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.”
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There’s no one way to be an entrepreneur.
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.”
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There’s no one way to be an entrepreneur.
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.
Arcani Coil Care founder Jerricha Hoskins is building a natural hair empire headquartered in her West Dayton community.
Her inspiration to become an entrepreneur stemmed from her great-aunt, who worked as a stylist well into her 60s.
“She always told me, if I wanted to be a hair stylist, I had to figure out a way to make money without standing behind the chair, so that inspired me to start my company,” Jerricha recalled.
Today, she is the owner of natural hair product company Arcani Coil Care and the Arcani Natural Hair Studio, both based in Dayton, Ohio.
“I did not come from a family of entrepreneurs. My family very much so believes in going to college, getting a degree,” she said. “I just never liked the idea of punching the clock and working for somebody else.”
As she builds her company, she’s teaching her children something different.
“I include them because my goal is to build something that they can carry on and pass down to their children, and their children can pass it down and so on and so forth,” Jerricha said. “I involve them because I don’t want them to think you just have to go to college and work for somebody else to have the life that you want.”
When Jerricha first started her business, she wore all the hats herself.
“I made everything, I labeled everything, I shipped everything, I handled customer service, I handled social media,” she said. “As my business grew, I understood that I had to begin to delegate some of those tasks in order for my business to grow.”
As sales ramped up, she tasked her kids with labeling some products, and for awhile, her husband took packages to the post office for her.
“Being a mom and starting a business, you have to remember that your children are your why,” she said. “Do you want them to have the life that you lived, or do you want them to have a better life? That is how I am a mom in business, I have to do this for them. They can never go through anything that I went through.”
Jerricha was an at-risk teen, put into the foster system at age 15. To get out of the foster system, she went to Life Skills on Main Street and went to school from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for 14 days straight to complete her final two high school credits. But she fell into bad relationships. For awhile she was homeless, then lived in shelters, then in bedbug-infested housing.
“I did what I had to do, I knew the end game of everything. I had to go through that to get to this point,” she said. “Every day that I wake up, if I don’t feel like working, I’ve got to look at my children. I don’t have the option to not do my absolute best every single day because I have a generation that I have to pass something down to, like, 5, 6 generations that I have to pass something down to.”
Jerricha is proud to be from Dayton — and she’s intentional about keeping her company in Dayton, too.
“I chose Dayton for the home of my business because this is where I grew up, and you hear growing up, if you want to be successful, you have to get out of Dayton,” she said. “I’m literally the poster child for, you can make millions in your home town.”
Though it might not be because folks from your hometown purchase your products, she cautioned.
“Less than 1 percent of my revenue comes from my home town, but I’m able to employ people in my hometown, it’s different,” she said. “Everybody has different goals, but I refuse to take this and go to a different city. The city that cultivated me, that raised me, deserves that. This came out of Dayton. Your children are going to write book reports about me.”
Arcani Coil Care is the first hair product manufacturer the city has ever had, and her factory is on Denlinger Road, transforming an abandoned building that had sat vacant for 20 years, Jerricha said.
“I’m very intentional about staying here in Dayton. I could have purchased a warehouse in Miamisburg, West Carrollton, but I chose Dayton because I had to show people it can be done,” she said. “In starting this business, I always said I wanted to be able to pour money back into my community. It’s cool to become a millionaire, but what do it mean, you being a millionaire, if the people around you are still struggling? That’s been my motivation.”
Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs? Never stop working.
“Consistency beats anything,” she said. “If you are consistent in your business, if you are passionate about your business, it is inevitable that it’s going to grow. If you were going to hammer something into a wall consistently, there is going to be a hole in the wall. Think of your business, or breaking into whatever industry you’re trying to break into, in that way.”
“My name is Jerricha Hoskins, and I am an Entrepreneur.”
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There’s no one way to be an entrepreneur.
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.
David Maurer believes his new company, Green Zero Energy, has the potential to change the world.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, David left working on rockets in California to return home to Dayton and launch a new company, focused on developing innovative, mobile, renewable energy technology.
“A lot of times, renewable energy is a more stationary application. We’re looking at making it mobile — that’s where our technology will revolutionize the renewable energy market,” he explained. “We’re using a source you can hook into. You can know that you’re actually helping with emissions.”
