Past Participants

After volunteering with the American Red Cross for more than four years, Amy saw firsthand how difficult it is for busy families to prepare for emergencies. She launched Ready Set Go Kits to help families around the U.S. get prepared quickly, easily and affordably for emergencies and disasters. Her kits include toolkits for making family emergency plans.

Having worked in the restaurant and grocery industries since college, Charles opened Florida Fresh Stonecrab after a series of commercial fishing, seafood wholesale and other business ventures (including seven years in Thailand). Charles’ business provides wholesale and retail seafood products, primarily from Florida, to seafood dealers.

After teaching for 32 years, Diane became interested in elder care after spending months with her elderly aunt who is in a wheelchair. Diane launched Comfort Coach Transport, Inc. to fill the need she identified for dependable, respectful and compassionate non-emergency transport service for the elderly and disabled.

After a career in the technical design field working with international fashion brands, Felicia decided to follow her passion for creative design and spatial planning by opening an interior decorating company, DWELL Interiors L.L.C. After becoming an Accredited Staging Professional, Felicia launched Staging by DWELL, a real estate staging and redesign company. She now spends her time being creative and constantly searching for her next design inspiration.

During the economic downtown, Mary, a former Fortune 500 employment law paralegal, found herself with fewer inspiring job prospects. She and her sister, who is an optometrist, began talking about opening an office together that focused on providing complete eyecare for families, including pediatrics. They opened Fenton Family Eyecare six months ago and have been steadily growing their patient base ever since.

Scot’s passion for remodeling started young, following in his Grandpa’s footsteps. With a passion for the art of working with his hands, Scot found that remodeling homes and living spaces was a perfect fit. He founded w.b. Builders with his business partner Tim Brandvold who also came from a family in the building and construction business. Together Scot and Tim build and remodel residential structures to improve their function and appearance.

Tasha is a filmmaker who took her passion for storytelling into a new business venture that marries her artistic talents with a unique documentary style to create biography-based “advertorials.” From entrepreneurs to non-profit founders, My Story, Inc. helps visionaries tell their stories online through film to connect with and acquire customers. Designed for websites or viral marketing, MyStory films are customized for businesses, founders, non-profits, experts and personalities.

Trevor left the corporate world of technology and software development in search of a new challenge. After reviewing several options in different industries, he decided to purchase an existing business in early 2010. He chose AUM Framing & Gallery because of its reputation, employees, growth potential, and ability to implement technology and operations improvements. The company has been in business for almost 28 years and does custom framing for retail, wholesale, artists and businesses.

Nurtured by Design is an ergonomics and human factors engineering company that designs and markets products to assist children and babies, including those born prematurely. Yamile started the company after her son Zachary was born weighing less than 2 lbs. Working with medical personnel, she developed products including the Zaky and the Kangaroo Zak that promote the child/parent bond and support and comfort babies. The products are used in homes, childcare centers and hospitals around the world.