By Lance Reynolds From Boston Herald A couple grads from Boston University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology may have finally solved the long-lived bathroom dispute between men and women on how they should leave toilet seats after they’re done using them. The group of five graduates teamed up to form Cleana, a Boston-based technology startup that’s all…

By Gretchen McKay From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Irwin—Three generations of Tom Kerber’s family have been making some of Pennsylvania’s best ice cream for more than six decades. Millions of scoops later, everything about the ice cream business still makes the 84-year-old smile. “This is our little piece of heaven,” he says, gesturing to the rolling fields…

“We cleaned out her bedroom and turned it into a cookie mix factory,” said Olivia’s mom Mary Huynh, who home-schools her four children. When the business took off during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mary Huynh and her husband, Joseph Nguyen, cleared out the master bedroom, too. “We all slept in the living…

By Nicole Hvidsten From Star Tribune Minneapolis—It takes a certain amount of pluck to start a business, and Sara Doherty and Britt Jungerberg have it. Best friends since high school, the two have always enjoyed hosting parties and experimenting with recipes together. Their pickle dip—a mix of white beans, cream cheese, herbs, spices and pickles—was…

By Nick Kindelsperger From Chicago Tribune Another Illinois barbecue legend has been inducted into The American Royal Association’s Barbecue Hall of Fame. While Dave Raymond might not be immediately recognizable to most people, you’ll likely know his nickname: Sweet Baby Ray. The sauce company he helped found in 1986 is one of the most popular…

It’s often said that one person’s junk is another person’s treasure. Andy Humphrey would likely agree, because the old maple syrup tapping spouts he found in his family’s junk drawer in fifth grade turned into the thriving business he owns and operates today. An ambitious set of entrepreneurs from America’s heartland, Andy and his wife,…

By Gretchen McKay From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Pittsburgh—Gene Walker knows the road to success has many stops and starts. Consider his path to become executive director of Cafe Momentum Pittsburgh, the soon-to-open nonprofit restaurant and professional training facility in Downtown that gives juvenile offenders a second chance. The East Liberty native graduated from Peabody High School…

By Nicole Hvidsten From Star Tribune Minneapolis–Brianna Edwards has plenty of spice in her life without Lov3 It S3asonings: project manager, podcaster, athlete, entrepreneur, caregiver and varsity basketball coach at her alma mater, North Community High School in Minneapolis. So, why spices? “It was a total accident,” Edwards says. Fueled by her mom’s love of…

Strips of millimeter-thin colored paper coiled, shaped, and glued into precise and gorgeous designs by hand: This is quilling, a simple, yet ancient, art that “anyone can learn,” according to Huong Wolf, co-founder of Quilling Card in Massachusetts. In April 2022, Quilling Card earned two Guinness World Record titles: one for the most people quilling simultaneously,…

I spend most of my days on the computer, and when I’m not busy writing, I’m working on various entrepreneurial endeavors or interviewing and meeting with other business owners and entrepreneurs around my community and around the world for my podcast. I’ve realized in my time since leaving corporate America that entrepreneurs and small business owners…