Art Ortiz
Sometimes in life, you can fail at certain things and it makes you feel like a failure. But the reality is, we are not failures, we just happened to fail at a certain thing in our life. This was me in 2011 as I left my corporate job to pursue a job as a firefighter. Read more>>
Samuele Gallorini
I’ve founded Il Cerimoniere Italian Weddings business in Florence, Italy, the city where I grew up and attended university, in 2007. I founded it with my wife Eleonora and we still work together, it’s a small family business but we love it this way! Read more>>
Cassie Madden
Growing up, my Mother was an amateur photographer and constantly had her camera. Once on a family trip, I asked to be in charge of the camera for the day. From then on, everyone knew that I was the one with the camera. I took a few beginners classes in college on film photography and Photoshop, but I was always an English major and never intended to make a career out of my hobby. Read more>>
James Miri
White Glove Storage & Delivery was created to fill a void within the logistics industry in 2005. We began working with interior designers, furniture showrooms and numerous galleries as an installation/delivery company but, soon realized that the demand for superior service was also desired for residential clients that needed to move from one home to another. Read more>>
Andrea Wissing
Truthfully, Love brought me to the US from Rio de Janeiro. I was back and forth about continuing my law career, and at the same time, I was looking for little staples that reminded me of home. One of my first familiar experiences was a Brazilian wax; you couldn’t imagine how excited I was, but I always ended up disappointed. Read more>>
Stacie Paris
I have always loved photography and have always had some type camera around, even as a child. I actually worked at a small studio at one of the big-name box stores in 2007. While I did enjoy studio work, that was not what I had in mind. I eventually quit and started saving for my own professional camera. Read more>>
Brianne Katz
I always knew I wanted to be part of a profession that helped people feel better. Doing something where people left happy. I still didn’t know by college so I got my bachelors of science degree in Psychology. After college, I worked at a bank in sales and liked my job…but I didn’t love my job. I decided that I had to make a change. Read more>>
Valerie Grimes
It was 2001 and my advertising agency was winding down, I had 20 years invested and was stressed out, drinking too much and my 11 year marriage was also winding down. I got a call from Ann of the Dallas Hypnosis Institute who asked me if I could create a brochure for her school. Working with her a learned a lot about repressed emotions and situational triggers. Read more>>
Teddie Garrigan, Courtney Garrigan
We opened Coco & Dash to fill a void in home decor shopping in Dallas. There were “Big Box” stores and design studios and antique shops and malls. But, there were no shops that brought to the city the design vision we were looking for. And if we were sensing a void others must be as well. We knew Dallas was ready for a more sophisticated retail experience. Read more>>
Kasie Ricart
Believe it or not… this insurance agent started her career in fashion! With two fashion degrees, I spent my first few years out of college designing clothing for U.S. retailers and managing overseas production. When the recession hit in 2008, mid-market fashion came to a halt and I transitioned into public speaking and recruiting for my alma mater, The Art Institute of Dallas. Read more>>
Jennifer Hartman
While living in New York City “Upper East Side” I always found it very challenging to find us you that fit me properly and covered up my imperfection areas. I found myself going to Barney’s New York or Bloomingdale’s not finding exactly what I was looking for, I am bustier on top and small on the bottom so I found myself purchasing two suits and I was never completely happy with how they fit and they did not cover the areas of my concern. Read more>>
Randall Kennedy
As a youngster I was always interested in nature and wildlife. I’ve always found a real liking to the outdoors. I started working with animals at a boarding kennel when I was 13. If you years later I decided to flip through the phonebook to see if anything would interest me as a career. I have seen an ad for nuisance wildlife control. Read more>>
Nicole Stewart
Oral Fixation started in a blackbox theatre in Uptown in 2011 and today calls the 750-seat Moody Performance Hall home. A live storytelling series for adults, Oral Fixation (An Obsession With True-Life Tales) features 7 Dallas-area locals reading aloud their true, personal stories on a certain theme which is always an idiom in the English language. Read more>>
Matt & Emily Baldwin
