Project Sleep at SXSW: President & CEO Julie Flygare to Speak on Entertainment’s Impact on Health

Project Sleep President & CEO Julie Flygare will speak at South by Southwest (SXSW) during a special conversation exploring how entertainment shapes society’s understanding of health and wellness. The session will also feature RJ Mitte, known for portraying Walter White Jr. on Breaking Bad, who lives with cerebral palsy and has become a leading voice for disability representation in Hollywood. The session, “The Entertainment Effect: Influencing Society’s View on Health and Wellness” presented by Harmony Biosciences, will take place on Saturday, March 14, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. CT at the Axios House at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

Our President & CEO, Julie Flygare will be in conversation with Nicholas Johnston, publisher of Axios. After being diagnosed with narcolepsy at age 24, Julie saw a striking gap between Hollywood’s portrayals of sleep disorders and the real-life lived experience of people navigating these conditions every day.

As the author of Wide Awake and Dreaming: A Memoir of Narcolepsy, and the founder of Project Sleep’s Rising Voices program, which has trained over 180 storytellers living with sleep disorders, Julie believes deeply in the power of storytelling to influence our health beliefs and behaviors. Her work has included collaborations with The Simpsons and Honda Motor Company, and her personal story has been featured in outlets including Marie Claire, CNN, and Scientific American.

Through Project Sleep’s initiatives like the Hollywood & Sleep Initiative, Rising Voices storytelling training, and the Sleep Helpline, Project Sleep works to elevate authentic patient voices and encourage more accurate portrayals of sleep and health in media, and help more people living with sleep disorders get the resources and support they deserve.

In-person registration for this session is now at capacity and closed, but the conversation can be watched virtually on Axios’ YouTube channel.

As Project Sleep heads to SXSW, we hope this conversation inspires storytellers, creators, and advocates to recognize the power they hold to shape a more informed, compassionate understanding of sleep disorders and disability.

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