The New Normal Post #4: How Drexel Entrepreneurs are Creating Opportunities in the Age of COVID-19

The focus of this blog has always been female entrepreneurship – after all, the name of the blog is The Ladies who Launch! But at this unprecedented time of COVID-19, I am pivoting to include male founders, whose stories of how they are adapting to the “new normal” are instructive to budding entrepreneurs everywhere.

Featuring Gaurang Bham of Phoodie

Gaurang Bham was born and raised in Northeast Philadelphia to Indian immigrant parents. He was a self-described “fat kid” who loved the rich food-culture of Philadelphia (which he considers one of the greatest food cities in the United States by the way!). Checking out the best foodie spots in town has always been a favorite interest for Gaurang. He was also interested in computers and technology: after graduating from Central High School, Gaurang went on to study Software Engineering and Entrepreneurship at Drexel University.

During one of his Drexel Computer Science classes, Gaurang was assigned a group project. The scope of the project was wide-open and could be anything as long as it involved programming. Gaurang’s group decided to design an app that would use foot traffic to optimize college facilities and called it “Crowds”. After the class ended, Gaurang continued work on “Crowds”.

It was at that time that Gaurang learned that one of his favorite restaurants was struggling. Like many Philadelphia restaurants, it was family-owned and struggling to survive with razor-thin margins. Could a third-party sales processing and delivery service app such GrubHub help smaller local restaurants increase business? Gaurang discovered that Grubhub (and DoorDash and UberEats) charge such high commission and delivery rates that they are actually bleeding these independently-owned restaurants dry. Restaurants pay a commission rate based on location and density of restaurants in their area. The more competition, the higher the commission (commissions average from 15 – 25% plus an additional 10% for delivery). If a restaurant wants to stand out, it can pay even more for a sponsored listing. Without a sponsored listing, a restaurant can get lost in the crowd.

Gaurang realized that “Crowds” could be used to help drive foot traffic to restaurants. Guarang shifted its focus and renamed his app Phoodie. Phoodie uses machine learning to analyze foot traffic, sales and food inventory to identify slower times when a restaurant needs business most. It then suggests to restaurants that they offer a discount at that time, notifies app users that a discount is available and then allow customers to purchase directly from the app, coupon code applied, for pick up. Both customer and restaurant benefit: restaurants see increased sales and reduced food waste and customers get a deal.

With the current COVID-19 pandemic, most restaurants are closed for eat – in dining. If they are open at all, it is for curbside pick-up or delivery only. On the surface, it seems like an ideal situation for a third party sales app such as Phoodie. Is it? I asked Gaurang to discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by COVID-19.

What was Phoodie’s pre-pandemic business model?

Phoodie, like any food ordering app, provides a restaurant-facing and customer-facing app. We used machine learning to automate pricing at restaurants based on demand. When restaurants are slow, the app suggests lower prices to entice customers to order takeout. We charged a variable commission rate based on sales performance through our app. (We do well when we help you do well!)

How are you turning the hurdle of social distancing into an opportunity? How has your business pivoted?

For the first few weeks, I had no clue what we were going to do. Phoodie was pre-launch and pre-revenue. The Food/Drink industry has been hit arguably the hardest from the pandemic and Phoodie was based on a unique value proposition powered by sales demand at restaurants. And it was pick-up only with no option for delivery.

It seemed like there was literally nothing we could do to launch our business. But as the CEO, I felt like I had to save face and be strong for my team even though I had no idea how to move forward.

My team and I focused on building our product and helping our partner restaurants in whatever way we could – spreading the word, featuring them on our social media, and through referrals. Eventually, I reached a crossroad where I realized that Phoodie could either:

1. Build the product and wait until the pandemic blows over to launch. This would be a huge risk: the post-pandemic restaurant industry might be totally different than the pre-pandemic industry. We could spend invaluable time building our product for nothing. Or we could
2. Figure out a way to add a delivery option and put dynamic pricing on hold. We could simply release our app as a totally free alternative to the big name GrubHub, DoorDash and UberEats, who are continuing to charge restaurants an arm and a leg even in these extremely difficult times.

