It goes without saying that the entrepreneurial journey isn’t easy. Entrepreneurs take bold risks and fight uphill battles to bring their ideas to life. Though difficult, the entrepreneurial spirit is key to innovations that can solve real-world problems and revolutionize entire industries.

For Kim Vergottini, a former nurse turned health tech software developer, innovation and problem-solving are at the heart of everything she does. Throughout her extensive career in nursing, she’s been recognized for her big ideas and proactive mindset.

“I’ve always believed that you can’t complain about something if you haven’t thought about how to solve it,” Kim says. “You may not have the answer right away, but if you only complain then you’re just part of the problem.”

As a Cleveland Clinic nurse with more than two decades of experience, Kim was part of a team that opened Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi in 2014. There she moved from bedside nurse to clinical instructor. In her new role, Kim coordinated the onboarding of nurses all over the world, which gave her an inside look at how nurses were trained globally.

Kim assessed incoming nurses to identify knowledge gaps or areas of improvement. Based on needs, be it clinical skills or critical thinking, she developed and implemented programs to augment their training.

Around this time, she discovered Microsoft HoloLens and was introduced to the concept of mixed reality. Kim says witnessing the seamless blend of real-world elements with computer-generated imagery piqued her interest and compelled her to learn more. She asked her colleagues for product demos and more information on cutting-edge technology.

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“I’ve always believed that you can’t complain about something if you haven’t thought about how to solve it. You may not have the answer right away, but if you only complain then you’re just part of the problem.”

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With her proximity to innovation and desire to solve challenges, Kim noticed a pattern in the application of virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) at the hospital; nursing was largely omitted from the equation.

“I thought to myself, why should doctors have all the fun?” she says. “Why not nurses? Why not develop something for the nurses?”

As a 23-year nursing veteran, Kim knew that the industry was changing rapidly. In the last few years, multiple reports have offered a dire warning: by 2030 there will be a projected global shortage of nurses with estimates ranging from nine to 13 million. In addition, post-COVID-19 reports cite burnout and exhaustion as factors that have continued to hollow out the world’s workforce of nurses and healthcare workers.

Kim says that in a lot of ways, these reports have served as a wakeup call for governments worldwide to make investments in nursing education and ramp up recruitment efforts.

“The concern is valid,” Kim explains. “If you have a shortage of nurses, it hurts every other aspect of healthcare.”

From capacity issues in nursing schools to the price of higher education to steep clinical requirements, there are numerous impediments for both institutions and nursing students.

Recently, the industry began replacing some of these clinical hours with simulation programs that reduce reliance on the costly labs and time-intensive curriculum. Kim says that these virtual reality solutions help universities process larger numbers of students, and with a possible solution in mind, she embarked on the entrepreneurial journey. She began learning about game engines and their role in developing virtual reality applications and taking bootcamp courses on software development.

In 2020, Kim left the Cleveland Clinic to develop a VR platform for clinical simulation. Together with her Co-Founder Mary Zaller, they launched a product they call Simulated Medical AR/VR Technologies & Learning Environments (SMART-LE) to help streamline clinical education in healthcare. For Kim and Mary, Northeast Ohio is the perfect place to scale their startup — the region’s world-renowned healthcare institutions make Cleveland fertile ground for developing this sort of technology.

To gain traction and accelerate their project, Kim reached out to regional startup support organizations, including JumpStart, for resources, direction and opportunities. At JumpStart’s recommendation, Kim enrolled in the I-Corps program which is helping validate their ideas and clarify the future development of the project. Kim says that the program has already helped them understand how to further develop a product that is driven by market fit. At the same time, Kim is working on beta testing her SMART-LE software in university settings.

Beyond addressing immediate challenges, Kim and Mary are driven to improve healthcare, and harness technology’s potential for good.

“Technology is advancing so quickly,” Kim explains. “There’s no way to prevent it from happening and that can be really scary.”

But she hopes that her startup’s innovative contribution to healthcare education will show that leveraging technology for good can be lucrative and make a positive impact on the world.

For early-stage technology startups, it’s generally understood that failing fast is a prerequisite for future success. Startup founders must be prepared to learn from mistakes and iterate rapidly to adapt to changes in the market, technology or user needs.

Tosan Ugbeye, a registered clinician, certified anesthetist and the founder and CEO of ScopeMed, was working at a Level 1 center at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. As health care professionals treated patients, Tosan witnessed the shock to the system of respiratory care protocols.

