Your Story Our Fight by Lupus LA LupusLA

Season THREE Episode TWO of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Ashley Greene. Ashley Greene is the Founder and CEO of Bare Bodhi.  Growing up in a salon with a hairdresser mother, Ashley developed a passion for beauty early on.  While assisting one of the biggest names in the industry, Ashley was diagnosed with lupus, which prompted her to embark on a mission to promote both internal and external wellness.  Her love for long nails and soft skin led her to create a patented flagship product, the fingerless exfoliating bath glove, designed specifically for women with long nails.  This product enables clients to achieve supple, smooth skin without compromising their manicures. Ashley believes that washing your body with your own hands has a spiritual approach, and her products enable users to connect with and awaken their light within.  With a focus on a holistic approach to beauty, Bare Bodhi is committed to promoting self-awareness and enabling individuals to serve their highest good.  Ashley continues to innovate and develop products that empower and uplift, all while inspiring individuals to embrace their inner beauty.

Season THREE Episode ONE of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Shamekka Marty. In 2012, Shamekka was diagnosed with Lupus, Scleroderma, Mixed Connective Tissue Disease,
Reynaud’s, and Sjogren’s Syndrome. Shamekka seeks to motivate others who are in the same boat as her. She speaks on various public platforms, has a blog, a vlog , provides career counseling, and more to help Lupus patients in their journey. She currently resides in the Bay Area in California with her husband and three children.

Season TWO Episode TWENTY-FOUR of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Emmitt Henderson III. Emmitt Henderson III was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus and Lupus Nephritis in 1995 but had symptoms going back to 1980. Through the years, he has endured major complications from heart, liver, kidney and lung failures, avascular necrosis that led to a shoulder and knee replacement. He had a clinical trial, bone marrow stem cell transplant; he was on oxygen due to his lung failure and had a kidney transplant due to kidney failure. He was also diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Sjogrens Syndrome, MTCD as well as he suffered from having a stroke, shingles, gout, chronic fevers, diabetes and hypertension. In 2019, Emmitt was diagnosed with a brain disease, that medically retired him from his career. He decided to advocate for the same disease that debilitated him since 1995 and to talk about how his mental health got him through it all. He created his organization called Male Lupus Warriors Corp to spread Lupus and Mental Health awareness. He holds a safe space for men to meet and talk about their hardships in life, he encourages everyone to not be a victim to their illness. Emmitt did an advocacy campaign in Tanzania Africa in 2022 which included climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. During his climb, he suffered high altitude pulmonary edema and ended up going into kidney failure for the second time in his life. He is now currently doing dialysis and on the transplant list for another kidney. During this time, he still maintains his advocacy by being active on social media and facilitating support groups.

Season TWO Episode TWENTY-THREE of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Samantha Boothe. Samantha was diagnosed with lupus at the age of 14, and she has been sharing her journey with lupus online since 2010. Her main goal is to create relatable and informative content to empower anyone navigating life with chronic illness. When Samantha was diagnosed with lupus, she searched the internet for someone to relate to but had trouble finding any resources. This realization pushed Samantha to start sharing her story on YouTube. As time passed, Samantha's YouTube channel grew, and she was surrounded by others who had similar experiences. Today, Samantha runs a blog and Instagram page called Heal With Samantha, where she shares the ups and downs of living with chronic illness. She hopes that through her content, she can help others feel less alone and provide them with the support and resources they need to thrive in their own life.

Season TWO Episode TWENTY-TWO of the Your Story Our Fight® podcast welcomes Olga Lucia Torres. A few years after law school, Olga was diagnosed with lupus and eventually the doctors found she had 4 other autoimmune diseases. Olga's health has never stopped her from following her dreams and attending Cornell University and Georgetown University Law School on scholarships. In August of 2000, Olga went to the hospital for routine medical care. She was supposed to be discharged in 2 to 3 days. Instead Olga ended up in a coma and with an iatrogenic brain injury. It took six years of inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, but Olga managed to volunteer again doing health care law. 
Olga was inspired to return to school in 2012 where she found the Narrative Medicine program at Columbia University and in 2014,  received a Master’s in Science. She now teaches narrative medicine at the CUNY School of Medicine.

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.