Opting for option 2, we forged a partnership with Habitat Logistics, a local delivery provider for restaurants in the Philadelphia area. We are now aiming for an early May launch with the plan of providing a totally free food takeout/delivery service in which 100% of the sale goes back to the restaurant.

We earn 0% commission, but at the end of the day, restaurants learn they can rely on us. They can increase their sales and we do a good thing for the Philly Restaurant Scene. I would call that a win-win!

How important is “thinking outside the box” to the survival and growth of your business?

I think at this point, if you are not thinking outside the box, your business is at a standstill. If you are in an industry that does not conduct most of its business online, you are back to square one for the first time since the birth of that industry. All metrics are being re-made, so now is the time to experiment.

For us, thinking outside the box is more of a “nothing to lose” situation. If we wait for the pandemic to end, our product could be obsolete. If we try to sell the service “as is”, restaurants will slam doors in our face because a discount-based app is tone-deaf in the current climate. And if we give up, all the hard work my team has spent is for nothing. Besides, what else am I going to do with all this free time?

Releasing a free food ordering platform means we make a name for ourselves and we do a good thing and make an impact on the local food scene. That is our primary goal – making an impact.

How are you connecting with your peers? 

As a technical founder, I have designed my entire team’s framework around being remote-accessible. All our meetings, even pre-pandemic, are logged in a team calendar with Google Meet Conferencing Links attached so anybody can be involved. So luckily the transition to a totally remote workforce was the easiest thing about this shift.

Our team syncs up at least once a day for 30 minutes to go over what they have worked on, any issues they ran into and any questions they may have. This gives me insight into the pace in which we are moving forward and how to better-position each team member. Additionally, I have 1:1 calls with team members to go over more in-depth issues.

Prior to the pandemic, our team had a very close-knit relationship and it has been hard to find opportunities for the team to bond outside of work. We all ate lunch together at least once or twice each week and would set aside time to bond through a shared love of games (Our team is particularly competitive when it comes to Super Smash Bros.). Without a shared space to work, along with some teammates living in different time zones, opportunities for that have diminished.

That being said, I am currently trying to schedule the entire team to have a set “Happy Hour” of sorts for all of us to play games online, chat and catch-up.

How important are Mentors to you at this time? 

Mentors have played an incredibly large part in both my and Phoodie’s development. I would argue that our mentors have had an even larger impact as a result of the pandemic. Things have been crazy and having mentors to bounce ideas and strategy off-of has been incredibly comforting during this pandemic.

What new learning are you planning?

The past several weeks has extended my knowledge tenfold. I had a technical co-founder who left the company earlier in the year who was responsible for our entire database and back-end architecture. With his absence, I had to become an expert in all things Amazon Web Services. So that has really been the bulk of my learning!

How important is resiliency to you? 

If there is one thing that I try to impart to my team it is the value of “grit”. Things are never going to be easy in life and now, more than ever, I feel like a lot of entrepreneurs are seeing that reality up close and personal.

I was born and raised in Philadelphia and came up through the devastatingly underfunded public-school system. I am now a graduate from Drexel University with a Degree in Software Engineering, I have a startup about to launch and a corporate job lined up for the summer. The only thing that has gotten me this far is my resiliency and determination. Even getting Phoodie to where it is now was a 4-year process!

There are no shortcuts, not before the pandemic and certainly not after it. Grit means you want it even more. It means you are hungrier. And as Philadelphia Eagles Center Jason Kelce put it so eloquently, “Hungry dogs run faster”.

Phoodie Team: Gaurang Bham (center)

If you own a local restaurant that would like to be a part of Phoodie’s pilot program, please reach out! Email Gaurang at gaurang@phoodie.io.

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phoodie.io/.

Visit Phoodie’s website: https://www.phoodie.io/.

Like Phoodie on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/phoodie.io/.

