Mehran Assadi
I grew up in Iran. In 1976, I came to the United States to visit my cousin on a 30-day holiday. I never left. The change was enormous. When I arrived in this country I could not speak the language. My first gourmet meal in America was Dunkin’ Donuts. It was a really big change for me. Yet I was so thrilled to be here. To me this was the land of opportunity and I was going to embrace it every way I could. Within 18 hours of arriving in Baltimore from Iran I was working – I was 17 at the time – and I really haven’t stopped working since then. Read more>>
Lauren Kitchens
Growing up in the decadent 80’s left me with very little inspiration. I didn’t want a red Ferrari, my purple jelly shoes gave me blisters, and it seemed that the only professional women out there were either stern business women with shoulder pads up to their ears, or over-sexualized pop stars constantly selling themselves short. The doctor-lawyer-corporate career path was the only acceptable option for my generation to aspire to. We were shown the polished-perfect life provided by the over-achieving Baby Boomers. To deviate from that box was unacceptable. Since I couldn’t find many accomplished women to identify with or admire in pop-culture, my only hero was Rocky Balboa (Yo Adrian!). Read more>>
Michelle Strong
As Chief Marketing Officer for Long Range Systems, Michelle Strong is responsible for LRS’ product strategy, marketing programs, corporate communications and sales support. In her role, she works closely with LRS’ clients, business partners and operating units to assess market needs, uncover emerging trends, understand competitive offerings and recommend integrated hardware and software solutions that best address on-location communication needs. Strong began her career in the media industry and held management roles in a variety of businesses including a marketing agency, affiliate marketing company, research, sales, operations and product development. Read more>>
Annie Quach
My parents immigrated to the United States to ensure a better life for their children. They had nothing when they came here and through sacrifices and an amazing work ethic opened their own business. They were laborers though and spent sunup to sundown managing their business. They instilled the philosophy that your rewards will be a direct reflection of how hard you work and even more so when you own your own business. However, they were constantly working, seldom took time for themselves, and never saw their impact on the community. Cliché and selfish perhaps, but I wanted to have a direct impact on someone’s life to make my career something I would look forward to daily while still allowing time for a family. Read more>>
Naheed Shahid
Dr. Shahid has been practicing the Art of Medicine for over 12 years ranging from outpatient to urgent care, His work and Surgical experience co-assisting in the OR with her husband in complex spine surgeries. Preston Hollow Med Spa is a unique upscale boutique medical practice catering to the individual needs of each patient. Here I can combine my other interests of fashion, art and beauty while still practicing medicine. Life is a constant challenge where we have to continuously redefine ourselves. I’m continuously growing as a mother, daughter, wife and doctor all the time! Read more>>
Brandon Richmond
Prior to owning Grout Works of Dallas, I worked in law enforcement in Iowa. While it was an interesting line of work, it was mentally and emotionally draining. I had always wanted a more satisfying career, preferably one where I could take ownership and create a better work/life balance. Aside from this, my family desired warmer climate. A family friend owned and operated the Grout Works franchise in Iowa, and also owned a region in North Texas. This North Texas region hasn’t been developed yet, but seemed like a perfect opportunity to me to take on and grow. Read more>>
Matthew Kim
I always had a keen interest in helping others to stay healthy. After practicing physical therapy for a few years in Korea, I wanted to enhance my skills, which led me to study in the States. But this form of therapy provided only limited assistance, not the whole wellbeing. I felt there had to be a better way to substantially improve one’s life and help individuals to live life to their fullest potential. That’s when acupuncture caught my eye. Everything about this ancient medicine made sense. Our body is the best doctor. That is, if we can get our body to function like it should, it will help eliminate other problems. Read more>>
James Kissamitakis and Terry Griffith
Our Story started a year ago last March. A family trip was being planned to visit Terry’s parents in Vegas. We began brain storming about how we could earn extra money for the Vegas trip. After discussion Terry stated you know everyone loves your BBQ maybe you should sell some BBQ to earn the money. So James began selling BBQ Breakfast burritos for his coworkers, then moved on to plates and meat by the pound. Before we knew it, our trip was here and the funds had been raised. People continued to call and re order We looked at each other and said we might be on to something. From there we worked social media and gained our first event, a rehearsal dinner. Read more>>
Martin Gill