“There was a sudden, huge concern about how providers were going to safely care for their patients that presented with COVID,” Tosan explains. “As professionals, we didn’t know what to do.”

While hospital systems and clinics struggled to respond to the new, highly contagious virus, Tosan had an idea that formed the foundation of his startup. There was a device he used in his day-to-day work as a clinician—an anesthesia mask—that, with a few improvements to both the technology and hardware, could be adapted and used to keep both patients and providers safe.

Tosan and his team worked quickly to redesign the traditional oxygen mask, retrofitting it with modular technology for innovative oxygen delivery. But when he started fundraising about a year ago, Tosan realized that while the issue of COVID-19 mitigation and respiratory particle transmission was still top of mind in his field, it wasn’t a priority for investors or other stakeholders anymore.

At a crossroads, Tosan didn’t want to abandon his initial idea. But because the pandemic made the critical importance of respiratory health more obvious, he decided it was time to pivot.

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“One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned as a founder through my mentors is that you have to get away from the mindset that your startup is your baby,” Tosan says definitively.

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In true entrepreneurial fashion, Tosan redirected his focus to the technology of High Flow Oxygen Therapy (HFOT), a specialized method of respiratory support that provides a precise mix of heated and humidified air with a high flow of oxygen.

Conventional oxygen therapy, which is administered to patients as they recover from surgeries and other procedures, is readily available but not very effective during respiratory distress, like the patients with COVID he treated during the pandemic. Tosan is now working on how the benefits of HFOT—better oxygenation, improved patient comfort and reduced breathing effort—could assist those with chronic respiratory problems like COPD and sleep apnea.

Born and raised in Nigeria, Tosan says it was his mother who always had the entrepreneurial spirit. As a single mom raising two kids, she made clothes and other goods to sell on the side for extra income. His family moved to Canada in 2004 and by the time he arrived in Cleveland in 2012, he was intrigued with Silicon Valley and tech startup company culture and it wasn’t long before he was enrolled in business school through Cleveland State University (CSU).

As a CSU student, Tosan was taking an entrepreneurship class when he first was introduced to Northeast Ohio’s tech ecosystem. When he launched MedScope, he became actively engaged with JumpStart and Bounce Innovation Hub, where he was able to gain valuable advice and connections to experts that guided the early stages of this idea.

Tosan credits his advisors for pushing him to into the right space and helping him recognize the need to pivot when his initial fundraising efforts weren’t gaining traction.

“Their advising sessions are always exponential learning opportunities, but they grill you,” he says with a smile. “They don’t hold back telling you what’s not going to work. They don’t mince words.”

Tosan recently delivered the winning pitch at FastStart HealthTech Accelerator, a 12-week program for pre-seed/seed stage health tech companies that JumpStart ran in conjunction with LifeX, a Pittsburgh-based health tech accelerator. Tosan says the additional clarity he received in the program shaped the structuring of ScopeMed’s business model to position the company not only for immediate success with investors but sustained growth in line with long-term goals.

“There’s no way I could have done this by myself,” Tosan admits. “I may have an MBA, but that does not teach you how to take an idea to a prototype and then to market and customer validation.”

For now, he is working half of the time with ScopeMed and half of the time as a clinician, and though he knows he will be transitioning to his startup full time soon, leaving his work in the hospital will be bittersweet.

“It’s highly skilled, very rewarding work,” Tosan says. “It’s going to be as hard to let go of that as it was to let go of my initial product.”

Tosan is focused on fundraising and gathering clinical data based on information he picked up during the accelerator. His team at ScopeMed is busy working on prototypes and prioritizing the integrated components necessary to launch a pilot study in the coming months.

Entrepreneurship is not always predetermined. Sometimes, opportunities present themselves and enterprising individuals see a chance to make a career move. Owner and lead tattoo artist of Toledo-based Art Bound Studio, Dawn Miller is a perfect example of an accidental – but no less deserving – entrepreneur.

In 2019, Dawn stumbled into the tattoo industry quite unexpectedly. She took on what she thought was a supportive role at a struggling shop but ended up buying out the other owner, learning how to tattoo and turning the business around less than a year later.

A Northwest Ohio native and graduate of Bowling Green State University, Dawn holds dual majors in jewelry and metals, and interior design. She is an intrinsic artist with more than 15 years of experience as a blacksmith and metalsmith, and six years as a bench jeweler.

