My name is Brandon D’Onofrio. I am 21 years old from Long Island, New York. I am a person who has stuttered my entire life, although I never allowed it to define myself as a whole person. I see it only as a small fraction of who I really am because I know that I am so much more. I began attending speech therapy when I was 2 1/2 years old when my parents discovered that I stuttered, however, I did not actually see a stuttering specialist until I was 8 years of age. I also attended another stuttering specialist when I began high school as well. I have learned so much along the way including tools and techniques to help me cope with my stutter and have endured ups and downs when it came to speaking. I honestly never allowed my stutter to affect me to point where I felt like I wasn’t capable enough or worthy of good things in life. I always faced each challenge no matter how difficult or daunting it was. I never truly avoided speaking in the first place. I wasn’t perfect, but I would have rather faced the fear than let the monster grow and take over.

Hi there, my name is Jenna Clark and I am currently a sophomore in highschool. Growing up in Wisconsin I adore being outdoors and spending time with my friends/family. I love staying busy and am involved in extracurricular activities such as golf, music, and community service clubs.

Nick May is a singer/songwriter, educator, songleader, and inclusion activist based in Fairfax, Virginia. Growing up in New Orleans and being the son of two accomplished musicians, he was raised with a variety of musical influences from contemporary Jewish and folk to funk and hip hop. Being a person who stutters (PWS), Nick latched on to music as a way to fluently express himself from a young age. In summer 2018, while songleading at BBYO’s Chapter Leadership Training Conference, Nick got the chance to do something he had never done before, go up in front of a room of people he didn’t know well and share his intimate story of growing up as a PWS and how the communities he grew up in built him up. This experience inspired him to create Being Heard. Being Heard is a program that combines storytelling, singing, and group discussion to show the power of being inclusive, not only towards others but to ourselves. Since then, Nick has brought Being Heard to camps, congregations, and youth groups across North America.

My name is Shian Williams. I am 28 years old and I live in Atlanta, Georgia. I am a speech-language pathologist and owner of Ultimate Stuttering Therapy. Ultimate Stuttering Therapy specializes in holistic treatment and life coaching for people who stutter. I am passionate about authentic self-expression and I spend my time exploring creative avenues such as writing poetry, dancing, and acting. Creative expression has been healing for my self-confidence after years of choosing silence as a person who stutters.

Hi Everyone! My name is Sophie Tabrizi and I have attended FRIENDS since 2010. FRIENDS changed my life and gave me the confidence to embrace my stutter. I am thankful for the amazing community this conference has granted me and many others. Throughout the years, I have come in contact with exceptional Speech-Language Pathologists who specialize in stuttering. I am proud to say that I will be attending CU Boulder’s MA in Speech-Language Pathology program starting August. I look forward to giving others the resources my SLP gave to me.

My name is Ziad Elfakhoury, I am a fifth grader at Haigh elementary. I can play guitar and I love making little structures out of my 3-D pen. 

Facilitator: Reuben Schuff is an aerospace engineer in Los Angeles where he works on rocket propulsion systems for space exploration. He is a person who stutters and contributes to the stuttering community in a variety of ways. He has been a National Stuttering Association (NSA) family chapter leader and regular workshop presenter at national conferences. He also has facilitated workshops for Friends Who Stutter, volunteered with Camp SAY LA, and is a frequent contributor to the StutterTalk podcast, and is a contributing author in the StutterTalk book. Reuben served on the National Stuttering Association Research Committee (NSARC) for several years and is currently the consumer representative for the American Board for Fluency and Fluency Disorders (ABFFD), which oversees the Board Certified Specialist in Fluency (BCS-F) credential. He is also on the board of directors of the Stuttering Scholarship Alliance (SSA).

Ankit Singh. I am 22 year old and live with my family in New Delhi. I am a PWS. I have completed my Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Delhi University. Currently I am preparing for Defence and Civil Service Exam. I love to write, I have just started my own blog. Also, I love to read non-fictional books. As, my father is a Yoga Instructor, so, I have a natural inclination towards yoga and meditation.

Bianca Zackiewicz Ribeiro. Hi my name is Bianca, I am 16 years old and I live in São Paulo, Brazil. I love practicing sports like soccer, basketball and trekking. I am passionate about sustainability and being around nature.

Brenna Carter. Brenna is a 15 year old high school student from New Zealand, who’s particularly interested in more creative hobbies such as visual art, and creating music.

Ennio. My name is Ennio and I am 26 years old currently living in New York. I was born in Italy and moved to the U.S. with my family when I was 2 years old. Since my freshman year of high school, I started going back to Italy every summer. I keep in touch with my Italian family and friends throughout the year and have gotten to know the Italian language and culture very well.

Jack Dinsley. My name is Jack Dinsley, 21 years old and I’m a stammer activist from the UK. I founded the Be Kind Stammer Campaign in January 2020 to promote awareness for stammering and to create more education on the subject. The campaign has grown with popularity in the last year – with the campaign working with primary schools, colleges and universities. I’ve spoken to the BBC on several occasions about stammering and the campaign.

