Nicholas Liguras
After 12 years in concrete restoration, I was able to team up with a long time friend and colleague to start Concrete Restoration Solutions Inc. (from now on referred to as CRS). We began in 2012 with big dreams of starting something with no specific direction in mind, just big dreams. Read more>>
Hailey Losselyong
I’m not exactly sure where my story begins. As far as I can remember, I’ve always been into anything crafty. My grandma taught me about knitting and sewing, my mom could always draw and my best friend introduced me to fashion. Read more>>
Nate Kloosterman
I started PhysioPoint with the desire to provide clients with the time they needed in order to be properly diagnosed and treated. Our profession is dominated by physicians, nurses and providers that are to busy to take the time to practice what was taught in school. Read more>>
Julia Perla Huisman
Ever since I was a child, I have loved reading and writing. I knew from a very young age that my career would be centered around those two activities. Shortly after graduating college with an English degree, I got a job as a part-time proofreader at a local magazine in LaPorte, Indiana. Read more>>
Claudette Redic
Hello! I am Claudette Redic, a Serial Entrepreneur. Cider Enterprises is my umbrella company. Cider Enterprises – Business Consulting provides strategies and services that “help harness the energy of profitable business ventures” for entrepreneurs. Read more>>
Erial Ramsey
When I was a child I was asked by great uncle (who more like my grandfather-figure), “What do you want to be when you grow up?” And proudly I would say, “A teacher.” This back and forth went on for a few years, but then my answer changed, as if I needed to upgrade my answer, to “A professor.” Read more>>
Russell Reid
I got started as a surgeon scientist through mentorship. The son of Jamaican immigrants, I learned from an early age that everything is earned through hard work and team work. I was always a curious person and with my mother as a nurse and father as an engineer, my work mission in life became natural: to help ailing patients as a physician who blends cutting edge technology and research in his practice. Read more>>
Ted Muta III, Ted Muta II, Cheryl Muta
Our founder, Ted Muta Sr., spent several years freelancing as a graphic artist after graduating from the American Academy of Art. In 1968, he decided to open Ted Muta Advertising in downtown Chicago. We were there for nearly 25 years before moving to NWI. Over the past 50 years, we’ve worked with a wide array of businesses from small and mid-size start-ups to major Fortune 500 corporations, including Craftsman, Skil, Grainger, and ITW (Illinois Tool Works). Read more>>
Daniel Schultz, Tim Schultz
My brother and I got into this business because we couldn’t find a solution that worked for us. We needed a healthy meal option that was already prepped, used quality ingredients, was affordable, local, and wasn’t trying to sell some fad. Read more>>
Ansel T. Johnson, O.D.
Having grown up in south suburban Robbins, IL and Dr. Ansel T. Johnson, the founder finished his doctoral optometry program in Boston Massachusetts in 1985. He came back to the Chicago area and worked for a few years for an optical company. Read more>>
LaMar Greer aka LDorado Jonez
I consider my self a renaissance man. I am an actor, an emcee, an illustrator, and graphic designer. My story began in south suburban Harvey. As a youth I fell in love with two things that would shape my life and career: cartoons and Hip-Hop. Read more>>
Deidre Wilson
In July 2013 I was completely unfulfilled. I was a recent MBA graduate with a solid corporate job – but something was missing. I was incredibly overweight and failing at every diet I had tried. I had this ‘great career’ but hated my job and this corporate 8-5 with only two weeks vacation a year. Read more>>
Ed Witas, Dawn Witas
Zarai began at Chicago’s infamous outdoor flee Market, Maxwell Street Market in 1999. My husband Jose Ramirez and I began as a booth stand selling t-shirts, ball caps, socks and other miscellaneous apparel items. Little did we know that our booth stand would quickly become a gateway into Mexico’s beauty. Read more>>
Ginny Dickman-Lopez
We’re two best friends from college – myself (Ginny) and my best friend, Sarah. One Christmas Sarah’s husband, an industrial mechanic, wanted homemade presents. He builds furniture, so she felt stumped by what she could bring to the table. Her first step was to reach out to her mom, a former biochemist with a background in homeopathic medicine and devotion to lifelong learning and not long after Achy Muscle Rub and Man Hands were born. Read more>>
Pia Narula
We launched 57st. design in 2016. The goal was to make heirloom-quality contemporary furniture at a price that reflected the true cost of quality materials and craftsmanship, and to do it all from the South Side. We design and produce all of our furniture in-house, and ship it around the country (and now Canada!) through our e-commerce site. Read more>>
Lydel Blade
My journey began when my parents assigned me to book keeping for their small business at the age of nine. I discovered a passion for numbers. My early exposure to business led to completing undergraduate studies at Robert Morris University majoring in accounting. Read more>>
Kimi Ellen
I started my firm just a few years out of college in an effort to generate additional income outside of my employer. I worked in internal audit and my firm mainly provided accounting and tax services. I started my firm with a purchase of tax software. That’s it. This was in 1996. Read more>>
Tiffany Humphrey
This could be hard to believe, but I hated makeup at one point. I was a lip gloss mascara kind of girl, but one day I saw myself in a photo and that changed. It started off with a little concealer and snowballed into a full face of glam. Read more>>
Jerry C. King
1986 brought the wave of house music in Chicago to the forefront of the world’s view, spawning world acclaim to the legendary city, and producing countless musical talents that could sample tracks and remake them with a classic “Four to the Floor” beat. Read more>>
Evangeline Stanford
When I was very young my mother taught me how to sew and I loved it. After college I sewed less and focused on my corporate career in accounting. Then my mom and I started making quilts together to donate to shelters and I felt a lot of satisfaction from doing this with her. Read more>>
Cristina Gutierrez
I started studying Ayurvedic Medicine in 2012 at a wonderful school in Milwaukee, WI called Kanyakumari Ayurveda and Yoga. It was there that I became certified as an Ayurvedic Health Counselor, and where my journey as an independent business owner began. Read more>>
