DDA talks to Autistic Self-Advocate Margaux Wosk

Margaux Wosk is an Autistic person and a staunch self-advocate who runs their own business.

 

TRANSCRIPT:

Evan Kelly  0:06   Welcome to Developmental Disabilities Association's Encouraging Abilities podcast. We're here to chat with members of our neurodiverse community. I'm your host, Evan Kelly. Whether it's talking about new government policies or new business ventures or amazing achievements, you'll find it here. Our guest today is Margaux Wosk. Margaux is a self advocate in the Autistic community, who is an entrepreneur and runs their own, I guess mostly online business with custom made pins, necklaces, buttons, stickers, and more. Under the name Retrophiliac. Check. Welcome to the podcast Margaux.

Margaux Wosk  0:40   Hi, thank you for having me.

Evan Kelly  0:41   My pleasure. For sure. Now, right off the top: why the name Retrophiliac?

Margaux Wosk  0:48   Sure. So I've had this name as my pseudonym for my art for over 11 years, I have a strong love of retro and vintage things. And it basically means a lover of past things. So I'm really into 1960s and 70s. Music, some television shows, the colors, the art, that kind of thing.

Evan Kelly  1:12   Yeah, there's a lot a lot of great stuff from those periods, of course. For where you live, do you hunt around for retro furniture and things like that?

Margaux Wosk  1:22   I used to a lot more, my style is kind of evolved a little bit. But I definitely am inspired by, in terms of, you know, seeing art, going to different thrift shops and stuff like that.

Evan Kelly  1:37   Nice. So, right. And you know, just diving into it your business, what inspired you to get into business for yourself?

Margaux Wosk  1:46   Honestly, it was out of necessity. I didn't really have a choice. So I was able to fund my first design with the BC Arts Council grant. And from there, I've been able to extend all my offerings. I cannot work for somebody else. No matter how accessible workplaces are made, they're not going to ever be 100% accessible for all people. So I am fortunate enough that I'm in a position where I can mostly support myself and work out of my own home.

Evan Kelly  2:21   That's awesome. Now, do you do all of this? I checked out your website and you've got a lot of really cool looking stuff. Do you do all of the designing yourself?

Margaux Wosk  2:30   So what I do is I draw things out either physically or digitally, I do the best I can to get it to the right place. And then what I'll do is I'll usually hire somebody who's fluent in Photoshop or Illustrator, and then they'll go ahead and kind of perfect my images and get them in the right format. So then I can send them off to my manufacturers.

Evan Kelly  2:55   And how long you've been doing this?

Margaux Wosk  2:59   Oh my gosh. Well, I've had my online store, at least I've done my enamel pins for probably, I want to say, around four or five years, but I've been making art for my entire life. And I've been Retrophiliac for over 10 years.

Evan Kelly  3:14   Wow, that's a good, that's a good stretch. Now Margaux is also a dynamo on social media. If you haven't seen it, they're easily find findable on all the main channels, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, there's a shop on Etsy, you name it. So how much time do you spend on this part of your marketing for the business on the online marketing?

Margaux Wosk  3:36   I interact with people as much as I can, I don't really have much of a social life, to be honest outside of the internet outside of, you know, my cat and my immediate family. So it's not even necessarily all about marketing. It's really about forming strong connections and kind of, you know, reducing the stigma of what autistic people or people with developmental disabilities, or neurodivergent people, are capable of. And if I'm able to do that, through my advocacy, and my designs and all the different t