New Program Announcement In a surprise twist Wednesday night, three founders took home prizes from the winter 2022 Early Risers Academy cohort pitch.
First prize and $1K went to Shayna Boyd, founder of Naturally Bare, specializing in preventative pedicure services to Diabetics and elders who are suffering from specific foot issues such as thicken toes nails, neuropathy, and poor circulation.
Pitch judges Gail Johnson & Teresa Peretta were so moved by the night’s pitches that they rounded up two additional $500 runner-up prizes. These prizes were awarded to:
The winter 2022 cohort was the second in the program’s two-year history that was entirely made up of Black women-owned businesses.
Participants complete Kauffman FastTrac coursework from the nationally-renowned Kauffman Foundation, receive pitch coaching and hands-on mentoring, weekly discussions with successful entrepreneurs and experts, & access to Dayton’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The bootcamp is designed to take aspiring entrepreneurs from idea to business launch. These workshops can also be valuable for founders early in their small business journey, or who jumped right into their business without formally developing the plans behind it and are now discovering they need some of that paperwork in place to grow.
“Early Risers Academy is designed for aspiring founders in any industry,” Project Manager KeAnna Daniels said. “We’re particularly excited to work with more women and minority founders.”
As a small business owner, your time is precious. You’re often wearing all the hats to keep your business going. And yeah, of course you’ve heard you should get a business mentor — but is it really worth your time?
We’re here to let you know — yes, absolutely. Here are six benefits to having a business mentor:
Curious what a mentor match can do for you and your business? Learn more and apply for the Launch Dayton Mentor Network here!
You don’t have to look a certain way, operate in a particular industry, pursue specific education, grow up in a particular household, or spend your free time nurturing any particular hobbies — entrepreneurs grow from all walks of life.
In a new video series we are excited to launch today, entrepreneurs, founders, and small business owners from across the Dayton Region share their individual stories in order to break down those pervading stereotypes about who can or can’t be an entrepreneur.
They proudly declare, “I Am an Entrepreneur” — and you can be, too.
A single mom of three by age 21, Christina Mendez didn’t expect to one day launch her own marketing firm.
But today, she balances her time each day between two loves — Irene-Marie Co., where she specializes in building marketing campaigns for lifestyle brands and small businesses, and her three kids.
She spends her mornings reviewing web analytics, creating social posts and writing web code. She stops at 2p to pick up kids from school, then spends her nights on zoom calls, at networking events, or teaching marketing classes. Weekends are often filled with photo shoots — and her kids are along for the ride every step of the way.
It’s a stark contrast from her own childhood and journey, she recalls.
“I was trying to do what my parents told me to do, get a good job, follow the mold they set for me. But my dad is an entrepreneur, he’s been a photojournalist for 30 years,” she said. “I’ve gotten fired from almost every job I’ve ever had, and it’s funny, every time I’d get fired, I’d be like, I don’t need this, my dad works his own schedule, my dad runs his own thing.”
But it wasn’t until she’d worked her way up to marketing director that she truly considered striking out on her own.
“When I finally got to the top tier of where I could go and I still wasn’t happy, I thought, I must be supposed to start my own business,” she said. “I got tired of working on campaigns and doing marketing for stuff I really wasn’t passionate about and didn’t believe in.”
So Christina walked into her boss’s office and asked for a raise. When they said no, she quit.
“I decided to go into business for myself, be able to choose the campaigns, the people I work with, and do marketing that really meant something to me,” she said. “I’ve been doing this ever since. I’m self-taught. I didn’t go to school for this, nobody taught me anything, I had to really figure this out, kids and all.”
“It’s hard, you’re constantly having an internal struggle between spending time and being present and getting work done. I’m very involved in my kids’ lives, we’re very close, and they each need a different person from me, and my clients require a different person from me, so it’s a challenge, to be aligned with myself, as a mom, and be present for my clients,” Christina shares.
One way she tackles that challenge is by bringing her kids into the work.
“I ask my kids if a post looks cool, and if they like a website I’m building, and I take their advice into consideration. My daughter Madison is 12, she’ll tell me that ain’t it,” Christina said. “They’ve been on this journey with me the entire time, they go everywhere with me. If it wasn’t like this now, they’d be like, is business slow, what’s the matter, no photoshoots to go to today? So it’s normal now, but it was hard when I first started.”
