266: Changing Disability Representation with Simone Eyles

Foreign.

Isles. Welcome to her Empire Builder show.

Thank you, Tina. Thank you for having me so excited.

I.

It's.

It's a pleasure to be able to have you here. I know that most people will be listening audio, but if you're watching the video, like, I love the background that you've gotten. It's something that everyone as course creators are, you know, you should really put thought into the background of what's behind you. And you are so on brand with all of that, which I love. I am on brand, but like in a. In a mess of every sort of knickknack that I can have behind me.

Which I love.

Okay, so can you start with telling us about your journey that led to founding Disinfluencer and what inspired you to start this as. As both a business and an initiative?

Yeah. So I'm a mum of a. I can't say child. A teenager. He's actually. He's had a kidney transplant and he's intellectually disabled and autistic. And a very long time ago, I accidentally started a startup, which I've since sold purely because I had to create my own job as a mum of a child that was very, very sick and having a lot of treatment in hospitals. So started a startup back in, gosh, 2012, I'm going to say, and had an incredible journey. But no one really knew I had a sick little baby at home or in hospital. And I. And I did that deliberately because I didn't want to be the mom of the sick kid. And that really, I don't know, it was kind of a weird journey for me. So I did all that and then deep down, I've had an incredible journey. I've been through an incredible experience and I'm a marketing. I'm a graphic designer by trade marketer, love Internet, digital business and digital marketing. And in my heart, I always wanted to give back and do something that was really positive and empowering and commercial. However, due to burnout and being a little jaded, let's be honest, I said I'm never, ever doing business again. But I couldn't ignore that whisper. And I. I kind of thought about it and I tried a few things and I found social entrepreneurship and I found I was Inspired. Back in 2022, Hannah Deviney called out Lizzo and Beyonce on Twitter for having some Ableist lyrics in her songs. I don't know if anyone remembers that. I'm sure everyone does. And I just had this pivotal moment where I actually opened up my phone and I recorded a voice Note. Which turned into a podcast, which is what turned into disinfluencer, because I wanted to speak my truth and I wanted to. I was just tired of seeing disability in the media through a lens of advocacy or neglect. Now, don't get me wrong, that is important and needed. However, that's the only conversation you ever hear. You don't see the. The light, the magic, the joy. And then I thought, well, I'm going to do something about that. And I know business, I know marketing, I know disability. And I thought, well, I can help businesses be inclusive by creating content with people with disabilities who actually dream of doing this work as well. So that's a whole other part of what I do. And no one was supposed to say yes. Jumped on Jane K. The founder of Bird's Nest here in Marula and pitched to her. And four weeks later, we were on set shooting content for oh, amazing. Our beautiful Katie. So, yeah, did all that. And, yeah, everyone just kept saying yes. So I had to really turn this into something. And. And part of. I guess what I do is I do the content. Will I help businesses and brands be inclusive, but I also have an educational element, like an elearning element, to help businesses understand disability and understand how to market their accessibility. Because one in five people have a disability and no one's marketing to them, and it's a really missed opportunity.

Yeah. And so when you. How long ago was this. That disinfluencer first, like, officially started April last year. Yeah. Okay, so not that long ago. And you said that you were a little bit scarred from the first business attempt. What left you feeling scar? Like, what was the. What was the hard part of that?

I just felt I. I gave so much too much, and I just had nothing left to give. And then I just. When I had nothing left to give and I needed to receive a bit, no one had anything to give to me. And I felt a bit jaded by that. So.

And what have you done? Setting up disinfluencer in a way that that won't happen again.

So I've been very conscious to build disinfluencer on disinfluencer. Not Simone Isles.

Yeah.

Yeah. So I know a lot of people are all for a personal brand, and I have a pretty big network and I know a lot of people. I think you.

You still put yourself in a lot, though.

