Meet our Founder

Hey friend — I’m Courtney Kinslow, your favorite neurospicy wife and mama! I was diagnosed with ADHD at 43, and honestly? It explained so much.

As a kid, I thought I just had reading comprehension issues. I’d read a whole chapter and couldn’t tell you what it was about. Then college came, and suddenly I was staring at 25-page case studies feeling completely lost. Back in the 80s and 90s, nobody was talking about ADHD—especially not in the Black community. Mental health just wasn’t something we talked about.

But times started changing. Between the courage of athletes like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka and the hard conversations that came after George Floyd’s death, the message finally broke through: it’s okay not to be okay. That’s when I started my own mental health journey—and everything began to shift.

As a mom, I’ve always been hyper-focused on my kids’ development. If something didn’t sit right, I asked questions. I refused to be the parent who ignored red flags out of fear or pride.

My biggest challenge? Advocating for my son. It took years—two evaluations, countless meetings, and one very rough kindergarten year—before we got a formal autism diagnosis. I’ll never forget how misunderstood he was that first year. What others saw as “behavioral issues” were really just stimming and sensory overload.

By first grade, we finally had a diagnosis and started the process for a 504 plan. But even then, it took months—and when it was done, I learned the hard way that not all 504s are created equal. His plan looked great on paper but didn’t actually protect him in the classroom. It was vague, full of “suggestions” instead of supports.

That’s when the idea for Advocate Ally was born.

I wanted to create something that helped parents like me understand what’s really in those IEPs and 504s—what’s missing, what’s unclear, and what needs to change. When I ran my son’s plan through the first version of my analyzer, I realized just how broken the system could be. I knew I had to do something.

Now, Advocate Ally exists to educate and empower parents so you can walk into those meetings without feeling small, overwhelmed, or unheard. My mission is simple: help you feel unapologetically equipped to fight for your child’s right to learn, grow, and thrive.

You don’t have to do this alone.
You just need the right tools, the right community, and someone who gets it.

Welcome to the movement.
Let’s change the system—one brave parent at a time.