Dorian has known for most of her adult life that she wants to cook for a living. After attending culinary school and getting a degree in hospitality management she started her catering business to offer authentic St. Louis style Barbecue in Oakland. She believes that her home-made modern barbecue with a taste of her home state is just what the local food scene needs.
Cristiana is a former event planner who now operates a restaurant in Queens. The restaurant serves up a blend of Dominican and Colombian cuisine prepared by her husband, a chef. The restaurant is beloved in the local community for its unique flavors and baked goods, and Cristiana has employed as many as 12 staff members. Given the decline in sales from the pandemic, she is looking for new ways to increase revenue in order to continue supporting her employees and following her dream.
Paige's vivacious, daring company wants to give everyone access to a new generation of healthy, delicious snacks. A nutrition expert and food lover, she created a platform where food enthusiasts can shop and choose from wide variety of snacks made entirely from real ingredients, all in one place. She loves to introduce her audience to new brands, including women and minority-owned businesses. Her unique, easy-to-use platform simplifies shopping for consumers and snack-makers alike!
Savannah is the owner of an e-commerce boutique coffee roaster in Maryland. She offers a thoughtful approach to the coffee experience– down to the packaging and the customizable options in coffee roasts. Her mission is to "Create easy moments for coffee lovers to experience." She would like to increase the number of regional + national merchants she sells her coffee products, and would like to eventually open a brick and mortar.
Dawn's father was an FDNY firefighter who taught her how to cook and inspired her to go after her culinary goals. When friends raved about her homemade and versatile sauerkraut, she decided to start selling jars of it. Dawn now sells her signature kraut in several stores nationwide (including Key Foods) as well as from her local mobile hot dog stand. Dawn is committed to serving the community and loves sharing her passion for healthy, high-quality, and delicious food with everyone she can.
Yulonda is an engaging, experienced, and motivated woman who currently operates a profitable, albeit small-scale, catering business focused primarily on her desserts—candies, cupcakes, chocolate, alcohol-infused desserts, cakes, etc. She bakes and prepare the desserts in a commercial kitchen incubator and sells locally. Yulonda’s business offers a wide, diverse, and customizable menu of baked goods inspired by Yulonda’s dual heritage of Latin America and the American South.
After relocating temporarily to Georgia with her family Kayisha walked into a store in 2010 and found a cake decorating class. She discovered she was talented and even was tapped to teach cake decorating to children. When she returned to NYC, she won scholarships to study under celebrity cake designers and is now running her business on City Island in the Bronx.
Originally from Nigeria and an IT professional, Mojisola (Moji) was inspired by her daughter and her late mother to dive into her own business. Her spreads offer an all-natural, preservative and sugar free alternative to jams and jellies. Offering a wide variety of unique, homemade flavors, Moji has established a healthy alternative to traditional kids snacks and sandwiches that is perfect for health conscious families.
Melissa owns a bakery in Brooklyn selling decorative cakes and sweets for folks looking to celebrate any occasion. She currently operates out of a commercial kitchen, and hopes to start an e-commerce website in order to increase sales and build a wider customer base.
When Diana and Diego moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, They didn't find their specialty favorite Mexican street snacks. So they decided to bring their business to life. They specialize in Marquesitas which are a dessert original to Yucatan MX, as well as other Mexican street food. They are looking to rebrand their business in order to increase their sales and increase their digital presence.