Betina Gozo
I’m a Nike Master Trainer and the founder of Canvas Training. My background is all over the place! I grew up as a dancer and entertainer, dancing on my school’s dance teams and performing in plays and musicals. I played bass in rock bands after high school, and I landed on playing in at top 40 cover band full time for 5 years. Read More>>
Matt Laricy
I am a third generation Realtor. My whole life, my dream was to sell Real Estate. When I graduated college, I was already licensed and started selling. My father’s company was on the South Side of Chicago, so I started there. Read More>>
Daniel Cribbs
I started back in 2015 with just an idea. I suppose it all started when I went to a car wash to get my first car detailed. A green 1995 Mercury Sable. Once the car was finished, I got my car back and noticed that the inside of my car seemed untouched. I thought to myself that maybe it’s just this particular car wash. Read More>>
David VanHimbergen
I have worked for Procter & Gamble (P&G) for 17 years. I graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in Management Information Systems and started with P&G right after college in their IT department. Most of my time in IT was spent as a Business Analyst either supporting corporate finance or brands. Read More>>
Julian Tillotson
I had been shooting video since I was 13, went to film school, dropped out and went into sales. I sold cars, knives, real estate, I was even a loan officer for a few years. In 2009 I was coming off of a failed real estate development company I owned. The recession swallowed me whole. I went right into hustle mode like I always had and tried to figure out what I could sell the easiest. Read More>>
Caraline Brockman
My home was always full of animals when I was a child. I had many different types of pets from cats and dogs to hermit crabs, hamsters, turtles, birds, fish and various amphibians. Growing up with animals and in such a pet friendly environment definitely helped foster my love of animals from an early age. Read More>>
Joyce Marter
As a therapist in private practice, I recognized the need for an insurance-friendly counseling practice in Chicago that would make therapy accessible and affordable. In 2004, Urban Balance was founded with the mission of providing in-network counseling services to individuals, couples and families dealing with issues related to stress, mental health, addiction, career and relationships. Urban Balance aims to de-stigmatize mental health issues as a normal aspect of the human condition and promote therapy as a routine part of health and wellness. Read More>>
Lindsay Parrott-Masiewicz
I started Parrott Party Productions in 2011 after realizing there were very little paid opportunities for someone out of college who already knew how to plan and design events and weddings. I connected with Julie Nunn of I DO! Weddings & Events in Mill Valley, CA and went through an intensive two week training session with her. The first wedding I got to work on with I DO! was published in Town & Country and from there I knew this was what I wanted/needed to be doing. Read More>>
Nina Weiss
One of my favorite childhood memories is of drawing a mural in crayon on the floor with my Dad on the rolls of paper used to cover examining tables! I spent a lot of time in my room drawing; painting; and copying masters was I was a kid. I also was very fortunate to live near Manhattan and frequently visited museums and galleries. My first art lessons began at age 11; and at age 13 throughout high school I traveled into Manhattan every Saturday to attend the Art Students League. Read More>>
Megan Owdom-Weitz
Well I always loved art class and making things with my hands. I ended up going to college for visual communications design (fancy term for graphic design) at Kent State and loved it. It was an amazing program and included lots of illustration classes along with really training your eye for design. I moved to Chicago thinking I would be designing annual reports for the rest of my life, and ended up at a small design firm. Read More>>
JENNIFER FISHER
Jen Fisher Books represents the realization of a lifetime dream to have my own Bookstore. My story is not all that different from many others who found themselves in a career that was not overly fulfilling and took an event that could have been a huge negative and turned it into an opportunity to pursue my passions…books and art. It takes time to grow a business especially one that some might have thought was “dead.” Read More>>
Megan Tamte
When I was a new mom, I began dreaming about a store that understood a mom’s life – because I felt no other retail brand did. After years of dreaming and planning, my husband and business partner, Mike, and I took a giant leap of faith to open our first Evereve store in Minnesota. We are a fashion brand designed to make shopping for clothes fun, fashionable and empowering. Read More>>
Jim Langworthy
I grew up learning everything you need to know about fixing, patching, painting, and plumbing, really everything from my dad. I was the guy dad would call on when he needed a helper around the house. So working with my hands was something I had always done and always enjoyed. So even when I was working as a project manager I continued to lay tile for people or paint or take on odd jobs. When the economy turned I lost my job. Read More>>
Amy Trager
My interest in organization began early in my college years helping friends and relatives organize their lives and spaces. After discovering this passion, I completed a custom curriculum at Bradley University that included an internship in the organizing industry and publication in a professional journal. I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Consumer Sciences and a minor in Business Management. I started working with my own clients in January 2006. Read More>>
Chelsea Avino
