This A-Profiler we bring you Liane Yasumoto, Executive Director of Culture! Disability! Talent!, a non-profit organization that works to transform disability stereotypes by providing access and opportunities for artists and performers with disabilities. Find out how this self-proclaimed "ham" has lived with no regrets.

Your site URL:
www.culturedisabilitytalent.org/

In 8 words or less, how would you describe yourself?
Resilient, happy, forgiving, empathetic, sentimental, fun-loving, optimistic.

What inspired you to get involved with CDT and what were the events that led up to you becoming the executive director?
I met the president of the Board of CDT by chance on a shared van taxi ride the summer after I graduated from college in 1992 and she introduced me to CDT and invited me to the next meeting. She took me under her wing and became my mentor in the media field and in life. After several years of volunteering on committees and the Board, the Board hired me on as executive director in 1997.

What do you feel are the challenges that performers, fine artists, and media makers with disabilities have?
Artists with disabilities often lack access and opportunities to hone their artistic skills due to several factors, which include facing physical, attitudinal and financial barriers.

What advantages do you think they have?
Similar to artists of various ethnicities, artists with disabilities have a unique characteristic to set them apart from others.

What are some of the other projects you work with?
I am on the Board of a non-profit disability law center, Disability Rights Advocates, and serve on its nominating committee. I am also signed with STARS talent agency in San Francisco.

Have you always had an interest in the arts, particularly the performance arts?
Yes, I’ve always been a "ham!" I was Queen Isabella in a 4th grade classroom performance, the Ghost of Christmas Past in a 4th grade school performance of "A Christmas Carol," and Linus in a 6th grade school performance of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” When I was a child I also took a couple performance and acting classes. I also took an acting class when I attended City College of San Francisco and U.C. Berkeley. I performed in a workshop production and a main stage play at the S.F. Asian American Theatre Company.

What advice would you give to those aspiring performers, fine artists and media makers out there?
Be persistent. Keep your head up. Be patient. Believe in yourself. Keep creating! People are counting on you. Especially during this unsettling state of the world...people look to the arts inspire, to console, and to empower.

And finally, are there any words or motto that you live by everyday?
Live with no regrets. Live each day as if it were your last, or your best!

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This issue of A-Profiler is brought to you by Nelson Wong. Special thanks to Liane Yasuamoto.

Images courtesy of Liane Yasumoto. Used with permission.
Copyright retained by original copyright holder.