Kim Lan is a marketing and communications professional, freelance journalist and photographer, and a disability educator and advocate in Durham. She is the founder of the Redefining Disabled Project; co-founder of the Accessible Icon Project–Durham, NC; councilmember of the Inclusion Advisory Council of Jewish for Good in Durham; a proud Girl Scout Co-leader of Durham’s Troop 951; and a mother to two young children, one of whom has Type 1 Diabetes.
She has had the honor of lecturing and advising the Orange County Human Relations Council, the Durham Housing Authority, Duke University’s undergraduate biomedical engineering students, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, among other for- and non-profit organizations on diversity, equity, inclusion, and universal design. Kim Lan’s wildest dreams were realized in 2016 when she delivered a TEDx Talk at UNC’s Memorial Hall and in 2017 when she held the role of Impact Strategist and Producer for the independent documentary film Farmer/Veteran, highlighting PTSD, transgenerational trauma, and compassion fatigue amongst post-9/11 war veterans and their families. The film earned numerous awards and accolades, including Best Documentary Feature, in festivals from Brooklyn to Shanghai and premiered on PBS’ Independent Lens on Memorial Day 2017, to an audience of an estimated 1.7 million viewers. As an above-knee amputee, Kim Lan is an adaptive sports athlete, finding the most fun in kayaking and archery.