⚠️ Caution: ADHD and Neurodiverse Communities & Offers

Hi, my Thriving friends!

I posted this last year, and after my recent conversation with one of our members, I thought I pin this post again. As you've noticed, there's A LOT of ADHD and neurodiversity related Skool communities now. I think that's a good sign that more people want to better understand how our brains think differently. As I always say, I believe in collaboration (not competition).

BUT, I've also heard how many of these communities are not serving our neurodiverse community well. While I do not know the details, I do know the pain as a fellow ADHDer, like you. That's why, I wanted to re-share my thoughts below.

If you have a neurodiverse community, I invite you to reflect on this.

If you know someone with a neurodiverse community, I invite you to share this (screenshot it).

We can keep each other safe...together.

I appreciate you all. 🙏

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Hi, my Thriving ADHDers!

I'm writing something I've been thinking about for a long time, and it's very dear to my heart...it's for ADHD mompreneurs like us. Since I wrote it for you, I would be honored to hear your thoughts on this before I publish it to the world. And if you needed to hear this today, this is for you...

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There’s a quiet danger in the ADHD space that no one’s really talking about…

And as someone who’s now thriving after decades of struggle, I believe it’s time we do. Here’s what I’ve learned—and why it matters for ADHD moms like us.

But first, I think it’s important to know who you’re reading from.

For those who are new to my space, I’m Katherine Lizardo, and I’m not just on a journey to become a Thriving ADHD Mompreneur—I am one. But it wasn’t always this way. My transformation happened after many years, fears, and tears.

For over two decades, I’ve lived with ADHD while building a meaningful career as a lawyer, raising two amazing boys (ages 14 and 5)—one with ADHD—and growing two purpose-driven businesses.

I’ve invested deeply in my growth, including more than 1,000 therapy sessions, and through it all, I created systems that work for me and my ADHD. Systems that now allow me to live with clarity, calm, and consistency—and most importantly, with compassion for myself and others.

That’s the foundation I’m sharing with other ADHD Mompreneurs today—not from theory or a place of “I hope this works someday,” but from lived experience.

I know what it feels like to be overwhelmed, to try everything, to wonder if things will ever feel manageable. And I also know what it’s like to come out the other side—not just surviving but truly thriving.

I fully believe in the power of sharing our ADHD stories. When we speak openly about our struggles and what we've tried, we help each other feel seen, validated, and less alone.

I’ve done that, too—especially when I was still navigating the toughest parts of my ADHD. That kind of sharing raises awareness and builds community.

But this is important to keep in mind:

🚨 I feel that gentle caution is needed in our ADHD and neurodiverse space..

👉 When marketers who don’t have ADHD...

Or when people who think they truly understand ADHD but haven't taken the effort to truly understand us...

When they start targeting ADHDers and the neurodiverse community using medical-sounding language—like “executive function,” “dopamine hacks,” or “ADHD-friendly routines”...

These terms are not trendy buzzwords for us. They’re our reality.

They’re the exact language we hear in therapy. In doctor visits. In the quiet, exhausting battles we fight every day to manage our lives and minds.

So when a shiny ad pops up, offering “neurodiverse-friendly” solutions that promise to fix our overwhelm or boost our executive functioning…

We pause.

We HOPE.

We try.

Because we want to believe this one might actually help.

But here’s the problem: many of these marketers don’t understand ADHD at all. ☹️

They just know ENOUGH to sell to our pain points. 💔

And because many of us live with daily decision fatigue, time scarcity, and emotional burnout, we click. We buy.

We try again.

And when the thing we bought doesn’t work?

We don’t blame the program.

We blame ourselves.

This is what hurts the most.

We think we failed.

Again.

❤️ But let me be very clear:

You are NOT the failure.

The product is.

The person who built that product is.

The people who marketed that product are.

This kind of repeated letdown doesn’t just cost us money (though let’s be honest, that adds up, too, which I call our ADHD debt).

👉 It costs us something much more precious: our Hope.❤️

Hope we were finally starting to rebuild.

This is the hidden cost of trying again and again.

This is the hidden cost that compounds exponentially every time we try something new that wasn’t truly made for us in the first place.

This is the hidden cost that you must guard against. ✊

So, if something says “ADHD-friendly” or "neurodiverse-friendly," I invite you to PAUSE & ASK YOURSELF:

Was it created by someone with ADHD or in partnership with ADHD professionals—or just for people with ADHD?
Do they seem to understand how ADHD actually shows up in real life—or just using marketing language?
Do they actually show the 3Cs: care, curiosity, and compassion for our neurodiversity—or just sprinkle in trendy terms?

⚔️ You don’t owe anyone your money, your time, or your energy just because they speak our language…

Especially not if it costs you your self-belief.

And when you see testimonials, here’s what we must ask ourselves:

Are those testimonials real?
Were they written after long-term results—or in the first wave of ADHD hope when everything feels exciting? (THIS IS CRITICAL! If you're neurodiverse, you know why.)
Did those users actually finish the program—or were they too ashamed to say it didn’t work for them?

For ADHDers, especially those in emotional pain, testimonials can create a false sense of urgency and credibility.

It may just be persuasive marketing designed to get us to click before we even realize what we’re buying.

So, to my fellow ADHD mompreneurs—please be cautious. 🙏

Your hope is sacred. Your trust is precious. Your story is still being written.

You are not too impulsive, too distracted, or too sensitive.

You’ve simply been let down by products and people who didn’t carry the weight of your story.

Don’t let testimonials or “ADHD-friendly” promises override your instincts.

⭐ Not all social proof is proof.

👉 And to the MARKETERS reading this:

If you truly care about the ADHD community…

Don’t just market to us…

Learn from us, build with us, and support us with care, curiosity, and compassion.