Event Recap: Diversability Unplugged: Entrepreneurship and Disability

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This month kicked off our 2022 season of events with Diversability Unplugged: Disability and Entrepreneurship. Held on January 19, 2022, this event was an opportunity to discuss how entrepreneurship has grown in popularity and what it’s like to be a disabled entrepreneur. Our panelists included Melody Stein (MxT 2015 and Yantern), Alex Pappas (The Bearded Advocate), Adriana Mallozzi (Puffins Innovations) and Alvaro Silberstein (Wheel The World). The event was moderated by Katherine Lewis, Content Manager for the Diversability team.

Diversability’s Marie Degenais-Lewis kicked off the evening by welcoming attendees and sharing more about Diversability’s work. She, as well as the four panelists then briefly introduced themselves before diving into the evening’s topics. 

Journey to Entrepreneurship

Panelists introduced themselves and briefly discussed the work they did before venturing into entrepreneurship and explained the journey that led them there.

Several panelists had worked traditional 9-5 jobs in a variety of industries as well as others in the nonprofit sector. Some, like Alex, even continue to balance a current 9-5 career as well as entrepreneurial pursuits. Alex’s story resonated with a large portion of attendees, as 57% of entrepreneurs continue some sort of traditional work in addition to what is considered a “side hustle”*. While most aspire to have their side hustle eventually replace traditional work as their main source of income, others prefer to maintain their work in both settings or even combine the two like Melody did starting her own restaurant business. 

Others like Adrianna and Alvaro, entrepreneurship came into their life thanks to a series of serendipitous events and circumstances. For them, lived experiences and skill sets, as well as the perspectives they developed from both, awakened in them a passion for sharing with others. Adrianna started in the tech industry and eventually the nonprofit space which granted her a unique combination of passion and skill she decided to share through consultancy after post-9/11 budget constraints led to layoffs. Alvaro attributed his path to entrepreneurship both to a long line of familial entrepreneurs as well as a surprise viral post which launched his passion project.

Whatever the story, panelists agreed that entrepreneurship is not a linear path and the journey can be just as rewarding as the destination.  

Balancing Demands & Facing Stigma

Panelists shed light on the demands of entrepreneurship and the stigmas they often face. While this type of work is often much more accessible and flexible than traditional work styles for disabled persons, entrepreneurship is incredibly demanding work. So balancing growing a business while also ensuring we are being kind to ourselves and meeting our unique needs can be challenging. At the same time, there is often a great deal of stigma attached to being a disabled person in the entrepreneurial space. 

Melody attributed part of her ability to balance to seeing her dad set up his own restaurant business during her childhood. She already knew how demanding the work was as well as the basics of what it took to run a successful restaurant by the time she decided to do the same. She felt prepared with realistic expectations in that respect which allowed her to plan more deliberately. At the same time, as a Deaf woman working in an almost exclusively hearing industry, the barriers she experienced even setting up the lease for her business’ space were tremendous. What often took her hearing counterparts very little time to establish was significantly more difficult and she was often met with surprise that she was even venturing to be a business owner at all because of her Deafness. 

For others like Alex, Adriana, and Alvaro, the flexible nature of their business gave them the freedom they needed to prioritize themselves and their business together. With the often variable nature of chronic illness that Alex experiences, the ability to make his own schedule is paramount to balancing the career he has in facility management and the podcast he runs. Adriana appreciates that she can build a work schedule around her work style and access needs. Alvaro’s real world barriers as a quadreplegic make navigating spaces more time consuming and require more logistics. So having a career that is flexible provides more time for him to build a social network and priorities aside from his career. Without the flexibility of his business, he would not have the time to nurture that side of his life because it would be all consumed by navigating work spaces. 

Adriana’s experience with intersectional stigma as a female-identifying disabled entrepreneur was particularly profound. During a presentation with her co-founder at a conference, they consistently faced attempts by a male attendee to shift focus and later received the feedback that they were “too confident”, a clearly sexist and likely ableist remark to make. Adriana’s co-founder, with prior military experience, was additionally chastised for speaking on military issues she “clearly didn’t understand”, a common trope female-identifying veterans and civilians associated with military industries face. Other panelists recalled their own experiences with stigma and ableism throughout their entrepreneurial journeys but one theme remained constant:

The need for awareness, better education of the nondisabled world of our needs, and easier access to accommodations. 

Final Thoughts

To close the discussion portion of the event, panelists shared the most rewarding experience and/or accomplishments they’ve made as entrepreneurs. From Melody’s media coverage and opportunity to raise awareness and Alex’s expansion in both topic and reach, to Adriana’s development of a new technological tool and Alvaro being able to expand his team, our panelists have accomplished a tremendous amount and are impacting the world in amazing ways. And to give a final piece of advice to anyone in our audience hoping to become an entrepreneur or grow their business, Alvaro left us with the reminder to always have fun, cultivate your passion, and never stop creating. 

Watch a replay of the event on YouTube and continue the conversation in our online community.