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Collette Divitto

Equal Opportunities to Work Award | Honoring Collette Divitto, founder of Collettey’s Cookies and a passionate disability rights advocate, for breaking barriers by creating employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

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Empowerment Celebration Honoree

Collette Divitto is a pioneering entrepreneur, disability rights activist, and thought leader to anyone who’s ever been told they are not good enough or intelligent enough to pursue their dreams.

After being rejected from many job opportunities, likely due to her disability (Down syndrome), Collette decided to launch her own cookie company. Before she knew it, the company, and her story, blew up to national status. Today, Collettey’s has sold hundreds of thousands of cookies, and stays true to her mission of creating employment for people with disabilities!

Though Collettey’s (Collette’s nickname) began with selling cookies exclusively online, Collette has recently developed a shelf-stable cookie that will take her business to the next level via retail accounts. A short film documentary called 17% (representing only 17% of people with disabilities have employment) Collette’s life and her cookie company has just been selected for an Academy Award Oscar in this year's 2024 Short Films! You certainly will be seeing more of Collette!

On top of running a successful national company, Collettey’s Cookie Corp., Collette also operates a nonprofit organization, Collettey’s Leadership. Nonprofit services are delivered via courses, coaching, and workshops that Collette runs. With the support of her mother, Rosemary, they develop all of their curriculums. The big vision? To take Collettey’s Leadership national, or even global, with a full-fledged academy. Collettey’s Cookies donates a % of profits each year to this goal.

Collette has been a magnet for media attention. To date, she has been in People and Forbes Magazine, and appeared on shows like Fox and Friends, CNBC Make It, NBC First Look, David Muir, News Nation, and many more including a Ted Talk. She stars in Shopify Studio’s reality show, “Born for Business,,” which is available to stream on Peacock and Crave Canada. Recently, Collette deployed a new web series on YouTube entitled “Underestimated.”

What does it boil down to? Collette Divitto is a mogul in the making, has a heart of gold, and wants to spread her message far and wide. She hopes her journey and successes can bring great change for people with disabilities, especially for employment opportunities.