Blog Posts tagged as: interview with the entrepreneur

Interview with the Entrepreneur: Jaden Ordonez and Leo Liu of Everbooks

Ellen, Business & Career Center

Soon after the start of the pandemic, Brooklyn Tech High School students Leo Liu and Jaden Ordonez founded Everbooks, a site providing free student-written and -illustrated books for young children. In this interview we discuss their early days, what they've learned along the way, and their passion to continue and expand their work.  Ellen Mehling: How did Everbooks start?   Jaden Ordonez and Leo Liu: Everbooks has been in existence since the start of the pandemic last year. With social distancing becoming more enforced throughout the months, its…

Interview with the Entrepreneur, In Depth: Jamila McGill of Brooklyn Tea - Part 2

Ellen, Business & Career Center

Image: brooklyntea.com
In Part 2 of this two-part interview, I continue the conversation with Jamila McGill, who co-founded, along with Alfonso “Ali” Wright, Bed-Stuy’s Brooklyn Tea, which won $10,000 in Brooklyn Public Library’s PowerUP! Business Plan Competition in 2018. Ellen Mehling: What was the most difficult thing that happened this past year, with the business?  Jamila McGill: The most difficult thing… that's so hard to nail.  I'll name this. We pride ourselves on excellent customer service, and having not [yet] had …

Interview with the Entrepreneur, In Depth: Jamila McGill of Brooklyn Tea - Part 1

Ellen, Business & Career Center

Image: Brooklyn Tea
Jamila McGill and Alfonso “Ali” Wright opened Brooklyn Tea in Bed-Stuy in 2019, not long after winning $10,000 in Brooklyn Public Library’s PowerUP! Business Plan Competition.  In Part 1 of this two-part interview, I talk with Jamila - while we were both drinking tea, of course - about how their business has fared during the pandemic, and… about Shonda Rhimes and Beyoncé too(!) Ellen Mehling: It is now more than one year since everything shut down for all of us. How have you been this past year?…

Interview with the Entrepreneur: Yong Yan (Crystal) Liang and Cynthia Lei of OpportuniTeens

Ellen, Business & Career Center

In our latest in the “Interview with the Entrepreneur” series we are speaking with Yong Yan (Crystal) Liang and Cynthia Lei, seniors at Staten Island Technical High School, who founded OpportuniTeens, a for-teens-by-teens database of internships, volunteering events and other programs compiled by high school students in the United States. It focuses on several career fields such as STEM, Healthcare, and Civil Services.  When did you start OpportuniTeens? The idea of OpportuniTeens was created in December 2019 on a trip to Upstate New York.  What made you decide to start the site…

Interview with the Entrepreneur: Jon and Lisa Suneesa of ONE NYC Shop

Ellen, Business & Career Center

Our second series is “Interview with the Entrepreneur”, in which we talk with small business owners about what it is like to run (and/or start!) a business during a pandemic. Jon and Lisa Suneesa are owners of ONE NYC Shop, which specializes in well-fitting and highly comfortable reusable face masks, and canvas tote bags. Lisa is the interviewee. When did you start ONE NYC Shop? We started ONE NYC shop at the end of April, during the peak of the pandemic. Our first sales were in person in May and our website was launched by the end of June. What made you decide to start this business…