Matt and I started our first store in Kansas City, Standard Style, 15 years ago. From there we launched Baldwin in 2009. It’s always been about serving our clients, creating a warm environment, and a commitment to find each person’s individual style. We are excited about our first store in Dallas that opened in last September. We also opened in New york, Los Angeles this last fall season as well, and we open in San Jose in March. Read more>>
Jeff Shed, Siddartha Chandrashekar
One of my biggest passions and life goals is to spread the message of individual sustainability. To me, solar energy is the beginning of this whole process. I spent some time as an installer for a local company in Houston and soon felt as though I could run a solar business myself. So I did just that. Read more>>
Sara Wolfe, Steve Severance
Several years ago Sara was an elementary school teacher and had desired to do some permanent hair removal. She found a great electrolysis at a company called Great Skin by Lynne. She would set aside some extra dollars each month to have Lynne work her magic by removing hair from a variety of areas on her body. Read more>>
Trey Johnson
I’m a Dallas native and a graduate of the University of North Texas. I was a founding member of the North Texas band, Sorta. In its seven-year run, we enjoyed notable regional success with four full-length records. The band garnered national attention, when our songs were picked up for several television series. Read more>>
Renato Franco
We started in 2013, in a small place located on Jefferson Street, after that we were blessed to move to a bigger place in Jefferson Street, our clients chose us a lot, for the service we give, Likewise for the different styles of dresses we have, we had many failures in this way, like evictions from locals, by owners of the premises, but even so we do not stop losing the faith, and we continue working. Read more>>
Brian Odzer
I like to say that my wife and I went from banking to barking. I met my wife Adrian while we where working for corporate banking back in 2010. Feeling stifled by my current position, I somehow convinced her to leave her job to start a dog walking company with me. Dog walking was a very popular service when I lived in NYC and I noticed there was a large need in Dallas. Read more>>
Ted Gambordella
The Super Senior….”Fitness Futurist” 70 year old Ted Gambordella has done 7 million sit ups! Six Pack at 70…all you need is 15 minutes a day! Ted Gambordella has done 7 million sits up as he turns 70, and that is about 6,900,000 more than most people do in a lifetime. Read more>>
Ivy Mcquain
BLI Publishing started because I published a book in 24 hours, which I don’t recommend for anyone to do. I published it because I believed it was something that I needed to do and get done so I could move on with my life. Get Your Head Out of the Clouds, This is Business was written to help small business owners/entrepreneurs understand themselves before they ever get started with business. Read more>>
Shawna Yant
I had been working in the wireless/technology space in sales and business development for Fortune 500 companies and desired a more fulfilling work environment. I am a lifelong pet owner and traveled frequently for work which meant leaving my pets in the care of others. Read more>>
Allison Brooks
After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Architecture, Allison worked at: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in Chicago, IL; A. Epstein & Sons in Chicago, IL; and Good Fulton & Farrell Architects in Dallas, TX. In 2007, Allison began working with Crow Holdings on the development of the Old Parkland campus. Read more>>
Cece Cox
In some way, shape or form, I’ve been an advocate for the LGBTQ community and persons living with HIV for more than 30 years. When I moved to Dallas, I didn’t think I’d stay, but I fell in love with the people and the LGBTQ community — we get stuff done! My work background includes journalism, photography and law, all of which merged with decades of nonprofit experience to lead to my current endeavor as CEO of Resource Center, one of the largest LGBTQ community centers in the country. Read more>>
Anastasia Strattan
I got started in the beauty industry in 2008 with a company called TC Makeup. I had been freelancing with photographers and knew I wanted to get more experience with other sides of the hair and makeup field. TC Makeup taught me the art of airbrushing, bridal work and how to customize a look perfect for each person who sat in my chair. Read more>>
Eric Sacks
Originally started as an Art Gallery, but morphed into an event venue because of a friend’s company wanting to do their holiday party at the gallery, and then took off from there. Often the path to greatness is never smooth. Struggles were getting a loan, surviving financially at the beginning with just earning money from the venue alone. And then having to work 2 jobs to make ends meet. Read more>>
