After graduating from Clemson University, Collette Divitto moved to Boston, MA with high hopes of getting hired. However, after multiple interviews that ended with nothing more than an email reading “it was great to meet you, Collette, but at this time we feel you are not a good fit for our company”, Collette decided she was done waiting for others to see what she was capable of. She decided to start her own business, inspired by her lifelong love of baking, and eventually became so successful she now sells internationally and travels around the world to talk about her experience. 

While Collette’s story of struggling to get hired may not seem all that different from all the others fresh from college looking for work, there is one part that is a little different. Collette has Down Syndrome, a genetic disorder caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21, often leading to developmental delays and distinct physical features.

Although Collette has never let her disability stop her from chasing her dreams, her inability to find a job because of it showed the stereotypes and obstacles people with disabilities face when trying to make a living.

When Collette was in high school, she took a baking class that inspired a lifelong love for the craft. After experimenting with different recipes, she eventually developed an original cinnamon chocolate chip cookie recipe. After friends and family repeatedly responded to taste-tests with “this cookie is amazing”, she named it “The Amazing Cookie”.

After struggling to get a job post-college, Collette founded “Collettey’s Cookies”. She approached a local grocery store to see if they’d be willing to sell the Amazing Cookies and the store agreed, becoming the first of her many customers.

After appearing on Boston CBS TV in 2016, Collettey’s Cookies went viral, leading to Collette being featured on media outlets such as CNN, Good Morning America, MSNBC, Inside Edition, BBC, CBS Evening News, ABC World News and People Magazine.

Collette knew on a first-hand basis how much people with disabilities can struggle to get hired so she decided to use her platform to help fix that. Collettey’s Cookies employs 15 people, most of whom also have some form of disability.

Collette also founded Collettey’s Leadership, a leadership nonprofit where she works to mentor people with and without disabilities. She teaches Entrepreneurial Classes, Career Discovery, and A Pathway to Total Independence, as well as running a baking show on YouTube, writing a blog, and speaking all over the world.

Collette isn’t planning on slowing down any time soon. “My dream is to become a well-known national brand (like Tate’s and Mrs. Fields), to have my own Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, and to continue creating jobs for people with disabilities and lower their unemployment rate, which is a crisis for people like me,” Collette wrote on her website collettedivitto.com. “82% of people with disabilities that are very able and wanting employment so desperately and to be a valuable entity to a company are being rejected.”

Collette hopes to reach lawmakers in Washington D.C. and work with them to create policies and laws that would level the playing field for people with disabilities trying to find a job.

Her goal is to eliminate the 14(c) exemption which allows companies to pay people with disabilities whatever they believe they are “worth”. These salaries are often set below the federal minimum wage, with some people being paid less than a dollar an hour for their work. Collette wants to see everyone of every ability level get paid a living wage, and is also working to introduce tax incentives for companies that hire people with disabilities.

Collette’s story has been the subject of a number of different documentaries and TV series including ‘The 17%’ and ‘Born for Business’, currently available on Peacock.

Collette’s story proves you should never let others tell you what you can and can’t do. If a door is shut in your face, open another one. You never know how many other people you might be opening that door for as well.

“No matter who you are, you can make a great difference in this world. Don’t let people bring you down. Do not focus on your disabilities. You only need to focus on your abilities.” – Collette Divitto