We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Madison Short a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Madison, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Any advice for creating a more inclusive workplace?

As a company that is almost entirely comprised of neurodivergent humans committed to serving the neurodivergent community, we have found one of the most important pillars of our business model to be practicing what we preach. Many neurodivergent humans have a hard time finding a safe place to land in the modern capitalism based corporate America. There are a few things we like to implement for our team and workspace….

1. Everyone is different and should be treated as such. As we grow and add more members to our team it’s impossible to ignore that there are some general rules for the workplace we all need to follow. But besides that, knowing that what works for one team member, may not work for the next. That can include anything from the time and spaces we work in, to what kind of work and how work gets done.

2. We try to gamify EVERYTHING. You spend the majority of your life working, and we work hard to make sure it isn’t a miserable experience. Also most neurodivergent brains are wired differently, but we’ve found that when tasks, projects, and goals are gamified it trips the wiring a little and makes our goals a little more achievable.

3. The ability to recognize that people over profit has to be our priority in order to create the kind of team and work place we can be proud of. Allowing our team to prioritize their mental health, make mistakes, and openly communicate with us has certainly cost us money over time. But we like to think that this is cost is well worth having a happy, healthy and functioning team.

Madison, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

At the start of 2020, our founder Britney was a successful full-time professional photographer and through a series of really weird events, pandemics, life changes, and joining TikTok (do NOT knock it until you try it!) I figured out that my place in the world was helping other people realize they aren’t alone with their misfiring neurodivergent brains. Our flagship product is a daily notepad planner that is designed specifically for neurodivergent friends. We have expanded our planner line to over 36 different planners to fit the various parts of people every day lives. We have a large and robust subscription box that focuses on habits and characteristics that neurodivergent friends struggle with. We continue to participate in community events that align with our core values, like our cities pride festival, and women in business.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

We have w0rked really hard to build a strong community via our social channels over the last few years. We are committed to being as authentic and genuine in our daily interactions as well as being consistent in our presence. We are also very intentional about who and what comments we interact with.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

We are constantly learning about the managing both processes and people. As someone who is hyper independent its often difficult for me to asses what can be handled by others and how to best empower people to do their very best work. We have an incredible team and figuring out how to get the right people in the right seats has helped solve the “I need to do everything myself” stance I’ve worked with most of my life

Contact Info:

• Website: https://imperfectinspiration.com/about
• Instagram: imperfect.inspiration
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/imperfectinspiration?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Other: @imperfectinspiration