signed Kelty. And, and I remember thinking I was so, we were so excited. We were like, this is so awesome. Like.

 

10:55

I would not have gotten my other children involved in modeling, not because I don't think it's an important career or could be an important career, but it just wouldn't have been something on my radar. But I was truly doing it to see if we could get more better representation. And so Kelsey was signed with this modeling agency for about two years. And we had a handful of experience with them, most of which was new to me. You know, but we were left just with such a bad taste in our mouth. Really to summarize, it's just

 

11:23

that industry did not know what the heck to do with disability. It was just so very clear to me that that was the case. I mean, we would show up to fashion shows and despite knowing they had a wheelchair user in their runway show, there was no ramp to get up on the runway. Or the clothing choices that would be chosen by the designer just would never fly with a wheelchair, a giant poofy dress that would get caught in her wheels. Or nobody knew the right questions to ask. Or one really upsetting moment for me, especially in hindsight was...

 

11:51

Kelty being paraded down the runway at the very end of the show to different music that was like, you know, the inspirational like look at the kid in the wheelchair and the the people the organizers of the show were sort of parade there were people crying in the audience and I'm not even sure why Kelty looking over at me like what the heck mom like why are people like I'm not dying

 

12:14

So it was just as kind of going, oh my goodness, this is nobody knows what to do with my daughter. So, you know, no, I didn't have any experience modeling or in this industry. And when we first started Kelo Inclusive, my goal was we really thought we'd stay in our lane of modeling, like print modeling. And I thought to myself, you know, if I can get disability, you know, in some big marketing campaign or on a few more runways, I will have succeeded and I will feel good about that.

 

12:42

But it very quickly grew into more than just modeling. I mean, we've had casting directors for TV commercials and voice acting and, you know, the city of Edmonton and, you know, a children's hospital and a university, a major Canadian university reach out. Like everybody needs to be more inclusive. And if you have imagery attached to your organization, which almost every organization does, people or folks are interested in showing that.

 

13:08

that in a real authentic way or at least starting to have that conversation and the resounding message we keep hearing is, oh my goodness, I'm so glad that an agency like yours exists because we wouldn't, we don't know where to go to find this. So well, and that's, and that's a good point because as the communications manager here at DDA, I'm often getting emails from casting directors that are needing people with disabilities and our family, our families to fill certain roles. So

 

13:32

I'm more than happy to send you some emails if you need that. Please forward them on. We are, I mean, truly, I mean, okay, so then we start, then we get into the, because this was the other side as our agency and our role as agents has sort of expanded because, you know, we're truly not just, I mean, we provide disabled talent, no question. So if there's a casting call or something that needs a person with a disability, we want to fill that and are happy to and have lots of people that we've connected with now to be able to do that. But the other side of it too is like,

 

14:01

there's been such a systemic barrier to entry in this industry. I mean, I've heard lots from disabled adults being like, I never even considered modeling or I never even considered acting because, you know, I'm in a chair or, you know, I have, you know, I, I'm missing a limb. I spoke to a woman who we just signed recently, who is a gorgeous, like she's beautiful. She has modeling experience. And she sent us all these beautiful professional images and we couldn't see her limb difference. And she said, well, I was told to hide it. And this was, I'm talking like within the recent past, like the last few years. Um, and so,

 

14:31

It's like we are having also to fight that kind of systemic barrier to entry as far as training goes, right? So it's not just about filling the disabled roles that come up. That's step one. But what we really hope is that we could put our talent forward for literally any role. We just are also really focused on training and making sure that our roster has opportunities to engage in accessibly minded training opportunities as well. And you know, as we grow that's something that

 

14:59

conversation we've been having with folks, people with a vested interest in it because it's also important to see disability is not just something niche or a box to tick, it's also like if there's a lead role for a film.

 

15:17

literally anyone could apply for it. It doesn't matter if you're a person of colour, if you're in a wheelchair, if you're, you know what I mean? So. Yeah, absolutely. And so, suffice to say that, I mean, my question was, you know, how has the response been from the business world? I mean, it sounds like it's been amazing.

 

15:34

Oh yeah, like overwhelming I would say would be an appropriate word in the best possible way. I mean like I said, we didn't really know, we had a real sense that there was a gap that needed to be filled, but as we connect with more folks across the country and are getting our name out there, the response has been just awesome. And from people that we wouldn't really have expected, like when we get a call from a casting director, a major casting director, that is exciting to us and exactly what we hoped for.

