Success Stories

Owning and operating a business is challenging. Doing so as someone who is underrepresented in business as well as their own industry ads even more hoops to jump through. For Miriam Rodriguez though, the challenges are worth struggling through to live everyday doing the work she loves.

There is rarely a linear path to entrepreneurship. Often, it is a series of twists and turns, ups and downs, that wind us through the business journey. That has surely been the case for Lori Christensen, owner of Rocky Mountain Brownies. Lori was sailing through a highly successful law career, when a series of life altering circumstances forced her to reconsider what she valued most and what kind of life she wanted to lead.

There is rarely a linear path to entrepreneurship. Often, it is a series of twists and turns, ups and downs, that wind us through the business journey. That has surely been the case for Lori Christensen, owner of Rocky Mountain Brownies. Lori was sailing through a highly successful law career, when a series of life altering circumstances forced her to reconsider what she valued most and what kind of life she wanted to lead.

Dan Willman and his wife, Jessica, are co-owners of Do Gooder Games Café, a hybrid games store with an inclusive community where patrons are invited to play games with others while enjoying their favorite beverages and snacks from the café. The store also features new and diverse offerings for customers to purchase games and supplies. To further build community and set themselves apart from similar enterprises, they champion a unique rewards program where customers not only earn points for dollars spent, but also for participating in events such as meetups, art shows, and more.

A strong online presence is crucial to a business’s success, especially in our ever-increasing digital world reliant on technology. For many business owners, the skills needed to create and manage a professional website are daunting and ultimately a barrier to their business’s growth. To address the gap in digital skills, especially among minority business owners, the North Metro SBDC started a website program led by Diego Leyes, Bilingual Digital Marketing Specialist and Spanish Programs Outreach Consultant. The selected client for the first round of the website program was Jorge Torres, owner of JCS Cleaning Services.

Meno is positioned as a meeting place of meaningful sustainability and appealing design. Jerri describes her motivation saying, “My goal is to not only do things differently but to actually show the industry a fresh business model and approach that can be profitable, all while being transparent for the customers.”

There is a story behind every quilt and few know this better than Dawna Sanders, owner of Dawna’s Design Threads, who has quilted more than 3,100 quilts during her time in business. Dawna’s own story is moving quickly as she is in the final stages of closing on the purchase of The Quilt Store, a major leap for her business.

Boulder Furniture Arts is a Boulder based company that has been in existence since 1985. Lee and Hannah purchased the company in 2005.The true craftsmanship of their furniture products is the main driver of the company.