But David’s road to entrepreneurship has not been easy. He has a stutter, and for awhile, he let it hold him back, he shares.
“With me having a stutter, that was a big hindrance, even after I realized that I was a leader,” he said. “It takes awhile to recognize things in yourself. Others will see them, and people who like you or respect you will say, hey, you have this, you’re a natural at this. But it takes awhile to sink in. And I was like, how would I ever, I have a stutter, and I was listing off all the things about myself that I look at as negative.”
He had to realize that everyone has handicaps.
“Nobody likes looking at their handicaps as handicaps, but the definition of the word is anything that hinders you in what you want you want to do,” he said. “As I got into the work environment, I started realizing I have more to offer, even despite my handicap.”
But David’s speech impediment wasn’t the only obstacle he faced on his founder journey.
“For me, having a speech impediment, and I’m a Black man — normally we have to go above and beyond to be accepted. If we want to apply for a job, we have to have a bachelor’s degree even you only need an associate’s degree. There’s a stigma out there,” he said. “That’s really hard when you have a speech impediment — you’re looked at as you’re nervous, or you don’t know what to say. I know what to say — but I can’t let the words out. I have to go around words.”
It leaves David no choice but to be exactly who he is, he reflects.
“Really, that’s why I’m here right now, is to share with you guys, it’s OK to be who you are. It’s important to realize who you are and even embrace those weaknesses, those things that you don’t look at as a strength,” he said. “This is where I am, this is me. I’m on unemployment, I’m working on a startup, I don’t have a lot of money. I’m a CEO of a company that I believe will go on and change the world.”
It’s a lesson from his entrepreneurial journey that the father of three hopes to carry into his parenting, too.
“As moms and dads, we stress to our little ones what they do well, and that’s good, but helping them realize who they are, and accept who they are, even if it’s a weakness or hindrance or handicap — that may be how they make a difference in this world,” he said.
David is excited to continue to build Green Zero Energy right here in Dayton, before one day taking its mobile renewable energy solution worldwide.
“Dayton has a history of manufacturing, machining, and a whole lot of industry here. There really is potential here,” he said. “I’m a believe in local manufacturing and supply chains. I believe in using who’s around you and making a network, and I believe we can do that here in Dayton.”
“I’m David Maurer, and I’m an entrepreneur.”
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There’s no one way to be an entrepreneur.
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.
Yaytoonday founder Yetunde Rodriguez has always been inspired by patterns and fabrics — today, that love is part of her business, creating and blockprinting textiles that she turns into beautiful home decor and personal accessories.
“A lot of my design is African-themed,” she said. “Originally I’m from Nigeria in West Africa. I grew up seeing a lot of fabrics, fabric was very central to our culture.”
She also grew up surrounded by makers.
“Where I come from, people make things. If you don’t have it, you make it,” Yetunde recalled. “That’s probably a little different now with globalization, but I grew up seeing my mother, aunts, all the women in my family had some sort of enterprise.”
At the time, she didn’t realize how experiencing that way of life would eventually influence her, she said.
Yetunde’s family moved to the U.S. in the late ’80s, landing in Morgantown, West Virginia. Her father completed his Ph.D. at West Virginia University, and Yetunde began attending that same university after graduating high school ‚ but it didn’t stick.
“I was aimless, I didn’t last very long there,” she recalled. “After a year and a half, I had to take a break.”
So she decided to join the military.
“Nobody in my family had ever joined, it was foreign concept, but it fascinated me, the discipline, having a mission, all those ideals fascinated me, so I joined,” she said.
She thought she’d become an officer, so years later, she found herself back in school — but this time, the military didn’t stick.
“I got to college and was like nope, I don’t want to keep doing the military, that was fun, I’m done now,” she recalled.
Instead, her second run at college would bring her back to a first love, via a printmaking class.
“I got into this through my love of surface pattern and graphics,” she said of her company. “I studied graphic design in college, during that process, I took a printmaking class where we explored different forms of printmaking, and I really enjoyed block printing, and that spurred me on to use that as my method of producing textiles.”
Yetunde’s husband, Danny, is a fellow U.S. Navy veteran. They raised their three children in Virginia until a job opportunity brought the family to Dayton.