“You have to have an extremely steady hand to be a jeweler,” says Dawn. “Being a tattoo artist is no different.”

While Dawn’s professional journey may have taken an unexpected turn, she embraced the challenge, connected with business support resources and is now cultivating a different type of tattoo parlor; one defined by carefully curated comfort and a commitment to the art of tattooing.

Since Dawn acquired the shop, Art Bound Studio has surpassed new heights. She has worked to position Art Bound as a welcoming, female-friendly tattoo studio with an emphasis on positivity, warmth and shop cleanliness. Now, thanks to Dawn’s interior design skills, the space features soft accents, an open floor plan and a relaxing atmosphere.

Dawn and her staff tattoo people of all different backgrounds. Whether it’s their first or 50th, Dawn says that not only are clients usually nervous to get inked, but they generally have to expose parts of their body that they may feel shy about. Art Bound offers a feeling of ease that some clients may not feel at traditional tattoo parlors.

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“My philosophy is that I can teach people art, but I can’t teach people how to be a good person. So, I hire good people and then we work on our skills together.”

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In the male-dominated industry, women currently make up about 25% of tattoo artists, but Dawn says the tide is turning. Not only are more women entering the industry as professionals, but more women are getting tattoos. According to a poll last year from Pew Research Center, 38% of American women have at least one tattoo, compared to just 27% of men.

“Compared to men, women tattoo artists tend to have a lighter hand and different understanding of the artwork,” Dawn explains. “Their bedside manner is often more nurturing and patient.” In 2021, Dawn reached out to JumpStart and was accepted into the Small Business Impact Program where she received 12 weeks of hands-on, peer-to-peer learning. After graduating, she qualified for JumpStart’s relationship-based Impact Loan Fund, which provides non-dilutive capital to established small business clients.

Thanks to the Impact Loan, Dawn was able to expand her studio space and says the extra square footage will help her meet her next business milestones; primarily bringing her metal-working operation into the studio to make high-quality body jewelry out of precious metals and gemstones on-site.

“Once I got set up with piercing, I focused on sourcing high-quality jewelry,” she says, explaining its importance as cheap jewelry can lead to infections. “Not a lot of piercers know this but the infections that people get are usually caused by Chinese stainless steel, which has nickel silver in it and can lead to adverse reactions. We use titanium piercing jewelry because it does not cause these infections.”

Entrepreneurship looks different for everyone. Dawn may be an unorthodox business owner, but the leadership skills, financial acumen and growth mindset she’s learned have led her to her own iteration of the role. She has adopted a kinder, conscientious approach, taking her time to hire the right people and figuring out how she defines success.

“My philosophy is that I can teach people art, but I can’t teach people how to be a good person,” Dawn rationalizes. “So, I hire good people and then we work on our skills together.”

Recently, Dawn created and began selling a petroleum-free tattoo aftercare ointment she calls ‘Art Balm.’ Additionally, she’s teaching her 21-year-old daughter the ins-and-outs of business ownership at Art Bound Studio.

By staying true to herself, tapping into Northwest Ohio’s integrated business support network and leaning into kindness, Dawn has managed to strike a balance of business ownership and artistry, while also building Art Bound Studio into a successful pillar of the Toledo-area community.

A strong small business network has the potential to propel an entrepreneur to new heights, especially if they run a retail shop. For artisans and makers, particularly those in the early stages, things like rent, utilities and staffing can add up quickly. Plus setting up shop in the right location is paramount since foot traffic is a significant factor in the success of their businesses.

When Sam Friedman launched City Goods earlier this year in Cleveland’s Hingetown District to provide local makers, sellers and small businesses a place in the retail real-world, he was no stranger to the limited rental options available for local retailers. Sam knows all about the obstacles of running a retail business.

Sam owns and operates Chagrin Valley Soaps & Salves, USDA-Organic Certified, all-natural skincare products. As a 20-year-old operation started by Sam’s mother, Chagrin Valley Soaps & Salves has literally and figuratively been around the block in Northeast Ohio, bouncing from shop space in the Arcade downtown to their current headquarters in Solon.

For years, he and his mother whipped up hand-made, small-batch soaps, shampoos and salves as Sam navigated the challenges of small business ownership, trying to recalculate an equation that always left local entrepreneurs in the red. What he landed on was co-operative-type business model; an entity that could meet the needs and objectives of hyper-local business owners while promoting economic sustainability and community enrichment.

