Mentorship Hour with Eric Garcia

​​​Purpose of ND Connect's Mentorship Hours

​​Join us to expand your network in a genuine way, learn through experience sharing, and get actually helpful advice - from people who understand what it’s like to be neurodivergent and build careers and lives that work for them. These live AMAs are your chance to connect authentically with neurodivergent professionals, creatives, founders, and leaders who can offer valuable tips and industry insights.

​​About Eric

​Eric Garcia is the Washington Bureau Chief and Senior Washington Correspondent at the Independent and the author of the book We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation. He is also a columnist for MSNBC where he often writes on disability and politics. He previously worked as an assistant editor at the Washington Post’s Outlook section and an associate editor at The Hill. He also worked as a correspondent for National Journal, MarketWatch, and Roll Call. He has also written for the Daily Beast, the American Prospect, the Week the New Republic, and Salon.com. Garcia is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lives in Washington, DC.

​Outside of work, Eric enjoys playing guitar, reading and watching North Carolina basketball.

​Who's this event for?

• ​​People interested in mentorship and connections around journalism, writing, or becoming an author. Anyone curious about these topics from a neurodivergent-lens is welcome :)

​​​The Plan

• ​The first hour

  • ​Eric will introduce himself and share a bit about his career story and how he got into writing about autism as a journalist when he never expected to.

  • ​​Then he'll share actionable tips around writing - whether it's writing a book, conducting journalism, or sending a press release

  • ​​We’ll end the first segment with an interactive Q&A, where you can ask Eric about his career, tips, or experiences in a low-pressure environment

• ​The remaining 30 min

  • ​For anyone who'd like to stay on and meet other attendees, we'll use this as an opportunity to open up breakout rooms with prompts to help you connect

    • ​Prompt 1 - what brought you here?

    • ​Prompt 2 - will be determined based on areas of interest that emerge during the interactive chat with Eric

​​​Note: This event will be recorded. Recordings of the event will be made privately available to ND Connect members and hosted under the "resources" page of the ND Connect platform.

​​Accessibility notes

• ​​Please show up in the way that best meets your needs. You're welcome to keep your camera off or on, participate out loud using the raise hand feature or in chat, stim, fidget, take breaks, have a snack, etc.

• ​​​Our community guidelines apply here too

• ​​​Let us know if there is anything else we can do to support you by emailing us at support@ndconnect.app