Christina is inspired by Nipsey Hussle.
“I listened to him in my darkest hours — as a single mom riding the bus, through heartbreak, I just listened to him,” she recalls.
When he died, it prompted her to do a self-audit.
“I started out like every girl boss starts it out, with the pink and the suits,” she said. “Nipsey was really here to be aligned and be authentic, and I was like, damn, am I going to keep being fake or be who I really am?”
Christina took her love of color psychology and applied it to her own life, threading her business and wardrobe with Nipsey’s blue.
“I care about being honorable, I’m really big on being a real one, I’m big on respect. You’re not going to play me or play my clients. Blue was the perfect way to embody that,” she said. “Blue also helps with divinity and being aligned with self. I always have blue on me somewhere, it reminds me to tap into my own intuition, tap into my own wisdom and be honorable. I want to make sure every clients who comes to me, we’ll do a campaign that honors the brand and honors the world. We need to do something that will leave the world a better place or change something within your industry.”
Though she’s originally a Cinci native, Christina’s heart is all for Dayton these days.
“Dayton made me,” she said. “There’s so many amazing, beautiful people in Dayton, Ohio. We are so dope, we just need the tools and resources and strategies to market and do what we need to do.”
“I’m Christina Mendez, and I’m an entrepreneur.”
The first Early Risers Academy cohort of 2022 will see 9 Black women founders pitch their budding companies for prize money and support this Wednesday, March 23 at 5:30 p.m. at The Hub.
Early Risers Academy is a free, 10-week, cohort-based business class designed to help business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs build the foundations they need to make their businesses successful. The program is managed by Launch Dayton partner Parallax Advanced Research with funding from the Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment & Ohio Third Frontier’s Entrepreneurial Services Provider program.
“From Air Force and university research labs to urban kitchens and garages, innovation is a force in the Dayton region,” program manager KeAnna Daniels said. “Our diverse entrepreneurs are developing new technologies and processes, and we’re excited to offer these bootcamps to help them reach the world.”
The free, 10-week cohort-based business class series leverages Kauffman FastTrac coursework from the nationally-renowned Kauffman Foundation. Participants also receive pitch coaching and hands-on mentoring, weekly discussions with successful entrepreneurs and experts, & access to Dayton’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
This cohort’s pitching entrepreneurs include:
Register here to attend the pitches! We’ll also stream the pitches live on the Launch Dayton Facebook paeg.
Early Risers Academy is designed for aspiring founders in any industry. We’re particularly excited to work with more women and minority founders.
These workshops can also be valuable for founders early in their small business journey, or who jumped right into their business without formally developing the plans behind it and are now discovering they need some of that paperwork in place to grow.
Start building your legacy — apply for an upcoming Early Risers Academy cohort here.
You don’t have to look a certain way, operate in a particular industry, pursue specific education, grow up in a particular household, or spend your free time nurturing any particular hobbies — entrepreneurs grow from all walks of life.
In a new video series we are excited to launch today, entrepreneurs, founders, and small business owners from across the Dayton Region share their individual stories in order to break down those pervading stereotypes about who can or can’t be an entrepreneur.
They proudly declare, “I Am an Entrepreneur” — and you can be, too.
Several years ago, Kate Edmondson walked into a benefit for Jes McMillan’s nonprofit, The Mosaic Institute of Greater Dayton, hoping to win the gem mosaic she was raffling off to fund a mural on the train overpass at Keowee and 1st streets.
Kate didn’t win the piece of artwork — but she did win the artist, she recalls today with a smile.
Kate is the founder of Tend & Flourish, a collective of small woman-owned businesses in fields of wellness. Today, she and Jes run both their businesses out of their shared space in a historic building at 1906 Brown St.
“Identifying as an LGBTQ safe space when I founded Tend & Flourish created an immediate call within the community,” she said. “When we started hosting events, our community showed up. Many people we’d never met, they came out simply because they didn’t have a place they felt safe, where they could identify themselves.”
But there is space at Tend & Flourish for those outside these communities as well, she said.
