Ian Campbell
I started out as a consultant when I was in my early twenties. I kind of just fell into the job by striking up a conversation with someone at a bar who turned out to own a business. He liked my ideas and asked if I could help advise him and implement the ideas that we came up with. I did and next thing I knew I had a consulting business – not a bad leap for a guy who thought he was going to be a classical guitarist. Read more>>
Sonya Sparks
I have always been inspired by art. When I was young, I created sculptures, painted, and explored photography. I studied art at the University of San Diego but decided to major in Business Administration for more flexibility in the job market. I started off working in international wholesale and provided German translation services. Read more>>
Rick Mansur
Four hospitality colleagues who had been together for over 15 years decided to strike out on their own and become business partners. The startup occurs in 2007, the worst possible time to start a business as the crash of 2008 came shortly after formation. Read more>>
Nick Johnson
California Watercolor is a family owned business that was started back in the early 1990s. At that time, gallery owner Michael Johnson was a professional private investigator with a knack for recovering stolen art. He often tracked down criminals across the country before bringing them back to justice in California. Read more>>
Marcia Amador Santana and Rodrigo Amador
Our Corporation is a Family business that began with my Grandfather in the 1980’s. He began with a small warehouse building Caskets for the Town. His sons were brought up in that environment and soon thought bigger and began the Funeral Home Services. Read more>>
Joan Gregor
A passion for Adventure, Curiosity and Embracing Creative Cultures has been in my blood for as long as I can remember. I grew up near the Jersey shore and found I had a natural passion for sailing. It taught me about life, teamwork and mapping one’s course. Having gone to college in the Northeast, I settled in Boston working in marketing/business and met Chuck Pelly, an iconic designer. Read more>>
Jaime Schwartz
At one time or another, everyone’s life hits a turning point. The path you’ve been traveling for years pivots, or forks, or on rare occasions ends in a sharp precipice overlooking a bottomless and terrifying gorge. My downfall came from a most unexpected source, the snowy white marzipan coating on a three-tier wedding cake. Read more>>
Jason Wood
Cisterra was founded by Steve Black and Todd Anson to partner with Cisco Systems (hence the “Cis” in Cisterra) to buy and develop land (“terra” is the Latin word for land) into corporate campuses for Cisco. We then came back to San Diego to develop the Biogen-Idec campus in UTC (now Illumina’s HQ). Read more>>
Jacob Sapochnick
Originally from Israel, I moved to the U.S. to pursue my LLM in International and Comparative Law. My goal was to complete my studies, find a job and advance in my legal career. Found a job with a mid-size law firm and started my American Dream. I soon realized that having a legal job is not like in the movies. Read more>>
Andrew Karr and James Rauh
We started roasting coffee as a hobby with a few friends. As people tried it, we got a lot of positive feedback and decided to start a company. After adding a few wholesale accounts, in January 2015 we opened our first cafe and haven’t looked back. Read more>>
Armando Viteri
Neubloc began 12 years ago as an outgrowth of Ameritege, a boutique private equity firm based in San Diego, on the premise that traditional software development outsourcing was broken and that there was an opportunity to invent an entirely new approach. Read more>>