 

16:04

us to come and present and do a you know a discussion on on true inclusion and help with the up and coming you know students in their media and marketing um you know undergrads and how we can support that like that is the new and exciting stuff that that we didn't expect to have come out of this that that really you know kind of makes our our hearts sing a little bit about the fact that this isn't just

 

16:25

You know, this isn't just ticking boxes and filling roles. This is also about having a bigger conversation about inclusion. It's not not just a one off. Yeah. Now, are you how many since you started? How many how many clients do you have on your roster at the moment? We actually just counted up. I think we've signed just shy of 100 Canadians across the country. And we have.

 

16:48

Connected, I don't think I have a good list for you, but as far as a list of clients, I mean, just, I mean, it's only, so it's interesting timing-wise, like we started this in 2022 and really built some momentum over the first six months and now we're into the tail end of our first year and that's the last two or three months has been really, we've started to just see a real shift in people from all over, clients looking to connect with us and it's like I said, it's everything from, you know, like government organizations to

 

17:16

you know, clothing brands to, you know, large international campaigns. We, you know, one of our big exciting moments was we worked with L'Oreal and Lancome on an accessible technology for their, for some cosmetics application for people with upper limb weakness. That was the lipstick.

 

17:34

Yeah, the HACTA. You saw it. So Natasha is one of our models. Oh, is that right? Wow. So, you know, just again, and when we got that, you know, when we got that call, when the agent reached out to us regarding that, you know, we were obviously very excited and hoping to...

 

17:52

you know, meet whatever need that they had, but it's really spoke to the fact that how much of a need there is the fact that, you know, we were getting a call, an international call to help fill a role for disabled talent was really, was really again, just confirmation that we're doing the right thing here. It's clearly needed. Yeah. And that was my next sort of my next question. Any big names? Yeah, the biggest are actually, yeah. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. So you know, we started with some small local businesses here in Edmonton to do some test shoots and our lead photographer is based in Vancouver.

 

18:22

and we've done some local Vancouver brands, but some of the bigger names, I mean, we've done some collaborations with Vessi, Lulu Lemon, we've done, Lon Coleman L'Oreal was a really big one. We've put our, there's a camping store in Edmonton, Track and Trail, Poppy Barley, Sweet Jolie, I mean, honestly, there's just a number of people. UBC, City of Edmonton, lots of folks have been connecting and have projects either on the go

 

18:52

have completed already and every single time. CBC is another one, we wreck the cast of 10 wheelchair users based in Edmonton and there's a reality show airing on CBC Prime Network at the end of this month, February 24th, it's called Push. And it follows the lives of 10 wheelchair users in Edmonton and we represent the cast of Push. And I think it's gonna be a really groundbreaking and exciting show for folks, cause it just shows.

 

19:19

them as human in all of their raw real lives and I think it'll do a lot of justice to the for to and for the disabled community. Well, now it with with you've got 100 people are you still looking to expand? Absolutely. I mean,

 

19:35

It's a good question. One of the values that we care a lot about, and I say we as my partner and I, Austin, Austin is my life partner and business partner, is the personal connection with the folks that we represent. I know with the small bit of experience I had with the agency we had Kelty first signed with, we felt like a number, which was unfortunate. You didn't really know who you were getting on the other side of that email. Nobody asked questions to get to know what Kelty was all about. I vowed that that is not the kind of

 

20:05

it comes to disability, there's so much nuance and uniqueness to everybody's situation. I want to have a pulse on that and for people to know that when they email me, they're getting my response and they know who I am. So is there a limit? I mean, I'm sure, or as we expanded, can hire more people that we trust to make those connections with folks on our roster. I like to say no, there really isn't a limit. As of right now, it truly is just Austin, myself, and we have a lead photographer who

 

20:34

you know, organizes a lot of the inclusive projects and consults on a lot of the inclusive projects, but right now it's just Austin and I. So we're getting busy. Austin, his...

 

20:46

He stepped away from his profession of he's an engineer by education, but did a lot of strategic management consultant and he's stopped doing that and doing KELO stuff full time. And I'm my profession is a high school teacher and I'm teaching part time in the mornings. And I don't think it'll be too, too long. And I'll be also having to step away from teaching. But and hiring some more agents and hiring some more agents and people that we, you know, that we trust with getting to know and doing right by our talent.

