Goss Czar
My interests in photography have evolved quite a bit from when I first began tinkering with cameras. I was initially drawn to the technical aspects of photography and spent lots of time learning about different types of cameras, lenses and lighting equipment. In the first couple of years I focused mostly on in-studio and environmental portraits. Three years ago, a couple of friends of mine, familiar with the portrait work I had be sharing, asked me to photograph their weddings and I discovered a new kind of challenge. Read more>>
Dani Ahndreç
My dad bought a piano when I was around twelve years old, and I quickly developed a powerful interest in the instrument. He taught me about playing by ear, and bought me a simple chord encyclopedia, which I soon memorized. That was really when I got into music. I let my curiosity about the piano guide my interests with what I was listening to. I started wanting to hear more piano driven music, more complicated rhythms and harmonies. Read more>>
Aaron Cua
Aaron Cua is an experienced multi-subject teacher and tutor who established Accendo Learning Center in 2008 with the vision that quality education happens with small classes and well qualified teachers. Much like the learning process, his journey into tutoring was filled with much trial and error before arriving at its current state. Aaron graduated from UC Irvine in 2001 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, which led him to a job at MSC Software.
Carrie Shoup
I began working with children as a youth softball coach while completing my undergraduate degree at The University of Notre Dame. After graduating I moved to London to work as an ambassador for the sport of softball and developed youth leagues throughout the country. I returned to the US to teach preschool while completing a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education at Loyola Marymount University. While teaching preschool, I became interested in the behavior of young children and shifted to working as a Behavior Analyst for at-risk youth in Los Angeles. Read more>>
Lily Reiche
In 2007 I immigrated to the USA from Cape Town, South Africa. In South Africa, I worked as an Art Theory and Popular Culture Lecturer at the University of Cape Town but on arriving in LA I knew I had to change my career path and immerse myself in something more tangible and altruistic. I had always had an affinity to care for animals. My reputation as someone who cares deeply for and understands animals came about through caring for my own pet who happened to be paralyzed. Read more>>
Adrian Zaw and Ashley Obregon
Zaw Studios was established in 2012 and the Studio finished construction in 2013 specializing in Photography, and Videography Aerial Drone Services as well as Voice Overs and Stage Rentals. We worked with a wide variety of clients from up and coming filmmakers to big name YouTube Artist as well as Corporate clients, and small businesses. A major part of Zaw Studios mission was to bridge the gap between dreams and reality helping create content for profit as well as the non-profit sectors. Read more>>
Max Li
I am actually a fine art major student from UCIrvine, and I was born and raised in mainland China, and came to the US for high school, and stayed for college in UCI. I have not yet launched or registered myself as a business yet, most of the time I create work and projects with others and I travel all the time, encountering people at different environments just makes me excited. I have traveled to 21 national parks, driven through the entire China, and put 70 thousand miles on my Jeep driving around the US. Read more>>
Samantha Alcudia
At a young age, I fell into doing hair and makeup for friends and family. I never thought of it as anything more than something that was just fun to do. One day, my friends mom told me “you’re good at this, you should go to school for this.” And just like that, I enrolled in cosmetology school. I’ve always wanted to work in the wedding industry. In the beginning of my career, I spent many years doing cuts and color, waiting for wedding and prom season to come. Read more>>
Herb West
I took my first photos waaay back in 1978 using a Canon AE-1. I was pretty clueless about photography, as any beginner usually is. I wasn’t taking too many pics with that camera due to film processing costs… just occasional “portraits” of my-then girlfriend Paula, and a few trip photos. One especially memorable picture was of George Washington at Mount Rushmore. Most tourists photograph from the FRONT of the monument. As luck would have it, I saw the most unusual perspective of old George while driving along the highway that skirted around the BACK of the monument. Read more>>
Cordelia Hanna-Cheruiyot
Wholistic Midwifery School of Southern California was founded in 1993 as an educational venture by a Certified Nurse-Midwife Lorri Walker, Certified Professional Midwife/Licensed Midwife Shelly Girard (both of whom are no longer affiliated with our organization) and Cordelia Hanna, a Childbirth Educator/Birth Activist, Childbirth Companion and Student Midwife. Wholistic Midwifery School of Southern California’s original intent was to establish a professional direct-entry midwifery training program. Read more>>
Ara Aslanian
The business was started in 1998, while I was still in college. The original business was web design and development firm which later migrated into Inverselogic. I met my partner Jeff Alerta during that time and we formed Inverselogic, which is a technology consulting and managed services firm. recently I co-founded a Data Backup and Recovery SaaS based software solution called reevert, we have been working hard to get it off the ground. Read more>>
Carlos Salvador
I started this company as a school project during my MBA program. We were tasked with coming up with a small business that could be done over the 10 weeks I was in class at CSUSB. I came up with this idea because I had doing laundry and figured I wouldn’t be the only one. In the beginning, I would only service students in college dorms. I started this business with literally $120 dollars that I spent on starting a very simple plain website, 100 flyers, and one t-shirt that had my self-made logo. Read more>>
Fred Babadjanians
In 1997, I finished my illustrious high school career with a massive graduation party. Picture the valedictorian standing in front of 3,500 people, giving the same speech you hear across the country. “Today, is the first day of the rest of our lives. Looking back at what we have accomplished in the past 4 years and looking forward to the accomplishments left in our lives. Class of 1997, “we did it!” …the crowd cheers. ast forward, 2 months. One of my friends from high school, who actually graduated in 1996 drove by my parents’ house and asked me to come outside to talk. Read more>>
Shante Ramires and Marissa Flores
Believe or not, it all started when Marissa and I were in our last semester of our undergrad back in Vermont. I asked, “Have you ever thought of starting your own club?” Her and I would often talk about her childhood. At that point, she had played for about 14 years, so she had played for some of SoCals biggest Club names. We’d discuss the elitism in club sports, and as a social activist throughout college, my thought quickly turned into, “so, what are we going to do about it?” Read more>>
Ejler Bettenhausen
Growing up, I was always a self-starter. If there was something I was passionate about I would find a way to make it happen. I was blessed with a family that supported me in my endeavors yet didn’t hand things to me on a silver platter. If I wanted something I had to get out there and work to achieve it. Around the age of 9 I discovered my passion for film. Everything was a story worth capturing and everything was a moment worth sharing. At the age of thirteen, I was given the opportunity to film someone’s wedding. Read more>>
Tara Wallace
I have been studying singing for 23 years. I always wanted to be an opera singer. I can remember being as young as three and trying to get my Barbie to sing opera. My Nana showed me Jeanette MacDonald and Deanna Durbin movies when I was kid and my Poppy (a very successful businessman with GE) would say, “Tara Marie – you could run your own company someday!” Also – I was just always a classical musician. When I was in high school, I started taking voice lessons and to help pay for them, I got a job, almost immediately in my “job” life I worked for small business owners. Read more>>
Lupita Cabrera
When I was younger, I always loved taking pictures of my family. When I was in my early 20’s, I started going to a video production school, I learned how to edit videos and use a camera. During that time, I would take photos at family events and also went on to small events. From those small events, I started doing bigger events and would book clients from recommendations and we just grew from there to what we are now. Read more>>
