Name:
Level-Up Studios
Location:
Bayonne, NJ
Helen Perez always knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur. She says that as a kid, she would sell anything she could get her hands on. It’s no surprise that her entrepreneurial spirit led her to small business ownership. After…
Name:
BelleJohns' Soul Food
Location:
New Jersey
We met Jewel Domino when she was accepted into UCEDC’s Virtual Incubator Program(VIP), which offers selected businesses with ownership from underserved populations free mentorship, training, and access to capital to help meet the challenges of this moment. Before becoming an…
Name:
il Gabbiano
Location:
Cranford, NJ
Like most restaurant owners Alejandro Marin of il Gabbiano Restaurant in Cranford struggled during the pandemic. After being a server in the restaurant for years, he had only become its owner two years before restaurants were forced to close their…
Name:
Magnificent Men Mentoring Group
Location:
New Jersey
Randall E. Toby and his wife Claudia started the Magnificent Men Mentoring Group in 2014. Their program offers group mentoring sessions and self-empowerment workshops for high school, middle school, and college students. As Randall explains it, schools hire them to…
Name:
A3 Contracting
Location:
Linden, NJ
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…
Name:
Ceeze
Location:
Chatham, NJ
Connor Seltz, the Creative Director and Founder of Ceeze, started the company in 2015. He says he fell into the world of footwear and streetwear in college when he began restoring shoes. The bespoke studio that focuses on making and…
We met Ron Kinston through UCEDC’s Entrepreneurship as a Second Chance (ESC) program, which offers formerly incarcerated individuals the opportunity to explore re-entry into society through business ownership. In addition to intensive entrepreneurial training, two years of one-on-one mentoring, and business…
Name:
Presidents Club Barber Shop
Location:
Millburn, NJ
When Catherine La Vecchia (Katie) decided to become a hairstylist, she never intended to work for herself. She says, “I thought the easier option was to work for someone else.” For several years, she did just that. While managing other…
Name:
Notable Software
Location:
Hamilton, NJ
According to her Wikipedia page, “Dr. Rebecca Mercuri is a computer scientist specializing in computer security and computer forensics. She is considered a leading expert on electronic voting systems.” While that is a succinct and accurate summary, it barely scratches…
