Finding Your People

I was kicked out of Catholic school the first semester of my freshman year for dyeing my hair green.

Honestly, I didn't mind. I was ready to get out of the parochial school system I had been in since the first grade.

I ended up transferring to public school for the second semester. I never would have admitted it then, but I was super nervous. Thankfully, on my very first day, I spotted a mohawk, and breathed a sigh of relief. I found my people.

Finding your people in business feels exactly the same. There is a difference between those who understand your vision and those who truly comprehend it.

Many people hear "startup" and mentally compare it to the closest framework they already know. A side hustle. A coffee shop. An app idea.

The complexity of building something mission driven from the ground up is hard to fully grasp unless you have lived it yourself, and being neurodivergent adds another layer entirely.

The intensity of the vision. The emotional weight of uncertainty. The RSD (iykyk). The sacrifice. The feeling that your brain never actually turns off. The exhaustion of trying to translate something massive living inside your head into words other people can actually digest.

That's why finding people who "get it" matters. Not people who simply nod politely, or immediately try to reshape the product into something safer or more familiar. Not people who posture or start debating the premise entirely.

But those who skip all that, and immediately start discussing the deeper layers.

Over the last couple of months, I have had many life-giving conversations with people who have inspired and encouraged me. I wanted to take a moment to highlight just a few of those incredible people here.

Jacob Estep founder of ND Connect, a platform where you can find neurodivergent peer mentors, friends, and a supportive community of people that want to help you thrive.

Melissa Reilly a mental health advocate, healthcare initiative architect, and the host of the Hope, Power, & Healthcare podcast with Chris Hemphill. Melissa helps companies innovate and improve our broken healthcare system through STLTH CNSLTNG.

Gwyneth Borden founder of Remynt Group Inc., a platform that empowers underserved populations to get out of collections debt and rebuild their financial lives.

Richard Belsky, leadership coach and cofounder of Where House Ventures. Through capital, coaching, and hospitality, Where House is designed to turn elite founders into effective leaders.

Jonathan Mooney and La Mer Walker of the Divergent Impact Fund, an ecosystem dedicated to investing in neurodivergent founders and solutions.

Sometimes the greatest gift another founder can give you is not advice.

It is recognition.

And for founders in the trenches, especially neurodivergent founders trying to build differently, that kind of encouragement is not small.

It is oxygen.