We recently connected with Chloe Ellis and have shared our conversation below.

Chloe , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

For most of my life I lived in industries that rewarded masking and punished sensitivity.
I was pushed to be smaller, quieter, and easier to manage. I was dismissed, spoken over, and at times deeply mistreated.
I kept trying to fit into spaces that were not built for people like me.

When I was finally diagnosed with AuDHD everything clicked into place.
It was like someone handed me the missing pages of my own story.
Suddenly the burnout made sense. The overwhelm made sense. The strength I carried and the depth I felt made sense. And in that moment I realised I had spent years surviving instead of living.

The diagnosis was not an ending. It was the moment I decided to rebuild my entire life from the ground up.
I left the toxic industries.
I gave myself permission to understand who I actually was.
And I saw how many others were walking the same path without support, without language, and without a safe space to land.

That was the birth of my business.
Not a strategy.
A line in the sand.
A decision that the next chapter of my life would be honest, grounded, and in service of the neurodivergent community.

I created Unmasked and Becoming because I could not find a tool that guided late diagnosed adults through the emotional process of rediscovering their identity. There were books full of information, but nothing that walked you through the inner work. Nothing that validated the grief, the relief, the clarity, the confusion, and the rebuilding.

So I made what I desperately needed.
A guided journal that holds space for the real journey.
Not a clinical explanation
but a human one.

What made me sure this would work was simple.
Every neurodivergent person I spoke to kept telling me the same thing:
I do not know who I am without the mask.
I do not know where to start.
I wish someone would tell the truth about this experience.

I knew then that this was more than a business idea.
It was a missing resource, something no one else was doing in this exact way.
And the moment I launched, the response confirmed it. People felt seen. They felt understood. They felt less alone.

What excites me most is knowing that this brand does not just sell a product. It creates a space.
A space for healing, honesty, and self discovery.
A space I needed when I was younger and a space that so many of us still need today.

This business came from darkness, but it was built for light.
And every time someone tells me the journal helped them find themselves
I know I made the right choice with my life.

Chloe , 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?

I am Chloe, the founder of Unmasked & Becoming, a brand and guided journal created to support neurodivergent adults in reclaiming their identity and discovering their authentic selves.
My work comes from my own journey of unmasking, self discovery, and healing, and I built this brand because I saw a gap in the resources available to adults like me.

For years I worked in industries that did not understand or value neurodivergent brains.
I was dismissed, ignored, and often forced to hide who I was in order to survive.
Receiving my AuDHD diagnosis changed everything. It gave me clarity, context, and permission to finally meet myself for the first time.
I realised that I had spent so much of my life adapting to the world instead of learning to adapt the world to myself.

Unmasked & Becoming exists to guide people through the process I had to navigate alone.
The journal provides space for reflection, processing, and rebuilding your life in a way that honours your identity and experiences.
Each chapter encourages self discovery, emotional awareness, and reclaiming the parts of yourself that have been silenced or overlooked.

What sets my work apart is that it comes from lived experience rather than theory.
I understand the complexity of unmasking as a neurodivergent adult, and I have designed tools that help people work through the emotional, psychological, and practical aspects of that journey.
My approach is intentional, empathetic, and human centered.

I am most proud of the community that has grown around this work.
Seeing people share their experiences, connect with one another, and find validation through the journal is deeply rewarding.
It is proof that creating safe spaces for self discovery can transform lives.

For in this journey currently, I want you to know that you are not alone.
This is a place to meet yourself fully, to process your past, and to step into your future with clarity and courage.
My brand is about empowerment, understanding, and the quiet but radical act of becoming who you truly are.

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

For years I believed that success meant overworking, people pleasing, and masking who I truly was. I thought if I could just meet everyone else’s expectations, I would finally be accepted or safe. That lesson took decades to unlearn.

The backstory is that in workplaces and social spaces, I was constantly told I was too much or too sensitive.
Every time I spoke up, I was dismissed or gaslit.

It wasn’t until my AuDHD diagnosis that I realised my needs, perspectives, and feelings were valid.
Unlearning the belief that I had to shrink to survive allowed me to stop compromising my identity and to start creating a life, a business, and a journal that honours the neurodivergent experience.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

One moment that sticks with me is when I decided to leave a job that I had invested years into because it was toxic. I had built myself up to meet impossible standards and constantly mask, but the environment was unsustainable. Leaving felt risky – I had no roadmap, no certainty, and plenty of voices telling me I was overreacting.

But I chose myself anyway.
I trusted that I could rebuild and create something that aligned with who I truly was.

That decision led to Unmasked & Becoming.
It showed me that resilience is not just surviving, it is choosing to step into your truth even when the safe or expected path is right in front of you.
It is trusting yourself when the world has repeatedly told you otherwise.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.unmaskedandbecoming.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unmaskedandbecoming/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unmaskedandbecoming/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chloe-ellis-7b252016a/
• Other: Tik Tok; https://www.tiktok.com/@unmaskedandbecoming

Image Credits

Chloe Jean Ellis