WNY Entrepreneur

Emily Martin is the Founder of Ally HR Partners LLC, a Buffalo-based HR consulting firm that helps small businesses identify and implement custom solutions to their people problems and opportunities. Throughout over 10 years of experience working with leaders, managers, and owners across industries, sizes, and circumstances, one factor has consistently shown to be a universal game-changer: the peo...

Evan Giokas is the founder and principal coach at The College Confidence Coach. For the past eight years he has dedicated his time and passion for helping students and their families discover their instinctive abilities to match and coach them to a right-fit path to college. His efforts have recently been noted by Yahoo Finance where he was named #4 on the “Top 10 Male Coaches Influencing Lives”,...

What are the secrets to running a successful local event right here in Western New York? We are glad you asked. David Schaub has promoted, hosted and created hundreds of local events and has been a featured speaker at national events. One of his passions is the art of promotion and getting others tied into a passion project of his. Here is some of his secrets to running local events that he has le...

Michael owns and operates an executive coaching practice serving high-performing leaders and teams all over the country. He helps professional men and women, discover, own and leverage their unique strengths so they can create massive success in life and business. Some of his local clients include ACV Auctions, Kaleida Health, and Colombus McKinnon. He's a man of faith, a devoted husband, a family...

Craig Turner wears a lot of hats. Small business owner with Momentum Public Affairs and its new subsidiary, Momentum – The Business Growth Agency, head of World Trade Center Buffalo Niagara and the Buffalo Niagara International Trade Gateway Organization, political consultant and founder of The Campaign Coach program, husband, father of four, and in his “spare time,” writes political thriller nove...

Lawyer turned foodnerd! Sharon grew up in a very poor neighborhood downtown Buffalo and was raised by a single & disabled mother. This is what defined her life's mission. Sharon never wanted her children to feel the pain that she felt watching her mother suffer. This sprang the idea and business to help people live lives that they felt educated on nutrition and had the tools they needed to mak...

Mike took a chance at 25 and purchased an existing business that was headed for closure. Taking an old gem of the past and making it something that could employ over 25 people and become a destination in the community is his favorite part of the journey. With a lot of prayer and faith, Mike says "I know God has gotten us through every storm and season. If it wasn't for Him, I would be nowhere. My...

Dave Kimelberg is the former General Counsel to SoftBank.  He moved to Buffalo from Boston 12 years ago to start up Seneca Holdings, the economic development arm of the Seneca Nation, which he led from 1 employee to a $100+ million group of operating companies across the US and internationally.  He’s the founding partner of Kimelberg PLLC, which is a law firm focused on venture capital a...

Andy Moquin is an entrepreneur, ring designer, jeweler, and jewelry store owner.  He’s worked in the jewelry industry for over 30 years. He speaks at industry trade shows and has written some of the most widely-read articles in his product sector.  He founded Andrews Jewelers in 1994, and it has become one of the most successful independent jewelry stores in WNY.  He has been awarde...

Lisa is an innovative entrepreneur who co-founded Basic Travel Couple to coach others on maximizing the value of credit cards for cash back or free travel. She is also a real estate investor and trained to save lives at 30,000 feet in the air. She aspires to educate others on life-changing opportunities to travel freely, save money, and generate wealth with side hustles.

Kanishka Wanninayaka is a 23-year old marketing savant and community leader that owns YAMU MEDIA a marketing firm, as well as co-founded Aviate Audio, a venture-backed audio tech startup, is a partner at JECA energy bar, a venture-backed CPG company and lastly, co-founded GROW Buffalo Business, an altruistic business non-profit. He is a deeply principled individual that has consistently supported...

Nita Bhatia is co-founder and chief operating officer at CrowFly, a fintech startup that's redefining how structured settlements are bought and sold. Her working philosophy is simple: people come first. No matter the context of the relationship, communication, trust, and transparency are key in all that she does. Nita has a background in psychology and operations and over a decade of experience he...

Paul is the CEO of Try It Distributing. A Buffalo owned local beer, wine and spirits, and red bull distributor. The company as a whole has over 500 employees. We talk about how the company has grown immensely since 2000, how and why culture matters, how this business even got started, and all his keys to success as a business owner in WNY. Paul is currently serving as the chairman of the Buffalo N...

