The Power Of Potential with Tom D’Eri

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In today’s episode, our guest is Thomas D'Eri. He is an expert in autism employment through his experience as the founder and COO of Rising Tide Car Wash, a social enterprise that employs more than 80 individuals with autism. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">He is also a recognized thought leader in the autism employment field and a 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 list-maker in social entrepreneurship. Tom regularly speaks at Fortune 500 companies, international conferences, leadership development programs, and universities. </span></p> <p><strong>[3:16] Why should I listen to you? </strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I have the type of personality that is looking to learn much more than to tell people what to do. And if I were to talk to you in a coffee shop, I can promise you that I’d be asking many more questions than speaking. </span></p> <p><strong>[4:45] Where did you develop the desire to be curious about other people? </strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A lot of experiences come to mind, but the one that comes to mind most frequently is my experience with my brother, Andrew. Andrew has autism, and that is why we founded our business, Rising Tide Car Wash. Growing up with him and getting to know other people, I learned that people have all different types of struggles that you may not see on the surface. I think that has always been interesting to me, and it has also made me empathetic. </span></p> <p><strong>[7:20] Tell me how the carwash came to be. </strong></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">My father, John Dre, and I founded the business in 2013. At this point, Andrew was turning 22. And at that point, in the autism community that means you are kind of out of the school district, out of the support system that you have through your childhood. We knew we had to act for a couple of years, but before then we had been doing research and testing different ideas to see what would work best for Andrew and what we felt could be a viable bus