Small Business Profile
Creating New Black History Using Digital Tools
A few years ago, sparked by her mom’s ALS diagnosis, Renee King set out to change the world by building an artificial intelligence platform that would help improve disabled people’s quality of life. While she still believes the idea was solid, it failed when she couldn’t secure funding. This experience inspired Renee to find another…
Using Digital Tools To Protect Our Environment
SaLisa Berrien, Founder and CEO of COI Energy, a startup that helps businesses eliminate energy waste and save lots of money in doing so. Businesses use their app platform to communicate with utility companies and other businesses about available capacity they have to offer to cut down on energy waste. When businesses act on their…
Following in her Family’s Footsteps
When Sara Irvani took over her family’s shoemaking business, Okabashi, she was determined to maintain the consistent quality of Okabashi’s products while ushering the company into the digital age. In 1984, when Irvani’s grandfather started the business, about 60% of all shoes sold in the country were made in the U.S. Now, it’s closer to…
Coffee for the Community
Juanny Romero started Sunrise Coffee in 2008 to create a coffee shop focused on making friends, drinking good coffee, and eating foods made from scratch. Founded in Las Vegas at the start of the Great Recession, Sunrise Coffee is the city’s longest-running independent coffee shop and has since expanded to four locations. Juanny has used…
A Bird’s Eye View of Digital Tools
Jenna Ahern spent ten years working in the automotive industry and saw firsthand how businesses changed when Google Ads was first introduced. Jenna observed the knowledge gap between executives and marketing departments as technology advanced, and in 2012 she started Guardian Owl Digital in Louisville, KY, to close that gap and help guide companies’ digital…
A Stylish Way to Carry Lunch
Sherika Wynter and her business partner Shallon Thomas have worked together since 2014. One day, Shallon realized he had no stylish way to carry his lunch into the office and wanted something better. In 2018, he and Sherika created a new company called T|W Tote, which makes fashionable lunch bags. Sherika and Shallon use the…
Providing a Welcoming Community for New Parents
Nina Spears, a mother of two from Houston, TX, started working with expectant mothers in January of 2011 as a baby planner, birth and postpartum doula, childbirth and newborn care educator, and massage therapist. Since then, she has assisted over 700 families and attended over 300 births. Nicknamed “The Baby Chick,” Nina launched her business…
A Mother-Daughter Bond Turned into a Successful Business
Susan Robinson began teaching her daughter, Sara, how to sew when Sara was seven. Sara first loved sewing dresses for her American Girl Dolls, and then she started designing and sewing aprons. After posting some of her designs on Facebook and getting positive feedback from family and friends, Susan and Sara decided to create an…
Technology Helps People 50+ Tie Up Loose Ends
COVID-19 ushered in a series of endings and beginnings for Mari-Lyn Harris. When the pandemic forced her to shut her small catering company, she found an unexpected next chapter as an administrator to an old friend suffering from pancreatic cancer. With her community in Fremont, CA, largely in lockdown, Mari-Lyn filled an indispensable role in…
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