“Dayton, Ohio looked like a good place to raise kids,” she recalled.
She got involved int he downtown Dayton community and that led to opportunities — you may have seen some of her most recent work, gracing the side of the new Gem City Market.
“The architect, Matt Sauer, had become familiar with my work, he loved my work, so when the opportunity arose for him to design the building, he asked me would I be willing to help with the look and feel of the space, and I said, absolutely!” Yetunde recalled. “You want my little block shapes that I carved in my studio to grace the building, why not!”
Yetunde designed the diamond-shaped mural on the exterior of the building, as well as the designs on the aisle signs inside the community grocery store.
“I was very involved in the creation of the building. It was a long project, a couple years, very well worth it,” she said. “I never would have imagined the shapes I was creating, someone would want to put on a building, but that’s how it worked out, and I’m just so excited about it.”
Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs? Be bold.
“That’s what it takes — saying yes. Whenever I saw an opportunity, whether to talk about what I’m doing or whatever it is — I always say, put yourself out there,” she said. “If you are just quietly working away and not showing what you’re doing, nobody is going to know about you. Be bold with it, go out there and talk to people about it, let everyone know what you’re up to, the help will come.”
“My name is Yetunde Rodriguez, and I am an Entrepreneur.”
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There’s no one way to be an entrepreneur.
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.
When Jeff Graley and Jorge Sanchez joined forces to launch Mile Two in 2015, they had a clear goal — to do cool stuff with cool people.
“Technology is advancing at a pace that’s just fascinating over the last several decades. How do you bring people, technology and work together? That mission was the same over there inside the fence as we have here at Mile Two,” Air Force veteran Jeff Graley said. “We want to stay on the cutting edge of technology, and as you’re doing that, how do you make sure that people are involved so you can accomplish the mission?”
Jeff and Jorge did that by putting down roots in downtown Dayton and building a now 100+ strong team that is as focused on the community as on the work.
“If you just look at Third Street, Second Street, First Street, how much they have changed over the last five years, we’ve been a part of that, and I think that has been really cool,” Jeff said.
“Community has always been a huge part of what we do,” Jorge agreed. “Having the ability to run with our own sense of what giving back means [as we’ve built our company] has been very rewarding as well.”
Jeff first experienced community in his hometown in southern West Virginia.
“I grew up in southern West Virginia, very much in the coal fields. There were poor people and middle class people. But there was community. If someone had something or someone needed help on a project, everyone dropped what they were doing to go help them,” Jeff recalled. “I saw multiple instances where my dad, on his vacation or weekend, would go help the neighbors build their deck because he saw that they didn’t have all the skills or understanding they needed to do that, so that sense of community, that sense of ‘Hey, we’re all in this together,’ shaped the way I look at the world, and the way Mile Two interacts with the world.”
Jorge credits his time at University of Dayton for strengthening his own focus on community. After college, as he got involved in downtown Dayton, he worked with Bicycles for All.
“We’re very like-minded,” Jorge said of his co-founder. “I went to school at UD, and one of the mottoes there is ‘learn, lead, serve.’ Service has always been part of what I’ve done in my life, and bringing that into the company as well. I was involved in a lot of work downtown with Bicycles for All, working to empower people that needed transportation and help people get fit and help kids entertain themselves, and that just stuck with us. Being able to do the right thing with people has always been a pivotal part of what we do.”
The year the pair launched their company, Jorge also found himself caring for a newborn.
“Being able to manage the lack of sleep at home, and being present both at work and at home, ended up at some points being a challenge, because one of them is always competing for attention over the other,” Jorge recalled.
The experience of being a new parent is an apt metaphor for launching a startup, Jeff says.
“The newborn drives your schedule,” he said. “You don’t decide when they’re hungry, or when they wake up, or when they need your attention. You have to be highly adaptable, but still get the other things done during the day that you need to do.”
And to pull it off, you have to truly believe in what you’re doing, Jorge says.
“You have to have some level of self-belief and understand that what you’re doing is worthwhile and actually believe that what you’re doing is going to move something forward,” he said. “A good chunk of the reason we were able to make it through is that we have a very strong belief in what we’re doing.”
“We call it irrational confidence,” Jeff added.
As their children get older, the fathers are excited for the opportunity they have to be an example of entrepreneurship for their kids.
