Rising ICON #36: Kelsey Lindell
What name do you prefer to be called?
Kelsey, Kels, or K from friends
What are your pronouns?
She / her / hers
Where did you grow up?
Bloomington, MN, but I tend to just say Twin Cities
What city are you currently based in?
Minneapolis
How do you typically introduce yourself to new people?
“Hi! I’m Kelsey! I run a consulting and marketing firm that helps well-intentioned marketers include people with disabilities in their content in ways that drive the bottom line, AND build a better world for people with disabilities.”
What’s one thing you wish more people knew about you?
A lot of people think I’m an Enneagram Type 8, The Challenger, because I’m so outgoing and outspoken, and an advocate, but I’m a Type 2 - The Helper. I experienced a ton of bullying and abuse growing up, so it instilled a deep desire in me to use my life to help others feel safe seen, and protected. Before I worked in the marketing/media niche, I lived all over the world focusing on international advocacy and strengthening the support that boots-on-the-ground organizations received. The outspoken and outgoing sides of me are just the way that I put that desire to help in place.
Who do you help?
I help disabled people first and foremost - I help by transforming the way that society views disability. We know that what we see in media, marketing, and entertainment significantly impacts how we view the world, and because of the lack of representation of disabled people (less than 3% despite us making up 25% of the population), and the levels of problematic content within that small representation (over 84%), society has a warped perception of disabled people.
In order to make this work sustainable, we have to make it lucrative for businesses as well. While I wish everyone and their mom wanted to prioritize disability inclusion because it’s the right thing to do (it is!), I realize that most decision-makers need to be convinced that it’s a good business decision to be inclusive too. We know that the disability community has over $13T in buying power every year globally and companies who prioritize disability inclusion (and do it well!) see over 30% higher profit margins and 28% higher revenue.
What are you building now?
The Misfit 100 - a coalition of 100 creative agencies and teams dedicated to seeing a 100% increase in disability representation in advertising by the end of 2025.
What were you building ten years ago today?
Misfit Media - I just didn’t know it. After living in South Africa for five years, doing disability justice work all over the world, I repeatedly heard from leaders, who have been doing this much longer than I have that the most impactful thing I could do with my life was to change the way society viewed disabled people. So, I moved back and started working in marketing. Like I said, my personality is “The Helper” so I transitioned from boots-on-the-ground / fundraising to marketing. I worked a TON of jobs to pay my bills while getting marketing experience.
What do you predict of yourself 10 years from now?
The Misfit 10,000 🙂
I also hope to have written on a handful of TV shows and movies. I’d love to create a show that does what Ted Lasso did for mental health, but for chronic and invisible pain. It was such a poignant example of how to subtly embed uncomfortable topics as an undercurrent, so you can talk about them without it feeling like an afterschool special.
What’s a fact or statistic you wish everyone knew about your industry?
Disabled people have $13T in global spending every year. Our discretionary spending is $8T. We make up just 1% of inclusion in all advertising, and in 84% of that rare inclusion the disability community dislikes the way marketers include us. This means you still won’t get our money.
This is fascinating considering we know that:
75% of consumers find companies that are inclusive in their advertising more trustworthy than those who don’t.
80% of consumers express a desire to do more business with inclusive companies.
84% of consumers have a more favorable impression of companies that include people with disabilities in their marketing.
Why the heck are y’all ignoring us?! We’re a market with over double the spending power of China, and 22x the buying power of the tween + Gen Z markets.
Why do you believe the work you do matters?
Those who create content create a culture - we influence buying habits, voting habits, and how people shape the world. If this weren’t true, none of us would have jobs.
Who is your mentor and what is the best advice they’ve given you?
I have a few mentors for various areas of my life, but I’d say one of my leaders from my time in ZA (who also doubled as my adoptive mom), Terri Martin, will always be someone I look up to most. Like me, she’s worn a million hats over the years but she’s always said to “keep the main thing, the main thing.”
The tactics may have changed significantly over the years for me (for example, I don’t lead a children’s ministry for kids with disabilities in ZA anymore!) but the mission stays the same: human and civil rights for disabled people.
Another thing we’d talk about often was “doing it scared” - nobody who does big, brave things with their life feels 100% confident going in. Everyone has doubts. Everyone has fears. The people who I look up to are folks who saw the risk and said, “I’ll figure it out”, and risked humiliation and failure. I think about that a lot.