City Goods, the open-air market space tucked into the burgeoning Hingetown District, boasts seven “hangars” that can each hold up to five local brands. Sam says in its shortest form, City Goods is a concept designed to both support and showcase local, handmade, artisan businesses.

According to Sam, City Goods operates a sort of dual system co-op – a shared/subsidized model where basic costs, including rent and utilities, are shared and all other operating costs are generated by the proceeds from the bar that are re-invested into the organization.

“The business plan is a bit of a Frankenstein,” says Sam.

A key aspect of Sam’s vision is the Hanger Bar at City Goods, an outpost among the stores that exclusively features local products from a curated list of 17 local distilleries, six local wineries and over a dozen local breweries. Patrons are encouraged to take their drinks out of the Hanger Bar and explore the entire licensed area for a sip-and-shop experience that makes supporting local businesses easy.

Not only does the bar extend the mission of City Goods, but it also plays a crucial role in the self-sustaining model; the proceeds generated from the drinks go back into the collective and help subsidize rent.

In this way, with low rent, minimal overhead and pedestrians, City Goods is providing early-stage entrepreneurs with the opportunity to determine what is – and often more importantly, what isn’t – possible in their retail concepts.

“I think a lot of people have had fantasies about what they could or couldn’t do or might or might not do,” Sam says. “And you never know what might have been when you’re standing behind a plastic table at a craft market.”

Currently, there are 30 small businesses in City Good’s hangers that span multiple industries, including Linda’s Bee Farm, a family-owned apiary that makes honey-infused health and beauty products, Capsoul Co, a cutting-edge luggage brand, the Cleveland Print Room, a nonprofit dedicated to photography and many more. Sam’s vision goes beyond providing affordable rental opportunities and the stats offer proof; 70 percent of the shops in the hangers are female-owned businesses and 30 percent are minority-owned.

His resume may say otherwise, but Sam swears up and down that he never intended to be a business owner.

“I was supposed to be an artist,” Sam explains. By the time he was nineteen, he had founded a theater company and nonprofit, and was directing performances and producing plays. “I have always had an entrepreneurial-type spirit, but it was never about business, and it certainly was never about money or profit.”

When Sam set out to implement the concept of City Goods last year, he contacted Cleveland State University’s Small Business Development Center, where he was able to get assistance with basic accounting, help setting up QuickBooks and a recommendation to connect with JumpStart.

Since then, Sam and his business partner Liz, have been meeting with JumpStart’s advisors and getting help with the complexities of determining financial projections in a co-op model. Northeast Ohio’s entrepreneurial network is organically interconnected, in fact, current JumpStart Small Business Impact Program participant Funktini, an eclectic collection of local and vintage artwork, home goods and more, is occupying Hanger 3 at City Goods.

City Goods is more than just a marketplace. It’s a holistic business support system for small business owners, artisans, designers, makers and creators – a plug-and-play opportunity to showcase their talents and products. City Goods isn’t just a snapshot of entrepreneurship, it’s a movement that nurtures Cleveland’s small business economy and encourages consumers to purchase with a purpose.

Like much in life, entrepreneurship often depends on knowing the right people. In Northeast Ohio’s Hispanic-Latino business community, the old adage rings especially true. Hermes Ortiz, owner of Ortiz Art Drafts Designs, is purposefully intertwined with his community. These days, Hermes is an established business owner, and he serves as an ambassador of sorts for Cleveland’s Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs, actively working to strengthen networks, build relationships and foster opportunities.

Along with his wife Jeanette, Hermes started Ortiz Art Drafts Designs in 2017 and for years fulfilled custom embroidery orders out of their basement. Jeanette handles all the administrative requirements – managing payroll, running invoices, processing orders and more.

While the Ortiz’s are originally from Puerto Rico, they moved to Cleveland eight years ago in the dead of winter. Though the lake effect snow gave them a run for their money, the Ortiz’s didn’t leave.

Instead, Hermes settled his family, started a visual design and marketing business and now, less than a decade later, he is a staple in Greater Cleveland’s Hispanic community. Quietly—and earnestly—he connects with others; giving referrals, offering counsel, uncovering opportunities and providing graphic design and marketing services for local entrepreneurs.

Hermes launched his brick-and-mortar as part of Las Tienditas del Mercado, the Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center for Economic Development’s incubator space in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood. In 2020, Hermes again upgraded his operations to his own location in suburban Brooklyn, where he serves his clients in a modest strip of storefronts alongside a nail salon, barbershop and others.

