Filmmaker and stuttering ally Andy Phillips joins Maya to mark the 10-year anniversary of his short film WORDS, a story born from two loves: New Orleans and spoken-word poetry. Andy shares how a friend who stutters, late-night script pages in a dreaded Shakespeare class, and a chance connection to a Lower Ninth Ward community center shaped the film’s heartbeat. A tour with neighborhood elder “Mr. Robert,” the Katrina watermark still visible on walls, inspired the opening poem and grounded the story in place and resilience. Andy also talks about researching stuttering to avoid tired stereotypes and building an indie crew through tiny miracles that kept showing up, sometimes literally with a Steadicam. A decade later, WORDS still ripples through his life, even guiding his path into podcast producing.

You can watch WORDS here.

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🎟 Get tickets for a community art and film event sponsored by Proud Stutter on October 9 in San Francisco

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U.S.-based writer with a finished script/pilot/play featuring disabled characters? Apply to 1IN4 Writers by Oct 20, 2025 for mentorship, industry relationships, and a $20K unrestricted grant.

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Big thanks to Proud Stutter's recurring supporters: Jennifer Bolen, Jerry Slaff, Josh Compton, Pablo Meza, Matt Didisheim, Alexandra Mosby, Ingo Helbig, Jonathan Reiss, Jason Smith, Paige McGill, Wayne Engebretson, Swathy Manavalan, and Martha Horrocks.

Learn more about Proud Stutter's impact campaign for its film project at proudstutter.org/impact

If you can become a monthly donor at $10 or more, we’ll give you access to ad-free episodes and bonus Proud Stutter+ content as a token of our thanks! Make your tax deductible gift here.

Proud Stutter is proudly fiscally sponsored by Independent Arts & Media.

Want to lean more about what Proud Stutter has to offer? Sign up here to stay in the loop and take advantage of our upcoming events, actions, and educational materials.

Dr. Dillon Pruett has lived both sides of stuttering: the anxious kid rehearsing every word and the scientist searching DNA for answers. His groundbreaking research, recently published in Nature Genetics, uncovered 57 genetic hotspots tied to stuttering -- proof that our voices carry a biological story as complex as any human trait. In our conversation, Dillon shares how his personal journey shaped his path into research, what the findings reveal about stuttering’s overlap with traits like musicality and sleep, and why the goal isn’t to “fix” stuttering but to demystify it. At its heart, this episode is about turning stigma into science and science back into compassion.

You can read the study here.

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🎟 Get tickets for a community art and film event sponsored by Proud Stutter on October 9 in San Francisco

Read about our latest film update here.

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Big thanks to Proud Stutter's recurring supporters: Jennifer Bolen, Jerry Slaff, Josh Compton, Pablo Meza, Matt Didisheim, Alexandra Mosby, Ingo Helbig, Jonathan Reiss, Jason Smith, Paige McGill, Wayne Engebretson, Swathy Manavalan, and Martha Horrocks.

Learn more about Proud Stutter's impact campaign for its film project at proudstutter.org/impact

If you can become a monthly donor at $10 or more, we’ll give you access to ad-free episodes and bonus Proud Stutter+ content as a token of our thanks! Make your tax deductible gift here.

Proud Stutter is proudly fiscally sponsored by Independent Arts & Media.

Want to lean more about what Proud Stutter has to offer? Sign up here to stay in the loop and take advantage of our upcoming events, actions, and educational materials.

Maya sits down with Sam Gennuso, a Bay Area-based licensed psychotherapist and person who stutters, for a conversation about vulnerability, self-acceptance, and what it means to unmask. Sam shares her journey of growing up covert, discovering her stutter, and the early therapy experiences that shaped her understanding of fluency, shame, and identity.

Now a talk therapist, Sam talks about how stuttering has become one of her greatest teachers - helping her show up more authentically in her work and relationships. The episode explores themes of nervous system regulation, daily grounding practices, boundary-setting, and the metaphor of stuttering as diving into cold water: scary at first, but easier with each leap.

You can find Sam on Instagram at @wellgoneweird and check out her website: www.samgtherapy.com

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🎟 Get tickets for a community art and film event sponsored by Proud Stutter on October 9 in San Francisco

-----

Big thanks to Proud Stutter's recurring supporters: Jennifer Bolen, Jerry Slaff, Josh Compton, Pablo Meza, Matt Didisheim, Alexandra Mosby, Ingo Helbig, Jonathan Reiss, Jason Smith, Paige McGill, Wayne Engebretson, Swathy Manavalan, and Martha Horrocks.

Learn more about Proud Stutter's impact campaign for its film project at proudstutter.org/impact

If you can become a monthly donor at $10 or more, we’ll give you access to ad-free episodes and bonus Proud Stutter+ content as a token of our thanks! Make your tax deductible gift at https://bit.ly/3xLezBk.

Proud Stutter is proudly fiscally sponsored by Independent Arts & Media.

Want to lean more about what Proud Stutter has to offer? Sign up here to stay in the loop and take advantage of our upcoming events, actions, and educational materials.