Entrepreneurship

Small business owners Todd and Michelle Trotter are cleaning up Milwaukee’s buildings—and in the process extending a helping hand to its people.

Small business owner Christin Evans is writing the next chapter for two historic bookstores.

Christin, who holds a MBA and was a management consultant for A.T. Kearney, gave up her high powered but emotionally unfulfilling career more than a decade ago to seek a new challenge. She and her husband, Praveen Madan, took over the 40-year-old San Francisco bookstore Booksmith in 2007 and the 60-year-old Kepler’s Books in 2012—bringing new life to old ink, and in the process creating much more than just places to buy volumes.

David Arena is a small business owner who proves the road less traveled may sometimes be the road to success.

“I am not the most talented business owner out there, but I worked hard to get where I am,” said David.

Small business owner Lynn Meyers is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure critical packages are delivered on time.

“In this business, it’s important to be able to sleep standing up,” said Lynn.

Lynn is the owner of Cincinnati, Ohio-based United Courier Inc.—a delivery service that attends to the time-sensitive needs of its clients. A self-proclaimed “chronic entrepreneur,” Lynn has been in the business of creating small firms since 1986 and settled into her current role in 2006.

Most 25 year olds are more worried about paying off their student loans than launching a business to help their neighborhood. Not Kateri Gutierrez.

“Being involved in the community and teaching people about civic engagement is a labor of love for me,” said Kateri.

Jeff Rose and Rosina Rubin’s limo company keeps New York’s rich and famous from being late and angry. 

“We are the limo service you can swear by, not at,” said Rosina.

Entrepreneur Clifton Broumand has an advanced degree in trial and error, and if you ask him he’ll tell you his studies were not cheap.

“I had a very expensive education – instead of getting an MBA at a university, I got a Ph.D. in making mistakes and learning from them,” said Clifton.

Ramona Thomas, a trained mathematician with a Ph.D. in education, gave up an 18-year career and position as vice president of a venture philanthropy firm to strike out on her own and open what is now Chicago’s premiere artisan chocolate boutique—My Chocolate Soul.

Sweet Action Ice Cream is a socially conscious Denver ice cream shop that serves unique sweet treats and has an even sweeter mission of giving a helping hand to the community.

Originally from New York City, Sweet Action Ice Cream owners Chia and Sam Basinger are no strangers to the foodservice industry. Both have backgrounds working in restaurants, and when they decided to make their move to Denver in 2007, those experiences helped them to build what is now today a very successful ice cream shop.

When Chris Petrella found himself in the dark, he had a bright idea.

While camping with his son in 2012 he realized he didn’t have a way to power his electronics. After that trip, Petrella went to a camping supplies store and inquired about such a device.   

“I sketched it out for him [the store clerk]” and he told me it didn’t exist. I did a Google search, and it wasn’t found,” Petrella said. “I thought to myself this is so bizarre because I can picture this thing clearly in my mind.”