Author Archive for FilbyGC1

Kids Helping Kids

Brandon and Sebastian Martinez are two incredible young boys. They are the founders a colorful sock company that sells to kids and adults.  They are passionate about designing socks that stand out from the crowd, but they also care about making a difference at the same time.  Sebastian, who is 10 years-old, is the C.E.O. and head designer for their company, “Are You Kidding.” Brandon, who is 12 years-old, is the Director of Sales, or as he likes to refer to himself as the “D.O.S.”

The Martinez brothers have always wanted to share their love of cool and unique socks with the world. Their love for socks was the inspiration to start a small business where they sell their fun designs with others. They use some of the profits from their socks to raise awareness for local and national charities around the country.  They have partnered with organizations like Autism Speaks, American Cancer Society, Special Olympics Florida, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, and The Live Like Bella Foundation.

Their story is inspirational because the Martinez boys show us that it is never too early to start a business or follow our passion.

Burning Hats for Profit

In Venice, California, Nick Fouquet builds custom hats from raw materials. He crafts each piece by hand. His client roster that includes celebrities like Pharrell Williams and Anne Hathaway. No two hats are the same, but each hat is made with the absolute best materials and the very best techniques, which have been perfected through the centuries.

Born in New York and raised in Florida and Southern France, Fouquet did not grow up with a strong passion for hats. He was only inspired to enter the world of hat designing after having a conversation with a cowboy he met after moving to California. He saw an opportunity in the market. “Hat-making is a dying art — there are only about 30 artisans in America, and 300 in the world,” says Fouquet.

After an initial meeting with the client, Fouquet gathers the raw material, typically beaver, rabbit, or straw. He uses a combination of twine, steam, and classic California sunshine to dry and shape each hat. Next, he will sand the exterior of the hat until it is smooth enough to wear. Because he is famous for his destressed hats, he often also lights his hats on fire for a few seconds to age them.

His straw hats start around $550, but some felts hats cost over $1,000. Fouquet’s strong personality and aesthetic drives his business forward. His attention to detail helped revitalize the dying market of high-end hat making.

Handmade Knives from Brooklyn

Brooklyn-based knife maker Chelsea Miller can barely keep her handmade knives in stock. She works all day in her 100-square-foot Brooklyn studio to fill orders for her loyal customers. Her knives have a $800 price-tag, but restaurants, like highly acclaimed Eleven Madison Park, fight to order her bespoke products.

Some of Miller’s most popular knives are made from farrier’s rasps. A farrier’s rasp is a farm tool used to trim horses’ hooves. She takes these old rasps, which are rusted and dulled from use, and she transforms them into bespoke kitchen knives. Miller takes an oxyacetylene torch to grind it down and to blast it smooth in her smithy, which is located down the street from her apartment in New York City.

Initially, she moved to New York to pursue a career as an actress, but her father fell ill, which meant she suddenly started spending more time at home at her family’s farm in Vermont. She found some old rasps on the property, and she turned them into her first set of rugged knives. Her handles are made from beautiful maple trees that are found on the property of the farm.

When she started her business in 2011, she sold her knives for around $250 at the Brooklyn Flea. Now a 10-inch knife costs around $800 online. Knife-making is no longer a hobby; it is her job.  However, her love of acting has not faded, and she continues to use that skill to land impressive marketing/press opportunities. She still appears in short independent films, and on wide range of different media outlets for her unique craft. Chelsea Miller uses all her skills to grow and shape her business, which is a mark a successful entrepreneur.

Personal Styling

Daniel Johnson is a unique entrepreneur from the United Kingdom. His story exemplifies the drive, hard work, and perseverance necessary for success. Johnson has worked as a personal stylist since 2009.

When he started this business at the height of the great recession, he would catch a train from his hometown in Halifax to London, where he would work pro bono, taking friends and family to London to shop for tailored suits.Over the next few years, while working as a local barman, Johnson worked to pay for professional training on Savile Row with some of London’s best styling institutions.

Now, he operates in Mayfair, one of the wealthiest areas in the world, catering to the lifestyles of busy, driven, and famous individuals. He now buys suits that are worth more than $3 million for his clients. Many of the suits he buys are worth more than their weight in gold. Johnson’s tailored suits represent some of the most expensive fabrics in the world. In the nearly 10 years of business, he has helped over 1,500 clients, and ordered over 9,000 tailored garments. His story is an important reminder that success takes hard work and persistence.

Hospital Drones in Rwanda

One of the world’s first drone delivery services is situated in the east African nation of Rwanda. Zipline is an U.S. startup, who is working with the Rwandan government to launch one of the world’s first fully commercial drone delivery services.

Its mission is to transport vital medical supplies to isolated hospitals by air. The company has flown more than 4,000 units of blood products, including red blood cells, platelets, and plasma, since December 2016.

Without these life-saving deliveries, hospitals would need to travel along dangerously tangled road networks through steep mountains, which costs precious hours in the race to save peoples’ lives.

27 year-old Abdoul Salam Nizeyimana, who studied engineering while in college, now serves as the lead technician for the project.  He works tirelessly to launch and retrieve these self-flying planes. He helps package the blood packages in the drone’s delivery pod, and he manages the flight crew as they prepare for each launch.

The drone delivers the packages to the hospitals via parachutes, and then it immediately returns to the terminal. Nizeyimana oversees the complicated network of wires and robots that arrest the flight of the drone. Nizeyimana loves working with the start-up because of Zipline’s mission: to deliver blood to remote hospitals, helping doctors save their patients’ lives.

Robotic Farming

It seems like something straight out of science fiction, but indoor “vertical farming” might just be the future of agriculture. Bowery Farming is a kale-filled farming startup located in northern New Jersey. Irving Fain, the Co-Founder and CEO, wants to connect one of the world’s largest industries with cutting-edge technology.

This modern farming company is pursuing a mission which might just change the future of food and agriculture. Bowery Farming’s proprietary software makes this company so unique. The software makes critical decisions like when to harvest and when to water each plant.

Bowery Farming wants to leverage automation and software with controlled, indoor environments to create a new way of growing food locally.  Bowery Farming boast that their facilities are over 100x more productive than the same amount of farmland while using no pesticides and 95% less water.

Irving Fain and Bowery Farming want to give the world improved access to healthier food by better utilizing the resources around us.