Collette Divitto
{{Short description|American disability rights activist (born 1990)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Collette Divitto
| image = Collette Divitto's "Amazing Cookie".png
| alt = Packages of Collettey's Cookies with information on Divitto
| caption = The packaging of the "Amazing Cookie" from Collettey's Cookies
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1990|10|4|df=y}}
| occupation = Entrepreneur and disability rights activist
| known_for = Founder of Collettey's Cookies
}}
Collette Divitto (born October 4, 1990) is an entrepreneur and disability rights activist based in Boston, Massachusetts. She is the founder of Collettey's Cookies.
Early life
Divitto has Down syndrome. She graduated from Clemson University in South Carolina in 2013.{{cite news |last1=Kurland |first1=Ann Trieger |title=When this entrepreneur with Down syndrome couldn't find work at a bakery, she started her own |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2017/01/30/entrepreneur-with-down-syndrome-starts-her-own-cookie-company-and-finds-sweet-success/HaYhq9gs1L2eNQuBCqUHzM/story.html |newspaper=The Boston Globe |date=January 30, 2017 |access-date=December 2, 2018}}
Career
Collettey's Cookies was founded in 2015, with help from her mother Rosemary Alfredo and sister Blake, after failing to find paid employment. Her first retail account was Golden Goose Market, a store in her neighborhood, the North End. The store was selling 100 bags of Collettey's Cookies within the first week.{{cite news |title=Boston Business Owner With Down Syndrome Receives Orders For Thousands Of Cookies|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/boston-cookie-business-owner-with-down-syndrome-thousands-orders-collette-divitto/ |agency=CBS News |date=December 1, 2016 |access-date=March 28, 2025}} After a TV news segment about the company in the winter of 2016, which was amplified via social media, sales increased.{{cite news |title=Cookie orders roll in at business owned by woman with Down syndrome |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cookie-orders-roll-in-business-owned-by-woman-with-down-syndrome/ |agency=CBS News |date=December 2, 2016 |access-date=December 2, 2018}}{{cite web |last1=Tejada |first1=Chloe |title=Rejection Made This Baker With Down Syndrome Open Her Own Cookie Shop |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/01/19/baker-down-syndrome_n_14266698.html |work=HuffPost |date=January 19, 2017 |access-date=December 2, 2018}} In 2018, represented the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress at the United Nations as a star ambassador.{{cite news |title='Collettey's Cookies' Founder Speaking At UN For World Down Syndrome Day |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/world-down-syndrome-day-collettes-cookies-united-nations-collette-divitto/ |agency=CBS News |date=March 21, 2018 |access-date=March 28, 2025}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External sources
- [https://www.facebook.com/collette.divitto Collette Divitto's Facebook profile]
- [https://www.facebook.com/colletteyscookies/ Facebook page for Collettey's Cookies]
- [https://www.colletteys.com/ Website for Collettey's Cookies]
- [https://twitter.com/colletteycookie Twitter account for Collettey's Cookies (featuring photographs of cookies, labels, Collette, and staffers)] - @colletteycookie
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Divitto, Collette}}
Category:Clemson University alumni
Category:21st-century American businesspeople
Category:People with Down syndrome
Category:21st-century American businesswomen
Category:American activists with disabilities