What piece of content about you or your company are you most proud of?
We held an event for International Day of Disabled People in 2023, and we did an event called “The Inclusion Revolution” where we went really deep on the psychology of implicit bias, and really pushed creatives to start to think about how they can implement this in their lives and work. We had hundreds of creatives reach out saying it was the best training they’d ever been a part of, and they felt empowered to make tangible changes.
What publication do you hope to appear in next?
Forbes. When I quit one of my gigs to step into this work full time a family member really discouraged me to not, saying, “You don’t have what it takes, you didn’t study this” and I bet on myself. I’m so proud of that decision - I did it scared.
Who would you love to be interviewed by?
Without a doubt, Trevor Noah. I loved him long before he was famous in the USA. His South African humor is even better because he can speak to all of the discomfort people feel from all backgrounds in ZA, because of his mixed background. He does a great job of talking about deeply uncomfortable things, and embedding humor, without it pulling away from the seriousness of the topics.
That’s also something my late Yaya would be able to do - help people laugh through discomfort and pain, so they could find their feet and figure out how to be okay.
People are so uncomfortable talking about disability. I always try to help folks loosen up so that transformative conversations can happen.
If you had to give a TEDTalk tomorrow, what would the title be?
Inclusion Revolution: How Content Creators Shape Culture.
What award would mean the most to win?
UN Human Rights Prize or Forbes 40 Under 40. I want to transform the social justice issues that plague the disability community BY transforming business and advertising.
What makes zero sense to you?
Why disability isn’t included in DEI. Disabled people make up the largest historically marginalized community in the world; We’re the only community that you, or someone you love, can join at any time. Additionally, other historically marginalized communities have higher rates of disability - so by neglecting disability you’re also neglecting a huge percentage of the other identities you claim to support.
Also, again: why do companies ignore our market?
What’s a word in your industry you hope gets re-evaluated?
“Inclusive” - I hope that people start to understand that there are such varying degrees of ways that companies can move the needle forward and they are all needed, but that specialization is important. I can’t tell you how many times people ask me what I do for work and I say, “I own a marketing and consulting agency that focuses on disability inclusion”, and before I can finish my sentence they’ll say “Oh, do you know _______? They do disability inclusion in sports/wellness/website accessibility/healthcare policy!”
The intent is always to be supportive and helpful, which I love, but it’s the equivalent of me asking someone who works in marketing for a children’s brand if they know of Park Nicollet because they have pediatricians who also work with children. I hope we’re going to finally get to a place where specialization within disability inclusion is normal - I believe it’s what’s best for our community.
What game are you changing?
We’re changing the representation game of people with disabilities! Our coalition is creating a pressure cooker of the 100 most progressive, cutting-edge agencies and creative teams who are committed to seeing this change. I knew that building a coalition was the most impactful way to drive long-term change because everyone would benefit from the massive splash this makes.
What’s the next thing you’re a part of that you want to invite more people to participate in?
The Misfit 100! It’s a two-year sprint where we take you through every single stage of what you need to do to create inclusive content and have the strategy be effective, but it’s also customizable enough to flex to your team’s unique needs. We price based on the size of the company, and you get to select which level of engagement you do with us.
Where can we follow you online?
What’s one thing that makes every leader better?
Humility. I don’t know it all, and admitting that is a superpower. I bring the folks in around me, I commit to a ruthless pursuit of both personal and professional development, and I acknowledge when I make mistakes. I believe it’s because of this that we were able to build such an impactful board for the Misfit 100.
Also, (sorry. You’re getting two.)
Integrity. Anyone can get up on a platform (virtual or real life) and make big claims about caring about others, making the world better, and being an outstanding creative…. But if your actions don’t match up, it’s only a matter of time before it catches up with you. The work I do requires me to be extremely outspoken and push the status quo, and sometimes that upsets people. But knowing that I’m acting with integrity is what keeps me going.
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We’re grateful to each Rising ICON for their transformative work. Thank you, Kelsey, for sharing your story!
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“Nobody who does big, brave things with their life feels 100% confident going in. Everyone has doubts. Everyone has fears. The people who I look up to are folks who saw the risk and said, “I’ll figure it out”
Notice: It’s important for our readers to understand the origin of the interview content. The featured ICON contributed responses that were not edited from the original submission. All claims are made solely by the contributor and do not reflect the views of LAUREL or its partners. Thank you for supporting rising leaders. The future is bold.
