Colette DeVito has always been a passionate baker. Since the age of 15, she remembers cooking on weekends and for her friends and family. As her passion grew, she knew she wanted to spend her life as a baker. At 22, she quickly started applying for jobs all over Boston.
I started to hit rejection after rejection.
Several people who interviewed me for jobs said I was really nice but didn’t suit them, “Divitto wrote in an interview with Upworthy.” It was really painful and I felt a lot rejected.
Divitto begins to feel embarrassed by Down’s syndrome and wonders if that’s why she’s rejected in so many interviews. Despite these rejections, she decides not to let them dissuade her from pursuing her passion. With the help of her mother and sister, the three of them founded a company called Collettey’s.
Shortly after starting their business, they received a new order from the Golden Goose Market in Boston! This was followed by CBS coverage and as of December 2016 there were 10,000 orders to fill!
“My biggest success so far is growing my business, which means I can start hiring people with and without disabilities,” DeVito says of his successful business.
People with disabilities face enormous difficulties in finding employment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people with disabilities face an unemployment rate that is twice as high as others. Divitto has proven to the world that she is more than capable of leading, and even managing, a successful business despite the societal stigma surrounding her disability!
DeVito’s mother, Rosemary Alfredo, believed in her daughter’s talents and explains that they have never seen her different from others. “I didn’t raise her looking at her like she had limits,” she further explains. I just said, “We all have them. We all have things we’re good at, and we all have things we’re not good at.” You could call them disabilities. We all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. We’re not focusing on that. “
The young baker also has words for people looking to pursue their goals – “Never give up. Don’t let people make you sad or feel rejected. Stay motivated and follow your dreams.”
While there are challenges for the disabled community to find work, a young woman has put her talents and determination to work, and her bakery is now booming! She showed the world that nothing could stop her, and that despite what the baking community thought of her in the past, she has truly become unstoppable!
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