In late November 2020 Chelsea Lembo, a former public elementary school teacher and certified educator with a specialty in arts-integrated learning, was organized and ready to make an impact. She had already established an entity (LLC) for her start-up and had a space secured in Marcellus where she could provide students with creative workshops.

Before the 2020 pandemic, Chelsea had planned to start her business exclusively as a creative based learning experience. After COVID hit, she decided to pivot her business plan by assessing the immediate needs of her target customer base.  

Although there are many casual take-out spots in Syracuse that offer Latin food, there is a noticeable lack of appreciation for dine-in dishes and the culture behind them. That's where Clara Cedeno comes in.

After many years working in the corporate world, Clara decided to pursue her dream of owning her own business. Bringing this dream together with her love of food and Latin culture helped her create her brain child, La Patria Café.

We often ask ourselves where great ideas come from.  The answers are many and varied but for Dan Russell of Butt Be Dry the answer was simple.

Russell and his Dad were attending an LPGA Championship event in Rochester a couple of years ago.  It had rained heavily the night before and although it had dried out and the ground appeared dry, when Dan sat down to watch the match he found the seat of his pants soaked and covered with mud.  He and his Dad had a good laugh, but right then a great idea was formed that just needed some nurturing.

Freelance work is on the rise, and many individuals are working hard to turn self-employment into their full-time job.

While unaffiliated workers are often comfortable in their at-home surroundings, they can easily become socially and professionally disconnected. Deciding to utilize a co-working space can be the risk-free, cost-effective way to get everything you need; a middle ground between comfort, social interaction, and a professional brick-and-mortar to work out of.

It all began in 1991. Dawn and Jeff Zarnowski bought a hill top property in McGraw, NY and started what they then called a 'very serious hobby'.

After 25 years of continuous hard work growing and hybridizing hundreds of walnut and chestnut trees, they decided to turn their hobby into a business. Now, Dawn and Jeff Zarnowski are the owners of Z’s Nutty Ridge LLC, a native nut nursery.

Have you ever thought of doing something that feeds your soul, allowing you to live the life you’ve always dreamed of?

The owners of Aster Weddings and Events sought to create that kind of ideal lifestyle for themselves when they started to build their small business.

Anyone in the business world will say that partnerships are the toughest form of business organization, but not for Aurora Roe and Caity Pfohl.

These two childhood friends turned their dream of working with one another into a reality by forming Scrap Paper Social, a social media management business based out of Hamilton, New York.