Charlotte Diakite of A3 Contracting is no stranger to entrepreneurship. Her grandmother owned a salon in Brooklyn during the ’70s, and her father owned a gas station. She remembers engaging with the receipts and papers as a child and taking notes. In a way, she feels that her entrepreneurial spirit was innate in her and her husband and business partner, Abdoulaye, who also came from a culture of business owners.

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Gladys Vonghlan is the kind of person who becomes an immediate inspiration to everyone she meets. She has an infectious energy about her that is equal parts drive and enthusiasm, and it’s hard not to take notice of her success. Gladys initially came to UCEDC in 2018 when she was looking to get started with government contracting. She says before coming to UCEDC, she had difficulty getting into the niche of government contracts because she lacked the connections and resources.

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Dan Misuraca and his wife, Katie, founders of Red White and Cue BBQ, embarked on their journey into the world of barbecue in 2016, starting their business in Kearny, NJ—a place neither had even visited before. It all began a few years earlier when Dan received a smoker as a housewarming gift and quickly became captivated by the art of smoking meats.

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