 

21:16

sort of the only game in the country or is there another organization that does the same kind of thing? It's interesting. We are the only one, we are the only agency in the country that is focused exclusively on disability and visible difference. There is, there are definitely agencies that have been around for a long time that have inclusive divisions of their agencies and they have things sometimes they call them things like special projects.

 

21:41

I can't say I love that name, but anyway, special projects or inclusive vision. But I had a really wide industry, a gentleman in the industry who was kind of trying to, in a loving way, poke holes in our business model and say, you know, so what's to stop a modeling agency or a talent agency that's been around for like 30 years just swooping in and doing what you guys are doing? And I just looked at him deadpan and I said, disability scares the heck out of people. I feel very comfortable in this space. And

 

22:10

I can't say I don't have more to learn, but I feel very comfortable. And for most folks, it's just not a comfortable space. So in 10 years from now, it may well be, but I think that we're feeling relatively confident at this moment of being able to become the true inclusion experts in the industry in Canada. I mean, that's how we really hope to position ourselves. And perhaps there'll be agencies that follow suit. There are some international agencies that are doing

 

22:38

What we're doing that have been around a little longer, but they have not seemed to make any headway in Canada thus far So it seems it seems like we've got a bit of a bit of a first movers advantage here and we hope to do right By it. Well, that's great now Obviously building something doesn't come up come without challenges. What are some of the challenges or frustrations you've had to face so far?

 

23:01

Well, I think for me it's capacity right now, which is a good problem to have, I guess. You know, like I said, you know, as we connect with more folks across the country, to be able to have all the time that I need to dedicate to every person is becoming a little more challenging, but something I'm not willing to give up. The other challenge, which I guess is a bigger picture and I think hopefully will change, it's just, you know, people, not everybody is on board with...

 

23:29

this idea of authentic inclusion, there's still a lot of social stigma and attitudes that need to change. So I think as much as I like to think we're headed in the right direction, there are definitely moments where I'm like, oh, we still have a long way to go. There's still a lot of advocacy work that needs to be done.

 

23:46

as well. The other the other pieces you know from a purely business standpoint like we are set up as a non-profit and we don't run around advertising that not because we're not proud of making that we just don't ever want anybody to you know, misassociate us as a charity helping these poor disabled folk, right? Like we just really want to get away from that and I know people that don't understand how non-profits work might make that that misassociation.

 

24:11

We set up as a non-profit because we know that, well, truly if Austin and I can earn a modest salary and cover what we would have normally been making as professionals in other areas, that would be good for us and we'd be happy. It's not about money for us. It's about changing social attitudes and the hard work in that way is the extra time and effort that needs to happen to do it the right way, to imply for the right kind of grants that are going to...

 

24:38

further what we're doing to have the advocacy conversations. You know, it's just a whole added layer of things that need to be done. And I just want to divide my time equally among everything and it's capacity right now, I would say would be the biggest challenge, but really hoping as we grow, we're still relatively young that we're going to build capacity as soon as possible and be able to hire on folks that.

 

24:59

that want to be on board with what we're doing. Now I just wanted to go back a little bit, talk about sort of attitudes and even personal journeys. Your Instagram account, you talk about being better, not necessarily being a better mom, but a better person and how we address and relate to people who have a disability. How has this journey been for you? Oh, that's a great question. I would say it's been a bit of a fast and furious one. Like I can tell you,

 

25:24

For example, like I think I said earlier, I think I spent the first decade of my daughter's life learning about disability through people that weren't disabled. And there's a lot of expertise to be had in those arenas, but what's missing is that lived experience. And when I started to pay attention to people who have disabilities, I just learned so much. I mean, you know.

 

25:46

the small but important things like language choices. I think I referred to myself as a special needs mom for the first 10 years of Kelsey's life and then have this awakening of like, oh, the disabled community really, generally speaking has no interest in those euphemisms like special needs and handicapable and differently abled. They're like, just say disabled. So the little things that matter.

 

26:09

The education I had regarding the importance of understanding that I am the parent of a disabled child and that is my lived experience, but I am not disabled myself. So to insert myself in the disabled narrative, like I know what I'm talking about, is not okay. Like I need to speak from my perspective and my perspective alone, but I think what can happen often to people happens to my daughter. Honestly, I probably do it to my daughter more than she likes, but I'm getting better where...

