Mor Levy
Mor Levy graduated from University of California, Davis in 2009 with a Bachelor of Science in Clinical Nutrition. She finished her Lactation Consultant course from University of California, San Diego Extension Program, which includes her 300 hours of lactation consulting experience from Kaiser Permanente in both the inpatient and outpatient clinics. She worked at W.I.C. as a degreed nutritionist and clinical supervisor both teaching group classes and counseling women and their children. She became a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist in 2014 by completing her hospital rotations at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. Her research investigated the importance of omega-3 consumption, and she is very involved in the research community with regards to women’s health. Read More>>
Wendy Obstler, CYT, E-RYT and Deborah Anderson, PhD, RYT
I moved to Los Angeles 20 years ago in the pursuit of an acting career. Does that sound familiar to anyone around these parts? Along the way, I started practicing yoga and in 2003 found myself in a studio in North Hollywood that, at the time, was owned by Brenda Strong. She was teaching a class called “Female Balancing.” That sounded interesting to me so I checked it out. Read More>>
Mary Michelle Chua
Root 2 Rise Yoga started in 2010 as a community (donation-based) yoga class, which I refered to as “yoga tastings,” in my mother’s backyard followed by a potluck and social gathering. At first, the students were friends and family, but the word and interest soon spread to friends of friends and clients I taught at other venues as a guest teacher. Since childhood, and paired with my background as a former school teacher, I’ve always loved producing multi-cultural wellness-enriching community events. Read More>>
Mesrob “Mike” Manjikian
I started working with a cousin when I was younger helping him do foundation work. From there I went to work for a construction company and then eventually went out on my own. I love creating and coming up with ideas and helping my clients visions come to life. Read More>>
Shin-Di Lai
When I was 16 years old, I tore my ACL and had to have reconstructive surgery. This knee injury led me to have 5 knee surgeries by the age of 21. Every step of the way, I had the athletic trainer for my school team help nurture and rehabilitate my knee. This is what initially led me to be interested in the medical field. In college, I majored in Kinesiology, focusing on Exercise Science from CSUN. Read More>>
Yeva Adalyan
It started back in 2000 when I decided to fix my old broken wooden bracelets, and instead of fixing/renewing them I ended up with 3 completely different necklaces. I called my friends to come have dinner and check them out. Few days later, after seeing what I had done with my broken jewelry, all four of them brought their own broken jewelry pieces for me to “fix” and I made interesting new pieces for them to wear. At the time, I was working for an architectural firm in Old Town Pasadena as a graphic designer, as well as Interior Designer Assistant. Read More>>
John Capo
I was born and raised here in Los Angeles and I’ve been painting watercolors for as long as I can remember. Among other watercolors I like to paint, I create my own Music Watercolor Paintings, which is actual music written across the painting. As far as refinishing furniture and custom design and building of furniture; I’m primarily a musician and after many years of strictly doing music, I really wanted to focus on making a physical product. Read More>>
Clifton Harski
Fitwall is a boutique fitness studio that started in San Diego. The entire concept is based around the fact that in only 40 minutes, through specifically and carefully designed workouts we can build strength, cardio and flexibility. The workouts primarily use body weight training, and are supplemented with dumbbells bands and other tools. The goal was to provide a “one stop shop” for fitness that was respectful of the time limitations everyone faces. Read More>>
Jason Lau
My business partner Brandon Florian and I have known each other for years from training in Hapkido martial arts together. As we were both in the process of earning our 3rd degree black belts in 2008, a friend introduced us to this new fitness thing called CrossFit. We decided to try a few CrossFit classes thinking they would be easy since we were in pretty good shape. Well the classes weren’t easy, they were some of the most physical and intense workouts we had ever done. Read More>>
Alicia Loerzel
I’ve always been drawn to athletics. For as long as I can remember, I played competitive sports. After years as a personal trainer, a cycle instructor and coaching marathon runners and triathletes, I embarked on a new journey. In 2010, I discovered CrossFit. It had elements of everything I loved and craved about physical fitness. Read More>>
Joel Flynn
As a Valley boy growing up in Burbank I played many sports. I found a huge passion for golf in my early 20’s after a few years in the Colorado Rockies snowboarding semi professionally. I moved to San Diego and attended earned a degree in Golf Course Management which kicked off a 20 year assistant professional career at various club including Los Angeles Country Club, RanchonSante Fe Golf Club, and a few others, most recently Valencia CC. After leaving the business to pursue other interests in 2013 I decided to build my own teaching studio on my property in Toluca Lake and leave the management and club elements of being a PGA professional behind allowing me the flexibility to raise my two young sons with my immensely supportive wife Traci. Read More>>
Gina Flanagan
They say that setbacks are setups for comebacks. In 2013, I was independently contracted by two established businesses. Within 6 months of each other, both companies shut down, leaving me unemployed and uncertain of what the future held. Read More>>
Karolina
I started practicing yoga regularly while I was still in undergrad. At that time I lived in an apartment in Malibu with my best friend Brittany from school. I was interested in yoga for as long as I can remember, but I never really got to it until I was living just over fifteen miles away from the first yoga centers in the nation. Several times a week after my classes I would drive along the coast all the way to Venice to learn from the greatest teachers of our time. Read More>>
Kiplan Dooley
My father was and still is a big Bruce Lee fan, so he got me involved in martial arts when I was 5 years old. I started taking Tae Kwon Do along with my father and older brother. Tae Kwon Do is a Korean art that is made up of about 70% of kicks. I was a good student, totally into it, maybe a little too much energy, but dedicated never the less. I got kicked out of the class for kicking a little too much. Read More>>
John Reynolds
I’ve loved music and dancing for as long as I can remember. But in an attempt at practicality I started college as a business major in my home state of Pennsylvania. However, I soon found myself increasingly passionate about performing arts. By my second year of school I realized I need to do something that I love. Read More>>
Ted Sloan
Ted Sloan began a life of fitness by the age of 4, truly becoming intrigued about maximizing human potential by the age of 13, while playing baseball and basketball in high school. He went on to play baseball briefly and ran track at the collegiate level.