Yeah, I'm in a lot of stuff. But nothing sits under your personal name. Yeah. So. So a lot of people do know me, but a lot of people that come to me now they come through the brand awareness of disinfluence and what disinfluence there is not Simone doing this thing, Simone doing all this stuff. So that's was something I've done. Very deliberate. Yes, I totally am in here. You'll see me on Instagram all the time, even in my pajamas. I'm here to show up. But it doesn't stop and stop with May Sumari bigger than me and, you know, I guess just, you know, setting up some good boundaries and having some good workflows and good practices and really building the brand around the brand name. And our. Our offer. Not necessarily all about me.

Yeah, that's fantastic. I. I love when people have an experience and you didn't let it burn you and you didn't let it keep you away from the calling that you've got now. But you're like, how can I do this differently so I don't experience that again.

Yes.

Yeah. So important, so important than making the same mistake again and again. So you mentioned that Disinfluencer aims to change the portrayal of disability in the media. How, like, in the last year and a half that you've been going, have you been seeing that changing? And what are some stories of examples of how we're seeing that shift?

Yeah. So I guess to my surprise, I pitched that I would do all the content, so do a photo shoot and create content for a brand. So Bird's Nest, we obviously did a photo shoot with I think we had like eight different outfits. And when I started pitching to other brands, they were very kind in saying yes to me because they loved it. But then the conversation turned into like, we actually really do want this, but there's nowhere to go to get it. So I kind of shifted from creating the content to more of a talent agency representative. And just this month alone, we have got, we have cast, like it's not even the middle of the month, eight of our artists in TV series as extras across really big brands. We've got a campaign coming out for Anytime Fitness with some of our talent. So moving more from the content, me doing everything, to then providing that talent piece, talent management, and then again the brands. When we work with people as a social enterprise, there's a bit of. Bit of extra work and a bit of cost to what we do. However, we don't expect the brands and businesses to pay for that and we can cover that through our business model of, you know, part of our profit covers goes back into the business to cover that kind of additional operational cost and Our people with disabilities are paid exactly the same as every other artist on set. So it's about that equality, but also giving them the opportunity and giving the casting agents and the creative agencies a safe place where they can have conversations with me and have a little training and understanding. So they know, okay, people with disabilities, they need support. And people with disabilities can tell you the support they actually need. And just being aware of that and having that empathy to, you know, incorporate that. And they really do, they really do want to be inclusive. So it's a really exciting time for, for us and for our people with disabilities to have those opportunities to do that. Yeah. Well done work.

Yeah, I love that. And so what are all the elements of your business model now? Because you've kind of. I love how one thing I'll say to people whenever they start is, you know, in a year's time it's going to look different. And it sounds like yours has taken a journey through different offerings and different models. So what is, what are your current offerings that you've got amongst the disinfluencer umbrella?

So I guess there's, there's four revenue streams, there's four kind of elements. So the main element is actually our stock library and our E learning platform. So we created a stock library because we, as I said, we're creating content for brands. We did like tourism content and content for government. And when we created the content, we were creating content for a stock library. So I thought part of our business model is that people with disabilities come to us, we do their headshots, we get them job ready, they have an amazing day on set. Like, you know, you know what it's like doing a photo shoot, hair, makeup, all the things. Like a really beautiful day for them to experience that and feel empowered and feel like worthy and have, you know, boost their confidence. So we do their portfolios and then we create, I guess, brand agnostic photos for our stock library. Because if you were to look in a stock library for a person with a disability, it's usually, it's very American looking. And there will be. Someone told me, you know, they found this great photo. There was this gentleman in a wheelchair, but you know, in stock libraries, and then the next photo he's standing at a sink and it's like, oh, that's not authentic.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a little on the nose.

Yeah, yeah. So I guess I decided, you know, we do the photo shoots, so we do that stock library and then we have that E learning as well. So we have three short 18 minute modules. Understand like what is disability, how to be digitally inclusive and then how to market your accessibility within your business. So that I feel like when I worked with people, we did the work and then they're like, oh, you know, they wanted that education and they wanted to be able to say, look, there's still a lot of stigma and a lot of barriers. So when I want to empower businesses to go, you know, if there's any pushback and there is, they can say, look, we engage with disinfluencer and we've done some training and understanding to really understand disability and how we can be accessible and how we can market our accessibility. So this isn't, you know, some kind of tick box.

