What do you create for those who have difficulty feeling?

As a young, bi-racial man who grew up in an urban community where my friends and I graduating high school would have been a first for most families, starting a business was a farfetched idea. The goal was always to have a profession that paid…enough. Enough to not struggle. Enough to never question your next meal. Enough to spend time with your family. All the things that our parents did not have enough to do. So you will understand the miracle that was graduating college with a business degree.

I was told that that would ensure the future I wanted. Eyes wide with the world as my oyster, as they so confidently say at every graduation speech, I found myself working 16-hour days at a retail store and a restaurant just to make ends meet. With tired feet and glittery eyes, I entered the promising world of insurance sales. I chased what seemed to offer the idea of “enough” that I had been searching for, but at the cost of my heart.

When I chose to leave sales to pursue an opportunity that would utilize my business marketing degree, my mentor told me something I will never forget, “you will get tired of people telling you how much you’re worth.” Not sure what he meant at the time, I began working for a start-up tech company that was run by a group of friends who were serial entrepreneurs. I learned three valuable things about myself. Being able to work so closely with the chief of staff taught me that I could run my own business. Having my ideas rejected only to be presented and accepted by someone else taught me that I have great ideas. Last, I understood what my previous mentor told me, I was worth more than the value others placed on me.

The rest of my twenties were spent pursuing the perfect idea…and failing. I found myself substitute teaching as an “in-between” job until I started the next idea. I spent a lot of time in special needs classrooms, a space where I knew so little but learned so much. Trying to help students who want nothing more than the peace of "normal" sensory processing but don’t know how to find it teaches you a different grace, a different gratitude, and a different compassion.

It was summer school of 2019 where I met Dean. He had a deep love and uncanny knowledge of trains. His dream is to be a conductor on the Rocky Mountaineer, a glass-domed train that runs through the Rocky Mountains. He could memorize and recite entire movie scenes, and nature seemed to respond to him differently, like they knew he was not a threat. He was on the mild side of Autism Spectrum Disorder, but still used “fidgets” to help self-soothe when he felt over-stimulated. He loved fidgets that were spongy, spiky, soft, and sandy. Being his one-on-one aid helped me to understand the shared frustration of student and caretaker alike to constantly measure and meet the need to self-soothe in moments that were over or underwhelming.

In October 2019, Plaxo Adaptive was born. I spent the months after that summer hand-crafting and prototyping a solution that would help ease this frustration. After the purchase of my first sewing machine, countless finger pricks, hours of tutorial videos, fabric shopping, and all kinds of new scissors, I had something of which I could be proud. The result was a future apparel line of adaptive clothing that would inconspicuously integrate complicated comforts into stylish clothing. With the help of my best friend, who also spent time in special needs classrooms, we began the patent process for our very first t-shirt design that would seamlessly integrate four kinds of fidget materials into the fabric of the shirt. The idea was people with sensory processing disorder (SPD), which is often experienced by those with autism, could have at their disposal a way to self-soothe at any time.

The next year was spent in research and development. After many iterations, we finalized a design that we felt was test worthy. We created a large batch of shirts by ourselves, in my room, over countless hours to begin testing. We solicited the help of an expert autism researcher at a local international university to begin a survey study. We gave shirts to friends and family that we knew had small and adult kids with SPD. And we recruited the help of special needs teachers and professionals and all of the feedback came back as AWESOME! Everyone so far had loved it. It helped increase focus, increase time on task, and reduced stereotypies.

It was October 2021 that we decided it was time to bring it to market. Through a series of mini miracles, we were introduced to a retail industry expert, a professional designer, and a local manufacturer who was willing to take on our difficult design. With all this help and all of our savings, we had delivered to us the safest, most comfortable, durable, and inconspicuous final product.

It was an emotional experience because I realized in hindsight, I had found the “perfect idea”. I found something that I had the aptitude to create, the passion to pursue, and a purpose to be proud of. And I got to do it with some of my best friends. If that’s not joy incarnate, I don’t know what is.

The dream now is to use the revenue from our first small batch of shirts to continue developing and patenting our apparel line. I anticipate many more days of blood, sweat, and tears as we find new and innovative ways of meeting the needs of a highly marginalized, but most deserving people.