Meet courageous entrepreneurs who followed their passion

Learn to work smarter, not harder, from those who started a business while working a full-time job, but never lost sight of the need for balance.

Meet courageous entrepreneurs who followed their passion

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Season 2

Season 1

Season 2

How Rekindle Candle Co. prioritizes value in handmade goods

Matthew Mewbourne has been creating things since high school. Starting with ceramics, he transitioned his maker mindset to candles while at the University of Georgia, becoming a regular vendor at the Athens Farmer’s Market. Matthew and his wife started Rekindle Candle Company after graduation and have since focused on high-quality ingredients, environmental sustainability, and prioritizing value in their wooden wicked candles.

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Curating immersive African safaris while protecting wildlife

While Saurabh Khetrapal was creating tech startups in Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas, he was also advising his friends and colleagues on how to plan meaningful and individualized African safaris in his home country of Tanzania. After exiting his third tech startup, Saurabh decided to combine his two passions — preserving African wildlife and entrepreneurial ventures — into his nonprofit startup Fair Trade Safaris.

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How two teachers branched out to Restore More

Claudine Miles and Kimberlie Milton are friends and experienced educators, who met while working at the same school in Atlanta, Georgia. After a 10-year stint at a top charter school, Claudine was beginning to feel burned out. With the encouragement of now-business partner Kimberlie, Claudine created Restore More Consultants, an education-forward consulting firm rooted in expanding restorative practices, anti-racism, and social-emotional health.

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Recruiting passionate candidates in an emerging space

Derrick Knudsen was working at a Fortune 500 recruitment firm in Denver, Colorado when he recognized a gap in the industry. Traditional firms were hesitant to help fill open positions at cannabis companies. In response, Derrick created a boutique recruitment firm, Meta Talent Group, which helps fill roles at cannabis, hemp, and psychedelic-focused companies. Derrick’s firm is focused on recruiting top-tier talent while maintaining its core values: People, Planet & Profitability.

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Encouraging creatives to make space for their dreams

Mary Nakaya and Melissa Porras met at church in Los Angeles, California. While Mary had an art background, Melissa was just excited to play with clay on Mary’s pottery wheel. As their friendship blossomed, they started a ceramic-focused jewelry business: Nomad Artisan Company. Since 2018, Mary and Melissa have expanded their business by going door-to-door to LA boutiques and growing their social media presence.

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How King of Pops refreshes, reinvents, and refines their model

If you live in the southeast, you’ve seen them — carts with rainbow umbrellas bearing popsicle treats dubbed “King of Pops” — at public parks, live events, and music festivals. Steven Carse, who founded King of Pops in 2010 along with his brother Nick, shares their origin story, how the company innovated through the COVID-19 pandemic, and the new programs King of Pops is spearheading, including a “Cartreprenuer” franchise program.

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An Olympian helps other athletes set and reach their goals

Sean Furey is an Olympic javelin thrower who represented the US in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. Now retired from competition, he’s channeled his athletic career into a side business, Furey Athletics, and helps athletes and coaches realize their dreams. Sean balances a full-time job as a mechanical engineer, his family, and his side hustle. Hear how his experience as an athlete has influenced his side hustle journey, and how he makes it all work.

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Marrying a love of adventure with photography skills

Kat Carney knew she wanted to be a photographer — she had always loved taking pictures, particularly in natural settings. She tried being a full-time wedding photographer, but found there wasn’t enough variety to suit her. So she started Swell & Stone, and now she plans and photographs adventure weddings and elopements in exciting outdoor locales. Hear what she learned when turning her side hustle into a full-time business.

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Helping college students apply for the right jobs

Elle Overholt took a career-track consulting job right out of college, but discovered pretty quickly that it wasn’t what she wanted. So she started working with college students to help them understand how to identify and apply for jobs they’d love. Now, her company, Forth LLC, helps young adults achieve their dream careers with guidance on resume and cover letter writing, networking, interviewing and more.

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Season 1

Podcast List

When Craftsmanship Meets Entrepreneurship: How a cabinetmaker built a business

Josh Crandal went from building a TV stand in his childhood bedroom to crafting everything from elegant kitchen cabinets to custom living room wall units. It was the overwhelmingly positive reaction of a customer that inspired Josh to pursue a path to entrepreneurship.

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Former teacher launches a magazine

Angela Yungk began her career as a teacher but quickly found herself searching for a new direction in life. Along with her business partner, Angela eventually went on to create and launch Art Hive Magazine. Learn more about how Angela built a brand and business from scratch, and how she approaches marketing and promotions. This is the story of how you can break into a new industry with no previous experience and find success.

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After school teacher solves domestic violence shelter’s data problem

Steven Jenkins knew someone who had experienced domestic violence. He wanted to help others who had experienced the same so he decided to volunteer at a local domestic violence shelter. What Steven would come to learn was the database the shelter was using was inadequate and the staff was spending too much time on data collection when they could be helping people at the shelter. Here’s the story of how Steven set out to solve that problem, and how he turned a volunteer position into a full time job and eventually a business.

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Attorney turns passion for yoga into a business

As Claire Zovko was wrapping up her college basketball career, she took her first yoga class and discovered a new passion. Years later, while practicing law and advancing her own knowledge of yoga, Claire began to teach yoga and eventually found herself in a position to run her own yoga studio. This is the story of how a passion can turn into a business.

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Going once, going twice. A fundraising auctioneer is born at a talent show

After serving in the US Army and enjoying a successful career in financial services, TiWanna Kenney found herself on stage hosting an auction. She fell in love with the work and the positive impact it can have on the lives of others. Here’s how TiWanna developed her talent and how she’s bringing diversity and inspiring change in her industry.

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Engineer turned leadership and team consultant helps teams reach their full potential

Maureen Monte is a Leadership and Team Consultant and author of Destination Unstoppable. Maureen began her career as an engineer but eventually realized she was more than a problem solver; she was a people problem solver. Hear how Maureen turned her side hustle into a full-time business and how you can unlock the untapped talent on your team.

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From The US Foreign Service to Helping Students Strive for their Best

Tina Tran Neville and her parents left Vietnam to come to the United States when she was a young girl. Learn how that experience shaped her journey from US Foreign Service Officer to high school teacher to founder of Transcend Academy, which provides test preparation and college advising services. Tina’s story is what the American Dream is all about.

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Entrepreneurs don’t always fly solo.

Jared Novack met his future business partners at the Syracuse University student newspaper. They would go on to work in the newsrooms of The New York Times and The Boston Globe, and eventually launch Upstatement, a design and engineering studio. Hear how Jared and his college friends grew a side hustle into a robust business that is producing creative work for some of the world’s leading brands, products, publishers and non-profits.

Meet courageous entrepreneurs who followed their passion

Meet courageous entrepreneurs who followed their passion

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