Since 2013, Ted has had the amazing opportunity to learn from some of the best Strength & Conditioning Coaches in the world; these include arguably the best and most awarded Coach in the world, Charles Poliquin, the first woman Strength Coach in the NFL, Lee Brandon, previous Olympic hurdler, Dean Lang, and previous Olympic Track Coach, Charles Debus. Read More>>
Lexy Panterra (Owner & CEO) Justine Monae (COO)
Lexy Panterra “Three years ago I was hired by a Twerking YouTube video I found on the Internet. I then decided to hold it to workout class in my own city Los Angeles California. I invited all of my girlfriends and they all came for the beginning of a new adventure. I was nervous told my very first class because there has never been a Twerk class before but it was a great success. Read More>>
Ken Arutyunyan
* Started my first gym in Glendale, California in 1990
* offer a variety of sports including wushu, sanshou, kung fu, karate, boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, sambo, artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics,
* started second gym in North Hollywood in 1996, added the sports of wrestling, tae kwon do, and acroyoga. Read More>>
Arturas Butkevicius
From childhood I liked breaking and fixing stuff. Sometime the stuff I disassembled which where totally fine, where not after my experiments. Off course today it’s the opposite. During my life I was involved in many jobs/projects. Appliance service and repair became the one that I chose. Read More>>
Jessica Nardone
At age 14, I took an elective anatomy class and immediately fell in love with it. To me, learning about the human body is like discovering the most masterfully created, ingeniously engineered piece of art. Trillions of cells working together in such a precise and intricate way. It is as complicated as it is beautiful. Read More>>
Janine Yoder
I moved to the Los Angeles area in August 2003, from Leavenworth, Washington where I was born and raised. I come from a competitive swimming background; I started on the team at age 5, I have been swimming ever since! I have been a swim instructor/lifeguard for over twelve years. Besides having extensive teaching experience, I also am trained for First Aid, CPR/AED, Lifeguarding, Infant/Toddler, Water Safety Instructor, Fundamental of Instructor Training, and Adaptive Aquatics Certification, Masters, L3 Coach, and much more. Read More>>
Hope Hazy
I have processed artistically for as long as I can remember and have utilized countless avenues to externalize who I am through art. Primarily, through singing, playing guitar and songwriting. When I was earning my music composition degree in college, I was taking guitar lessons from a very busy man who eventually had a roster too large for his own capacity. He then asked me to start taking some of his students. Read More>>
Scot Mendelson
Through a troubled youth I found weightlifting and it really saved my life and put me on a positive path to where I am today. Along my journey I garnered 5 world championships and 65 world records including those for bench pressing over 1100 lbs. Over the course of the last 20 years I’ve built and owned many gyms, but this latest one is definitely the sickest, most bad-ass gym I’ve ever built! Read More>>
Raymond Andriassian
I pulled this out from our About Us section, it’s written by me for my customers to read about my business’ humble beginnings – Our story begins with one man’s need for perfection. In 1987 a prominent Hollywood talent agent, better known as Mr. Marty Baum, walked into my father-in-law’s store, world famous shirt maker Anto Beverly Hills (antoshirt.com). He had concerns about the way his custom shirts fit him. Read More>>
Dr. Sharon Silva-Celada
I immigrated to the United States of America when I was 13 years old with my mother and two sisters from Honduras. In the United States my place of residence was Albuquerque, NM where I attended High School. Then I Completed my undergrad studies at the University of New Mexico (UNM). After graduating from UNM I went to Inter-American University of Puerto Rico (IAUPR) to become an Optometrist. Read More>>
Karen Mandell
We started our business in our home 25 years ago. I have a fragrance allergy and sensitive skin and could not find many fragrances that I not only liked, but could wear without having an allergic reaction to. We have spent those 25 years developing our unique line. Read More>>
Rafael Kosche
I came to this business after being in the US Marine Corps. The store actually belonged to my wife’s parents. My father-in-law died in 1996 and my mother-in-law was running the business by herself. My wife and I moved to California in 1999 and I began looking for work. Read More>>
Will Leung
I have always been mesmerized by the idea of freezing time. Life passes by so quickly, and having the ability to suspend life’s precious moments is the most powerful tool we have to tell our story. It is with this understanding that led me to the path of photography. Read More>>
Angela Phillips
After working 20 years in the Information Technology Department for a large cooperative company, an early retirement in 2000 enabled me to devote my time to the arts as a landscape artist. My experience in business and in art gave me the inspiration to take over as Gallery Director of La Galeria Gitana in 2015. An art gallery in the heart of San Fernando that was established in 2008. As Director, I formed a 501(c)3 non-profit organization called ARTreach91340. Read More>>