 

26:38

you become that voice. You say, I know what's best. I was sitting in a medical appointment and a doctor asked a question and I'm answering on behalf of Kelsey because that's my role. And she's looking at me going, it's not your body, mom, it's my body. And I'm like, yeah, good point. You answered the question. And that kind of thing. So that's been a big, big part of it for me. And I also think just to kind of tie it all together, it's just, it's a humility. It's a, as a,

 

27:06

as a Caucasian middle class white woman with an education, like I didn't have a real experience with the minority. I didn't really have lived experience through the lens of a minority group in our society. And then I had Kelsey come into my life and I got a real window into what that means. And does it mean I understand everything? No, but it's given me like an empathy and a humility about the experiences of so many other people in our world. And I...

 

27:33

I'm just so grateful for having had to look through that lens. And, you know, I'm just endlessly grateful. You know, I teach English and when I'm teaching what the word paradox means, I will often say it's something that makes sense but doesn't make sense. And that's just the truest sense of the word for me with disability is, you know, you'd never wish it on a person or a family. I'd never say, oh, I hope, but then at the same time.

 

27:59

I'm so grateful for having gotten to experience and be part of this. Maybe it's appropriate to just share a little story that was so powerful for me with my daughter. Oh, sure. So she asked me in all of this disability advocacy stuff, she asked me once, I would say within the last year, she said, Mom, why am I disabled? And I've told her over the years, there was brain damage that happened to you when you were born. It was a really traumatic birth.

 

28:29

I've explained it to her in the best way that she knows how. And what ensued after was she said, well, mom, when I have a baby, will my baby be disabled? And I said, oh, honey, absolutely not. It's not genetic. It's, you know, don't, no. And she started to cry. And I thought, oh my goodness, what have I said? What have I said? And I looked at her and I said, oh no, honey, your child, you're not gonna have a disabled child. And she looked at me, she's still crying her eyes out. And I stopped her and I said,

 

28:58

Ficalti, do you want your child to be disabled? And she looked at me and she nodded her head yes. And I was like, oh, of course you do. She's like, disability's awesome. I would be honored to have a disabled grandchild. And I'm finishing this conversation going, maybe if we're lucky, maybe you'd have a child with a disability. And I had this moment of, doesn't matter how much learning you do, like the deeply ingrained ableism that is in our society, it is so pervasive to the point where,

 

29:29

And this moment for me of just like, of course, she'd want to have a disabled child. She's going, I'm disabled. I'm awesome. Like, why would I? Of course. And, you know, so that was just a huge moment for me that kind of put all of this learning and my journey together going, I need to check, we all need to check our, and our, you know, implicit biases at the door and start to just open our eyes and think differently about all of this. So I'm just doing everything I can to help everybody in that journey. And absolutely. And from the perspective of a high school teacher, I mean, and, and

 

29:58

given what you've seen and what you've been through and in the education system, are society's attitudes getting better? Is inclusion working? Great question, yes. On a really high level, everybody's having conversations that we were not having a few years ago. I'll give you one quick example of the high school, from the perspective of a high school teacher, it was in my lunch, kids reading lunch in my room and.

 

30:21

you know, it's the melee of one shower and one girl stands up and I don't know the context but she looks at her friend she goes, oh he's a cisgendered white man he doesn't even know his privilege and then she like walks out of the room and I was like oh man in grade 11 I would not have had the language, or even social awareness to say something like that so

 

30:41

Yes, I think that we're having these conversations that allow young people to recognize these things. And I was really proud in that moment to hear a young person talk like that. But I'll also follow that very quickly with we're having these conversations, but disability still often gets left behind in those conversations, you know, like. And so I just, you know, when we talk about sexual diversity, gender diversity, body size, diversity, skin, like cultural, ethnic,

 

31:11

skin, color, diversity, all of it, disability isn't always part of that conversation. In fact, it's not part of that conversation very often and we really hope to change that, that it becomes part of that conversation. Yes, absolutely. That's vital. Do you have anything else to add today?

 

31:29

No, just that I'm grateful for connecting with you and appreciate you having me on your show today and these conversations are just so, so important. So I'm just really, really grateful and want to thank you. That's been fantastic having your insight. You have been listening to DDA's Encouraging Abilities podcast. Our guest today has been Katie McMillan, founder of Kelo Inclusive Modeling Agency in Edmonton, Alberta. You can find them at keloinclusive.org. As she's mentioned,

 

31:57

They have clients from all over Canada. So if you've got the acting bug or the modeling bug, and you're part of the disability community, do reach out. Katie, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you so much for having me. This was a pleasure. I'm your host, DDA Communications Manager, Evan Kelly. Tune in next time. See you later.