Grace Baker was 19 years old, had a newly earned high school diploma, and had Down syndrome. She looked for work. No one hired her.
Her father, Josh Baker, had experience as an entrepreneur. Her mother, Amy, had the same question circling around the house: what if the job doesn’t come, but it can be built?
“She loves pizza, and I own a business; let’s see what we can do”, Josh Baker said. Together with Ron Burner, Josh’s former baseball coach, they got to work.
On Saturday, July 12, 2025, Pizzabilities opened on Alpine Boulevard in Alpine, California. Grace was one of its first employees. Today, about 20 people work there, nearly all of them with disabilities or special needs, recruited through organizations such as The Arc of San Diego and the Department of Rehabilitation.
What started as a neighborhood pizzeria no longer fits in a single location. On October 4, 2025, they opened a second location in Santee. Josh Baker is already planning more locations in San Diego, and afterward, who knows, across the country.
No one gave Grace Baker a job. She and her family built one for her and, along the way, gave it to twenty others who were waiting for the same thing.