I’ve loved dogs since before I could even walk. I started off working in various animal related jobs (pet store, veterinary/boarding facility, and a pet sitting company) at a young age before following my dream of becoming a dog groomer. About five years ago, I began working as a dog bather in a couple of different grooming facilities, learning tips and tricks from the groomers I was working for at the time. Read More>>
Lauren O’Connell
My intrigue with Astrology dates back to when I was a little kid listening to my Grandmother, who does Western Astrology, palm readings, hand writing analysis, and has a mouth like a sailor, tell me how I was “an old soul” and was going to be “all over the place” (a nice way of saying that I’d be lost AF with what to do with my lovely life). And as I got older, things like, “you shouldn’t date him, your charts are too similar”. I grew up Catholic and went to Catholic school, quite the juxtaposition of two incompatibles. Read More>>
Eric Lazar
Eric Lazar is United States Marine Corps veteran as well as a highly accomplished professional with 30 years of combined experience in entrepreneurship, sales, leadership, custom marketing, client strategy and project execution in both traditional media and mobile realms. Mr. Lazar has lived in Chicago for 18 years, hailing from Port Jefferson, New York, the son of a Jr High School Principal and secondary school teacher. In 1986, at the age of 17, he enlisted in the Marine Corps, where he was accepted into the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterrey, California and trained as an Arabic translator. He went on to further schooling in Dam Neck, Virginia where he became an Intelligence Analyst. Read More>>
Rafiq Karimi Jr
At CD One Price Cleaners, we totally reengineered the traditional approach to cleaning. We were the first to introduce the one-price concept in Chicago in 2001. Today, we have over 34 stores across Chicagoland offering dry cleaning, wash & fold laundry, and many other cleaning services. What makes us different than our competition is our signature Better Way – always free same-day service (in by 10 AM, ready by 5 PM), value-based pricing (dry cleaning any garment is just $3.29), email ready alerts, and free gourmet coffee. Read More>>
Danielle Galmore
Here’s the dilemma – The increased pace of business today makes it harder than ever to harness the transformational power of team collaboration, especially when it comes to meetings. We recognized three contributing factors to this issue. The first, more than anything the “work anywhere” or mobility trend, matched with the use of more consultants and contract employees and the globalization of teams working across continents, created a need to bring distributed, flat teams together on neutral ground, for connection, focused discussion and alignment. Read More>>
Kara Gordon
After years of coping with the corporate world; unwavering effort, perseverance and 3 a.m. nights; and endless moral support from my family and friends, my childhood calling was complete. Combining a passion for paper and a love of planning, Magnificent Milestones was born! We design custom invitations for any special event. We launched in 2007 to show brides, grooms, wedding parties and event planners alike to fall in love with our inspiration: the power of the written word. Read More>>
Matt Mason
I started in photography working with a very talented and successful friend and learned the art and business from him. What started out as a nice side job quickly became a full time occupation. I started my own company in 2009 and as a company we have shot nearly 400 weddings. We love wedding photography from start to finish. Read More>>
Gail Eisner
Gail and John Eisner opened Scratch ‘n Sniff in 2004. It is our second store. Pumpkin Moon is our first – opened in 1995. We were always looking for fun new items for Pumpkin Moon and had so many ideas that we needed another store to hold them! Read More>>
Bejan Douraghy
In 1988, at age 25, Bejan Douraghy ventured from New York City to Chicago with $1,000 in his pocket and a business concept. A prior job experience had taught him a valuable lesson—you have to treat creative talent with the same level of respect as your clients because as a staffing agency, you’re in the business of people. With that in mind, he launched Artisan Talent. Read More>>
Julianne Carrara
After graduating from my Endodontic residency, I relocated to Chicago vs returning to New York. Chicago in 1997 was very affordable. Pre cell phone; Wi-Fi and Facebook, it was difficult to maintain relationships with College and High School friends. Chicago was a great place to start over. Read More>>
Joe Lambke
When I studied architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology back in the 1980s, modernism was already old. A surprising adventure was provided by the Jerrold Loebl Traveling Fellowship. This enabled me to travel around the world for six months, studying the way different people live in very different ways. Long ago it included an introduction to lifestyles in Communist countries. Read More>>
Alexander Reznikov and Renee Lloyd
Dr. Alexander Reznikov, purchased Dental Group of Chicago, located in the South Loop in May of 2015. It had been in Rush Hospital for many years until 2012 when it was re-located to the South Loop on the corner of 16th Street and Michigan Ave. After the purchase in 2015 the office was completely remodeled and we have branded ourselves as a Family Oriented Dental Practice in the South Loop doing all phases of dentistry to help the patients of today be able to receive as much of their dental care as possible in one convenient location. We do everything from pediatric first time patients to patients who want a complete make over with Implants, Invisalign, Veneers, Bleaching etc. Read More>>
Erin Kelly Herrera
In 2003 Eclectik Design created our first Chicago Scene greeting card which has grown into a number of city designs and other fun, colorful cards to help busy professionals connect and communicate thoughtfully. Since then, we have expanded to include graphic design services for nonprofits, marketing directors, attorneys and small businesses. Read More>>
