Jenna Hu
There are three founders of ICMONSTER whom are Jenna Hu, Michael Zhang, and Jason Tong. Jenna Hu is the main one. Jenna and Mike first saw the idea of rolled ice cream in Canada Vancouver in 2015. Then we saw the concept in SF and Los Angelos. At first we didn’t want to do rolled ice cream but decided on hot pot or poke shop, however, we end up choosing dessert because it’s what Jenna Hu has passion about. Read more>>
Sofia Miller
In terms of when I first began writing, I’m told that when I was in preschool, I would pick up books and make up my own stories from the pictures instead of listening to my mom read them. Storytelling and writing is something that has always been a strong presence throughout my life. Read more>>
John Graciano, Tracy Graciano
When John was in high school he was in an economics class and had to do a group project requiring them to plan, build and run a small business. His group decided to make chicken tacos with a Graciano family recipe. They sold out every time. Read more>>
Peter Zien
I graduated USD School of Law with a JD in 1988, but was looking for a different vocation that involved art in some way. After discovering the hobby of homebrewing in the 1990’s, I pushed to enter the brewing world in some fashion. The opportunity arose to purchase a small brewery named AleSmith in 2002. Read more>>
Santiago Ortega
We started as distributors of a High-end Peruvian alpaca clothing line, selling wholesale only in North America, US and Canada in 2010. However, we decided to create an online store at the same time.We hired a local company to build a professional website in San Diego, a fulfillment company in Ohio, and a marketing company in NY. Read more>>
Rocky Frost
As a junior at Mission Bay High School, my dad asked me if I wanted to start an auto body shop. Before he even finished his sentence I said yes. But, it really didn’t start that day. Since I was old enough to get my hands on my dad’s tools, I was taking things apart. Read more>>
Robert Baum
I was always fascinated with technology and the impact it had on life. In college, I naturally pursued a degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan. Despite being a geek, I also loved sports and the dream of being in Southern California and surfing brought me out to San Diego. Read more>>
Lesi Mei
After moving to San Diego, I restarted performing and teaching piano. Through going to school for my Master degree in piano performance and getting to know the greatest musicians in San Diego, now I actively perform in various venues in San Diego in both chamber music and recital settings. Read more>>
Jennifer Saint, Chris Saint
We started Sweet Treats as a form of rehabilitation for my husband who was recovering from a spinal cord injury that left him partially disabled, giving him something to do to keep active. We thought it might be fun to create an Ice Cream Truck that would cater to adults by offering higher end Ice Cream but still with the nostalgic classic treats. Read more>>
Matthew Pearl
I am a residential real estate appraiser. I have been appraising real estate for approximately 15 years. I began my career in Bakersfield, CA and moved to San Diego in 2010 when I founded Pearl Appraisals. In recent years I have gone by the name “The San Diego Appraiser”. Read more>>
Theodore Grabiak
As far as I could remember my father was always taking pictures. I remember endlessly posing for pictures as a child in front of landmarks and with family members but I never considered photography more than a method of capturing memories or documentation. Read more>>
Anu Kumar
I was born in a small town in India and proceeded to study Electrical Engineering for my undergraduate education. My father was running a stationery supplies retail business and I always wanted to be part of it. My father didn’t approve of that because I was a girl. So, I got exposed to business environment at a very young age. Read more>>
Ebon Johnson Sr.
