Julia Toronczak - Ep. 125 - Trailblazing is ageless. Meet Julia Toronczak, a young businesswoman who has a twin brother with Downs Syndrome. During her freshman year, she was appalled at how many students would ask her what Down syndrome was. It made her realize that there was not enough advocacy being done in the disability space. Without holding any resentment, she knew that something else needed to be done. And so she created her blog, Beyond the Waves, to educate and inspire others. Her mission is to share the lessons she has learned in unconditional love through growing up with Michael, to empower the world to heal and achieve what makes their heart sing.
Top Takeaways:
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- The importance of taking care of your physical and emotional health
- How to accept and love who you are and translate that to your relationship with others
- How to find ways to contribute to bringing change into the world by ending racism and discrimination against others
- The benefits of racial and cultural diversity in unifying communities and the nation at large
Listen to this very interesting young woman in to learn the power of love and kindness to yourself and others around you to make the world a better place.
"Learn to love others for who they are, even that person that might be in conflict with you. You never know what's going on, so send them some love." -Julia Toronczak
Beyond the Waves Blog
Julia Toronczak pursued medical school with hopes of finding her vision of supporting others with their health and wellbeing but later changed her mind because of her twin brother. Michael is on the severe side of down syndrome and is completely nonverbal. He enlightens those around him with his kindness and love. He is the inspiration behind everything that Julia is involved in including, changing her mind about medical school. She created her blog Beyond the Waves to educate and inspire others.
Julia, at a young age, has many some big strides on her own. She competed as a swimmer. She talks about her relationship with Michael as she started to find her own wings and leave home for her own experiences and challenges. Find out how she communicated with Michael from a distance.
Julia wanted to get a message out. She started her own blog and then went on to start a podcast. She has many things to say to the world. Julia has a different perspective we should all consider. "We all interpret the world in different ways, but we also have the power to control the way we take in the world around us. Shifting our thoughts can result in a dramatic shift in our lives. It's up to us to decide in which direction that shift will go."
Professionally, she decided to pivot a year ago. After volunteering in the hospital supporting patients, she realized what really made her heart sing- connection. With her desire to stay close to Michael and to connect and support others, she decided to change her career direction. She is now at an agency where she supports employers in reducing their costs and retaining their top talent through creating comprehensive benefits packages with a holistic approach and keeping employee's well-being in mind.
Key Moments
You will also get to understand down syndrome from a closer look and the many lessons you can learn from its patients.
Julia describes her mother's love and compassion towards her children as her biggest influence in who she is today [1:22]
Why Julia changed her mind about med school and instead chose to care for her brother [3:13]
She explains what the NCAA swim team is and her experience competing at the collegiate level [7:28]
Why she named her blog 'Beyond the Waves' which is about the beauty of down syndrome [9:06]
She explains her level of empathy and sensitivity which is as a result of her brother Michael [11:23]
Julia's travel adventures and how Michael deals with her being away from him [13:09]
The lessons that Julia has learned from Michael and how she's translating that to her relationships with others [16:46]
Learning how to handle and healthily release anger, plus the importance of forgiving yourself and others [20:02]
How to find ways to alleviate the down syndrome patients' congenital issues [22:18]
Why there are important lessons to be learned from the disabled population that would otherwise not exist [24:11]
Julia narrates her experience with racial diversity or lack thereof growing up and now in her 20s [26:01]
She narrates the story that led her to start her podcast 'Beyond the Waves' [33:48]
The many plans she's looking to accomplish to bring awareness to down syndrome [37:04]