The Possibilities
The Possibilities
Joshua Felder
Best Buddies Global Ambassador
Joshua Felder was born in Tampa, FL. In 2017, he completed a 2-year Career Exploration Program at the University of South Florida. He is also a Global Ambassador and International Board of Directors member for Best Buddies International.
During his time with Best Buddies International, Joshua has personally given endorsement speeches at Best Buddies events throughout the United States, co-hosted Friendship Walks, and danced on stage with celebrities – all while furthering the mission of inclusion. In 2020, Joshua received the Best Buddies Spirit of Courage Award. He was also awarded the inaugural Excellence in Leadership Award at the 5th Annual Best Buddies’ Mother’s Day Brunch.
Joshua is also the first person with a disability to be a dancer in the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show with The Weeknd and the first to be featured in a Showtime Original with The Weeknd, which outlined the making of the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show. Joshua’s performance in the Super Bowl LV Halftime Show resulted in him receiving commendations from the City of Tampa Mayor and City Council. Additionally, Joshua was featured on Bay News 9 and CBS This Morning with Gayle King.
In 2023, he was cast in the Woody Harrelson movie Champions and promoted it on shows like The Drew Barrymore Show and the Today Show. Most recently, in 2024, he had the honor of performing the “Puck Drop” at the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Neurodiversity Night.
Joshua’s brand, “Inclusion is the new Swag,” shows his belief that there are no limits to what people with IDD can achieve.
I’m Joshua Felder and I am showing the world that my Disability is actually my ‘Superpower’.”
– Joshua Felder
A Caregiver’s Perspective
Michelle Aventajado
Best Buddies Staff Member
No one wants to feel alone. Even if I understood what Down Syndrome was because I was a teacher and taught in inclusive classrooms, when the neonatologist gave me a birth diagnosis of Trisomy 21, I felt the full gamut of emotions that comes along with the understanding that my parenthood journey was forever going to be different. My husband Nino and I looked to each other for comfort, but we also knew we had no idea how to move forward except through our faith. We prayed for Evangelina’s (Gelli) successful surgery that she would have to undergo within hours of her birth, for strength, and for a community that would welcome us and guide us on this new path.
Finding other parents of kids who had Down syndrome suddenly put things into perspective for us.
We looked to parents with older kids to see how their kids were growing, what we could expect as new parents ourselves, and, most of all, for encouragement.
We wanted the reassurance of someone who had ‘been there, done that,’ even if our experiences weren’t exactly the same, and we wanted to relate to other parents who understood where we were, without much explanation or need for words.
Gelli gave us membership to a special kind of club. She opened up our world to people whom we never would have met, and because of her, we found parents of kids just like her, which was comforting, reassuring, and safe.
Gelli’s arrival has brought many positive adventures into our lives. I now lead Best Buddies Philippines and am happy to be part of an organization that continues to support and empower the IDD community throughout different life stages.
Mentorship In Action
Beth & Jenny
Eunie's Buddies Mentor & Mentee
Jenny with her husband Stephen, and children Zoe, Miles and Lily
The Perfect Match
Beth and Jenny met through Eunie’s Buddies. They live in different states and are in different seasons of motherhood, but they found each other at a time when connection mattered most.
From Beth (Mentor)
I was excited to hear about Eunie’s Buddies when it was first introduced. There is such a need for this type of program. When a family has someone with special needs, it is so scary at first. If you have no experience with this in your world, you only think of the worst scenarios. It is so helpful to relate to someone who has already “walked the walk.”
Jenny and my family have some similarities, such as an older son and twins, but we have different diagnoses. Even with that, I felt like I could help with dealing with IEPs, family dynamics, seeing the joy in our lives, and day-to-day living.
You truly need a village, and it takes time to form your own village. Over the past year, we talked regularly, shared stories and pictures, and even sent each other Christmas cards.
Right now, Jenny and her family are in the early, difficult times with a young family. I think it helps to talk with someone who has already been there and see the bright future that lies ahead. I get the joy of feeling like I am helping someone, and I hope Jenny feels that way too.
From Jenny (Mentee)
Beth with her husband David, and twins Tori & Dylan
Eunie’s Buddies Mentorship program came into my life when I was desperate for connection, support, and navigating life with twins after a singleton and twins with a disability. I was questioning my own sanity, maybe I was just a bad mom, maybe I was doing something wrong. I was feeling disconnected from my own life and in some ways paralyzed by fear and anxiety.
I have a loving, supportive, present husband. I have a few very dear friends. We live in a major metropolitan city with resources and access to medical care. I have a master’s degree. My twins were not my first pregnancy. I simply could not wrap my brain around why I felt so alone and disconnected.
When I first learned about Eunie’s buddies, honestly, I was afraid it was just “one more” thing that would not work. My husband encouraged me to try, because he had heard good things. He also knew I was struggling to find not only other “twin moms” but moms who had experience with special needs.
I was matched with Beth in February 2025. Our stories are so different, but so similar at the same time. She also had twins after a singleton and could relate to how having twins was just simply complicated and difficult. She also has experience with navigating motherhood, raising a child with special needs, having a marriage, managing family dynamics, and somehow also taking care of yourself.
I think our first conversation lasted close to 2 hours. It was the first time since our twins were born, that I felt someone (outside of my husband) truly understood. She understood this very complicated grief and gratitude which coexist with twins–you are forced to do things differently than parents of singleton children do. And then she also understood the weight of both grief and relief when you have a confirmation that your child has a disability–which again completely derails life as you know it.
From talking to Beth and sharing our lives, she has taught me so much. She has taught me how to hold space for the grief, the weight, the new roadmaps, but to also find the hope, joy, and fun that comes with raising special needs and twins after singletons. She has shared all kinds of wisdom with me from helping the older singleton child feel included, to asking questions for IEP meetings, to learning how to pack/plan for trips, how to navigate family who just do not understand. She has also shared how important it is to find a place you feel connected, where your child or children feel safe.
We talk about everything. We have talked while one of us are driving, late at night, early mornings, random afternoons. We send pictures, videos. We have cried, laughed. We are in very different places in our motherhood journeys, we live in different states, we have different backgrounds, etc. But one thing that is the same, is this unconditional empathy for supporting our kids.
I am not sure that I help her nearly as much as she has helped me, but nevertheless, her mentorship has developed organically into a friendship. A friendship that has filled a hole that I so desperately needed help with. I literally have no idea what I would do without Beth. We still talk almost every week, we send pictures and texts. Beth also introduced me to “Welcome to Holland” and frequently reminds me that I am in Holland, not Italy, and she is too. I believe this mentorship has changed my life for the better and has probably helped all 3 of my children (and my husband) because it is teaching me that I am not alone.
This mentorship is for anyone who wants connection, unconditional support, and judgement free learning.
I will forever be grateful for Eunie’s Buddies and for Beth.
Two parents. Two different paths. One steady connection that made the road feel lighter.
It was the first time since our twins were born, that I felt someone (outside of my husband) truly understood .”
– Jenny (Mentee)
