Vincent Maruca
I started the company out of my house in 1999 while I was teaching Biology and Anatomy at Horizon High School in San Diego. I rented our first location of 1500 sq ft in 2003 and hired our first employee while I was still teaching full time and running the business evenings and weekends. Read more>>
Calvin Lee, Adam Smiarowski
Pitbull Audio started just like most businesses out there- in a garage. Owners Adam Smiarowski and Calvin Lee partnered up in 2011 and sold guitar strings and pedals in their garage and condo. After just one year, they have outgrown the space, and decided to incorporate the business and lease their very first warehouse and hired their very first employee, in April of 2012. Read more>>
Matthew Phillips
My journey starts with learning Piano at a very young age. This gave me a foundation in Music theory. It was somewhere in Junior High school I discovered the electric guitar. My Uncle Ralph put a Fender Stratocaster in my hand and I was forever enthralled by its sound. Read more>>
Kim Phan
My husband, sister and I created Crab Hut in 2007 with a passion to bring Southern inspired seafood boil to San Diego. At the time our parents were running a small mom and pop restaurant in El Cajon city. Growing up in a restaurant family, we saw the long hours and hard work our parents put into their restaurant. Read more>>
Armand King
Paving Great Futures, founded by Barry Harris Jr., Jay Bowser, and myself, Armand King, is substantially aiding our community members mold better lives for themselves. Even though I served 3 years in prison and the others witnessed the effects of structural inequality and racism, we were not discouraged but rather invigorated to drive our family, friends, and peers down a better path. Read more>>
Michael Brant
I was a college student working at Apple Computers in Business Sales. In the summer of 2011 I decided to study abroad to Vietnam and Apple’s employee leave policy only allowed for one month of time off when I needed three months. Read more>>