When I ventured in to the insurance business in 2011, I was working with MHBT in Dallas a producer, and Technology quickly became one of my pursuits. I started working with software and hardware companies, companies that did customized Salesforce and Oracle integrations, Consultants, and companies that did staffing in the tech world. I had clients from start up to over a Billion in revenue. What I found was that there are lot of companies past the startup stage that have employees, a product, and revenue, but they were struggling to really understand the intricacies of the indemnities in their client contracts, and how their insurance would or would not protect them in the event of a claim. Read more>>
Tina Loyd
My career started at Missouri University where I earned my Bachelor’s Degree with a major in Communications and a minor in Theatre. I put myself through college by modeling and teaching modeling classes which lead to an opportunity to work with a company called Precious Formals on the wholesale side. I started as a model in the showroom and quickly worked my way up through sales and marketing. A two month opportunity turned into two years of experience on the wholesale side before I met Terry Costa who hired me as her bridal manager and I quickly moved up to general manager of her 14,000 square foot location. Read more>>
Gregg Diamant
My father was a director and my mother an actress–consequently I was unable to escape the gene pool urge to entertain! Living in Japan as a self-supporting missionary, I began doing magic shows and voice-overs to help feed our growing family. After 20 years in Asia we were quite comfortable. We had our ministry, a good income–life was great. But an unexplained restlessness consumed my wife and I until we were desperate enough to consider a move. Read more>>
Sergey Khachatrian
My story really started back in 2000. I began DJ-ing in clubs, raves, and festivals in Texas and had gained reasonable notoriety. It came to a point where I felt like life had more to offer and pulled myself off the scene to go to college. I graduated from Collin College with an associates in 3D entertainment and Multimedia and immediately transferred to Southern Methodist University to pursue a degree in Creative Advertising; all the while working in various restaurants as a server. In 2012, while working at Maggiano’s in Plano, I struck up a conversation with Tasha, the banquet director. Having recently gotten married myself, I asked her whether or not they need DJs for their events. Her reply was overwhelmingly encouraging. Read more>>
Ben Caballero
I became a Realtor when I was 21 years old and have been in the real estate business my entire life. For 18 of those years I also was a homebuilder I and noticed most builders were not listing their homes in the Multiple Listing Service or MLS. For those builders that did, their listings were not well managed. Because I also was a real estate broker, I saw a great opportunity – an unmet need – so I began listing builder homes in the MLS for homebuilders as a service. I soon discovered that maintaining these listings well with a manual system – it was all originally in Excel spreadsheets – was very difficult. At the time, I was watching how other businesses were using the Internet to create efficiencies and reduce costs. Read more>>
Brent Carmichael
Born in Illinois, played four sports in high school. Went to University of Northern Iowa to play basketball. After college, played professional basketball for 4 years (USA AND OVERSEAS). Life after basketball was working for the Mayor in Rockford Illinois. In 1991, I obtained custody of my son. In 1997, my son was diagnosed with Autism. Over the years I facilitated workshops on violence prevention and gangs. I moved to Texas in 2010, and started FOUR U Academy. The drug goes along the way was trying to find resources for my autistic son. Read more>>
Marie Greenlee and Lauren Hull
My story is a series unplanned surprises that led to my passion of empowering businesses to make a positive impact, each in its own way. I had no plans to run a business. While I was a graphic designer for a non-profit in Virginia, the opportunity to travel overseas for cheap arose and I requested permission to work from abroad. Determined to show my appreciation for the opportunity, I managed all my responsibilities diligently while I was out of the country. Upon arrival home, I was offered my first contract to work from home. This allowed me to relocate with my husband to Texas where I continued freelancing for design, started nannying for steady income, and became a caretaker for my disabled Veteran spouse. Read more>>
Jim Chamblee
I begin at D-BAT Lewisville in 2009 when it first opened as a manager/instructor. I helped run the daily operations of the business as well as performed one on one instruction. In 2011, I left for a full-time job elsewhere but stayed on as a part time instructor. I continued that for several years until coming back in 2014 to serve as the general manager under new management. It has been a good transition for me personally and allowed me the flexibility to continue to coach both my boys in youth baseball. We strive to create a culture where kids and parents will not only receive good customer service but also quality instruction. Read more>>
Noosha
