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as I recover from autistic burnout

Hi. I’m Giada Nizzoli, and in 2019, I decided to leave my in-house marketing role.

My feeds were filled with stories of entrepreneurs who also quit traditional careers because they didn't belong—”Uuuuh, relatable”—and then, with their own business, they found their place and community—”Oooh, can’t wait!”

Not my experience.

• Other women posting photos with dozens of smiling connections, raving about networking events → while I felt awkward the entire time, rehearsed conversations, and needed a week to recharge my social battery

• Or loving their virtual coffee chats → while the thought of chit-chat with strangers made my nervous system want to get out of my body

• Lead generation experts saying we should start 10 conversations a day → while I was already overwhelmed with my personal notifications and took days to reply to friends

• Coaches telling us to listen to our body → while I couldn’t even identify my emotions

• Or to tune in with our feminine energy, get people on calls or casual DM chats, and then pivot towards sales questions → while I found it icky to fake interest (isn’t it better to be upfront about our intentions?!)

I did love my actual business and clients 

(as a marketing strategist and mentor, I was helping women market their services in a way that finally articulated their expertise and the value of their services, so they could sign the right clients more easily)

But I still felt like an outsider.

Of course, others were telling me “It’s because you’re an introvert” or “You just need to step outside your comfort zone.”

And so I tried.

I forced myself to behave and function like other women entrepreneurs—even though the things they found normal (or even exciting) were really hard for me.

Then, in 2025, I got my autism diagnosis. It was like my entire life suddenly made sense!

But in May 2026, I hit autistic burnout and couldn’t function for months.

It's different from work-related burnout. It happens to many autistic people (especially late-diagnosed women) when, after decades of masking and pushing past our limits to try to fit in a neurotypical society, our nervous system shuts down.

In my case, it also brought my C-PTSD to the surface, to the point where my GP declared me ‘unfit for work’.

I took a break, rested, did therapy, nervous system regulation, and aaaaall the things you’re supposed to do during autistic burnout… but still didn’t feel like myself.

This slower pace also forced me to face some uncomfortable truths:

• My business model wasn’t a good fit for my ‘current’ nervous system

• The changes in my industry made me fall out of love with my mission (sorry, I just can’t bring myself to adapt my services around AI when I have so many environmental and ethical concerns)

• I never purposely tried to be someone else, but now that I’m slowly learning to unmask after being undiagnosed for 30 years, I realised I don’t know how to show up as my full real self

So, I eventually decided to close my marketing business of +7 years, only keeping my current clients.

I already have a new mission and business idea I’m super excited about! But right now, my priority is to recover from autistic burnout and find out who I truly am, as I slowly unmask.

If you’re a fellow autistic woman founder and you also feel like an outsider:

join me on this messy, raw, and exciting journey. Let's find our unique strengths, honour our boundaries, and ditch business and marketing advice that doesn’t work with how we're wired, shall we?