Success Stories: Collette Divitto’s $1M Cookie Business

After one job interview after another, Collette Divitto kept hearing the same line: “You’re not the right fit.” She knew what it really meant. She has Down syndrome, and many people just couldn’t see past that.

At home, it was different. Her mom never treated her like a label — she just treated her like Collette. When school felt lonely and kids were unkind, Collette would go into the kitchen, measure flour and sugar, and bake to calm herself down.

Years later, she joined Clemson University’s ClemsonLIFE program for students with intellectual disabilities. After graduating, she moved to Boston ready to work, full of hope, but door after door still closed.

So instead of waiting for someone to give her a chance, she created her own. She turned her favorite hobby into a business called Collettey’s Cookies. Her “Amazing Cookie” — a chocolate chip cookie with a little cinnamon — started selling fast. Over about five years, the company passed $1 million in revenue, sold more than 400,000 cookies, and grew to around 15 employees, many of them people with disabilities.

Alongside that, she started Collettey’s Leadership Org, helping people with disabilities prepare for real, paid work in a world where employment for people with disabilities is still very low.