Small Business Stories

Andrea Iervolino, international filmmaker and founder of TaTaTu , a social media platform that rewards you for being entertained by up and coming talent, was our guest. He spoke about data privacy and his films which have included celebrity actors like Al Pacino, James Franco, and more.  

Meet Tracy Rookard , an army veteran and former US medic. This week's Grit Daily Like a Boss podcast guest trained to be a respiratory therapist, but then entered the field of information technology. Along the way, she developed eczema, an irritable skin condition aggravated by environmental conditions and stress. A fateful appointment with her dermatologist set her on her current course.

Meet Nadia Okhunova, co-founder of K917 media. Two is better than one, right? She's combining brands and linking efforts in NYC + Moscow for a new edge in marketing mash-ups. Nadia is also embracing the emerging future or work trend of polywork.

Dr. Tatiana Fofanova is the founder of Koda Health which is a digital solution enabling people, particularly the lower income and overlooked population, to walk through a simple set of questions designed to answer the tough questions around end-of-life decisions. These conversations aren't easy - but they need to happen so that people can have their advanced directives registered with their health...

Luciana Carvahlo is the VP of People and Performance at Movile , Latin America's largest tech investment group and accelerator. She's the engineer of The Movile Way , a culture-building methodology that has been taught to entrepreneurs at Harvard and Stanford universities for more than five years. She and her team created the Mobile Dream internship program to train and recruit young, bright and d...

You may think that you're "cleaning" your surfaces with bleach wipes ... but you may not realize that coverage and contact time (up to 5 min) may be required to disinfect the surface. Who knew?! Well, the three co-founders of Kinnos Inc knew. They saw an opportunity to tint bleach with a color-additive to make it easier to track what you cleaned. Katherine Jin, the company's Chief Technology Offic...

It only took seven years for Erik Huberman to build an $80 million marketing company with 220 employees supporting more than 3,000 brands. Big brands, too, like Red Bull, Proactiv, and many others. In parallel, he's launched Hawke Ventures which funds interesting technology that Erik's clients can benefit from but his team doesn't have the time or expertise to build. It's a triple-win. Tune in to...

Lynn Wood is the Chief Idea Spy at IdeaSpies. It's a tech platform for sharing good ideas and making them better. Students to seasoned entrepreneurs are invited to submit their ideas - in 100 words or less - and to mentor other entrepreneurs by offering constructive feedback. Lynn joins Loralyn to talk about innovation in society today.

Miriam Rivera is one of fewer than one percent of Stanford University graduates to be decorated with a Stanford Medal. She earned both her MBA and JD degrees there then went on to build one of the largest LatinX venture capital funds in the world. The fund hosts eight unicorns in its portfolio. Miriam founded the VC fund based on the thesis that diversity is more than trendy - it's profitable. The...

Katie Ferraro is a tour de force! She is the founder of Fortified Family and wildly popular Baby-Led Weaning Made Easy Podcast. As a registered dietician with a specialty in infant feeding and an educator at University of California San Diego, you'd think that would be enough credibility. But there's more ... she gave birth to seven children within three years! A singleton, quadruplets, and then t...

Consuelo Valverde is the founder and managing partner SV Latam Capital. She is the driving force behind making capital more accessible to more founders: "SV LatAm Capital partners early with extraordinary entrepreneurs that have the grit and ambition to transform societies, the environment, and health on a global scale. Whether you are a serial founder, a tech entrepreneur, or a scientist, we are...

Meet Simon Cohen, Chairman of Henco Global, a happy company that "just happens to do supply chain and logistics work." After a life-threatening cardiac event and the realization that he missed many years of his daughters' lives and time with his wife, Mexico's most trusted CEO had a change of heart. He developed the "High Performance, Happy People" model which has been featured at Harvard Business...