As a Latino-owned company, Spanish-speaking business owners started coming to Ortiz Art Drafts Designs for their marketing collateral – branded pens, stickers, t-shirts, door decals and more. Then came orders for bilingual signs, requests for logo designs and even custom PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic. Soon, Hermes was helping contractors who started construction companies but had trouble reading renderings and floor plans as non-native English speakers.

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“The Spanish community helped me make my business. I’m returning the favor.”

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Hermes got involved with JumpStart soon after his 2020 relocation and has since participated in educational programming, secured grants from ECDI and capitalized on available accounting services.

Today, Jeanette and Hermes run an efficient operation and are a fixture in Cleveland’s hyper-local, Hispanic entrepreneurial ecosystem, providing support wherever and however they can. Whether in a Latino business development accelerator or their Ridge Road location, Hermes prefers to remain proximate to his customers, and more importantly his community.

Last month, Hermes served as a panelist for Conversando con la Comunidad: Navegando Conversaciones con Prestamistas, a discussion focused on funding resources for Spanish-speaking Northeast Ohio small business owners. Hermes discussed his experience, improving financial literacy and the importance of a trusted support network.

“Take advantage of every available resource,” Hermes told the crowd. “Keep your books in order and be ready to strike once opportunities reveal themselves.”

The preemptive approach has served Ortiz Art Drafts Designs well. A diligent entrepreneur who understands that conservative spending and commitment to craftsmanship are paramount to success, Hermes has been able to effectively scale his enterprise in just a few short years. He stressesF the importance of paying off expenses and reinvesting profits back into the business.

Not long ago, Hermes be-friended an architect from Honduras who was unsure how her training would translate in America. So, every Saturday, he welcomed her into his shop so she could practice her designs on his computer, where she had access to up-to-date software. Additionally, Hermes has plans to develop workshops and create mentorship programs for budding Spanish-speaking graphic designers in Northeast Ohio.

But the way Hermes tells it, he’s indebted to his community, and is just trying to pay it forward.

“The Spanish community helped me make my business,” he says. “I’m returning the favor.”

JumpStart’s Small Business Impact Program is a 12-week business accelerator that provides hands-on advising and industry-specific mentoring to participants. The program focuses on helping these entrepreneurs overcome key business issues, with a significant emphasis on financial projections and capital pitches.

Throughout the program, participants will have the opportunity to work closely with the Impact Program team and fellow entrepreneurs to tackle their challenges together. At the end of the program, the graduates take part in an exciting demo day-style competition and have the chance to pitch their businesses to a live audience and panel of judges. The winning pitch is awarded a $10,000 grand prize, while all other entrepreneurs receive $2,500 to help grow their businesses.

These local entrepreneurs may come from different backgrounds and industries, but they all share the same goal of building a successful business in Northeast Ohio. We are excited to introduce you to this cohort’s participants and share their stories as they work toward achieving their entrepreneurial goals.

Davion Mack
IC Fitness

IC Fitness is more than a gym; it’s a community committed to helping you reach your true fitness potential. While many fitness centers focus solely on exercise, IC Fitness takes a holistic approach to wellness. Their mission is to foster a positive environment where individuals can gain the knowledge and confidence to make informed choices about nutrition, master proper body movement, and effectively utilize exercise equipment.
icfit216.com

Beth Keenan
FunktiniLand

Situated within Hangar 3 of City Goods, FunktiniLand is a captivating destination where the talents of over thirty local artists shine through a wide array of artwork and home goods. The shop boasts an intriguing fusion of vintage décor and furniture appealing to a wide range of taste and budgets. Explore a plethora of artistic mediums from digital prints, to fiber art, ceramics, glasswork, woodworking and much more.
funktiniland.com

Jeremiah Phillips & Colleen Phillips
The Filter Factory

The Filter Factory is your trusted destination for specialized air filter, dust collector bag and dust collector cartridge cleaning services. With state-of-the-art, in house-washing equipment, they possess the capability to meticulously clean filters and restore them to a like-new quality without compromising their original construction.
thefilterfactoryinc.com

Brittany McNeal
Memories By Bee

Memories By Bee is a locally-based décor company that specializes in crafting an extensive range of centerpieces, signage, ceremony accessories, and embellishments to elevate and personalize your special occasions.
memoriesbybe.com

