Success Stories

Winna Do, Co-Founder of Berrybites, discovered the ‘why’ of her business when she was babysitting her niece and realized that all of her food options were either canned or pre-packaged purees. Winna describes a desperate feeling knowing she did not have healthier options for her niece and decided to take it on herself to create the option she was looking for

After a record year for stress and anxiety we could all use some relaxation. A silver lining of the collective trauma experienced throughout the pandemic is the importance of self-care that has been illuminated. Makalah Emanuel, CEO and Founder of Melaxation Boxes, is on a mission to continue amplifying the message of self-care through her business which sells boxes filled with hand-made gifts, thoughtful activities, and products from Black-Indigenous-People of Color-(BIPOC) owned businesses. “After a crazy year a gift of self-care felt like the most appropriate gift to give family members and friends,” Makalah says.

Tom Concannon, owner of Old School Heros, had the business plans set, loans lined up, and was even doing walk throughs to lease a space for his brick and mortar sandwich shop in Thornton, a dream that had been in the making for more than 25 years and one he had been actively pursuing for the past four years. But suddenly all those plans fell away. Sound familiar? As restaurants shuttered across the country, grappling

After a career as a preschool teacher in a childcare center, Penny Steinhour made the leap to become a licensed home childcare provider about 6 years ago to spend more time with her grandchildren. During this time, Penny said of herself, “I never really looked at it as a business. I looked at it as I was just grandma and I stayed home to take care of children to give them a good foundation for

Paul Beier has family business roots in the meat industry dating back to 1950 and has continued the tradition by carrying on his father’s business, Dale’s Meats, in Brighton, Colorado. Weathering the impacts of a pandemic has not been an easy feat for small businesses, especially ones with such longstanding history attached. However, through the support of the CARES Act funding, Paul as been able to shepherd Dale’s Meats through the economic slowdown and has

Diana Rael is the owner of Profound Fitness, a small, personalized gym and training program for all fitness needs. That sounds like the description of many typical fitness establishments. However, Rael’s program is anything but typical. She serves people with special needs, those dealing with the challenges of aging, and those who are uncomfortable in a gym setting—as well as everyone else. Rael’s background includes early childhood education, science education, martial arts, and personal training.

Fiesta Time Inc. is a family business that started seven years ago in Brighton, Colorado. The Jurado family opened it services with only ten tables and seventy chairs, and since then has grown to be a driving force in the party rental industry. Fiesta Time is now much more than just tables and chairs, offering a whole repertoire of frame tents, pole tents, linens, dance floors, and sound systems. Having a strong foundation is essential

Armed with the knowledge that drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury fatalities for children under the age of four and the second leading cause in children under the age of fifteen, learning to swim was non-negotiable for Brent and Stephanie Scarbrough’s children. From the time their children were infants, they searched for a swim program that was child-centered, fun and engaging, yet also prepared children to know precisely what to do in the