All My Friends Have ADHD

#9 - Svet Jacqueline (American documentary photographer based in Ukraine) in Kyiv

Svet Jacqueline is an American documentary photographer based in Kyiv, covering the war in Ukraine for the Wall Street Journal and others. Before Ukraine, she covered BLM, migration at the US-Mexico border, and wildfires. She was diagnosed with ADD at 11 — more than two decades before this conversation — and has spent her adult life building the systems, workarounds, and hard-won self-knowledge that keep her functioning in one of the most demanding, unpredictable environments on earth. This episode is a little different. Recorded in Kyiv, it's as much a conversation between two friends and colleagues as it is an interview — two conflict photojournalists with ADHD comparing notes on what it actually means to live and work this way. They get into the particular chaos of freelance life with ADD, what it's like to be diagnosed as a child versus an adult, why weed makes everything worse, the relationship between risk-taking and ADHD, medication dependency and what happens on the days you forget it, visual memory so sharp Svet once recognized a stranger on a New York street from a single glance at a painting four years earlier — and Laurel's theory that the closer you get to the front line, the higher the incidence of ADHD among people who don't have to be there. 🎙️ Guest: Svet Jacqueline — documentary photographer, Kyiv, Ukraine. Work published in Wall Street Journal and others. Previously covered BLM, US-Mexico border migration, and wildfires. 🧠 All My Friends Have ADHD is hosted by journalist and filmmaker Laurel Chor. 📍Recorded on July 24, 2025 in Kyiv, Ukraine  Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2558576/fan_mail/new] Watch episode videos on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWzJ8TpsmDE&list=PLUbnzz2_0XhfrcrO0N_WCw_Tl9SvELjwu&index=11] Follow us on Instagram: @allmyfriendshaveadhd [http://www.instagram.com/allmyfriendshaveadhd] Follow Laurel on Instagram: @laurelchor [http://www.instagram.com/laurelchor] New episodes every other Monday.

#8 - Eniola Mafe-Abaga (British-Nigerian Global Advocacy & Partnerships Director @ Fika, a Rural Infrastructure & Mobility NGO)

Eniola Mafe Abaga is a force of nature — a British-Nigerian global development leader, co-founder of civic movement #TheNewNigerian, and currently Global Advocacy and Partnerships Director at Fika (formerly known as Bridges to Prosperity), an NGO literally building trail bridges to connect isolated rural communities across Africa and beyond. She's also been diagnosed with ADHD since her sophomore year at Spelman College — a diagnosis she promptly forgot she'd even taken the test for. In this episode, Eniola and Laurel get into the full arc of what it means to navigate ADHD as a high-achieving Black woman: from report cards that said "brilliant but always late" to working on Wall Street, to finally hitting rock bottom during grad school at Georgetown and actually doing something about it. They talk about the grief of diagnosis, the particular stigma of ADHD in African and Nigerian contexts — where medication can be near-impossible to find and some psychologists still advise patients to "pray it away" — and how Eniola went from quietly managing to speaking openly about her diagnosis in professional and public spaces. Plus: how she uses ChatGPT as a coach for initiation, building her own AI digital twin, and measuring productivity in album lengths instead of hours. 🎙️ Guest: Eniola Mafe-Abaga — Global Advocacy and Partnerships Director @ Fika (formerly Bridges to Prosperity), Cross-sector collaboration and revenue development expert, formerly at World Economic Forum, Merrill Lynch 🧠 All My Friends Have ADHD is hosted by journalist and filmmaker Laurel Chor — exploring neurodivergent minds across cultures, careers, and continents. 📍Recorded online on June 18, 2025 (with Eniola tuning in from Lagos) Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2558576/fan_mail/new] Watch episode videos on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWzJ8TpsmDE&list=PLUbnzz2_0XhfrcrO0N_WCw_Tl9SvELjwu&index=11] Follow us on Instagram: @allmyfriendshaveadhd [http://www.instagram.com/allmyfriendshaveadhd] Follow Laurel on Instagram: @laurelchor [http://www.instagram.com/laurelchor] New episodes every other Monday.