“Nobody talked about entrepreneurship when I was a kid,” Jeff recalled. “There were no good examples of what we’re doing when I was a kid, but my kids, and my kids’ friends, get to see that. My daughter was here with two of her friends, and they were looking over the shoulder of one of our female software developers, and the only reason the female part is relevant is, the girls were standing behind them and they said, ‘I don’t think I could ever do what you do,’ and she turned around and said, ‘Be quiet, don’t you ever say that, you can do any of this stuff, it’s just software, it’s just stuff you gotta practice and learn’.”
It mattered to see a role model who looked like them, Jeff said.
“They walked away and thought, ‘Maybe I can do that,’ so just being able to crack that door where she thought it was closed, and having a representative within the company to be able to that, for me, that’s a huge impact.”
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There’s no one way to be an entrepreneur.
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.
Carlos Portis was rocking his 7-month-old son when he had the initial idea for Soft Cards digital greeting cards.
“I was playing with the texting platform, seeing what people are able to do with SMS,” he recalled. “I decided I could build a rough prototype of what I envisioned with my skillset building webpages, so I decided to push forward.”
Flash forward a few years, Carlos is a UX designer at University of Dayton Research Institute by day, and works on his company, Inveloped, with co-founder Buddy Pitts by night.
Through it all, he is also a husband and father who consistently shows up for his family — a priority he learned from his own father, he said.
A self-described military brat, Carlos’s family lived in different places including Las Vegas and Japan before coming back to Ohio and settling in Dayton.
“I appreciate my dad making the decision to change the trajectory for his family. By being a Black man joining the military, he was getting away from a certain environment, and that allowed us to blossom,” Carlos said.
Today, his dad is still his model example on how to do right by himself and his family.
“Anything in life, whether it’s your business, or time with your kids, you have to be intentional about it,” he said. “I had one of the best examples in the world with my father. He was an amazing father for me and my sister. He’d get off work after a long day, put his bags down, and be willing to hop on a video game or play basketball.”
Carlos’s own typical day begins by waking up his kids — ages 4 and 7 — and getting them ready for and off to school. Between his day job and his startup hours, you might find him playing Legos, pushing swings, or jumping on the trampoline.
“I try to hold myself to that example and make sure my kids have a dad who is not only physically, but mentally, present,” he said.
“I feel like I always had entrepreneurial endeavors, raking leaves for money, mowing yards,” Carlos recalled.
He studied visual communications and web design in college, and found a job with his church right after graduation handling their marketing and graphic work. Other churches began to take notice, and then restaurants and other small businesses began reaching out to Carlos for website work. His first company was born.
“More than anything, you get discouraged about the timing of things. You want things to happen all at once,” Carlos said. “If there’s anything I realize about the entrepreneur journey, it’s that sometimes it’s a long haul. You’ve got to be willing to put in an adequate amount of time without sacrificing family.”
Focus on being intentional, he advises fellow and aspiring entrepreneurs.
“You may have self-doubt, but just always be weighing your intention and making sure you’re taking action and having the right intent,” he said.
“My name is Carlos Portis, and I’m and entrepreneur.”
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There’s no one way to be an entrepreneur.
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.
Amber Tipton was 43 years old when she began culinary school with her youngest daughter, a journey that ultimately led her to launch The Neighborhood Nest Gluten-Free Baked Goods.
The Fairborn bakery is dedicated to gluten-free goodies, and also accommodates individuals who are dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soy-free, vegan and keto, she said.
“We’re very focused on the people that can’t just eat the regular food that’s out there every day,” Amber shares.
The dedication is personal for Amber. While she was in culinary school, her middle child was diagnosed with Celiac disease and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. A year later, Amber was diagnosed with Celiac disease as well.
“At that point, I knew what was out there, and I was not eating that way,” Amber recalls.
She had one pastry class — her only pastry class — left to complete in her final semester. Her professor allowed her to bring in about 70 pounds a week of gluten-free flours and alternative ingredients.
“At the end of the 16 weeks, if I plated my things the same as everyone else and slipped them into the lineup, no one could pick mine out,” she said.
Neighborhood Nest was born.
