Wahooo Market offers fun socks, fabulous gifts, and products you will love, all powered by people with differing abilities. Founded by John Cronin, a young man with Down syndrome, and his father, Mark, the founders of John's Crazy Socks, they are on a mission to create joy and show what people with differing abilities can do.
Of course, we have socks because John loves socks and says, "They let me be me." Just wearing our socks will make you feel happier, and you can express your personality or mood. They make great gifts because you can personalize them. But we offer more than socks: apparel, jewelry, home goods, books, and food (coffee, candy, cookies), all made or delivered by people with differing abilities.
When you buy from Wahooo Market, you make a difference. You help us create jobs for people with differing abilities: more than half our colleagues have a differing ability. Our Giving Back Program starts by donating five percent of earnings to the Special Olympics. And we have a range of Awareness Products that celebrate causes like Down syndrome, autism, and cerebral palsy and raise money for charity partners like the National Down Syndrome Society, the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, and United Cerebral Palsy. John has donated $900,000 to our charity partners.
Most of all, you help us bring more joy into the world. We look for ways to bring people together, to find what we have in common.
We offer our products online through WahoooMarket.com and through our retail store in Huntington Village. If you are ever on Long Island, stop in to say hello. You can meet John and our Sock Wranglers; just visiting will make you happy.
A Disability-Owned Business
We are a disability-owned business. Our corporate entity is Abilities Rising Commerce LLC. John is 51 percent owner and serves as our CEO and President as well as our Chief Happiness Officer, a title he's always held and one people love. (More places need a Chief Happiness Officer.) Abilities Rising Commerce LLC operates the Wahooo Market online store, the Wahooo Market retail store, and the John's Crazy Socks online store. We're also building something new: Can Do! Socks and apparel, a line we'll be formally introducing soon.
What About John's Crazy Socks?
John's Crazy Socks isn't going anywhere: it's the foundation Wahooo Market is built on. You can still shop johnscrazysocks.com and get the socks you love there, and you'll find J's and other John's Crazy Socks products in the Wahooo Market too, online and in our retail store.
John's Crazy Socks is where we began, and it remains part of our story. Wahooo Market is how we're growing that story: more brands, more gifts, more jobs and opportunity, more happiness and joy.
Meet John Cronin
John Cronin is the co-founder and driving force behind Wahooo Market. John has Down syndrome, though he will tell you that Down syndrome never holds him back. John is the CEO and President, as well as the Chief Happiness Officer for our parent organization, Abilities Rising Commerce LLC, which operates WahoooMarket.com, our Wahooo Market retail store, John's Crazy Socks, and our new line of products, Can Do! Socks and apparel.
After finishing school and finding meaningful employment hard to come by, John co-founded John's Crazy Socks with his father Mark in 2016. What started as a test (452 orders in two weeks) grew into a global business that has shipped over 500,000 packages to 94 countries, earned 33,000+ five-star reviews, and donated more than $900,000 to charity partners including Special Olympics New York and the National Down Syndrome Society.
John is an advocate for people with differing abilities and, together with his father and partner, delivers keynote speeches at conferences, business events, and colleges and universities across the country. He has spoken at the United Nations, delivered two TEDx talks, and testified twice before the U.S. Congress. John is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and the first person with Down syndrome to receive the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award. He is an ambassador for the National Down Syndrome Society and a Special Olympics athlete.
His message: follow your heart, follow your dreams, work hard, show what you can do.
Meet Mark X. Cronin
Mark X. Cronin is the co-founder of the Wahooo Market and works with his son John to make their dream a reality: creating joy and showing what people with differing abilities can do.
Mark serves as the CEO of Abilities Rising, a family of businesses dedicated to spreading happiness and proving what people with differing abilities can do. Abilities Rising brings together Abilities Rising Commerce (including Wahooo Market and John's Crazy Socks), Abilities Rising Speaking, and Abilities Rising Publishing under one mission and one platform.
In 2016, Mark and his son John, who has Down syndrome, co-founded John's Crazy Socks after John finished school and couldn't find meaningful work. What began as a test grew into a global business: 500,000+ packages shipped to 94 countries, $900,000+ donated to charity, 33,000+ five-star reviews, and a workforce where more than half of employees have a differing ability.
Mark is an EY Entrepreneur of the Year, a two-time TEDx speaker, and holds a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard University and an undergraduate degree from the College of the Holy Cross. He has addressed Congress, the United Nations, and SHRM's national conference. He serves on the Suffolk County Workforce Development Board and the CEO Commission on Disability Employment.
Mark spent most of his career in the health care field, heading the New York City Medicaid Health Program and firms, working to improve health care for the underserved. He has also founded a software development firm and organized political campaigns. Mark began his career teaching in New York City and has taught at NYU and Columbia University. He is the published author of both fiction and non-fiction works.
Together with John, Mark travels the country speaking to organizations promoting inclusive hiring and showing what people with differing abilities can do.
What Is Abilities Rising and How Does Wahooo Market Fit into Abilities Rising?
John and Mark Cronin built John's Crazy Socks to spread happiness and show what people with differing abilities can do. It worked. Abilities Rising is the next chapter. It builds on our mission to create joy, to create jobs, to give people with differing abilities a voice, support them, and advocate for them. It builds a platform that proves the model, helps others start businesses, and then scales to reach more people.
Abilities Rising is an umbrella organization for four areas of activity:
- Commerce: We offer products and services that create joy and jobs for people with differing abilities. These include: the Wahooo Market retail store, WahoooMarket.com, John's Crazy Socks, Can Do! Socks and Apparel, and Abilities Rising Business Services.
- Voice: We want to give a voice to people with differing abilities. We have created Abilities Rising Publishing to publish books by, for, and about people with differing abilities. In the future, we will add podcasting services.
- Support: John and Mark travel the country promoting inclusive employment and entrepreneurship for all. They have helped many families start businesses and organizations to learn how to employ people with differing abilities. We will continue offering their speaking engagements and add coaching services for families that want to start a business and consulting for organizations looking to employ people with differing abilities.
- Job Training Academy: We have ten years of experience training people with differing abilities to work with us. We will expand our reach by creating our Job Training Academy to train people to work in a warehouse or retail store.