I started my beauty blogging journey shortly after giving birth to my first-born. After having a baby your body doesn’t always look the same. For me, clothes didn’t fit right and my feet even grew a size. I turned to makeup. I started watching tutorials on YouTube and was instantly fascinated with the artistic side of makeup. I started sharing reviews of products I was trying on my personal Instagram account and soon after decided to create a dedicated page for everything beauty and Makeup Addicts Rejoice was born. I’ve become part of the amazing beauty community on Instagram and am so incredibly grateful for all the friendships created. Read more>>
Lea Coil
After college graduation my first job was laying out ads for Printing Inc in Oklahoma City, then I moved on up to laying out the News and advertising of the Journal Record newspaper, then I got a job being the lead designer and art director of Hard Edge Design. From there, I joined an ad agency and was responsible for working with some major clients. It wasn’t too long after that I started moonlighting taking on side clients (friends, family members) who blossomed into enough work that I had to quit my day job and become a freelancer. From there, I never looked back. Read more>>
Gary Paparella
POParella’s was conceived, owned and operated by a family with a desire. We are the POParella’s, Liza, Natalie, Meagan and me, Gary. We relocated from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Frisco, Texas by way of career opportunities with my former company, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. Not long after the relocation, the family made a life changing decision. The exhaustion from the corporate world was one factor in this decision. The desire to be self-employed, our enjoyment of people and the desire to be creative fueled our enthusiasm. What pushed us over the edge was the inspiration and support from each other and family members, we were convinced to open a family business, our choice, gourmet popcorn and candy store. Read more>>
Stephen Elliott
I was employed as a telecommunications engineer by Northern Telecom in 1980 and became a Member, Scientific Staff of Bell Northern Research in 1982, the R&D subsidiary of Northern Telecom Limited. An electrical engineer by profession, I was assigned responsibility for the growing DMS-100 Hardware Development group at the Bell Northern Research (BNR) Research Triangle Park (RTP) laboratory, including functional and electrical design and development of electronic subsystems, boards, chips, and firmware. During my tenure with Bell Northern Research, I held technical and managerial assignments in the RTP (North Carolina), Maidenhead (U.K), Ottawa (Canada), and Richardson (Texas) laboratories. Read more>>
Lisa Hendrickson
Sounds almost cliché but I have been drawn to politics since I was a child. At the age of 9, I began writing my Congressman, Senators and the President. Really wish I would have saved those letters just for grins. My story started when I came home and shared a story with my mom that had occurred at school during that specific day. I was truly upset and bothered at the dinner table and when she asked why I was so quiet I began to share what had occurred. At the end of my story she simply replied, “well what are you going to do about it?” That question caused me to begin to continually ask myself when things occurred that I thought was not just – What am I going to do about it? Read more>>
Jordan Woy
I was in law school at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas when I started in the athlete agent business. I started working with Pete Incaviglia who was a baseball player with the Texas Rangers. I eventually got much more involved in the NFL and have since represented over 450 NFL players including: Jason Hatcher, Dan Bailey, Terrell Owens, Ray Crockett and Anthony Spencer. The Athlete agent business is very cut throat and competitive. If you saw Jerry Maguire or Ballers on HBO with The Rock they are fairly accurate. Agents are recruiting young 22 year olds and it is a tough and can be a dirty business. There is a lot of client stealing that goes on so you always have to be working hard and close with your clients. Read more>>
Christopher North
I moved to Texas in 2007 with my mother, a graphic designer and entrepreneur. She inspired me to start my own business from what I only considered a hobby. Early on, all I knew was that I loved photography- and it’s a dream to be able to do what you love all your life. The reality is dreams run on money. I began charging for portraiture during high school when I first saw a market in seasonal work- prom, homecoming, and Valentine’s Day were my busiest times. As I got older and progressed in skill, I found it necessary to expand upon the basic services of a photographer and redefine what a photoshoot entails. Read more>>
Brad Shanklin
After attending The University of Texas, I started my career working in politics and then moved to association work nearly 30 years ago. That work began with the American Heart Association for 14 years in Houston, New Mexico and Dallas. I then moved to the Plano Chamber of Commerce and after eight years as the CEO moved to Meeting Professionals International’s global office for six years. In March of 2016, I came to Dallas HR Management as their new Executive Director. Working with volunteers and Boards of Directors and helping them achieve success is very satisfying. Read more>>