Yeah.

Size like we've done, we've done the work, we want to be inclusive but we've, we've trained our team in understanding some elements of disability so we can, you know, we don't get, we can do what we need to do authentically and you know, be empowered to look after people with disabilities.

Is that program, is that program good for any business? So they, they don't have to be, you know, using the stock library or anything like that, but any business that wants to go, I want to be more inclusive, I want be more accessible should be doing something like that.

Yeah. So I've got on our website just now, it's all kind of about the bundle but I've pulled out the E learning modules just on their own for any business to do and then I've got a bit of a taste like it's an annual offer and then you can just buy 21 days to jump in. But I guess that's our main kind of element. But on top of that, like you were saying, and what I hope to do is I'm building an academy as well. So in the academy will have some more E learnings for business and corporate, but also have, you know, a bit of a membership platform for people with disabilities to come in, like how to, how to build a personal brand, how to take, you know, self photos, how to do a self tape, how to do an audition so we can upskill and give pathways to people with disabilities who want to explore any career in the creative industries. Like, you know, we have people that want to be content creators or want to do creative writing. So anything within the creative or entertainment industry we can have some, you know, like our academy where they can come and learn and you know, if they want to work as talent or want to have a crack at being a TVC they can, you know, have that option as well. So it's a mini circular economy, I guess, is what I'm building. And, yeah, the talent piece. And I also manage a few influences as well. That has been an eye opener, like the wild, wild west. But, yeah, it's all kind of.

You're in a few different things, Simone. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It all kind of. I'm kind of in this stage where I'm doing. To me, it's all one and the same. Like, my. My mission is to take disability mainstream and to offer meaningful employment to people with disabilities. So that might be talent, that might be having stock photos used in, you know, whatever, having influencers doing influencer marketing. Like, it's all kind of one and the same to me. And I feel it all feeds into each other. And it's a very. And, like, you know, like you said, with my background, I've been very deliberate with my branding because when people see or think about disability, it's all, like, sad and drab and mutual. Like, I want to really be like, yeah, burn your eyeballs with excitement, with creativity, with, you know, really kind of jar that. That kind of stereotype that a lot of people have with disabilities. So, you know, that's why I kind of touch on a few of those things. But I think it's all really important to help with my mission to take disability mainstream. And I guess I do all those things, Tina, because a lot of what I've done, especially with the stock library, has been driven by the demand of what people want and ask for.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which is a great way to build a business. When people are asking for a product and you're going, yeah, I can do that.

Well, yeah, yeah. If you would have asked me 12 months ago I was doing a stock library, I'd be like, you are crazy. Why would I do that? And now people tell me why I do that. But then I have people that are like, and we have access to the stock library. We need photos for blah.

And yes, you go, yeah, fantastic. And so with all of that, what brought you to her empire builder?

So, you know, I'm a big Tina Tower fan.

I'm a big Simone Isles fan, too.

Well, I guess, you know, I followed you for so long. You're really inspiring businesswoman to me. And I guess I, you know, you do. A lot of you do. There's so many incredible things in her empire builder now that I've experienced. And I wanted, like, I wanted to kind of dip my toe back into business with a trusted Network and also build a new network. And you know, I don't need to tell you, even a few years out of it, things have changed so much. Things are changing so fast.

So to be able to so fast right now.

Yeah. And even though I have my website is in Kajabi, my academy will be built in Kajabi. So even doing online courses and building modules and you know, I've dug back to what you were saying with workplaces. You know, I imagine my E learning modules could be like white labeled or licensed. Yeah. Or you know, think CBA should have my E learning module. And I, you know, there's stuff like that in her empire builder from. Not just from your experience but there's just, there's lots of things in. Within her empire builder and I just wanted to. Yeah. So with my online learning modules I needed to learn how to do online learning modules and you know, I was thinking about white labeling, license, licensing them. Like there's no reason why the CBAs of the world shouldn't have my elearning module completely.

