Category: Borrower Stories
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How Vanessa Silva is Recreating Her Recipe For Success During a Global Pandemic
Vanessa Silva has always been comfortable in the kitchen. As an introverted child growing up in Brazil, food was how she preferred to communicate. Cooking became Vanessa’s love language, and by the time she was 10 years old, she was quite fluent in that love language, preparing special dishes for her parents’ dinner guests and…
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Meet Dr. Nola Veazie, the Entrepreneuring Veteran Who’s Growing Her Business around Mental Health and Addiction
Nola Veazie grew up in Panama with the belief that she could do anything she set her mind to. Nola’s mother, who raised her children on her own, encouraged all of her children to dream big; however, when Nola was 16, she realized that the opportunities she wanted for herself didn’t exist in her home…
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How a PPP Loan From a Low-Income Designated Credit Union Gave This Bay Area Nonprofit The Promise of a Brighter Tomorrow
Barbara McCullough knows a thing or two about nonprofit management. She’s been the CEO at Brighter Beginnings, a nonprofit created in 1984 to respond to the needs of families in resource-poor neighborhoods across Contra Costa and Alameda Counties, for nearly 24 years. With that level of experience comes the understanding that government funding is anything…
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Ebony Harris, The Entrepreneur Putting Children — And Parents — In Good Hands
Ebony Harris has a special way with children — it’s a gift. She thought about pursuing a career as a pediatric nurse, but that didn’t appeal to her entrepreneurial spirit. Instead, in 2015, set her sights on opening a childcare center, where she could educate, support, and influence kids. Her and her husband, John, had…
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Meet Dr. Ira Mandel, The Retired Physician Opening Up Recovery Residences Along Maine’s Midcoast
Dr. Ira Mandel self identifies as “the nut” who runs into a burning building to help people when everyone else is running in the opposite direction. That’s exactly what happened in 2006, when Ira moved to Maine to take over the Pen Bay Medical Center’s hospice program. During his first week on the job, a…
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How A Canoe-Building Small Business, Kamanu Composites, Switched To Making Face Shields To Weather The COVID-19 Storm
If there’s one thing Kamanu Composites has done well over the past 13 years, it’s been finding a way to stay afloat as a small business. The O‘ahu-based company, which specializes in outrigger canoe manufacturing, is one of the last of its kind on the islands. Most of Kamanu’s competitors have packed up and taken…
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Meet April Westman, The Entrepreneur Tackling Her Community’s Child Care Shortage
If April Westman was going to start a small business anywhere in the world, it was always going to be in Duluth, Minnesota: the city on Lake Superior where she grew up. Of course, she didn’t always know that. After high school, April followed her dreams to be a banker in Southern California, but a…