Welcome to 2023!

Happy New Year everyone!

My name is Maisie Soetantyo, the Founding Director of Autism Career Pathways, and on behalf of our board of directors I wish you all an adventurous and a productive new year.  When we started this nonprofit in 2019, I took a year off to learn more about employment trends affecting the neurodivergent community and realized that currently available transition programs for autistic individuals were not nearly enough for them to enter workforce and thrive as valued employees.

During my research I had the opportunity to meet with many autistic-owned businesses and I learned firsthand how working from home is often the only option for these talented but sensory-challenged individuals. I was so impressed with the creativity, motivation and optimism I found in this group of aspiring entrepreneurs, and felt compelled to help bring attention to their gifts and talents.

I hope you were able to take part in ACP’s Holiday Boutique last month, where we were able to feature a number of autistic creators and service providers offering some wonderful gifts and foodstuffs for the holiday season. Continuing in the spirit of increasing autism acceptance and promotion we will continue to spotlight these talented creators via our monthly newsletter.  We see the ACP monthly newsletter as a way to connect autistic people of all ages to the right mentors. This is a way for autistic role models to inspire other autistic individuals, caregivers, professionals, community members to learn from each other regardless of where they are in their journey.

Regular features of the newsletter will include:

• Spotlights on neurodivergent-owned business and creatives
• Video Interviews with autistic individual about their career, business plan and special interest.
• Tips for parents/caregivers to think ahead about building the right kind of community and nurturing career aspirations for their autistic family members as early as possible.
• Teen corner
• Better Community Certified Businesses
• Opportunities to Volunteer with ACP

If you have a story that needs telling, please reach out to us so we can include it in a future edition of our newsletter.  i wish all of you success in 2023!

Maisie Soetantyo

“Diversity is a fact, equity is a choice, inclusion is an action and belonging is an outcome.”