Season TWO Episode TWENTY-ONE of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Melissa Walker. Melissa is a Medical Writer, with a biomedical research background focusing on traumatic spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury. She earned her Ph.D. in Medical Neuroscience from Indiana University School of Medicine before returning to UCLA department of Neurosurgery, for postdoctoral research. She was diagnosed with Graves’ thyroid disease in 2002, and has had Hashimoto’s since 2003, after radioiodine ablation therapy. She was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis in 2005, and Sjogren’s in 2016.

Tune in Tuesday, April 11th at 11:00am PST! | Season TWO Episode TWENTY of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Stacey Uberstine. Stacey graduated from California State University Northridge in 1990 with a bachelor of science degree in Health Administration with a computer science minor.  One of her most notable jobs was helping to establish the Industrial Care Center which is operational at San Pedro Hospital.  In 1993 Stacey transitioned into the insurance industry where she owned and operated her own State farm Agency for over a decade. Stacey was diagnosed with lupus in 1994.  She stays abreast of the disease and all related medical breakthroughs and advances in research. Stacey has been an active donor and Board member of Lupus LA. She has a passion for patient advocacy within the lupus and breast cancer communities. Stacey is an avid sports fan, and actually met her husband through her work at State Farm.  Sports seems to be a family affair, as her husband is a prominent sports attorney who has represented some of the most iconic figures in professional sports.  Her passion for sports was passed on to her twin boys, Grant and Tyler.  Grant was an avid athlete in high school, participating in lacrosse, baseball and swimming.  Tyler’s passion for baseball took him to Northwestern University, where he earned a spot in the team’s starting rotation.  He was later drafted by the Boston Red Sox. Stacey resides in Manhattan Beach, where she can be seen taking strolls along the beach.  She is an avid reader and spends a considerable amount of time supporting philanthropic causes close to her heart related to lupus and breast cancer.

Season TWO Episode NINETEEN of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Kellie Martin. Kellie began acting at the age of seven. She is most fondly remembered for playing Becca Thacher on the groundbreaking ABC family drama Life Goes On, for which she received an Emmy nomination. And, her portrayal of Lucy Knight, a precocious med student who met an untimely demise after two seasons on NBC’s ER, haunts viewers to this day. Kellie has been a been a regular on numerous series including, The Guest Book, Army Wives, Mystery Woman, and on Hallmark’s Hailey Dean, where she served as Executive Producer. Her television and feature film highlights include Troop Beverly Hills, A Goofy Movie, Malibu’s Most Wanted, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, and Mad Men. She also served as leading lady for Hallmark’s beloved holiday movies, The Christmas Ornament and Christmas in Montana as well as rom-com favorites, Smooch, I Married Who?, and Hello It’s Me.

In 1999, Kellie lost her nineteen year old sister, Heather, to lupus. So, Kellie took on a new role, one that she continues passionately to this day: national spokesperson for the Autoimmune Association. She works to raise awareness, lobbies Congress, speaks, and meets personally with patients and their families. Kellie is a Yale graduate with a degree in Art History. She co-authored a novel, Madam, which was published by Penguin in 2014. She’s currently writing on a new novel.

Most recently, Kellie has been working with her Life Goes On co-star, Chad Lowe and All American show runner, Nkechi Okoro Carroll to reboot Life Goes On with Warner Brothers. She just directed Mistletoe in Montana for Lifetime and has been recording a new podcast with Chad Lowe entitled The Big Break. She lives on a suburban farm in California with her husband, Keith, daughters, Maggie (15), Olivia (5) and a bunch of goats, pigs, and horses.

