Lex Gillette
Standing On The Shoulders
Lex Gillette is a blind Paralympics champion in the long jump category. He is the current world record holder in this field. He won the gold medal for long jump in the last Paralympics championship, which was in 2019 in Dubai. He's also a motivational speaker and a singer-songwriter.
info_outline
Martha Lane Fox
Standing On The Shoulders
Martha Lane Fox is an entrepreneur and internet activist who first made her name with lastminute.com. She is a director of Twitter and Non Executive Director of Chanel, Chancellor of the Open University, and a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.
info_outline
Ytasha Womack
Standing On The Shoulders
Ytasha Womack is an award-winning author, filmmaker, independent scholar, and dance therapist. She is a leading expert on Afrofuturism, the imagination and its applications, and frequently lectures on the subject across the world.
info_outline
Roman Mars
Standing On The Shoulders
info_outline
Lemn Sissay
Standing On The Shoulders
Lemn Sissay is a multi-award winning poet, performer, and chancellor at the University of Manchester. Lemn spoke to us about growing up with a foster family that rejected him, spending his teens in children’s homes, then realising at the age of 18 his entire life was a lie. He also spoke about a giant who gave him strength and inspiration throughout.
info_outline
Anab Jain
Standing On The Shoulders
Futurist, designer and filmmaker Anab Jain talks to Aleks Krotoski about the wild world of future-oriented thinking, our hyper-connected planet, and about an anthropologist and a mushroom that inspired much of her work.
info_outline
Jude Kelly
Standing On The Shoulders
Theatre director and producer Jude Kelly talked to Aleks about growing up in ‘50s Liverpool, finding and fostering revolutionary theatre, and about a woman many refer to as ‘The Mother of Modern Theatre’.
info_outline
Rachel Weiss
Standing On The Shoulders
Aleks Krotoski talks to L'Oréal's Rachel Weiss about bringing together her two great loves, make-up and technology, and about being an early adopter of podcasting, blogging, online dating, and beauty-blogging. She also talked about her undying love of a musical innovator and icon, who she considers her secret mentor.
info_outline
Anna Higgs
Standing On The Shoulders
Aleks Krotoski talks to Facebook's Anna Higgs about finding your way up the rickety climbing frame to success in a creative field, why she was sneered at at film school, and about an inspirational movie giant who produced some of the most icon movies ever made.
info_outline
Beth Comstock
Standing On The Shoulders
Aleks Krotoski chats to Beth Comstock about the giants that shaped her career.
info_outlineLex Gillette is a blind Paralympics champion in the long jump category. He started losing his sight aged seven and despite ten different surgeries at the age of eight doctors told him there was nothing they could do. At school his coach introduced him to long jump, which he excelled at, collecting medals at all levels. He is the current world record holder in this field. He won the gold medal for long jump in the last Paralympics championship, which was in 2019 in Dubai. He's also a motivational speaker and a singer-songwriter.
Lex talked to Aleks about the challenge of adjusting to his circumstances at such a young age, the encouragement he received from his mother to maintain his independence, and about the process he uses to navigate the world and his chosen sport. He also talked about an inspirational pastor whose YouTube videos help him keep focus on his training and his writing.
Find out more about Lex: https://lexgillette.com/
Follow Lex on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LexGillette