Mary and Gabi Angelini are empowering the special abilities community

Names: Mary and Gabi Angelini 

Location: Raleigh, NC

Business: Gabi’s Grounds Coffee and Gabi’s Pals

Tell us about your business. 

Mary: Gabby's Ground started in 2017. We're a coffee company. We do online orders and gift boxes and pop ups of hot and iced coffee. And Gabi's Pals is packaging, assembling, labeling, and shipping that we do for other companies. And we employ people with special abilities because they're awesome. 

How many employees do you work with? 

Gabi: 46 and counting. We want to hire as many as possible. Our mission is to empower the special abilities community to find their place in the world and enjoy fulfillment in everything they do.

Why did you decide to start your own business?

Mary: Gabi is my 24 year old daughter that nobody wanted to hire. So we named the company after her: Gabby's Grounds Coffee. We were going to open a coffee shop and that was going to be the name, but then we pivoted to Gabby's Pals. We could hire more people that way with better hours than a coffee shop.

Gabi: It's sometimes hard to get jobs, but we hire them no matter what because they're really brilliant and they always see the positive side. We give them a chance because they’re really hard workers. They’re awesome, they’re fun to talk to, we eat lunch with them — we have a great time. They're really great people. 

Mary: We're here to help other people because they're all having the same challenges. They all have trouble getting a job or keeping a job. And, the public wasn't very nice to people with special abilities. When they do work with them, they make fun of them. So they feel safe here. This is their home. They love it here. They love the camaraderie, they love going to lunch together. They love going bowling on Mondays. They love going to school. They just have fun together and they feel safe. So I think that was the ticket that made it feel like this is where we're supposed to be.

How does running your own business make you feel?

Mary: It makes me feel great. I mean, I look at her and think she’s come so far when people said she wasn't going to go far at all. She's defied the odds and shown everyone that people with special abilities are awesome and they can do everything. Don't limit people, you know…give them a chance.

How do you overcome hurdles or setbacks?

Gabi: With kindness.

What plans and dreams do you have for the business in the years to come?

Mary: The next five years we want to have more warehouses across the country so we can employ more people. And hopefully open Gabby's Village — a place where they can all live. A lot of them are not happy with the roommates they have. They don't get to choose their roommates. They're living in subpar conditions. [They need] a place where they each have their own individual space and then also have community space where they can cook together, swim together, or play together. That would be the ideal.

What advice would you give other small business owners just starting out?

Mary: As a mom, I hope that I'm an inspiration for other moms to give their daughter or son a chance to follow their passion and get behind them so they can do it. Don't believe what people are telling you. They can do it. 

I want them to know that people with special abilities have ability. They can work. They're productive members of society. They wanna give back. They're part of the community. Don't ignore them. They shouldn't be hidden away. 

Gabi: Visible. 

Mary: You should be visible. And seen and heard.