Laura Manning
LaJAshley

LaJAshley is a 100% natural/vegan brand dedicated to promoting the importance of safe and natural hair and body care. Founded by chemist Laura Manning, the product line caters to all hair and body types, offering revitalization, nourishment and repair without compromising your well-being.
lajashley.com

Austin Kirkland
Millennial Pro

Millennial Pro specializes in world-class qualified advertising and marketing focusing on website development, social media strategy, photography, event planning, logo and flyer design.
millennialpro.org

Brittany Bissell
Daisy’s Ice Cream

Daisy’s Ice Cream is a woman-owned ice cream parlor nestled in the heart of Slavic Village, where sweet memories are crafted one scoop at a time. Stop by and try out a variety of handcrafted ice cream treats.
facebook.com/DaisysOnFleet

The Aarons are the definition of a tight-knit family. Deborah and her wife Neicya and their four children do everything together—from school to play to work. After making a mint selling handmade lip balm at their lemonade stand during a Juneteenth celebration, Deborah and Neicya asked daughters 7-year-old Raveah, 8-year-old Riley and 10-year-old Myah what they wanted to do with the money they earned.

“They wanted to get ice cream and start a business, in that order,” says Deborah.

From there, Skin District Store, an all-natural, artisanal self-care product line, was born. While the business is backed by Neicya’s experience as a licensed esthetician and cosmetologist and Deborah’s branding and marketing credentials, their moms make it clear that the sisters run the show.

“This is 100 percent a kid-owned business,” Deborah explains.

Skin District specializes in soaps, scrubs, masks and more and uses natural ingredients like charcoal, shea butter, turmeric, oatmeal and others to create chemical-free formulas for self-care from hair to toe.

Beyond ready-made balms, creams and cleansers, Skin District also offers customized soaps and other personalized products. The trio is still too young to manage the hot processing alone, but they package products and prep orders. And their moms have helped them become experts on the ingredients they use, the healing properties each contain and how they work within the products. Not only that, but the girls also administer on-site skin analyses, identify issues, discuss sensitives and determine healing goals, helping their customers find individualized skin care regimens.

Her daughters’ enthusiasm for their business has impressed, but not surprised, Deborah. She believes there is a place for everyone in entrepreneurship. Rather than conform to specific roles or business practices, Deborah and Neicya encouraged each of their children to lean into their strengths and passions, allowing the brand to evolve organically and ensuring the girls were on board, every step of the way.

Along with being co-owners, the sisters also have designated titles and job functions based on their personal preferences and interests.

“Riley is our outgoing Vice Chair who’s developing her sales skills,” says Deborah. “Raveah became the Skin District Store Receptionist, working the cash register and handling customers’ purchases. And Myah, who’s rather shy, is most comfortable leading our administrations.”

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“This is 100 percent a kid-owned business.”

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The young business owners and their moms are active in Northeast Ohio’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Skin District’s brick-and-mortar store is in the Corner Shop Collective, a retail incubator space in Cleveland’s Larchmere neighborhood. Run by the Economic & Community Development Institute with funding from the Cleveland Foundation, the collaborative space enables local product-based small businesses to test their concept in a retail store environment without the obstacle of costly overhead expenses. The owners of the pop-up shops work together and learn how to operate their respective storefronts successfully.

Additionally, the Aarons have taken advantage of JumpStart’s services and workshops, including events and educational offerings. Deborah and Neicya also participated in the Small Business Impact Program on their family’s behalf.

“We would go to the classes during the day and then come home and teach the girls what we learned in the evening,” Deb explains.

The goal is to have the girls take on more responsibility as they grow older, evolving and growing Skin District into the brand they want it to be. The information we learned in the Impact Program will help them make business decisions, create products and curate ingredients in the future.

Riley even kicked off their 10-minute pitch at the Small Business Impact Program showcase event this spring, and while Skin District didn’t walk away with the top prize, Deb says the lessons they learned were invaluable.

“The in-depth work we did in class identifying our ideal customer was so eye-opening,” she says. “Thinking through our customer’s journey helped us with marketing and time management.”

Rather than spending time creating content for social media platforms that weren’t generating leads, Deborah says they used their new insight to redirect their efforts to channels that do reach their potential clients.

Next up, the Aarons family is looking to expand into a location where they can offer salon and spa services, soap-making workshops and their signature self-care products.

Skin District’s fourth anniversary was not lost on the young entrepreneurs. True to form and deeply proud of their business, the girls reminded their moms of the occasion and wanted to celebrate with ice cream.