In this highlight, from the very first episode of Love Meets Joy, Iva and Ashley share how they began their cleft advocacy journeys.

Join hosts Iva Ballou and Ashley Barbour for Season 2 of Love Meets Joy! This season, Iva and Ashley share the mic with fellow cleft community members. Hear from a diverse group, including a TikTok influencer, a child psychologist, a tap-dancing lobbyist, a fashion designer, and even their brothers. With such a wide range of perspectives, this is a season you won’t want to miss!

In this special, two-part episode, Ashley and Iva introduce listeners to a completely different perspective of their cleft journeys – their mothers’. When did they find out their daughter would have a cleft? What was the most challenging part of the cleft journey for them? Is there anything they wish they’d known at the beginning? Did they grapple with any guilt? Joined by their daughters, Janet Barbour and Carolyn Ballou open up about all these topics and more. 

Language is powerful and the words we choose to describe ourselves or others often contribute to the construction of our own internal narratives. While the terms used to describe clefts and other facial differences have evolved over time, there is still a lack of consensus among community members about which words are preferred and why. In addition to sharing their own thoughts about the “language of cleft”, in this episode, Ashley and Iva discuss their experiences with bullying and share advice for others who may be dealing with it. 

Having a facial difference can complicate how individuals relate to conventional beauty standards. For cleft-affected women in particular, it can be an especially fraught topic. In this episode, Ashley and Iva discuss their own, ever-evolving journeys around makeup and scars, body image, cosmetic cleft-related procedures, and more. 

As members of the cleft community know firsthand, having a facial difference can introduce a completely new dimension to dating. Join Ashley and Iva as they discuss how their clefts have affected their romantic relationships and their approach to online dating, and the universal theme of searching for love and acceptance.  

While all members of the cleft lip and palate community have some shared experiences, each individual’s journey is unique. In this episode, Ashley and Iva dive into their personal cleft experiences. Among other topics, they discuss their surgeries, cleft-related eating challenges, social and emotional difficulties, and their paths to self-acceptance.  

Welcome to the Love Meets Joy podcast! In this first episode, hosts Iva Ballou and Ashley Barbour share their personal stories, their connections to cleft lip and palate, how they started their cleft advocacy journeys, and the goal of this new series.