Navya Tuteja, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, the selective magnet school outside Washington, D.C., found me the way she finds her local politicians: through a cold email with an idea. She has a strong academic record and a shot at speaking at graduation (her school doesn’t name a valedictorian, but she says she would probably qualify if it did). Two months ago, she launched Raaha, a free platform that lets neurodivergent job seekers score a listing for fit before they apply. It already has more than 1,000 users and 20,000 job listings.
The idea traces back to her mother, who is hard of hearing, and to a pattern Tuteja kept noticing among neurodivergent people: job postings written entirely from the employer’s side, heavy on requirements and silent on what the day-to-day actually feels like. Raaha’s quiz scores a listing against several factors so candidates can get a realistic read before spending hours on an application. Tuteja bootstrapped the tool herself and is keeping it free while she builds traction; the eventual business model would have employers and workforce organizations pay to use the platform or improve their listings.
