We recently connected with Neha Bajaj and have shared our conversation below.

Neha, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

A finance person by profession, the idea for writing a children’s book came to me after my older son’s diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. My son has always struggled with sensory processing challenges. From an early age, he was sensitive to loud noises like the vacuum cleaner or a hand dryer in a public restroom. In school, he often struggled to pay attention and stay on task because he was so internally distracted by his senses.

A few years after my son’s diagnosis, I had eye surgery done, and for many months I was very sensitive to sunlight. I would immediately reach for my sunglasses whenever I was outside and I found myself feeling uncomfortable and at times even cranky if I didn’t have a way to shield my eyes from the sun. This experience really hit home for me with respect to my son’s sensory challenges. How could we expect so many children with sensory processing challenges, commonly found in kids with autism, to function on a daily basis when their senses were often heightened and bombarded with external stimuli? I knew then that I had to find a way to tell this story and help others understand what my son experienced, and what so many with autism live with on a daily basis.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I have a Master’s Degree in Psychology from NYU and an MBA from the University of Chicago. I previously worked in international development and impact investing at UNICEF USA. I then moved into education, leading finance and strategy at several education non-profits and I have also served on multiple non-profit boards. This past experience in non-profit and in education helped to fuel my passion for equity and inclusion for all kids. In 2014, my journey with disabilities began as my older son was diagnosed with autism. Since then, I have worked within my community to advocate for better access to education for all students with autism as well as with other disabilities and learning differences.

Now as a visiting author in classrooms, I help facilitate discussions and build understanding with children and educators about how autism affects kids and how we all take the world in differently. My hope is that Noah’s Intense Day helps readers lead with empathy, rather than fear or judgment. I am most proud of the feedback that I have received from teachers, parents, and children about Noah’s Intense Day and how they have found the book to be so relatable in tackling what can be a tough topic. I hope that Noah’s Intense Day continues to help all of us understand that despite our differences, we really are all the same.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I feel like “pivot” has been the one key constant of my career for the last ten years. After getting my MBA, my goal was to continue progressing in a non-profit, eventually leading Finance & Operations as a CFO or COO. However, given my son’s needs and the overwhelming flood of evaluations, doctors’ appointments, and therapies, I slowly began shifting away from full-time work, first moving into part-time roles and then eventually stepping away fully into a stay-at-home role. While this was not a role that I stepped into easily, and I desperately missed my professional life, I began to immerse myself in the world of disabilities, education, and advocacy. I spent those years learning from parents who had walked the path ahead of me, watching my son develop to see what was and wasn’t working for him in school, and finding my voice as a parent to a child with a disability to become his strongest advocate. Now as I am invited into classrooms, to speak about my book and about autism, I am so grateful for this journey that began with that first pivot, and will no doubt continue with more unforeseen pivots ahead.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Noah’s Intense Day is my first published work, and although I have always loved writing, I didn’t imagine that I would actually write a book one day that people could buy on Amazon. I also never imagined that I would then have the opportunity to go into schools as an author and read my book to children. My initial desire to write the story of Noah’s Intense Day was simply to increase awareness of the experiences of children with autism. However, since writing the book, I have begun to expand my role as an author and speaker, doing presentations and classroom visits on my career as an author, how I got started and my writing process, as well as facilitating broader discussions around inclusion and acceptance. I have been asked to do presentations targeted toward parents as well, focusing on broader literacy goals for their children. I hope to continue to find ways to reach more parents and schools districts.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nehabajajauthor.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nehabajajauthor/