Irfan Khan is a cardiologist turned entrepreneur. He's the founder and CEO of Circuit Clinical, a 43North winning company that aims to make it easier for all of us to find, understand and choose clinical research as a care option. He's a Clarence dad of 3 teenagers, serves as a Trustee at Nardin, and is married to a very patient radiologist. He likes to read voraciously when he isn't busy transfor...

Ciminelli has more than 680 properties with 18 million square feet of space in New York and six other states. You can’t drive through Buffalo without seeing a building Paul's company hasn’t built or managed. Paul shares his story and what has made him successful as a big corporate leader in Buffalo and other states. We dove into a lot of keys to business and even how WNY is going to reach its pote...

Colleen founded the Ignite Buffalo small business grant program, which brought $1 million in investment from national partners to WNY and led to the creation of over 100 local jobs. Collen is also the current president of 43 North. Along with all that she is also the owner of Space on Seneca, a Larkinville yoga studio and events space, and an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Daemen College...

Mike launched Designated Drivers of Buffalo in 2008, since its inception they have provided over  35,000 safe rides home.  He has grown it from a seed into the most unique transportation solutions company in the area.  Their partnerships include some of the biggest corporations in Buffalo, Including the Buffalo Bills, New Era, The Law office of Willliam Mattar, and many more.  In 2020  Mike also b...

Justine Duquette is the owner of Cup of Communitea, a tea retailer with over 200 thoughtfully sourced loose leaf teas from around the world and everything you need to steep your perfect cup. Buying her business right before COVID hit created chaos that could have shut her down but in getting creative she not only survived but thrived during the shutdown and the months thereafter.  Using out of the...

Before joining the NGTI, Pat served for 8 years as the COO of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc. (BNMC). In addition to managing the BNMC day-to-day operations Pat was the BNMC’s unofficial “entrepreneur–in-residence" working to foster collaboration & job creation on campus and throughout the bi-national region. Among the businesses Pat started is Fulfillment Systems International (FSI),...

Zachary Schneider has over 20 years of experience in advertising and marketing. During his six years as the owner of an interactive shop in Buffalo, NY, he consistently hit marketing demands for clients such as the SixApart, PBS, and Symantec. He also spent one year as the Director of a Buffalo advertising agency working with corporations like M&T Bank and General Electric. As CEO at FIFTEEN,...

Soda Kuczkowski is a Sleep Health Educator & Local WNY Entrepreneur who has passionately worked in the field of clinical and behavioral sleep medicine and sleep health for the past 14 years. She is the founder of START WITH SLEEP , an organization that serves as a community resource for sleep health advocacy by providing programming and trainings for medical professionals, schools and corporat...

John (Jack) Greco is a father, advisor, serial entrepreneur and angel.  He co-founds or supports dozens of companies across Upstate New York.  Currently he leads Cupule Ventures, writes for the Buffalo Bridge, is developing a technology studio with One Link Ventures and spending time with his adventurous 5 year old son. Instrumental in the early development of startups, as a venture capitalist, fo...

Merry Constantino is the founder of ProductLogic LLC, a Buffalo-based Industrial Design consulting firm which she established in 1990 after leaving a career at Fisher Price. Innovation is the driving force behind Merry’s passion and her team’s work. ProductLogic provides a collection of design, prototyping, and engineering services that contribute to the success of their remarkably diverse client...

Del Reid, creator of #BillsMafia, founder of 26 Tshirts, & Family Man. Del is appreciated and loved by the Buffalo community. Once you meet him and hear his story, you totally understand why. Del gets it. In this podcast episode, we discuss his story from the beginning and how everything came to be. If you haven't heard Del's story, it's time you have.

Stephen M. White is the Founder and CEO of RentPrep, the leading tenant screening solution for busy landlords. His company website has millions of views every year and his company has over 90,000 clients! He brings 20 years of experience in the credit industry and entrepreneurship to his role leading a growing team of executives determined to make renting easier for all. Prior to founding RentPrep...