Yeah.

Stuff like that in her empire builder like from like your expertise with franchising and, and modeling but not just like everything that you know, like this so much stuff in there that I can kind of cherry pick that is relevant to me and learn on demand but also be, you know, the weekly master classes and conference was epic as well.

So I know I can't, I can't wait. Like we. Twice a year is still not enough. It's like I can't wait to see everyone again.

Yeah. So her empire build has been, you know, I was kind of a bit crazy and joined a lot of groups but her empire builder is up there with my, you know, I, I kind of. Even though there's a lot going on, I've made time to just with launch I've tapped out a little bit. But you know, I, I come to all the classes. You're very good. I. You get 500 gold stars. You always start on time and finish on time.

Yes.

It's like my bigot. Like it's, you know, you're so. You're such a great teacher.

Thank you.

Really, you really do that.

And it's the teaching background, it's the like I was a primary school teacher which not everybody knows that but it definitely comes in handy. Yeah.

Yeah. So you're a really great teacher. And then of course, obviously all the people I've met. Yeah. All the new people I've met this. I've connected with some, you know, other people that we Know like Nick and. Yeah, so, yeah, lots of love for her and Fire Builder.

Yeah, that's so good. And so what is your goal as the business moves forward? Forward. Do you have a vision or are you playing it by ear to see what the market's wanting from you or are you looking to really double down on these, these online programs and getting them like what do you think is going to make the biggest impact with what Disinfluencer does?

Yes, I think what I do goes hand in hand. So the representation, without the representation and having those stories and speaking to those businesses, I will not have the opportunity to offer that education piece. I feel it goes hand in hand.

Yeah.

So the dream is that we build the world's biggest inclusive stock library and then.

Nice, I love that goal.

Yeah. And then someone fancy comes and acquires us and my heart's really in the academy. I feel that's my legacy work and I see the academy going on, on and on and on. So even though we're kind of in this vertical of entertainment or media, I feel there's a lot of opportunity for, especially in this digital age for people with disabilities to work remotely and work together with people and work with technology, however, be connected in a platform like Kajabi, a membership like Kajabi where they can be offered work to do, get supported with that work, but also get that support just like we do in her Empire Builder where there's a network of like minded people, there's a conference, there's awards, like there's opportunities, there's masterclasses, there's well being. So there's a network online for people with disabilities that they can come to to explore their creativity or whatever vertical we have in the academy but also get that kind of person touch online that sounds really bad like have that connection with people online to, you know, develop their skills and just make friends and feel like they have a bit of purpose and they connected to their community.

Yeah, I love that. And how do you envisage like the whole landscape of the way like you said you, you really trying to change disability representation from that like doom and gloom to having the joy and having the fun. But how do you envisage the that in the media and marketing evolving in the coming years?

Like it's just that good old fashioned, you can't be what you can't see.

Yeah.

But we did some work with Canberra airport so we did their photos and we did their digital and they are doing incredible things. They changed all their lighting in the airport. They have two Sensory rooms. They have the hidden sunflower lanyard. They have all these initiatives, but they're.

Not telling anyone what's a hidden sunflower lanyard.

So a hidden sunflower lanyard is an initiative. You'll see a lot of the airports now have them. So it's like I have a hidden disability. And they have staff trained that can support you if you need help checking in or if you're overwhelmed, something or if, you know, if a child's having a meltdown and they've got the hidden disability lanyard like the staff.

See, this is why we all need to do your course is so that we're aware of things like that.