#7 - Cesar Harada (French-Japanese Ocean Tech Designer & Entrepreneur with Dyslexia & Dyspraxia) in Paris

This week Laurel sits down in Paris with César — French-Japanese designer, ocean technologist, educator, environmentalist, TED Senior Fellow, and PhD candidate — who has never been diagnosed with ADHD, but was diagnosed with dyslexia, dyspraxia, and an epileptic condition after a truly unforgettable childhood head injury. What follows is one of the most wide-ranging conversations yet: shapeshifting boats, the BP oil spill, floating oyster farms, hydrogen energy, sea level rise, Fukushima radiation — and what it means to have a brain that runs on emotional urgency, hates wasting other people's time, and organizes 15,000 people in a two-database Notion system. 🎙️ Guest: César — ocean innovator, designer, TED Senior Fellow, PhD candidate in ocean innovation, Paris/global 🧠 All My Friends Have ADHD is hosted by journalist and filmmaker Laurel Chor — exploring neurodivergent minds across cultures, careers, and continents. 📍Recorded in Paris on May 31, 2025 Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2558576/fan_mail/new] Watch episode videos on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWzJ8TpsmDE&list=PLUbnzz2_0XhfrcrO0N_WCw_Tl9SvELjwu&index=11] Follow us on Instagram: @allmyfriendshaveadhd [http://www.instagram.com/allmyfriendshaveadhd] Follow Laurel on Instagram: @laurelchor [http://www.instagram.com/laurelchor] New episodes every other Monday.

#6 - Mom Lindsay Jang (Hospitality, Wellness & Media Entrepreneur) & Teenage Daughter Lili Jang-Abergel in Hong Kong

In this episode, Laurel sits down with serial entrepreneur Lindsay Jang — co-founder of Yardbird and Ronin, founder of Family Form and Always Joy — and her 17-year-old daughter Lili Jang-Abergel. Both have ADHD, diagnosed years apart, and neither knew the other had it when Lili was first diagnosed. They talk about what untreated ADD looks like when it masquerades as depression, why Lindsay didn't recognise herself in Lili's symptoms, the "Limitless" moment of finding the right medication, and how ADHD manifests completely differently even within the same family.  🎙️ Guest: Lindsay Jang — entrepreneur, co-founder of restaurants Yardbird, Ronin & Always Joy, and wellness brand Family Form 🎙️ Guest: Lili Jang-Abergel — student, 17 (at the time of recording) 📍Recorded in Hong Kong on May 7, 2025 Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2558576/fan_mail/new] Watch episode videos on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWzJ8TpsmDE&list=PLUbnzz2_0XhfrcrO0N_WCw_Tl9SvELjwu&index=11] Follow us on Instagram: @allmyfriendshaveadhd [http://www.instagram.com/allmyfriendshaveadhd] Follow Laurel on Instagram: @laurelchor [http://www.instagram.com/laurelchor] New episodes every other Monday.

#5 - Mary HK Choi (New York Times bestselling author with AuDHD)

Mary HK Choi is the New York Times Bestselling author of Emergency Contact, Permanent Record, Yolk and Pool House (now available for pre-order). She was diagnosed with both ADHD and autism in her 40s.  Permanent Record is being adapted for a feature film, while Yolk will become a TV series. Mary is an executive producer and writer for both, because her talents are endless.  Mary is a third-culture kid: she was born in South Korea, grew up in Hong Kong and Houston, and now lives in New York City.  In this episode, we talked about making deadlines, learning to say no, and ADHD burn-out and/or autism melt-downs.  Recorded in New York City on April 30, 2025.  Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2558576/fan_mail/new] Watch episode videos on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWzJ8TpsmDE&list=PLUbnzz2_0XhfrcrO0N_WCw_Tl9SvELjwu&index=11] Follow us on Instagram: @allmyfriendshaveadhd [http://www.instagram.com/allmyfriendshaveadhd] Follow Laurel on Instagram: @laurelchor [http://www.instagram.com/laurelchor] New episodes every other Monday.