Johnnie Williams
Starting off from a small town in Buckholts, Texas, as a small boy, I enjoyed working on cars to pass the time away. As time passed I wanted more, I moved to Houston to continue my education at UTI. Once I graduated from UTI, I began working for independent owned shops, bouncing around trying to find the job that fit my desires and dreams. Read more>>
Toni Harris Taylor
My entrepreneurial journey started 27 years ago with a phone call from my mother asking me to quit my job at Exxon to come and work for her. My initial reaction was, absolutely not! I had seen her struggle and I didn’t want that same struggle. She asked me a question that I still live by today, it was, “What’s the worst that can happen?” Read more>>
Robert Mata
In 1995, I started working for a door company here in Houston, TX which I was referred to by a friend. At the time, I needed money to support my wife and 3 kids so I needed to find a job as soon as possible. Thankfully, I was hired at the door company and even though the pay still wasn’t enough I kept working to provide for my family. Read more>>
Xochitl Flores
Both our boys have been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder, which limits the ability to attend public school for many reason. As a family we decided that homeschool would be the best for our boys. This is where our journey started, I was looking for hands on ways of teaching our boys. Read more>>
Micaela Liem
I have done massage all my life–when I was a child we lived in Bangladesh and my father would get migraines. I’d walk on his back and rub his shoulders. It wasn’t til I was 37 that I made a career of it. I love that someone can come in with pain and body misalignment and walk out pain-free. Read more>>
Ron & Carolyn Yokubaitis
We both grew up in Houston and attended U of H. After college, we served in the Peace Corps together in Brazil. There, we worked on community development in the favelas of Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro. We’ve always liked adventure, and an adventurous spirit is what led us to starting our own business. Read more>>
Tina Murphy
I started this business after I put some of my family’s estate into an auction. It wasn’t the best experience but I was curious about the whole business. I started attending storage unit auctions, working the floor at an auction house, being in a partnership with an auction house and eventually going to school to become an auctioneer and owning my own. Read more>>
Maria and Jerry Charping
For a long time Jerry and I wanted to be business owners but didn’t know ourselves what kind of business would suit us. I always admired my father who had various businesses even before I was born. Now that I am a business owner and deal with the stresses of bills, knowing my craft, maintaining current customers, along with obtaining new ones, I have more respect for him than ever before. Read more>>
Felix Florez II
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I was born in McAllen, TX and toured with my Mom through the Texas countryside, tasting everything along the way. The flavors of each kitchen we passed through were bountiful and featured vegetables, usually grown close by the owners’ themselves, local livestock from nearby ranches, and scratch made creams, sauces, and cheeses. Read more>>
Russell Young
I used to work for many large companies and dreamed of owning my own business. I got a chance in 2007 while working for HP and accepted a retirement buyout. Too young and too broke to really retire, I started looking for a business to buy and found a niche IT business in Waco, TX called Vista Com. Read more>>
Bart Peterschick
In 2010, Humble Sign Co was a side business to the owner of an auto mechanic shop. It was a two man printing company, and that’s being generous! In the midst of a horrible economy, I found myself under-employed and with a bleak future, suddenly along came the opportunity to purchase this ailing print shop. Read more>>
Haytham Kader
Ever since I was a kid, I would frolic with all the toys I can get my hands on. However, unlike most kids, I enjoyed making my own toys, helmets, and crafts. By the time I graduated high school, I knew that architecture was what I wanted to study in college. After taking a few architecture classes at the University of Houston, I came to the conclusion that model making was my forte. Read more>>
Ari Riar and Rohana Perera
We both come from middle class families from south Asian countries India and Sri Lanka. After our higher studies in structural engineering we landed here to pursue our American Dream. We spent about 15 years honing our skills through hard work and dedication. And in 2014 we decided to start our own structural engineering consulting firm Nexgen Engineers. Read more>>
