LPH08: Rhonda Gelstein and the Story Behind Tyler’s Bottle Service, disability entrepreneurship, and IDD

In this episode of Let’s Plant Houses, we talk about autism employment, disability entrepreneurship, and family resilience as we sit down with Rhonda Gelstein to hear her powerful story. After her son Tyler finished high school and a trade program, he still could not find a job, even with his advanced degree. Instead of giving up, Rhonda helped Tyler turn his simple chore of returning bottles into Tyler’s Bottle Service, a small business that now serves all of Oakland County and has been running for 12 years. Rhonda shares the challenges they faced, the wins that kept them going, and the lessons they learned along the way. Their journey is a hopeful example of creativity, hard work, and autism employment done with dignity and purpose.