USA snowboarder Daina Shilts is an athlete leader who’s as dynamic on the speaker’s podium as she is on the slopes. She says, “Special Olympics has taught me—and other people—that it’s okay to be different.” In fact, she says “it’s awesome” to be different.

As part of Special Olympics most of her life, Daina has seen up close how sports brings people together, especially through Unified Sports, which teams up people with and without intellectual disabilities.