Small Business Profiles
Leslie Allison-Seei is the president of Robust Promotions LLC, an award-winning turnkey service provider offering prize consulting, legal documents and support, microsite infrastructure, graphic design and much more, in Villa Park, Ill. Together with her husband Greg, they’ve worked with restaurant chains and global brands such as Popeyes and Häagen Dazs, among others.
Neha Mehta has an entrepreneurial spirit that is always leading her to try something new. She, along with her husband, are the co-founders of Seashore Solutions LLC. located in Austin, Texas. After decades of multi-industry experience, they decided to launch Seashore in 2017, a consulting and software firm that provides affordable, sustainable and cutting-edge solutions to a global client base. Products range from mobile application development to e-commerce websites to enterprise-level solutions such as third-party integration.
Savannah-based Charlotte Garnes worked for 11 years as a licensed mental health and substance abuse therapist. When she was only two credits away from receiving her Ph.D. in 2013, her life completely changed. She was sentenced to five years in prison as a result of unethical billing practices performed by employees under her supervision.
For the last 25 years, Amber Bilby has been in the childcare industry in one way or another. Her passion for children and her entrepreneurial spirit eventually led her to launch Daycare Home Arvada in 2009, a licensed and home-based childcare center in Arvada, Colo. She opened her doors with the vision to give children in her care the best possible opportunities to thrive in their environment.
In 1975, Adolf Dulan opened his first restaurant in South Los Angeles and became the “King of Soul Food” in his community.
45 years later, Dulan’s Soul Food Kitchen stands as a well-loved community establishment. With Adolf’s children—Greg Dulan, Terry Dulan, and other siblings—at the helm, it has grown to more than 60 employees and multiple locations across LA. Their mission goes beyond serving first-rate soul food in generous portions—they strive to be a socially responsible, successfully operated business with hospitality that reminds one of being at Grandma's for Sunday dinner.
After more than 45 years of business, Dante Hamilton, owner of Internet Webpages Newspaper Inc., has found himself in a resource renaissance thanks to the newly prevalent online tools that have been available since the beginning of the pandemic.
Photo Credit: Ben Getz
Without a trace of experience in the food industry, Matt Weyandt and his family sailed into the world of chocolate and launched Xocolatl in late 2014. Although their business is based in Atlanta, Matt and his wife Elaine discovered the wonders of chocolate and chocolate-making processes in the Costa Rican jungles.
Diane Hernandez knows from raising her own four children and one grandchild how hard it is to get quality childcare in her small, rural town of Julesburg, Colo.
So after retiring from retail management, she decided to take a leap of faith and opened a home-based, licensed childcare business in January 2020.
When Terry Norris left the Marine Corps, he needed a part-time job. He soon found one at a calibration lab working with the government on aerospace initiatives. On his first day there, he met his now wife. Just a few months later, they opened their own calibration lab in Palmdale, California. 27 years and 17 employees later, Precision Labs Calibration serves a variety of customer bases, including the medical, aerospace, agricultural and film industries.
During lockdown, New Mexico transplant Skylar Shafer found herself homesick for the flavors of her New England childhood. Looking to connect herself back to her roots and find a distraction from her emotionally intensive day job as a community support worker, she started Sky’s Sweets, a bakery that specializes in Jewish and Brazilian desserts. Skylar’s role as a small business has helped her feel connected to her New Mexico community while her baking connects her to the community she left behind on the East Coast.
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