The continuing-learning tracks
Five tracks launch in our second year alongside the floor work, there where the skills stop being about clothing and start being about a life. All five are available to name.
— Social media, photography, & digital marketing
— Problem-solving and independence
— Leadership, conflict resolution, & mentorship
— Money, banking, budgeting, and green consumerism
— Community connection, outreach, and event planning
Our program is guided by five commitments:
- Start with the person. Recognize individual strengths, interests, communication styles, learning preferences, and goals.
- Learn by doing. Use authentic business activities to develop practical, transferable skills.
- Support without limiting potential. Provide the instruction, accommodations, structure, and encouragement needed for meaningful participation and growth.
- Build toward what comes next. Help participants identify strengths, document progress, explore career interests, and prepare for potential employment or further development.
- Make contribution matter. Connect each person’s work to a real purpose — serving customers, supporting teammates, and helping a community-centered enterprise succeed.
The goal is not to move every participant toward the same destination on the same timeline. Out way makes more destinations possible. A pathways toward greater independence.
- Creating welcoming, accessible, and supportive learning and work environments.
- Respecting individual communication styles, sensory needs, learning preferences, and support requirements.
- Encouraging authentic relationships, collaboration, self-expression, and community participation.
- Providing meaningful roles and opportunities to contribute, regardless of whether someone’s path resembles a traditional one.
- Recognizing each individual as a person with preferences, ambitions, strengths, and a voice in their own future.
- Learning through real tasks, authentic responsibilities, and meaningful contributions.
- Building transferable skills in retail, inventory management, merchandising, customer service, e-commerce, and more.
- Providing individualized instruction, constructive feedback, and opportunities to practice.
- Encouraging self-advocacy, informed choices, problem-solving, and ownership of accomplishments.
- Measuring progress by individual growth, developing confidence, demonstrated skills, and personal goals — not by a single standard of success.
- Extending the life of clothing through resale, reuse, and responsible handling.
- Teaching practical lessons in resourcefulness, environmental stewardship, and circular fashion.
- Creating a business model in which retail activity supports the development of meaningful learning and work opportunities.
- Building relationships with customers, families, employers, donors, and community partners.
Developing a sustainable foundation for the LuxPoshibilities Academy and its long-term impact. - Exploring ways to expand the model so more communities can create opportunities that continue after graduation.
The people behind the purpose.
Eight people with more than a century of combined experience in disability advocacy, retail, education law, health equity, and lived experience.
Suzanne Berman
A mother of three who spent more than 25 years navigating life alongside her daughter, Emilie, then built a place she wished had existed.
Suzanne Berman
Suzanne Berman is the founder of LuxPoshibilities, a nonprofit born from a mother’s love, a family’s commitment, and a deep belief that every adult deserved the chance to be seen, valued, and included. As a wife, mother of three, community volunteer, and advocate, Suzanne spent more than 25 years helping her daughter Emilie navigate life with autism while building a strong, supportive family.
Through Emilie’s journey, Suzanne saw firsthand what happens when school ends and the daily structure, supports, routines, and community connections begin to disappear. The experience became the foundation for LuxPoshibilities — a place where adults with disabilities and neurodivergent adults can builds skills, discover purpose, and participate in a real community setting.
Suzanne brings a background in recruiting, sales, training, workforce development, and relationship-building. Her professional experience combined with her lived experience gives LuxPoshibilities both its heart and its practical direction. She believes meaningful work can transform confidence, independence, and quality of life.
A fierce champion of the Service Cliff generation, she combines community knowledge, relentless compassion, and entrepreneurial vision into a program that meets families where they are — and takes them somewhere they never imagined possible.
“The place we needed didn’t exist. So we built it — not just for Emilie, but for every family who has stood where we stood and wondered what comes next.”
Emilie Berman
An Ivymount graduate and PetSmart volunteer whose determination, warmth, and love of connecting with people inspire the mission every day.
Emilie Berman
Neurodivergent adult and the inspiration for LuxPoshibilities. Emilie works alongside participants on the boutique floor, greets customers, and demonstrates every day what belonging looks like in practice rather than in theory. Her experience navigating the service cliff shaped the entire program design.
Emilie Berman is a graduate of Ivymount School and an active member of her community. She currently volunteers at PetSmart, where she enjoys helping others, building workplace skills, gaining experience, and connecting with people in a real-world setting. Emilie has worked hard to develop independence, social skills, confidence, and workplace readiness through school, volunteer opportunities, and community involvement. Her positive attitude, determination, warmth, and love of connecting with others inspire the mission of LuxPoshibilities every day.
