Tiffany
“Being a woman means stepping into my power and stepping into my space. It means being part of an identity that has told us that we should feel shame in our bodies and doing the work and swimming against the current, to really show the world that we deserve to belong and we deserve to take up space. Our own existence, and our success is our act of protest.”
She’s a powerful speaker, a podcast host, an entrepreneur, and a champion for inclusivity. Tiffany is a determined advocate for the visibility and rights of disabled individuals. When she was just a child, Tiffany endured an unimaginable trauma. She and her father where involved in a motor accident that cost her father his life and left her with a disability. Tiffany is still recovering from this tragic loss, but this experience also fuelled her - it fuelled her to fight and to navigate life with integrity and purpose. She is driven by a passion for establishing community, and ensuring everyone - regardless of their ability - has a voice and a space where they can thrive. Meet Tiffany. This is her story.
P: Please introduce yourself!
T: My name is Tiffany Yu (she/her)! I currently reside in San Francisco, California, where I am a disability advocate, social impact entrepreneur and professional speaker.
I am also a content creator, I emerged on to Tik Tok over the past year and have amassed over 100,000 followers on my page - I have a lot of fun there. I'm the first generation daughter of a Taiwanese immigrant and a refugee from the Vietnam War. I am also currently the CEO and founder of Diversability, which is a social enterprise to elevate disability pride through disability community visibility and engaged allyship. I also run the Awesome Foundation Disability Chapter, where we have awarded over $50,000 (USD) in monthly micro grants to disability projects across the world. And I also serve on the San Francisco mayor's Disability Council.
P: Describe or define yourself in your own words.
T: I like to describe myself as a human who is healing, or a work in progress. I know that there was always more unlearning to be done. And so, I am someone who is unrelentless in my desire to be a better version of myself.
P: What is your favourite thing about yourself?
T: My favourite thing about myself is that I try to live with integrity, as much as I can. Success to me is defined by - when I look in the mirror do I like what I see? And what I mean by that is not the literal representation of what I see, but do I like how I'm showing up in the world? Am I living my truth and showing up within with integrity? And so that is one of the, that is one of my favourite things about myself is that I do try to live with integrity, and I try to live and honour my truths as much as possible.
P: Tell us a story. Have you had an experience that has defined you or made you stronger?
T: The story that most people know is that at the age of nine I became disabled as a result of a car accident that also took the life of my dad. That was a very defining experience in my life, because not only did I become disabled, but I also lost a parent and experienced childhood trauma.
So much of the work and healing - the heart work and self work that I've done over the past couple of years has been unraveling events related to that car accident. The things that were internalized - messages that were internalized, or a trauma that was stored in my body - I am doing the work to to unlearn and heal through.
One of the things that I have learned recently is that about 10% of people who experienced trauma experienced post traumatic growth. I do feel like I have experienced some version, or I have had moments of post traumatic growth, to be able to turn something that for me felt so horrific and unimaginable into something that has turned into a source of fuel for me in my work, and a relentless desire to ensure that other people who have experiences like mine, know that their stories matter, and know that they have a place to belong.
P: What is one piece of advice you would give your younger self?
T: I wrote an Instagram post about this a while ago, but I think the post in general, was that the greatest gift that you can give the world is being yourself. I think that we spend so much of our life really trying to figure out how we can be more unapologetically ourselves. When I was younger I think I was trying to fit into someone else's idea of who I was. So the advice that I would give to her, my younger self, is that it's okay to be yourself because the world will embrace you in that space, and it will be so liberating once you get to that point.
P: What does being a woman mean to you?
T: Being a woman means stepping into my power and stepping into my space. It means being part of an identity that has told us that we should feel shame in our bodies and doing the work and swimming against the current, to really show the world that we deserve to belong and we deserve to take up space. Our own existence, and our success is our act of protest.
P: Who is one woman that inspires you, what would you say to her if she were here now?
T: One woman who inspires me is Amy Purdy. She's a Paralympic medalist, a Paralympic snowboarder, and has also been on tour with Oprah and has written a book.
She inspires me because I love the way that she moves about the world, and how accessible she is to everyone who follows her no matter how successful she is.
I would say that she is a beacon of hope for so many. She has been on her own health journey over the past two years of countless surgeries after losing her legs as a teenager. She's gone on to become a dancer, become a snowboarder, and started a nonprofit to help enable others with disabilities to learn how to snowboard as well. She just seems like an all around cool person.
So if I could say anything to her if she were here now, I would just want to be her friend and hang out and get to get to know her. She's someone that I just really admire and aspire to be like, to be able to inspire the masses and motivate them. But not only with that messaging…just to live it as well.