“People who do not identify as LGBTQ appreciate that we are here, and share that,” she said. “They feel very proud when they come in, even though living their non-LGBTQ lives, they are excited to be here knowing they are supporting a place like this.”
The Mosaic Institute exists to inspire, empower and unify through art, a mission it achieves by inviting the community to help create mosaic murals that are installed across Dayton as long-term works of art.
“Through the process, the community gets to have a hand in creation of those pieces, but the important part is when the community is sitting together at the same table,” Jes said. “We can push back social barriers of division and allow people to see each other and maybe find some empathy, which helps us take steps in unifying community, togetherness, understanding and moving forward.”
Jes began creating mosaic works in college at Point Park University before returning home to Dayton, where she was further inspired by the K12 Gallery’s community art-making processes.
“They had a process that I really loved, and it felt like what I was supposed to be doing,” she recalled. “Yet, at the same time, many of us feel we could do a better job having more control. That led me down the path of making it my own, starting my own company and taking this process to a whole new level.”
Kate, a 20+ year licensed esthetician, was drawn to launch her own business because she “felt like a square peg in a round hole,” she said.
“I wanted to create a space where numerous women who maybe felt the same as me could come together and have an alternative space for clients to come to,” she said.
When she met Jes, that space didn’t quite exist yet.
“I was in lease negotiations for this location, and I was very nervous. I’d never leased my own place, I’d always been someone else’s tenant,” Kate said. “We started meeting for coffee, walking our dogs together, and she helped me through the process, but what I really think she did was help me find my own confidence to move forward.”
“We became friends. I really loved that she wanted to pursue opening a business that would benefit women,” Jes said. “I have a nonprofit, my business benefits the community, so we were already aligned in several ways of giving.”
Today, Tend & Flourish houses eight women-owned businesses, many of whom share clients, as well as the McMillan Gallery, which houses many Tend & Flourish events.
In life and in business, communication between partners is key, Jes says.
“Most of the time, Kate and I automatically on the same page, it starts out that way, and I’m thankful for that, but every once in awhile, she says something, and I hear something completely different,” she said. “Being able to meet on the same page, same space, and understand what her plan is, what she’s asking, what she wants to pursue, actually understanding that and being there with her helps us to make decisions together and move forward. Clear and open communication is important.”
Also key is understanding your own strengths and gifts, and what talents complement you, Kate said.
“I am a visualizer. I can see everything that we’re going to do before we’ve even put pen to paper. Jes is an activator, she’s a doer. When I dream it, she can build it, she can make it, and I do not have those same gifts as her,” she said. “We refer to ourselves as yin and yang, our pieces line up perfectly when it comes to the personal and professional. If you’re both visualizers, where’s the action getting done? Having someone that can pick up what’s coming out of your mouth and get that ball rolling, or vice versa, is a hugely important part of process.”
“I am Kate Edmondson. I am Jes McMillan. We are entrepreneurs.”
Kettering’s new Minority Business Microenterprise Program is a combination of technical assistance, networking opportunities and financial support for small minority-owned businesses in Kettering.
A micorenterprise is a business that has 5 or fewer employees, one of whom is the business owner.
The class series is:
Classes are held 9 to 10 a.m. at the Kettering Recreation Center. Complete the entire series to get
Complete 3 classes to be eligible to apply for a small grant between $500 and $5,000 to be used for:
RSVP to [email protected] or 937-296-3342.
Lunnie founder and mom Sarah Kallile is on a mission to reinvent the nursing bra, and she’s one step closer to her goal this week with the launch of her first limited presale.
The Lunnie Everyday Leakproof Nursing Bra is chic, comfortable, and leakproof, unlike anything on the market.
“We are reinventing the nursing bra, and in doing so, we are reclaiming postpartum as a pretty and powerful time in a mom’s life,” Sarah told the Launch Dayton community late last year.
Sarah launched her company in January 2021 when she couldn’t find a nursing bra she liked. She assembled hundreds of diverse moms across the country into her Lunnie Hive. Their collective feedback has driven product development of the bra.
Throughout 2021, Sarah and the Lunnie Hive tested prototypes. Recent testing by the Stitt Scholars at the University of Dayton Engineering lab confirmed Lunnie’s leakproof layer is up to 6x more absorbent than competitors. Sarah is in the process of filing for a patent.
