Before starting the Runway of Dreams Foundation in 2014, Mindy Scheier spent 20 years working in fashion on the design team for the INC collection and as a stylist for Saks Fifth Avenue. Ms. Scheier was inspired to start Runway of Dreams after her son Oliver, who has muscular dystrophy, dreamed of wearing jeans like everyone else. After using her design skills to adapt a pair that met his needs and increased his confidence, she conducted research to develop modifications that would meet the needs of people with disabilities.

Runway of Dreams partnered with Tommy Hilfiger on the first mainstream adaptive clothing line for kids and continues to work with many brands such as Kohl’s, Target, JCPenney, and Zappos.com. Founded on the basis that clothing is a basic human need, Runway of Dreams develops, delivers, and supports initiatives to broaden the reach of mainstream adaptive clothing and promote people with disabilities in the fashion industry.

Due to the number of collaboration requests she received connected to PWDs (persons with disabilities), in 2019 Ms. Scheier created Gamut Talent Management to represent people with disabilities and create a marketplace where businesses and industries can connect to this target audience. Gamut is rebranding the way PWDs are viewed, marketed to, and represented in the mainstream world.

Ms. Scheier studied fashion design with a dual program at the University of Vermont and Fashion Institute of Technology.