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9. Spreading Happiness with John's Crazy Socks
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John and Mark X. Cronin are the father-son team behind John’s Crazy Socks, a social enterprise with a mission to spread happiness. John is a 26-year-old entrepreneur, advocate, public speaker, philanthropist, and athlete who happens to have Down syndrome. He and Mark strongly believe that people with different abilities should have the same opportunities to work, thrive, and create community. In fact, more than half of the team at John’s Crazy Socks have differing abilities, and John and Mark often host tours and workgroups for students with different abilities to open their eyes to what’s possible after graduating high school.
When John isn’t at the warehouse making design decisions, writing handwritten notes for each order, or wrangling socks, he and Mark are speaking at conferences and making strides with their Down syndrome advocacy work. They’ve spoken at Microsoft, Ernst and Young, and universities all over the world. They’ve also testified twice before the US Congress, spoken at the United Nations, and John was recently invited on to the floor of the New York State Assembly where the New York State Legislature passed a resolution on World Down Syndrome Day.
John’s Crazy Socks Giving Back program is at the center of their mission and they have raised nearly $500,000 for their charity partners. From day one, John and Mark have pledged 5% to the Special Olympics, a charity near and dear to them as John has been part of the organization for 21 years. John has now donated over $100,000 to the Special Olympics, which more than any Special Olympic athlete has ever done.
Listen to today’s episode to hear how John and Mark are spreading happiness one pair of crazy socks at a time.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, Simplecast, or on your favorite podcast platform.
Topics Covered:
- The reason and inspiration to start John’s Crazy Socks
- How they created a mission-driven enterprise through giving back with each sale
- Why hiring people with differing abilities is not altruism一it's good business
- How John has been a Special Olympics athlete for over 20 years and how it shaped his entrepreneurial and leadership skills
- How they scaled from 42 orders on launch day to now shipping over 375,000 packages to 88 different countries
- What they have planned next for the brand
About our guest:
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