Lunnie’s Everyday Leakproof Nursing Bra is the entry product in what Sarah plans to be an entire postpartum product line and community for moms. Nursing bras are a FSA/HSA qualified expense under many medical plans.
“I’m so passionate about making better products for moms. This pandemic has revealed even more the brunt of work moms do day to day,” she told Launch Dayton previously. “There’s so much focus on maternity wear, but after the baby comes, moms get ignored. There is such a need for better products and community, and I’m hoping Lunnie will tackle both.”
The bra is sustainably produced by a female-owned manufacturer in Columbus, OH. You can preorder the bra now and it will ship in April. Gift cards are also available. Lunnie is a female-owned business that employs women whenever possible.
Sarah is actively involved in the Launch Dayton entrepreneur community. She pitched Launch Dayton’s Early Risers, the Launch Dayton Startup Week Pitch Competition, and Lunnie is a finalist in this year’s Flyer Pitch competition where Sarah is pursuing a prize of $100K+ in cash and services. Lunnie is also a portfolio company in Entrepreneurs’ Center’s ESP Program.
For more info, and to snag your Lunnie bra, visit www.lunnie.com.
April 8-10, designers, developers, marketing experts, students, entrepreneurs, and startup enthusiasts across the Dayton region will converge on the Arcade Innovation Hub for the first-ever Launch Dayton Startup Weekend.
Powered by Techstars, Startup Weekend is a jumping off point for entrepreneurship. Over the 54-hour event, attendees will share ideas, team up, and launch startups.
Launch Dayton Startup Weekend organizer Matt Veryser has participated and facilitated Startup Weekends and hackathons across Columbus, Miami University, Ball State University, Davidson College and Winston-Salem State University. He is excited to bring the event to Dayton.
“I love Startup Weekend because it is the single most catalytic entrepreneurial experience that I’ve ever witnessed,” Veryser said. “Firsthand, I’ve seen it change the career paths of 3 or 4 dozen people by changing the way they see the world.”
The goal of Launch Dayton Startup Weekend is to create an environment where passionate, driven, and like-minded people can come together to get things done — to learn, network, bridge the gap between trades, expose potential, and see actual results.
The event flows as follows:
On Saturday and Sunday, entrepreneurs and experts from the community will volunteer to serve as mentors for the Startup Weekend teams, helping them develop their business strategies and prototypes.
Early-bird tickets are on sale for $50 until March 18, when tickets will go up to $75. Scholarships are available for college students and those who need them.
Launch Dayton Startup Weekend is sponsored by Ascend Innovations, Entrepreneurs’ Center, Mile Two, Parallax Advanced Research, and University of Dayton’s Crotty Center. Snag your ticket at startupweekenddayton.com.
Want to be a mentor or sponsor? Email [email protected]
We’re celebrating milestones big and small with our entrepreneurs and founders! Read on to see some of the moves our startups made in February in no particular order:
• Urban Bliss launched a new website, congrats Jocelyn & Jasmin!
• Simply Savory by Rachel hosted cast party for Hamilton while they were in town, congrats, Rachel!
• Ghostlight Coffee’s Bottle Shop got a shoutout from Thrillist; then Ghostlight’s founder announced a third location, in the Arcade — congrats, Shane!
• Picnk finalized a $100k investment deal, congrats, Will!
• Mutt’s Sauce returned to QVC, congrats, Charlynda!
• TheScarvin’Artist was named the first Clifton Cultural Arts Center Artist-in-Residence, congrats, Erin!
• Inphlu hired a new sales director, Paul Wallace — congrats, Josh, Paul!
• FlexEnergy finalized itspatent license agreements, congrats, Ramachandra!
• Gem City Laser secured a new downtown location at 116 N Jefferson St., suite 404 — congrats, Bree!
• The Cookieologist was named a chef to watch — congrats, Isiah!
• Me’ Yanna Berry Co celebrated their grand opening downtown Dayton, 15 E 1st St. Congrats, Kia!
Who did we miss?! Let us know — we need your help rounding up this good news so we can celebrate our entrepreneurs together. Thank you in advance!
31 S. Main St.
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