Amanda Jacobson is the Chief of Staff for Oyster Financial, a neobank for SMBs that's co-headquartered in Mexico City and San Francisco. Prior to joining Oyster's executive management team, she managed a portfolio of nine fintech startups for Finlab, the innovation lab of Gentera, focused on generating sustainable solutions for financial inclusion. She also led the expansion of Village Capital, su...

Bill Gladstone, founder of ViCiNFT, is doing good in the world and for the world with non-fungible tokens. They require a minimum of a 25% contribution to a charity for any NFT that they auction off. And, proceeds are also used for sustainable efforts that impact our environment including planting trees and other initiatives to offset their carbon footprint. From sports memorabilia to a funky seab...

Christine McKay is known for a few things. One, international recognition as one of the world's leading negotiators. Two, her vibrantly colored hair which matches her personality. Three, her hard-earned rags-to-riches story. Tune in to get tips on negotiation and to be inspired by someone who's been there, done that, found a way to love herself, and to thrive. She shares her story here with Loraly...

Espree Devora is a serial media entrepreneur and the OG of podcasting, catching the wave back in 2013-14 before podcasting became the "thing" that it is today. All three of her podcasts are categorized as Noteworthy by Apple and her first podcast series, Women in Tech , has been critically acclaimed. To date, the show has posted more than 550 episodes. Today, Espree continues her journey as a seri...

Nick Palmisciano is a veteran and serial entrepreneur. He's faced challenges deployed for his country, been named on the ISIS Kill List, and was a single Dad raising an 1- and 3-year old in a warehouse when he was starting his apparel business. The man personifies what our show is about - GRIT. Nick is the only independent filmmaker with a #1 movie on Amazon which also boasts the highest contribut...

Lisa Bowman has held the role of Chief Marketing Officer at UPS and United Way. She didn't set out to become the poster child for #metoo or to take on the world's largest non-profit organization, but that's how things played out. Lisa was fired, but quickly regained her mojo, and here she is sharing her story with Loralyn Mears.

We caught up with Allie Xu, founder of Global Pharmacy Entrepreneurs. She's an expert in Chinese medicine, a pharmacist, a podcast host and a newly minted media company - Unicorn Fart Media. She has a grand vision to unify healthcare workers around themes of kindness, humanity, openness and collaboration to treat patients as whole humans with body and mind considered together.

Komal George left a prestigious position at the UK national level in pharmacy to become an entrepreneur and forge her own path towards health and wellness. Komal shares some of her insights along her journey and emphasizes how to leverage transferable skills. Join Komal with Loralyn Mears, PhD.

Tiffany Xingyu Wang is the co-founder of OASIS Consortium and co-founder of Spectrum Labs. She's traded commodities globally, lived in China, France and Singapore where she learned the value of community and has been a guest on numerous international TV programs and other media. OASIS is building the standard to create a safe space for consumers to interact with their brands. Tiffany shared insigh...

Robin Rotenberg, founder of Alpha Women Rock, has pivoted in her career from a corporate attorney to a communications manager to an author. Join this podcast hosted by Loralyn Mears to hear about some Robin's experiences - especially the ones she's had with the Queen Bees of the office. 

Ganna Tymko is a brilliant, young entrepreneur who has chosen to meet HardTech and VoiceTech - head on. She's the founder of Claraphone which miraculously adjusts accents in real time to foster improved communication. She shares her insights as a startup founder and as one of the upcoming women in tech with Loralyn Mears.

Josia Nakash is the founder of The CEO Collective, an Israel-based company focused on forging deeper human connections in the workplace. She's developed "the integral method" as a means of identifying the gaps and bringing teams together. Josia shared her thoughts on a more connected workplace as a future state and the role that women will play. 

Lan Phan was entrepreneurial even as a child. Over the course of the past two decades, she's founded several companies, commanded a global audience at Fortune and established Community of Seven - a group of experts aligned around a common purpose - to do good and change the world. She shares her insights as a startup founder and as one of the women in tech with Loralyn Mears.