Steve Doyle
I’ve been in the real estate business for 30+ years, and I felt it was time to put together something fresh. I’ve worked in numerous facets of the real estate and construction industries. I’ve held different positions at a large general contractor, a privately held REIT and a merchant-build organization before starting Structured. Read More>>
E. David Luria
I am the Founder and Director of the Washington Photo Safari in Washington DC which has trained 35,000 amateur photographers since 1999, hundreds of them from the Chicago area. As an entrepreneur, I guess I am a rather interesting case myself. At the age of two I was lucky enough to escape from Nazi Germany in December of 1938, carried in the arms of my Jewish mother as we boarded one of the last ships to leave Hamburg for New York, the SS Manhattan. Read More>>
Collin Pham
I’m from Newton, MA and Local (the name of our company), in its first form, actually began back in 2012 when I was in high school there. Me and two friends wanted to earn some money over our sophomore summer so we, like a lot of kids before us, put up fliers offering to do odd jobs for an affordable price — think lawn mowing, moving, baby sitting. What started as this really small idea though, started to grow into something bigger. Read More>>
Giovanni Solano
I started almost 20 years ago with Exotic Limousines. I actually purchased a Lexus Stretch limousine just for my wife and I to take out on weekends and promote it a little with the members of 2 Gyms that I owned at the time. However we were getting requests for it not only by my members but from every gas station my chauffeur stopped to put gas in or at a red light and they would ask us what the name of our company was because they loved the limo and had never seen a 10 passenger Lexus LS400 limo. Read More>>
Michael Mayes
I started in cannabis in 2009 as an investor. Cannabis investment was not only risky but incredibly taboo at that time. I put every dollar I had into a Denver Based Company named Good Meds, and we grew that company from a small home cultivation center into a 90,000 square foot cultivation center in downtown Denver. We expanded into hydrocarbon extractions in a Class 1 Division 1 enclosure and operated two retail dispensaries. Read More>>
Rick Oliphant
I started back in 2010 kind of by accident. I like to always figure out a way to make a large purchase make sense so I was wanting to buy an Rv for my family and I to be able to be out together in comfort and I would still be able to conduct business, So I figured the Rv would be a good investment and when I wasn’t using it I could rent it out. A win win situation. Read More>>
Kaloyan Pechevski
Decided to enter the limo business after I was improperly fired from Nestle USA and that discouraged me to pursue a career in the corporate world. Now I serve corporations better on this side of the picture 😉 Quickly gathered the best chauffeurs in Chicago and created unbeatable network of professional drivers. Read More>>
Jason Davis
I spent 5 years in the Creative position at the Apple Store in Lincoln Park teaching users how to get the most out of their devices and software. As I started to master the Apple ecosystem, people frequently asked me if I could help them in their homes with their apple needs and other technology issues. A light bulb went off in my head which led me to the idea of” what if I could provide amazing service in the comfort of someone’s home. Read More>>
Marissa Artman
In 2014, I opened my first business – Second City Speech – with the dream of providing quality, comprehensive outpatient care to both children and adults in the Chicagoland area. I saw a great need for individualized treatment and quality time spent with individuals rather than what my clients referred to the “cattle call” feel of some of the bigger institutions. For three years, I enjoyed working with a variety of clients including children in schools, adults seeking accent modification, children working on reading and writing, and a new aspect of speech pathology: teletherapy. Read More>>
Udit Agarwal
It wasn’t until my personal experience during a night out in Chicago that I realized the many avoidable struggles many face in the nightlife industry. Planning a night out can be a complicated process in itself, but when it comes to factors that are out of your control it holds the potential to ruin your entire night. InstaBottles came to fruition when I was planning a night out for my brother’s birthday and had a bad experience; we showed up the night of and realized the club didn’t have our reservation. Read More>>
Jennifer Whaley
I’ve had a camera in my hand since I can remember. I come from a long line of photographers, too many to mention. I grew up marveling at amazing images and hoping to someday capture them myself. When I was 8, my father asked me to model for a new part of his photography business he was going to start. Read More>>
Andrew Rafacz
I began exhibiting local artists in my apartment in Pilsen in the early 2000’s. I was connected to the creative scene in Chicago through my love for music in particular and met many visual artists who were also musicians or close with many of them. It was a very organic beginning. When you started an exhibition space, you have to get ahead of your own schedule and book enough shows to not always be worried about what you will do next. I was struck by how open and supportive the community was to my intentions. Read More>>
Liz Perry
I have always loved food, entertaining and travel. In my 20’s I was a travel consultant and partner in a travel agency. I did a lot of travelling and had great fun entertaining friends and family in our home. In my 30’s I started a family and really began to enjoy cooking and catering. Read More>>+
