Downtown LA 5.23.2017

Kenneth Wong

My parents opened for business in November of 1972 after retiring from having a Chinese hand laundry for 25 years. We were one of the first American companies to import silk fabrics and other goods from the mainland China . Our calling card over the years is our large color selection and wide variety of silk fabrics. One of our early customers was costume designer Bob Mackie when he was making costumes for the Carol Burnett Show and the Sonny and Cher Show. Read More>>

Lori Halprin

I started my business when I was eighteen years old and in college. Initially, I wanted to earn my degree and then attend law school. While working in my showroom, I began to really love what I was doing and developed a passion for design, furniture and lighting. Read More>>

Philip H. Otto

Growing up on the coast north of Seattle I was surrounded by the beauty of nature and an abundance of lifestyle experiments. I then had the good fortune to attend Stanford University where I studied cultural anthropology and fine art. After college I was a teacher for several years, but soon found my true calling as an architectural designer. I founded Otto Design Group in 1990 in San Francisco in order to explore the intersection between art, design, and culture. Read More>>

Alison Ables

I helped build a shop (similar to the one I have now) in Portland, OR called Zig Zag Wanderer, and co-owned it for a brief time. After selling my half of the company, I moved to Joshua Tree to focus on music composition for TV and film, which has been my primary career for close to a decade. I eventually made my way to Los Angeles, and after a while I realized that I missed having a shop, and decided to try it out on my own. Read More>>

Mimo Boghossian, Paulette Ledyard

15 years ago, my sister Paulette Ledyard and I partnered to create a very special style haven: Rue de Mimo. Born in Beirut, “The Paris of The Middle East,” We traveled the world extensively, Mimo studying textiles and merchandising, and Paulette pursued graphic design and art history. Together our experience, passion and spirited flair for global fashion created the magic that is Rue de Mimo – an urban environment rich with texture, color, and one-of-a-kind treasures from all corners of the world. Read More>>

Kdazuho Nishida

Aikido is a martial art whose origin, aiki-jitsu, was used on the battlefields in ancient Japan. Aikido, as conceived by its founder, Morihei Ueshiba, is a Path which can lead to enlightenment. He himself became enlightened. He taught that the warrior’s path is one of love. He said the Universe is Love, and “the secret of Aikido is to harmonize with the movement of the universe, and bring ourselves into accord with the universe itself”–it is a way to overcome the discord within ourselves and bring peace to the world. Read More>>

Christopher Lin

To the shock of family and friends, Justin Lin, Chris Lin and Pye Jirsa left the stable world of public accounting in 2008 to pursue their creative and entrepreneurial dreams during one of the most prolific economic recessions since the great depression. We started as a web design company but quickly fell in love with the world of photography and running a photography business. With almost no photo gear, experience, or technical knowledge we began our journey, making plenty of mistakes along the way but growing with each and every shoot. Read More>>

Kat Bylska

Entertainment has long been a large part of my life – from performing in dance recitals at the age of 5 after my family moved to the US from Poland, right before Martial Law was implemented in 1981; to then relocating to Los Angeles in 1989 so that I could further pursue my passion for dance as well as my newly discovered love of acting. I spent a few years actively working in various facets of the industry until taking a break to get my Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of La Verne in 2001. Read More>>

Jack Potter

In 1999 I decided to quit my job and become a personal trainer. I got my certification with the National Academy of Sports Medicine and got a job at a local gym. After a few years I became a fitness manager. In 2007 I decided to go on my own become an independent trainer. It was the best decision I ever made. Read More>>

Michael Seril

I played sports and enjoyed exercising growing up, but it was watching Rocky IV as a sixth grader that got me to do pushups, situps, and eventually made exercising a huge part of my life. Now, my passion and mission in life is to motivate, inspire and educate my community & clients to adopt a healthier and more fit lifestyle. This passion has afforded me an awesome career as a fitness professional and fitness business owner. Read More>>

Kelly Wood

In 2002, parents who attended classes at my yoga studio in Los Feliz, mentioned that it would be great if I could go into the schools and teach their children yoga and meditation. The doors started opening for me to go into public schools and have continued as such for 15 years. I teach 20-minute SCHOOL Kids Yoga & Mindfulness classes during the school day to elementary-aged children, seeing about 800 children each week. I also offer professional development for LAUSD teachers to learn the methods of SCHOOL Yoga & Mindfulness. LAUSD teachers meet with me for the in-person course and ear one salary point. I now offer the SCHOOL course on-line for educators throughout the country. Read More>>

Lisa Adams

Berkeley with a science degree, from Pepperdine University with an MBA, and started my company, L.A. Closet Design in 2007. I saw a home space niche in closets and felt there was no one designing them at the high-end luxury level. I pounced! In 2007, I saw closets as under appreciated, poorly designed spaces and wanted to change that, especially when closets are one of the top three spaces that people consider when purchasing homes. Read More>>