Jia Bin. Jia was born and raised in China. She was a language teacher (English and Mandarin Chinese) who taught in China, the United Kingdom and the United States. Jia’s passion for helping others to communicate has led her to become open about her own experience of stuttering in various cultures. Jia is an active member of NSA and used to serve as the regional chapter coordinator. She is also a StutterSocial host. Jia co-founded a Chinese stutter podcast and has been hosting online support meetings for the Chinese speaking people who stutter both in and out of China. Jia is currently a graduate student in Communicative Science and Disorders at Michigan State University.

Madoche Tamba. My name is Madoche Tamba. I am 16 years old and live in South Africa. I am passionate about sports and my goal is to become a soccer player. I live with my parents and three siblings that are all girls. I school in Lonehill International academy and I am very active.

Ozair. My name is Ozair, and I am a 16 year old going to school in the UK. I am part of the Youth Panel for the Action for Stammering Children charity, where we work to raise awareness about stammering. I have a passion for making videos, learning languages and raising awareness about stammering!

Christopher Constantino lives in Tallahassee with his wife, Megan, and son, Augustine. He is a speech-language pathologist and assistant professor at Florida State University. He teaches stuttering and counseling. He researches ways to improve the embodied and social experiences of stuttering. He co-edited the book Stammering Pride & Prejudice.

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Joshua St. Pierre is Canada Research Chair in Critical Disability Studies and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta. Working at the intersection of critical disability studies, contemporary political theory, and feminist theory, his research focus on the interplay of communication and disability within information societies.

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Patrick Campbell is a stammerer and doctor living in Cambridge, England. Through his personal experience, he has developed an interest in how public and self-stigma intertwine to produce disability for people who stammer and how this debilitating process can be altered through seeing positive value in stammering. Patrick has recently enjoyed editing the book Stammering Pride and Prejudice. During lock-down, he has got back into jogging.

Kristel Kubart is a speech-language pathologist and a passionate person who stutters. She believes that it is important to ‘show up’ for members of the stuttering community and to live the message that, “It’s ok to stutter.” She works as a speech therapist at an elementary school in Brooklyn, NY where she also supervises NYU graduate students. Additionally, she is a speech therapist at the American Institute for Stuttering. She received her B.A. in Psychology from the College of the Holy Cross and her M.S. in Speech and Language Pathology from Purdue University. She is happily married and lives with her husband Jason and their cat Winnie in Brooklyn, NY.

Nina G is a comedian, professional speaker and author of Stutterer Interrupted. She has been featured in/on everything from NPR’s 51%, BBC’s Ouch, Psychology Today, Tedx, multiple day time talk shows, Howard (Stern) 100 News and even the Stuttering John Podcast. Nina shares her wit and wisdom with corporations, colleges, libraries, conferences, and community events. Her no nonsense approach to disability awareness and acceptance helps to bring institutions, communities and individuals to deepen their understanding of the disability and bring practical approaches to making a more inclusive society.

Sam Simpson is a speech and language therapist with over 25 years experience of working with people who stammer and their families in the public, private, education and voluntary sectors. She is also a person-centred counsellor, supervisor and trainer who has a private practice just outside London. She co-edited the book Stammering Therapy from the Inside with Carolyn Cheasman and Rachel Everard in 2013, and most recently co-edited Stammering Pride and Prejudice: Difference not Defect with Patrick Campbell and Chris Constantino.

Joel Korte is an electrical engineer and entrepreneur. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Master of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology in 2013, and earned his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of St. Thomas in 2007. He lives with his wife and two boys, Chase and Griffin, in St. Michael, Minnesota. 

Barry Yeoman is an award-winning freelance journalist in Durham, North Carolina. He works in both print and audio, putting human faces on complex social and political issues. He also teaches journalism at Wake Forest University and Duke University. He has been involved in the stuttering self-help movement since 1992.

Ava Towvim is a person who stutters who is going into 8th grade. She has attended FRIENDS conferences for the last 6 years and it’s always something she looks forward to. FRIENDS gave her the opportunity to meet new people who stutter who encourage her to be her best self, and constantly inspire her to not let anything get in the way of what she wants. Ava is looking forward to the next time when she can see everyone in person again. 

Brayden Harrington was introduced to Joe Biden by his father, Owen Harrington. Brayden and the Vice President had stuttering in common and the former VP shared his strategies for managing a stutter with Brayden. Based on the positivity of the interaction, Brayden was invited to share his experience at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. The result of Brayden’s speech was an overwhelming sense of positivity throughout the country and opening the doors of normalizing stuttering by a normal kid.

Grant Smith is a current sophomore at Baldwin Wallace University majoring in neuroscience and biology, and a person who stutters. He has been coming to annual FRIENDS conferences for the past four years, and he hopes to give back to the community that he says helped him find his voice and realize he was not alone.

Jonathan Williams is a young 22 year old senior Anthropology student at University of Northern Colorado, who stutters and plans on graduating this fall. While this is his first FRIENDS event, he is excited to connect with other people who stutter.

Rick Arenas I am a person who stutters and a parent of a child who stutters. I work at the University of New Mexico as an associate professor where I teach and conduct research in the area of stuttering. I’m honored to be able to be part of FRIENDS. The organization does an amazing job supporting young people who stutter and their families.