My name Leigh Anne and throughout my life and career I often found myself asking “Who said so?” While I may have genuinely wanted to know the answer, it took me a while to realized that this may not be the best way to get the information I was looking for.

As an Autistic woman, I have put a ton of work into my communication as misunderstandings are the cause of most struggles I have faced. I spent a lot of time focusing on “fitting in” rather than how to leverage my “quirks” as a valuable skill set. Once I discovered that leaning into my differences not only took less energy but also made me an exponentially better contributor, I found a passion for advocating and raising awareness about mental health struggles and neurodiversity. After putting in two decades of work to get to a place where I not only feel confident in who I am, I can also communicate my needs as a neurodivergent individual to neurotypicals (the “Normies”) in a way they can understand. Which is invaluable in bridging gaps in understanding in an approachable way.

By sharing my non-traditional career path, the challenges I have faced, and the wide range of skills I developed as a result, my hope is to shift perspectives and build greater understanding of the “slightly weird, maybe sometimes rude” individuals you encounter in both work and personal life. Because sometimes, when it comes to what is or isn’t professional, rude, polite, etc., it’s worth asking, “Who said so?”

I look forward to sharing my journey with you. We have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. And journeys are always more fun with friends.