This guest post is by “Avery,” a college student with a 3.5 GPA who hopes to build a career in business, finance, and baking. Avery is applying for the Spring 2026 Making a Difference Autism Scholarship through KFM Making a Difference, the nonprofit founded by Kerry Magro. Kerry was nonspeaking until age 2.5 and was diagnosed with autism at 4.
The applicant requested a pseudonym and a non-identifying stock photograph to protect their privacy.
Autistics on Autism: The Next Chapter shares stories from more than 100 autistic adults about what helped them while growing up and pursuing their dreams. All proceeds support KFM Making a Difference initiatives, including this scholarship program. To invite Kerry to speak at your school, company, or organization, submit an inquiry here.
Avery discovered a talent for entrepreneurship as a child and now plans to combine business, finance, and professional baking.
My name is Avery, and I am a college student majoring in business and finance. I am an only child with special needs, and I come from a single-parent household where my mother has provided everything for me. I am autistic and overcame many challenges in my younger years. I was nonspeaking until the age of four. I received a lot of speech therapy and early intervention to learn how to communicate.
When I was in the third grade, my favorite teacher told my mother that I was gifted in math. I loved numbers, and my mother began teaching me about money. During a family trip, we visited a finance museum. I learned about the stock market and how companies were formed and eventually listed on it. It was so exciting and inspiring that I wanted to start a business of my own, with the hope that it might one day grow into something much bigger.
Weeks later, I had an idea to start a cupcake company. I already had a passion for baking, and I had found a place where I thought people would enjoy my products. Every two weeks, I visited a children’s hair salon where customers often sat for hours without anything to eat. I thought the children, their families, and the stylists would appreciate a treat while they waited.
I asked the salon owner if I could sell cupcakes there, and she gave me my first opportunity. I told my mother about it and asked whether she would support my vision. I believed that earning the salon owner’s support would also earn my mother’s respect, and it did. She agreed to help me start my own business.
I had always loved baking, and cupcakes were my favorite dessert. My mother taught me to own everything in my world. She told me that nobody could take away the things that truly belonged to me, including my education and the things I created. That lesson became part of how I thought about my future.
We created a brand for my cupcake business, chose pink and purple as its colors, and developed five signature flavors. I was nine years old when we held the grand opening. We sold every cupcake within an hour. It was an instant success.
Each week, I increased the number of cupcakes I brought to the salon, and each week I sold out. Soon, people began ordering cupcakes for parties and other events. I created social media pages, and the business grew even more. Orders came in throughout the week, and my mother eventually left her full-time job so she could help me manage the business while I was still in elementary school.
My school hired me to prepare cupcakes for graduations and other events. Local news outlets interviewed me, and community leaders recognized my work through honors and awards. I was pursuing my passion and following my vision, and that inspired my mother to follow her own creative vision too.
As an addition to the brand, she launched a children’s book collection inspired by my experiences as a young entrepreneur and traveler. The books told stories about lessons I had learned along the way. My work was also featured in newspapers and a regional parenting magazine. Business was booming, and life was good.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. Parties and events stopped, and the salon that had supported my business was forced to close. Most of our sales came from cupcakes, so my mother returned to the workforce and the business closed. I had been an entrepreneur from the ages of nine through 14. During that time, I earned money, developed skills, and learned lessons I will carry with me forever.
The pandemic was especially difficult because we could not attend school in person. Everything became virtual. Even with those changes, I continued working hard and made the honor roll every semester. Three years later, I graduated from high school in 2024.
Two weeks after graduation, I enrolled in a professional bakery training program. There, I began learning what it takes to work as a pastry chef in a commercial kitchen. It was very different from baking at home. I learned to make many products, including breads, cookies, pies, cakes, and pastries. I also learned how professional recipes, equipment, timing, and larger production runs differ from the way I had worked as a child entrepreneur.
That training gave me a new path toward the future. I planned to work at a bakery as a side job while earning my college degree. My long-term goal is to combine my experience and education by opening a commercial bakery after graduation.
I am grateful for every experience that has led me to this point. Being autistic is part of my story, but so are my persistence, creativity, love of numbers, and willingness to learn. I went from being a nonspeaking child who needed years of therapy to becoming a young chief executive, an honor-roll student, a bakery trainee, and now a college student with a 3.5 GPA.
College is expensive, and financial aid does not cover everything. Scholarship support would help me continue my education and move closer to my goal. If I could become successful in business between the ages of nine and 14, I believe I can become even more successful after earning a degree in business and finance.
I am already thinking about the next version of my cupcake company—a continuation of the dream I began as a child. This time, I will bring not only my passion for baking, but also the business knowledge, professional training, and confidence I have gained along the way.
By “Avery”
Kerry Magro, a professional speaker and best-selling author who is also autistic, founded KFM Making a Difference in 2011 to help autistic students receive scholarship support for post-secondary education. Help us continue this work by making a tax-deductible donation here.
You can also invite Kerry to speak at your next event by submitting an inquiry here. Kerry speaks with schools, businesses, government agencies, colleges, nonprofits, parent groups, and conferences on autism, employment, college success, mental health, inclusion, and bullying prevention.
