We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mary Angelini a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mary, so great to have you sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our readers and so let’s jump right into one of our favorite topics – empathy. We think a lack of empathy is at the heart of so many issues the world is struggling with and so our hope is to contribute to an environment that fosters the development of empathy. Along those lines, we’d love to hear your thoughts around where your empathy comes from?
I was crushed when I realized that NO ONE would hire my daughter, despite her love of service, hard work and bubbly personality. This discrimination is incredibly common for adults with SPECIAL ABILITIES. In Wake County there are 68,000 people living with a disability, only 18% of adults with a disability are employed. That’s why Gabi and I are focused on employing as many people as possible. We currently have over 40 employees at our 2 nonprofit companies.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Mary Angelini Co-founder, Gabi’s Powered by Special Abilities
Mary is co-founder of Gabi’s Powered by Special Abilities, a nonprofit that provides workforce training, education, and other support programs to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to help them secure employment, contribute to society, and live a purposeful, rewarding life.
A personal experience led her to form Gabi’s Powered by Special Abilities with her co-founder and daughter, Gabi. After high school graduation, Gabi was unable to secure employment. Literally no one would hire her. Not one person could see her special abilities, just her Down syndrome.
Mary and Gabi were determined to help shift the conversation from disabilities to special abilities, neuro-diversity, and the power of inclusion to help create employment opportunities for people in the IDD community.
What began in 2017 as a small coffee company (Gabi’s Grounds) has now grown to include a full-scale packaging, assembling, labeling, and shipping company (Gabi’s PALS), as a business solution for mid-to-large manufacturing and logistics companies. In addition, there is a drop-shipping solution for local, smaller companies.
Today, Gabi’s Powered by Special Abilities is an award-winning nonprofit organization and has a team of more than 45 people with special abilities including blindness, autism, Down syndrome, and more. Gabi’s Grounds continues to provide pop-up shops at local businesses and markets, and offers Gabi’s Coffee Club, a subscription membership to businesses and coffee lovers everywhere.
Mary is dedicated to the empowerment of the special abilities community and to help educate the world about the power of diversity and inclusion. She travels with Gabi to speak at corporate events and conferences and help inspire people to see the superpowers in all of us.
Prior to founding Gabi’s with her daughter, Mary held positions with IBM and Our Lady of Lourdes church. She enjoys kickboxing and spending time with her husband, six children and their families.
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Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Prayer, Assertiveness, Determination
Be open to God’s will for your life, He knows the plans He has for you. Surrender your will to His and He will lead you where you are supposed to be.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
We are always looking for partners, whether that be packaging, assembling, labeling, shipping, stuffing envelopes, working with CBD projects, whatever we need more work, so we can hire more people.
We welcome volunteers to come work side by side with our special abilities community.
Donations are always helpful!
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.poweredbygabis.org
- Instagram: Gabisraleigh
- Facebook: Gabi’s: Powered by Special Abilities.
- Linkedin: Gabi’s: Powered by Special Abilities
