Justin Baer earned a degree in Marketing & RE Finance from New York University in 2004. A born entrepreneur, Baer founded six digital companies prior to Collars & Co.
Working as a professional in New York City, Baer found he needed to “dress the part,” but admits he really hated...
College life may involve many hassles, but probably the biggest one is moving all your stuff in at the beginning of the year and out at the end. In some cases, it is necessary to move out of your dorm room in the middle of the school year as...
Justine Tiu and Adrian Zhang met as undergraduates at Duke University when they were in the same chemistry class. (Justine likes to joke that “we had chemistry—literally!”) They both went on to work in high-powered jobs in New York City. Justine was a User Experience Designer at Google. Adrian...
Jake Rutledge was a 20-year veteran of the Fire Department in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Being a firefighter is a high-stress job, and for relaxation, Jake loved to go fishing. In 2017, Jake was on vacation in Destin, Florida, standing in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Water that...
Hydration is a critical factor in human health, and water is the best source. However, many people just don’t like drinking plain water. Over the past 15 years, flavored waters have become a hot item in the beverage industry, with coconut flavoring being one of the most popular. Move...
For most of the past 100 years the leading bandage companies marketed their products as “flesh toned.” However, the bandages were all pale pink or tan, ignoring the fact that human beings have flesh in a vast range of colors.
Intisar Bashir and Rashid Mahdi, of Columbus, Ohio, decided to...
Shahira Marei was raised in California, earned a BA and MBA from California State University, and had a successful career as an aerospace project manager at Boeing International. Shahira liked her job and was very excited about the birth of her daughter. But when she was in her early...
Kaycee Jones was a former dancer on a family vacation at the beach in the summer of 2014. As a dancer, she knew very well the stress, strain, and frequent injuries to legs and feet that every dancer endures. Kaycee has a master’s degree in kinesiology and is also...
Jasmine Maietta earned a BA in Anthropology at Bowdoin College and a Master’s in Economics at Trinity College-Hartford. She then worked in Marketing and Global Brand Development for major corporations such as Hasbro, Reebok and Peloton. During her college years, Jasmine had been a varsity basketball player and assistant...
For many people, the beach is their happy place! Who doesn’t love sitting in the sun, feeling the soft sand beneath their feet, and hearing the laughter of children running into the surf? But sitting on most beach chairs? Not so comfortable!
Leslie Hsu was a successful handbag designer, whose...
Temidayo Adedokun earned a BA in Economics and English Literature at the University of California, Davis, and went on to earn a JD at Yale Law School in 2015. She worked as a lawyer for several years, but found that her heart really wasn’t in it. Adedokun knew that...
As much as a parent might love caring for their child, even including changing diapers, they certainly don’t love the smell of a loaded diaper. Sometimes even double bagging and fragrance sprayed into the diaper pail doesn’t help much.
Regina Crisci is a nurse who had worked in Level 1...
Chet Beiler, CEO of OverEZ Chicken Coop, grew up on a 100-acre dairy farm in Pennsylvania, along with three brothers and four sisters. In the early 80s, a fire at the farm caused his family to lose everything, and Chet had to delay his education in order to help...
Leila Shams is a graduate of Parsons School of Design with over 20 years of experience in the fashion industry. Originally from New York City, Shams is now living (but definitely not driving!) in Los Angeles, California. In 2009 she founded Leila Shams, LLC, creating a celebrity-loved contemporary collection...
Inventor Trevor Lambert established Enhance Product Development in 2001 due to his frustration over existing invention service providers. His goal at Enhance is to provide inventors, entrepreneurs, start-ups and small to medium sized consumer product companies, effective services such as industrial design, engineering, prototyping and manufacturing, all with improved...
Manuel and Geiszel Godoy are a husband-and-wife team determined to change the narrative in the way people learn about African history. The narrative about people of color in this country has too often been slanted toward the experience of slavery, without acknowledgement of the rich cultural heritage that was...
Growing up in Upstate New York, Olivia (“Liv”) Bowser was passionate about the outdoors and physical fitness. After graduating from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, she worked in a variety of marketing positions, including brand manager, digital marketing consultant, and email marketing manager.
Liv also became...
Treasured ornaments, sometimes an heirloom passed down from a parent or grandparent, are often part of a family’s Christmas tree decorations. No one wants to hesitate to use them, but may do so because they are concerned the somewhat flimsy hooks commonly used may not hold and the ornament...
Kam and Summer Johnson moved to the rural area of New Jersey when their son, Zach, was around five years old. The family loved living there, but unfortunately Zach’s asthma was negatively affected by increased pollen exposure in the countryside.
The Johnsons have always been careful about the use of...
Emily Castro and Mellissa Harrington first collaborated during their college years at Texas A&M, where they were both on the soccer team. More than likely neither of them would have imagined how their experience working toward the same goal (literally) on their college soccer team would come in handy...
While Peter Solimine was earning his BS in Economics at Tulane University, he had an early morning class in the auditorium with several hundred other students. Early morning meaning 7:45 AM!
We all know what many college students are doing the night before such an early morning class. Studying?? Maybe....
Christina Tegbe’s three main passions are traveling the world, Africa, and beauty. Tegbe graduated from Tulane University in 2007 with a degree in Business Law and Management. She then went on to earn a Masters in Science from University of Houston-Clear Lake, with a concentration in Healthcare Administration. She...
Patrick Robinson’s interest in fashion started early in his life. Growing up in Southern California, Robinson was a surfer, and part of the surfer lifestyle is wearing “cool” clothing. Robinson had always liked making things with his hands, and realized he could make shorts for himself and his surfer...
Don Lessem earned a BA in Art History from Brandeis University and then a Masters in Animal Behavior at UMass Boston. He began his writing career researching for the Smithsonian Center for Short-Lived Phenomena, and spent more than a decade as a science journalist writing for the Boston Globe...