Neither baker or entrepreneur was on the list of things she thought she’d be when she grew up — a list that included counselor, race car driver and mortician, among others, she said. But as her family grew and she found herself hosting birthday parties and family gatherings and church pitch-ins where attendees always asked for her recipes, an idea began to form.
And as her youngest daughter grew out of homeschooling age, Amber found herself looking for something new to do. She planned to open a diner — instead she opened a bakery.
“After our diagnosis, I really experience what it was like to go out and eat and try to be safe,” she said. “Cross-contamination is such an issue for people. It can lead to anything from a distended belly and discomfort to vomiting that can leave you in the hospital. I wanted to give people a space that they can come into and have absolutely everything at their finger tips.”
It’s giving people back something they miss, she continues.
“One of my very first customers, it was the first time in 22 years that he’d had a strawberry cake for his birthday,” she recalled. “That is why we do this.”
Amber doesn’t yet take a paycheck from her business, so that feedback from customers who haven’t had their favorite treat in so long and tell Amber that hers is even better than they remember is what keeps her going, she said.
“My goal is not to be the best gluten-free bakery in Dayton,” she said. “It’s to be the best bakery in Dayton.”
Her advice to other dreaming moms or older women who want to do something different? Don’t limit yourself — just start.
“There’s no rules to life,” she said. “We’ve been told there’s a lot of rules to life, but there’s really not, and you don’t have to know everything to start, just start. Have a plan and a goal, be a little tenacious, and just do it. I don’t know enough to be afraid of what I take on usually, and so, I just do it.”
“I’m Amber Tipton, and I’m an Entrepreneur.”
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There’s no one way to be an entrepreneur.
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.
“I like to be known as the hero for entrepreneurs,” says Tae Winston, founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Marketplace, Entrepreneurs Shoppe and Entrepreneurs Connection trio of Dayton retail storefronts. “I got here by just stepping out on faith and starting a boutique and started hosting events.”
Tae’s storefronts offer a range of retail shelf options for budding entrepreneurs, from pop-up space to long-term booth space. Most of the products in her stores are handmade, created with love in someone’s living room rather than on a factory floor, she said.
“You’re shopping small and it’s going right back into that family and into the community,” she said.
Tae first began helping others sell their wares at community garage sales her family hosted while she was growing up. Instead of one family selling items in their yard, 20-30 families would sell side-by-side in in big grass field.
“It’s my passion, I love it,” she said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve always had that love for entrepreneurs, and when I started hosting events, seeing how good entrepreneurs did just from setting up with me, I wanted to make a career out of it.”
But that career didn’t happen overnight, she said.
“A lot of people see Tae now and think it happened overnight,” she said. “I’ve been doing this for 7 years. I’ve been told ‘no’ a lot, people not seeing the vision, I’ve had a lot of doors closed on me. I set up spaces I wasn’t welcome, which is why I wanted to create a safe space where anyone can come, no matter how you are, what race, I’m opening my doors to you. My lowest place is where people made me feel small. It motivated me to open my doors for everyone.”
You have to give up your fun nights for awhile to see that success, she said. She credits her autistic son for her motivation to push through.
“I had my eye on the prize. It was hard to keep hosting events, still going to work, having an autistic son and working in mental health, it came time I had to break free. But you’ve got to be willing to do the work,” she said. “I just took my first vacation in six years. I haven’t hung out and partied in a long time, but I knew what I wanted. Fun will be there.”
A born-and-raised Daytonian, Tae is excited to run businesses that funnel money back into her community.
“Dayton is where the love is, where family is, where support is,” she said. “I sat back and chilled and watched everyone else make money, and that made me excited. I know God will take care of me, just give back and do things from the heart, and you’ll get where you need to be.”
Her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs? Take notes, and think about those lessons from your childhood.
“Put all that back into starting your business right now, and you can make it happen. That’s where I started, so I’m proof that you can do it,” she said. “My name is Tae Winston, and I am an entrepreneur.”
————————————————
There’s no one way to be an entrepreneur.
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.
There’s no one way to be an entrepreneur.
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 this new series, 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.
In the Launch Dayton community, we believe everyone, regardless of their background, should have the opportunity to determine their own economic prosperity. These individuals are doing just that. They proudly declare, “I Am an Entrepreneur” — and you can be, too.
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