We were lucky to catch up with Zenith Fae Gracyon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Zenith Fae, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I am a late-diagnosed autistic person, and I have struggled to fit into neurotypical society, including employment endeavors, for my whole life. Self-diagnosing and then later being formally diagnosed as autistic has been empowering and validating on so many levels. I have a greater sense of self, and I no longer feel as compelled to compare myself to everyone else. I feel like if I had been granted the opportunity to have an autistic mentor as an adolescent, then it would have been incredibly beneficial for me.

My purpose in creating Autistically Golden Tutoring is to help guide students on how to reach and exceed their targets. I seek to encourage neurodivergent students that they are more than a diagnosis and formulate customized plans for each student, so they are able to learn in a way that works with their specific brain. Different people learn and retain information in different ways, so it’s important to make sure that tutoring is tailored to every student individually versus in the same teaching style.

One of my students learns better when listening to someone verbally communicate. I prefer being able to read due to having auditory processing issues, but it is easy to meet this student where he is at versus expecting him to learn in the same way that I do. Having genuine conversation back and forth with both his mum and the student enables me to help him learn to master the skills that challenge him.

One of the largest struggles that people in the autistic community have is our fight against applied behavioural analysis (ABA) therapy. The people who have created this program consistently disregard adult autistic voices. The program is made by neurotypical (not autistic) “professionals” and “experts.” How can you truly be an expert in something that you yourself don’t personally experience? Neurodivergent brains are wired differently than neurotypical brains.

My aspiration is to give actual knowledge to people that will truly inspire them versus putting them in a box. Society cannot continue to think that they know other people better than people know themselves. We are worthy of honour, dignity, and respect, but we don’t always receive these from other people. I will always strive to protect the voices of my people and uplift them to advocate for themselves and/ or their children.

If given proper access to support needs, neurodivergent people can live much more fulfilling and peaceful lives. I am here to truly listen to people and understand how I can best support each individual through Autistically Golden Tutoring.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I have worked many different jobs, and many of those jobs had hostile and toxic working environments. I was adopted as a newborn, and one of my adoptive aunts always told us when we growing up to “Do what you love, and love what you do.” Plenty of people have told me to give up and find a job working for someone else again because it’s “easier” that way. When I work for other people, I put my whole heart, body, mind, and soul into working for a corporation, and then I don’t have the capacity to put into making a difference in other people’s lives in the same way that I do when I’m focused on contributing to make an impact on the lives of neurodivergent people. Choosing to keep striving toward entrepreneurship enables me to put my whole heart, mind, body, and soul into helping other people with brains that are wired similarly to mine.

As an autistic person who has struggled greatly with social interactions, it has taken many hours and dollars of therapy to learn how to communicate better with others and to have the capacity to bring more positive influences in my life.

I am incredibly grateful to a Facebook group called “Imagine No Prisons” for the strong impact they have on building me up versus tearing me down. We are all incredibly focused on social justice and trying to find ways to change people’s views of capitalism. We are intentional about choosing love over everything else. Love is how we are able to keep being resilient, even when times become challenging.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

There are so many books that have significantly impacted my life. My list may not impact management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy in the way that others would expect, but I truly feel that focusing on personal development enables me to go forth into society and bring more compassion and understanding to others. “Joy of Business: What if adventure is the business of living?” by Simone Milasas is an incredible read. My favourite part of this one is how Simone Milasas discusses how setting targets instead of goals motivates people to exceed their targets versus choosing to stop once they’ve met their goals. “How to Become Money Workbook” by Gary Douglas is an interesting book and teaches readers how to view money from a different perspective. “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle is life-altering, as is “Many Lives, Many Masters: The True Story of a Prominent Psychiatrist, His Young Patient, and the Past-Life Therapy That Changed Both Their Lives” by Brian L. Weiss, M.D. “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert and “A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of ‘A Course In Miracles'” by Marianne Williamson both significantly impacted me on a spiritual level. Learning to be able to keep myself grounded has significantly impacted my ability to know the power I hold within myself to create actual ripples of change throughout the world.

Contact Info:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zenith-fae-gracyon-345a2b1a2/
• Other: I am available for virtual tutoring via googlemeet video chat platform. I can also help to provide resources with regards to advocacy for your children or yourself. Please feel free to text or call (360) 820-1439, or you can email me at [email protected].