As the inspiration behind LuxPoshibilities, Emilie’s journey highlights the importance of creating meaningful opportunities for adults with disabilities and neurodivergent adults. Her story reminds us that every person deserves a chance to learn, contribute, build friendships, and be part of a supportive community.
“I like being with my friends and having people to talk to. Learning new things. Helping people. Doing a good job. It makes me proud.”
Laurent Berman
Twenty years in mortgage banking and thirty in his family’s retail business — and Emilie’s father.
Laurent Berman
As a father of Emilie, Laurent Berman has spent years advocating for greater opportunity and inclusion for adults with disabilities and neurodivergent adults. His personal experience helped inspire the vision behind LuxPoshibilities and the belief that every individual deserves meaningful opportunities to learn, work, and thrive.
Laurent is a mortgage banking professional with more than 20 years of experience in residential lending and financial services. He also spent over 30 years involved in his family’s retail linen business, gaining firsthand experience in customer service, sales, inventory management, operations, and entrepreneurship.
In addition to his professional background, Laurent has personally invested in and managed residential rental properties throughout Montgomery County, Maryland. His experience in real estate, finance, and business brings practical insight to LuxPoshibilities as the organization plans for sustainable growth he brings operational discipline and financial stewardship to the organization. Laurent oversees the financial systems that let a mission-driven boutique function as a sustainable business rather than a perpetual fundraising project.
“A business built on purpose still has to run like a business. That’s how we make sure this lasts.”
Amanda Kornfield
Parent of adults with autism, communications professional, and disability rights advocate with deep roots in the local family network.
Amanda Kornfield
Parent of adults with autism, communications professional, and disability rights advocate with deep roots in the local family network. Amanda brings both professional expertise and the perspective of a family navigating the same transition our participants face.
“Every parent of a child with autism knows the fear of the future. LuxPoshibilities is our answer to that fear.”
Kiana Walcott
Inclusive recreation specialist whose calling to disability inclusion began at seventeen through adaptive sports. Kiana designs the social and community-connection elements of the program — the parts that turn a training floor into a place people want to return to.
Kiana Walcott
Kiana’s calling found her at 17, when she volunteered at Over the Rainbow Camp — an occupational therapy summer camp serving children and teens on the autism spectrum. She never looked back. What began as a single summer grew into years of progressive leadership, moving from group assistant to art therapy assistant to lead art teacher. That experience set the foundation for a career built entirely on one belief: that neurodiverse individuals deserve joy, friendship, and the tools to live fully.
She deepened her expertise working at the Treatment and Learning Center in Rockville, Maryland, where she served as a group therapist under Dr. Shirley Anderson, using the Floortime/DIR Model developed by Dr. Stanley Greenspan. Mentored further by behavioral therapist Dr. Robin Alan, Kiana went on to found Kiana’s Consulting at just 23 — filling the gaps traditional therapies left behind by focusing on everyday living skills, real friendships, and building confidence in the community. In 2017, she launched Adaptivities, dedicated to creating and adapting games so autistic individuals can experience the simple power of play alongside family and friends. The two merged in 2025, now offering Saturday social groups that continue to grow toward a national vision.
As a board member of LuxPoshibilities, Kiana Walcott brings over two decades of frontline expertise and entrepreneurial heart — championing possibility for every person, in every community. She looks forward to the partnership between Adaptivities and LuxPoshibilities, united by a shared mission to foster independence with pride and help the autism community not just survive — but truly thrive.
“Play taught me that inclusion isn’t about lowering the bar — it’s about widening the door.”
Cheryl Himmelfarb, PhD
Health equity researcher bringing academic credibility and evidence-based program design to the board.
Cheryl Himmelfarb, PhD
Health equity researcher bringing academic credibility and evidence-based program design to the board. Cheryl’s work connects meaningful employment to measurable health outcomes for adults with disabilities — the evidence base behind why this program exists.
“Meaningful activity, social connection, and economic participation are health interventions.”
Jodi Fields
Twenty years on the Bloomingdale’s floor, bringing retail training expertise and a conviction that customer experience starts with how the team feels.
Jodi Fields
Twenty years on the Bloomingdale’s floor. Jodi brings retail training expertise and a conviction that customer experience starts with how the team feels — a principle that directly shapes how our sixteen training stations are designed and sequenced.
“The skills that make a great sales associate are the skills that make a great anything.”
Lisa Seltzer Becker
Thirty years in education law, guiding families through the transition out of school-based services.
Lisa Seltzer Becker
Thirty years in education law, guiding families through the transition out of school-based services. Lisa knows the legal landscape families face at the service cliff better than almost anyone in Maryland, and she helps ensure our program meets families at exactly the moment their supports end.
“Families navigating the transition out of school services deserve more than a map of dead ends.”