Kylae Jordan

To make a new remote control for any device is complicated. I’ve been in the online business as a re-seller of remotes and other wares for fifteen years. There have been many ups and downs as the landscape has certainly changed. Two years ago I took on the challenge of creating a remote control for the jukebox and amusement industry. I’d been looking into creating a remote control of my own for some time now and the moment and opportunity presented itself, albeit not in an industry I was completely familiar with. Read More>>

Adam Kurland & Matt Wyatt

Matt and I are both filmmakers. We met back in film school at USC and over a number of years spent working independently – I was directing and producing documentaries and commercials in NYC, while Matt was working in comedy in LA and then later as a director-level creative for Disney’s Interactive division. We reconnected in 2011 while working on a special project for ESPN. During that project, we realized how well we worked together and that we had similar ideas and approaches to filmmaking. That led us to deciding to create our own production company together: Daughter & Sons. Read More>>

Jerry Bakhchyan

I’ve been passionate about mens fashion since I was a teenager and was fortunate enough to be introduced to the bespoke business in 1997. Since then, I’ve had the great honor of creating custom tailored garments for men of all shapes & sizes and from all walks of life. Being taught and mentored by one of the best custom clothiers in the industry has given me the support and direction to grow and thrive and better service the needs of my clients. Coupled with my passion for fashion, I’ve been living the dream by doing what I absolutely love every day. Read More>>

Shelley Starr

I started in furniture product design 22 years ago. I gradually moved into Interior design as my passion for home interiors grew. I found that my skill, ability and connections to design and produce furniture came in very handy with my sizable projects. I always lean toward finding and designing pieces that crate a narrative within my projects. Read More>>

Kala Maxym

Five years ago I was living in New York City and pursuing an opera career. I had been a professional opera singer for several years but had recently made the switch from mezzo to soprano (pardon the opera-geek side note here) and was retraining my voice and redefining what I wanted my future as an artist to look like. While doing this – and working a full-time job at a tech start-up – I began taking wine classes and attending wine tasting events. As I attended more and more events, I realized that while the wines I tasted were different from event to event, very often the accompanying visual displays, food options, and sound environments were remarkably similar… and remarkably non-specific. Read More>>

Janae Dawson

Sometimes there comes a time in our lives and careers were we feel we need to make a change. Whether it is the desire to make more money, do something we love, or break from a 9-5. That time came for me in 2014 when I decided I was tired of working 9-5 and wanting to have more freedom in doing something I was passionate about. Read More>>

Mark McElwain

It’s funny…whenever you decide to start a business you take this jump, almost into the unknown. We had a connection that was looking for a more custom provider that could save her money as well. The catch to doing this was we had to invest over $50,000 to do the first job and we were only guaranteed about 1/4th of that back. So it was a risk. And it didn’t go well. Read More>>

Alex Nguyen

Was a bad boy. Always hustled. From selling bootleg software to growing weed. I once saved a man from being deported. He ended up letting me take care of his business. Now I run it: www.rexgc.com baby! Read More>>

Ajay Manaktala

I grew up in a single parent household for most of my formative years and started working, albeit under the table at the age of 14. I never would have thought working in a restaurant as a bus boy would lead me to having my own events and sound/lighting company, but here we are. I used to shadow the DJ’s who would come in and be fascinated by their gear, the technology and how they just commanded the room. Read More>>

Lexie Gomez

They were still in high school when the idea came to mind. My son, Victor was a Senior & my daughter, Natalie was a Junior. One day in January, I decided to tell the kids about my plans of starting a new business. I had just closed a retail store a year before. One day we went to Redondo Beach and bought my daughter a cotton candy. I noticed people of all ages lined up to buy a cotton candy. Read More>>

Ryan Mckenzie

You know, it’s kind of funny because I never had aspirations of being a DJ. But I do believe that God put me in this position in order to best take advantage of my specific personality strengths and life experiences. I love music, making people happy, and working for myself and when the opportunity revealed itself to me to put those all together, it seemed like a no-brainer! Read More>>

Marie Burns Holzer

I’m a non-denominational wedding officiant. I started when my oldest friend in the world (the one who taught me boys hit you when they like you and how to put on eyeliner) told me she was engaged. I told her I was ordained and could officiate their wedding as a gift if she was interested. She was stoked. As we chatted about the ceremony, she told me that I should start doing this professionally. Read More>>

Rachelle Yadegar Judith Illulian

RaJu started about 2 years in a coffee shop, with our office in our cars – literally- now we are in over 30 stores, with a huge online clientele and a cute space in downtown la. How did we choose the name? Take a little guesss – RAJU – Rachelle and Judith. It could have been the other way around JARU but that means broom in Farsi lol . Read More>>