Season TWO Episode EIGHTEEN of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes J. Christopher Reed. Christopher Reed was diagnosed with lupus in 1990 at the age of 16. Despite several serious attacks to his organ system, he earned a bachelor’s degree with honors from the Georgia State University and a law degree from Tulane University. He managed his first job out of law school juggling lupus nephritis and horrible chemotherapy treatments.  After an 18 year career in litigation, Christopher has devoted his life to public health and health policy. He is the Policy, Advocacy, and Mobilization Manager for SisterLove, Inc. an organization that is devoted to eradicating challenges to reproductive health and HIV/AIDS. He is a contractor for the American College of Rheumatology, the University of Alabama, and the Lupus Research Alliance on three separate projects devoted to increasing minority participation in clinical trials. He is also an advocate, moderator, and writer for Lupus.net. He now serves as a Support Group Facilitator, Advocacy Chair, and Project Manager for the Lupus Foundation of America-Georgia Chapter. His support group, designed specifically for men, is the first of its kind in the United States. He was appointment by the state and then chaired the Georgia Council on Lupus Education and Awareness (Council) an advisory council created and funded by the state of Georgia. As Chair he established the Georgia Lupus Collaborative, a 60 person multidisciplinary advisory group and think tank charged with improving the lives of people with lupus in Georgia. He was one of twelve panelists chosen to speak at the historical Lupus Patient Focused Drug Development meeting in 2017.

Season TWO Episode SEVENTEEN of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Alma Torres. Alma is in her twelfth year working in education. Alma was diagnosed with lupus in the summer of 2009. In 2014, her younger sister was diagnosed with lupus. She went from lupus patient to lupus patient/care giver. In 2020, Alma’s sister lost her battle with lupus. Since her passing, Alma has struggled with staying healthy, but no matter how she physically feels, she is thankful she gets to experience another day.

Season 2 Episode 8 of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Lupus LA board member and legendary producer, Lauren Shuler Donner! Lauren has produced many films, including Pretty in Pink, Free Willy, St Elmo’s Fire, Dave, You’ve Got Mail, Secret Life of Bees, and nine X-men movies. She was also an Executive Producer on another seven films and five tv shows including “Legion.” Lauren has been honored with a star on Hollywood Blvd. and has received her honorary Doctorate from Boston University.

Season TWO Episode SEVEN of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Nzingha Stewart. Nzingha Stewart attended NYU’s Gallatin School and upon graduation went on to shoot over a hundred music videos for artists like Common, Eve, Jay-Z, and 50 Cent breaking down barriers for women of color in the music video world along the way.

An equally in-demand commercial director, Nzingha has also filmed clips for ESPN, McDonald’s, and Coors Light among others. Having recently directed episodes of Little Fires Everywhere, Black Monday, Greys Anatomy, A Million Little Things, Good Girls, Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder, the Netflix hit feature film Tall Girl, and Shonda Rhimes upcoming series Inventing Anna, she has also proven herself as a writer having written With This Ring and The Tenth Date (Lifetime/ A+E Networks) which she also directed. Both movies were ratings hits for the network and With This Ring went on to be nominated for three NAACP awards and won the Women In Film Award for Best Television Movie.

Stewart is currently shooting and executive producing Netflix’s From Scratch, based on Tembi Locke’s best-selling memoir, produced by Hello Sunshine. In 2022 she is set to Executive Produce Daisy Jones and the Six for Amazon and Hello Sunshine. Recently she sold her co-written script, Bad Ass Biker Chicks of Marrakech to Wayfarer for which she is also set to direct. Next up on the directing front is the feature film Life in Motion, a biopic about powerhouse prima ballerina Misty Copeland.

Season TWO Episode TWO of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Jordana Sandler Manzano. Jordana Sandler Manzano, a trained chef, has worked in restaurants and event planning, volunteers for other organizations, and is raising three children with her husband, David. She enjoys putting her culinary degree to work baking challah and other sweet treats for family and friends, and recently began her own business, Snugs & Sweets. Jordana has been involved in many areas of the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan for over a decade, and has been a member of the board of directors since 2013. Currently she is chair of the ReelAbilities Film Festival Advisory Council.

Season TWO Episode ONE of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Elizabeth and Mia SantaCruz. Elizabeth became a passionate advocate for raising Lupus Awareness after her daughter was diagnosed with lupus at the young age of 8. As a parent and caregiver, she was invited by to participate as a Lupus Advocate at the Annual Advocacy Meeting and Hill Day in Washington D.C. to meet with Congressional members and their staff to discuss the support for Lupus research.

Episode TWENTY-FIVE of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Emily Suñez. Emily Suñez is a Lupus patient, artist and author of her new book, The Healing Journal.