I was a car salesman bored out of my mind on the car lot. Because my mind is always working. I felt trapped waiting on a customer to walk on my lot everyday to make a sell. My girlfriend at the time told me about a guy she and her friends had gone out with. Read more>>
Yongfeng Wu
When I earned my Ph.D. in physics (astrophysics field), I felt was stuck in the abstract world for so long and I needed to embrace the real life, so I went into the industrial world after graduation. Later, I found interest in the business, so I started my own company, Martian Science in 2014 to try the printing business first (I had an insatiable love for those large posters on the stores’ window), and then gradually to spread the business to the web building, marketing, and the civilized products with high-tech content. Read more>>
Mike Vinn
On May 30th 1976, what was formerly known as The Comedy Store South, opened it’s doors on Garnet Ave in Pacific Beach. A year later, after a dispute over ticket prices with the owner of the restaurant the Comedy Store was operating out of, Mitzi Shore, owner and mother to Comic/Actor Pauly Shore and the mother to modern stand up, moved locations to 916 Pearl Street in La Jolla where the Comedy Store still stands today. Read more>>
Dan Jachimowicz
I picked up homebrewing as a hobby after college and started out small in 2006 before eventually graduating to a much bigger system that allowed me to explore more creative recipes and really follow my passion for brewing. Read more>>
Kristina Cobarrubia
I come from a Latin background, including a great-grandfather who came from Spain (hence the Arana name). I studied ballet and jazz first, but once I took my first flamenco lesson, I never stopped. I’ve been devoted to flamenco for over 30 years. Flamenco is a jealous muse! She doesn’t tolerate other art forms. Read more>>
Anastasia Ovanessoff
My interest for floral design began when I was in college. I attended the San Diego School of Floral Design in Carlsbad, where I got a strong foundational understanding of designing. After completing a course with the school, I had fallen in love with events- specifically the floral design aspect. Read more>>
Sheila Harris
With 4 children and a non-profit humanitarian organization that we run full time, dinnertime around the table was getting hard to do. We value the time to connect around the table, the value of eating healthy food and the value of having a budget that we can keep, and we were finding it harder and harder to accomplish these goals! Read more>>
Anthony Tran
We started at the farmer’s market in Hillcrest as traveling vagabonds trying to build our brand and following. We started getting to a popular spot at the market and receive quite a few write ups so we decided to open up shop in the food desert known as Miramar. Read more>>
Brian Wilverding, Jean-Charles Le Bours, Todd Volkart
There are three financial advisors in our practice and each have a bit of a different story on how we got to where we are today—working together in a successful comprehensive financial planning team. Brian started at Boston University where he knew he wanted to do something involving investments, but wasn’t sure exactly what that was. Read more>>
John Lincoln
We launched Ignite Visibility back in 2013. Before Ignite Visibility, I had been a Director at two companies and a marketing manager. My business partner and I knew we would be successful because we had worked together before, knew what it took to get clients results and were 100% dedicated to over-delivering for the client. Read more>>
Alethia Espinal , Sydney O’Brien
Alethia: San Diego has a vibrant partner dance community in general, but recently Fusion Dancing has fallen out of the partner dancing scene in San Diego. I recently had to stop dancing for eight months due to illness. When I came back to partner dancing, I asked my old friend Philip Einstein, who eventually became our DJ coordinator, where to go Fusion Dancing in San Diego. Read more>>
Kevin Smith
In 1972 I became the first student of The Violin Making School of America. It was the first school of it’s kind in the United States and was modeled after the School in Mittenwald, Germany. After graduating in 1976 I worked at a couple of high end shops for 5 years learning restoration skills. In 1981 I struck out on my own and moved to San Diego, working from home for about 4 years. Read more>>
Rosa Flores
We started our Taco Shop business with a vision to be traditional but different, to represent our Mexican/Filipino heritage and community. I had a foundation and experience from my family’s previous owned taco shops, where I worked as a teenager, afterschool and on weekends. Read more>>
Josh Camacho
Chef Camacho’s experience in the food service industry started at an early age. At just 14 years old he started as a line cook in the San Francisco Bay Area. Through high school, he managed the local country club restaurant allowing him to learn management skills at an early age. Read more>>
Natascha Dammann
I was hired as a German teacher at Language Door in Irvine in 2009. Later that year, I started working with the office and in 2010 part of my responsibility was to get involved and overlook the different locations, When the previous owner wanted to retire in 2015 , it was an easy decision for me to take over the business. Read more>>