Yeah, yeah. Because I guess a lot of people, you know, if you see kids chucking tantrums or doing crazy stuff, people like, oh, they're being a brat, but maybe they're a child with autism or ADHD overwhelmed and they're having a meltdown. Yeah. So you can come from it from a lens of empathy, not a lens of judgment. So when we did this stuff with Canberra Airport, we had Mel bless her, love her, she's so beautiful. And she was, because we were airside but we weren't going on a plane. Plane. We had to go through security to do the photos and we had a whole team on set and she came with us and she actually stayed with us. And Guyana, who was with us, she's a young woman, non verbal with down syndrome and she loves fashion and she's got red nails and she's got like a red strip in her hair. And Mel had beautiful red nails. And Mel and Guyana had this beautiful interaction. Like Kiana wanted to look at her nails and then Mel was like complimenting her on, on her jacket. So not they weren't talking but they were communicating. And it was so beautiful to see. And I, I was pretty sure that was probably the first time Mel had an interaction with someone with a disability that was nonverbal. And I think from that interaction, you know, she could see that even though we can't talk, we can still communicate. And they had this beautiful moment and people with disabilities aren't going to like explode in your face. Like you can have people with disabilities involved and just changing that kind of mindset and that stereotype and just having people included. And this is back to the marketing. If we see people in marketing, if all the agencies have people and they know, okay, well we might need a bit of extra help or support or time, like it's no big deal and just like, I guess, you know, to really? Simply answer your question. We ask people what their dietary requirements are, so why can't we ask people what their support needs are? They will be able to tell you. I can tell you, like, for my Josh, like, I've driven Josh to Brisbane from Wagger to go to a thing. Just say he could go to a thing because he doesn't get to go to things. And I can, you know, he eats certain food so I can pack his food that he likes. Like, I will do the things that he needs so he can go do and be included. And it's no big deals. But no one's. We're not even at that point of people asking that because people are too scared because they don't want to seem like they're rude or they're offending anyone when it's not rude or offensive. My mate Kelly has that great quote. You know, inclusion is like cheese. You can never have too much, you know, like something.

So what I'm. I'm going to ask you, like the practice. Did you finish the quote then? Did I just cut you off in the middle of the quote?

That's the quote. It's on the website, so you'll see.

I love it.

Thanks.

But what would be. So say we're running our conference, what would be a question that we could ask that is worded correctly that would provide support to people who need it?

Yeah, just ask. If I say to businesses, the first thing you can do is have an accessibility statement. Your website. And then with all your interactions or your conference, just have a little. It's just a little paragraph. Like, we're working on our accessibility. What do we. What can we do to you to be accessible? And people will tell you. And that's simply all you have to do. You have to ask the people, like, you know, do they need a sensory room? Can you get some headphones? Like, is there a timeout space? So it's just about that accessibility statement. A great place to start across all your channels, digital and in person and in your workplace. It's just a simple statement. We're trying to be inclusive. We're trying to be an accessible. Be accessible. These are the things we're doing. If you know, what can we do to meet your needs? Email someone at the team and tell us and we'll work it out. Like it's as simple as that.

Yeah, that's awesome. Good advice. I'm going to add that in two hours, so thank you for that. Okay, last one. What is the big upcoming project or initiative that you're working on that you're really excited about.

So I guess the Academy, I've got the, the stock library and the elearning bundle up and live on the website. And now the Academy, which is being built in Kajabi. I, I say September I'm going to launch, it'll probably be October. I'm super excited about that because that gives me, like I said, it's really fun and cool to do all these things and it will give me bigger reach, to reach more. Like, you know, I'm digital business, you know, I can reach anyone. Yeah, we've already like been doing some work with people in New Zealand, so to do work more work in Australia and have more reach is really exciting. So the Academy, like I said, is really where my heart and soul is and I see the Academy going forever. Um, so I can't wait to get, get my teeth into that and get it going.

Amazing. Thank you. Simone, you do awesome work. Like, you're such a good human and you do good work with good people. Like, you're amazing. Thank you for doing the work that you're doing and sharing with us today.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.