Orange County 04.17.2018

Ken Graves

This journey has been long, difficult, maddening, entertaining, and fulfilling. I could not have created it this way if I tried. I started off as a youth minister for a moderate sized local church. I hated it. I felt like I was a glorified event planner. Read more>>

Ash Thorp

Ash Thorp’s involvement on projects is a rotation of numerous roles from graphic designer, concept/digital artist, illustrator, animator, creative director, to director. He originally gained recognition for his UI (user interface) graphics in feature films, such as Ender’s Game (2013) and Total Recall (2012), and the video game series Call of Duty (Black Ops 3, Advanced Warfare, Infinite Warfare). Read more>>

Amy Truong

I started Paru Tea Bar in May 2017, beginning as a pop-up tea bar and expanded to offer our signature tea blends online. I am originally from the South bay Los Angeles area and I moved up and then back down to San Diego. I start this business because I couldn’t find as many tea options as I wanted. Read more>>

Marie Morgan

In summer of 2016, I was looking for a new hairstylist and I came across the salon suites concept and immediately fell in love with it. It was a semi absentee model that would allow me to continue spending lots of time with my family while running a business on the side. Read more>>

Lori Torres

I founded Parcel Pending in 2013 to provide effective package management solutions to property managers, residents and couriers. Today, Parcel Pending is the global package management industry leader in the multi-family, commercial, retail and universities space with 120+ employees and thousands of customers across North America. Read more>>

Jack Mason-Brase

I started recording with my guitar teacher when I was 13; when I was 15 I got my own micro set up and really jumped into it. Since then I’ve uploaded over 100 songs to SoundCloud, released three EPs, and have played a bunch of shows. That’s the pretty vanilla re-telling of my history, clean and concise. Read more>>

Johnny Marcos and Lloyd Cotton Jr.

Kustom Kontrollerz started in 2011 after I left the music industry with having zero knowledge of what I was getting myself into. Started making controllers with skins and solid colors and still understanding what I was doing. Read more>>

Heather Nieves

I’ve been an entrepreneur my entire adulthood, but have found my purpose through my own healing journey. About 2 1/2 years ago as a new mom, like most wanted to lose the baby weight and I lost 55lbs through online workout programs and a diet system, but found myself so body obsessed, insecure and still binge eating. Read more>>

Carina Tafulu

I was born and raised in Palm Springs CA. Fell in love with the beauty industry at a young age from watching my aunt do huge hair. I decided to go to cosmetology school and pursue a career in hairdressing. Some time after getting licensed I got married and moved to Orange County. Read more>>

Dee (Neeraja) Narla

For a young girl growing up in India, daily lessons could be deep and powerful. One lesson visible even to the eyes of a child was that the quality and security of life in a small village was greatly enhanced by communal awareness and cooperation. When watchful for one another, everyone benefitted. Read more>>

Kayleen Perlof

My passion for working with animals started at 3 years old, but I didn’t find my place in the industry until taking a job at a dog daycare that offered pack walking when I was 21. I loved the work, but felt that the program should be more structured. Read more>>

Melissa & Elsa

We started the company in 2010, but had know each other for almost a decade before it all came together. The idea came up after collaborating on Elsa’s wedding in 2009. Elsa was a media buyer and Melissa had been working in the events industry so it seemed like a natural fit. Read more>>

Sheryl Marks Brown

My life story has been about helping people. One of my first jobs was as the director of the Health Fitness Center at General Dynamics serving 15,000 employees and their families. I also started the American Council on Exercise setting up the first standards for fitness professionals in the U.S. which became worldwide in 70 countries. Read more>>

Nina Hajjar

I grew up in Ohio and lost my parents at a young age. My Dad passed away at 6 years old, leaving our family with businesses and properties he had accumulated in his lifetime. He did not do very much financial planning and my mother had no idea about any of our financial situation, so needless to say when my Dad died, my Mom had to turn to other people for help. Read more>>