Synergies Work is proud to share that our Founder & CEO, Aarti Sahgal, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tommy Nobis Center at the 28th Annual Galaxy of Stars Luncheon.

This recognition celebrates leaders whose work has created lasting impact for people with disabilities across our community — and reflects the growing momentum behind entrepreneurship as a pathway to economic independence.

The magnitude of this award, and the greater context it supports, is best shared in Aarti’s own words: 

“Thank you, Tommy Nobis Center — and thank you to everyone who believes that disability is not a barrier to ambition.

This work is deeply personal. I am a parent to two sons, and my younger son has Down syndrome. What I know — what Angad has taught me — is that the only thing standing between him and his potential is a world that keeps setting the bar too low.

The soft bigotry of low expectations doesn’t just limit individuals. It limits all of us.

When I started Synergies Work, I wasn’t trying to build a startup hub. I was simply trying to answer a question: Where are the founders with disabilities Why are we asking them to wait — to prove themselves — before inviting them to the table? The answer was simple. The system wasn’t built for them. 

So we set out to build one.

Today, Synergies Work is that system — a business accelerator, a community hub, and a rising CDFI providing access to capital for founders with disabilities. We are building the infrastructure that entrepreneurs with disabilities have never had. And this is what makes it different: We meet entrepreneurs with disabilities exactly where they are — whether they are sitting on an idea, just starting to build, or ready to scale. We meet them as founders, innovators, and leaders. Because that’s exactly what they are.

This award belongs to the Synergies Work team that shows up every single day to make this real. It belongs to the board that believed in this mission long before the world caught up. And most importantly, it belongs to every entrepreneur with a disability who didn’t wait for permission.

This award comes at a remarkable moment in my family’s life.

My son Angad — the reason behind this work — is graduating from Georgia State University next week. This is the same system that once wrote him off as someone who wouldn’t read beyond a first-grade level. 
He proved them wrong. Today, he is the founder of a tech startup, LetMeDoIt, enabling other people with disabilities to live more independently.

If there’s one thing I hope you take from today, it’s this:

Challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations — in your organizations, in your communities, and in yourselves. Because when we raise the bar, everyone rises. Thank you.”

Please join us in congratulating Aarti on this achievement!