Tori
Tori has been a performer since a young age and has worked in live entertainment since 17 years old. She has worked at theme parks around the world doing live shows and character entertainment as well as stunts and stilt walking. With her mother as a proper “Martha Stewart” type of woman and her Aunt as a fashion designer its no wonder she pays such close attention to details in all of her work. Read More>>
Billy Syms
My story begins in 1989 when needing a little extra money for my (new) son’s diapers. Not having seen my brother in a while I asked what he was doing these days. He replied “Reglazing Bathtubs”. Like most, I had no idea what that was and when I asked he told me he was (basically) painting bathtubs. I thought that was the craziest thing I ever heard but he asked me to check out a project he was working on the following weekend. Read More>>
Asif Babaev
Our company got started in the garage of my in-laws house. My wife and I would walk around passing out business cards, we would drive around to look for construction sites to leave samples, I would talk to stores to see if we can leave flyers, there was nothing that we didn’t try. It was a tedious journey and we weren’t sure if we would ever succeed, but we loved our products and we stood behind them 100%. All we were looking for was to get our foot in the door- a chance for just a few customers to experience the difference of having a decorative grille instead of a regular one and we knew it would grow from there. Read More>>
Adam Friden
In 2010 I ran a pilot program out of my home kitchen. I fed 12 people for free (breakfast, lunch and dinner) for a week in exchange for them completing a survey. The last question on the survey was “Would you pay us for this service next week”, we received an unanimous 12/12 YES WE WOULD! From there, everyone’s freinds, neighbors and relatives were calling to sign up and we outgrew the home kicthen in 45 days. Read More>>
Judy Einbund
Judy’s Hands was born out of the desire to help people. My husband, Dr. Neil Einbund, a psychologist, has so often dealt with people totally overwhelmed by their circumstances, whether it be a cluttered home, packing and moving, estate sales, or dealing with the items or home of a loved one who has passed. These situations are difficult to deal with, and especially so when we are so busy with our own daily responsibilities. “Mess causes stress,” is what I believe and tell people. Our physical spaces have an effect on our mental state. Read More>>
Erika Robinson
I have always been a organized person. As a child I would go to friends homes and organize their rooms. When I became a mother to three children in a short amount of time I had to stay organized to avoid utter chaos in my home. I was a busy stay at home mom for 14 years then life threw me a big curve ball. Read More>>
Christine Barger
I began doing ventriloquism as a way to cope with the passing of my baby brother as a child. I shared my talent with other children that had lost loved ones. When I realized I could inspire and help others through the tough times, I decided that’s what I wanted to do with my life. I’ve been preforming as a ventriloquist and actress ever since. I now travel nationwide performing ventriloquism at events and parties. Read More>>
Tina Staffon
My husband Greg and I never thought we’d be in business for ourselves 11 years ago. We both worked in the television industry at Warner Bros and thought that’s where we would stay until retirement. As it would turn out, I got laid off at the end of 2005 and that started the ball rolling. After lots of thought and discussion, Greg decided he wanted to leave his job and that we should sell our house in Burbank. Read More>>
Essi Safdie
Spazio LA Designs was founded in 2005 by Essi and David, with the goal to create functional yet highly stylish interior and exterior designs and remodels that clients can only dream of. Essi Safdie is an award winning designer with a previous background in painting, sculpting, as well as designing high fashion jewelry lines. He has experience creating one-of-a kind works of art that showcase an incredible talent for interior design and exterior design. Read More>>
Robyn Reynolds
Originally from Long Island, NY before I landing in Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Luckily for me and my clients I found a different path. I never knew that professional organizing was a career. Once I found out that it was a career, I joined NAPO, the National Association of Professional Organizers. Read More>>
Jim Delany
I have been an entrepreneur my entire life starting with my first custom cabinet business at the age of 20. Since then I have started over a dozen businesses ranging from construction to light up hats to digital post production. Having been a licensed general contractor since 1986 has given me a solid financial springboard to experiment with different businesses and concepts. Read More>>
Marty Stevens-Heebner
I learned most of what I know about business from my parents. Dad was a successful businessman during the 1970s and 1980s in my hometown of Buffalo, NY. He spent years teaching me about financials. Even though my mother wasn’t officially part of my father’s company, she had a lot of influence there because she, too, had a terrific head for business. Unfortunately, she passed away when she was only 58. Read More>>