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The New Normal Post #3: How Drexel Entrepreneurs are Creating Opportunities in the Age of COVID-19

The focus of this blog has always been female entrepreneurship – after all, the name of the blog is The Ladies who Launch! But at this unprecedented time of COVID-19, I am pivoting to include male founders, whose stories of how they are adapting to the “new normal” are instructive to budding entrepreneurs everywhere.

Featuring Jibran Nabeel and Robbie Decker of SafeSense

SafeSense was founded in 2017 by Jibran Nabeel and Robbie Decker, undergraduate Science in Engineering Students at Drexel University. As avid cyclists, Jibran and Robbie have had many near accidents while riding the busy streets of Philadelphia. After a friend was rear-ended, they decided to come up with a solution to make the roads safer for cyclists.

SafeSense is the world’s first Artificial Intelligence powered bicycle accident prevention system. Its warning system consists of smart handlebar grips which light up, vibrate and beep to alert riders of impending danger. They are powered by technology that combines a camera, ultrasonic sensors and a mic-array to detect vehicles and dangerous obstacles. It also includes accident detection technology – if an accident occurs, an SOS message will be transmitted with the accident’s location. SafeSense is lightweight, aerodynamic, and anti-theft. Its business slogan is “Bicycle Safety Beyond the Helmet.”

With COVID – 19, most states have issued stay-at-home orders. Residents are being told to stay indoors, unless they are running an essential errand or participating in an approved recreational activity like bicycling, walking, hiking or jogging.

I jog the streets of my Philadelphia suburban neighborhood most afternoons. Occasionally, I see a fellow jogger or pedestrian. I rarely see a serious road cyclist; instead I see a handful of young children riding bicycles with a parent. More serious cyclists have chosen to stay off the roads during this pandemic. With hospitals already overwhelmed and at capacity, cyclists are choosing to stay home rather than risk an accident that could further strain an already-strained healthcare system.  

This hesitation to ride makes it clear that the cycling industry needs to come up with defensive solutions to make our roads safer for cyclists, sooner rather than later, and it makes the solution offered by SafeSense even more imperative. I asked Jibran and Robbie to share how SafeSense is meeting the demands and challenges of the “New Normal”.

What was SafeSense’s pre-pandemic business model?

The focal point of SafeSense’s pre-pandemic plan was to visit bike shops to get input and feedback from people on what they think could be changed and improved with our sensor. We are not at a product-ready stage, but we did have a roadmap and deliverables in place for prototyping and testing.

How are you turning the hurdle of social distancing into an opportunity? How has your business pivoted?

Social distancing has been a problem, but we are using this as an opportunity in several ways. There were several enhancements and add-ons for our product that we were putting off, but social isolation has given us the time to explore additional features and to focus on software development. There are a lot of things that can be accomplished remotely: we are contacting suppliers and manufacturers who otherwise wouldn’t have found the time for us pre-pandemic. But now due to the economic situation, these same suppliers and manufactures are now on board for all opportunities, including working with smaller companies such as ours.

How important is “thinking outside the box” to the survival and growth of your business?

Thinking out of the box plays a critical role in any given scenario. Our entire team thinks outside the box, hence the reason that we are here trying to solve a problem with our startup. How do we optimize our business for the post-pandemic economy? We are working on some ideas.  The pandemic has created a situation where people have become more reliant on an internet economy. So keeping that in mind, we are still searching for ways to optimize our product to meet the demands of the new, upcoming economy. Some of the things that we have considered, for instance, is breaking up our product into two parts and offering a stripped, bare-bones version of SafeSense first. Nothing is set in stone for us. As time goes on and we face different challenges, we will optimize our strategies accordingly. 

How important is resiliency to you? 

Resilience plays a huge role in achieving any type of success and we are being resilient and relentless in making sure that we do everything that is now possible that wasn’t possible before (such as working with companies that previously wouldn’t give SafeSense the time of day). As a team, we are all on-board in making sure we realize our objectives and don’t lose sight of the end-goal, which is to make cycling safer.

Bicycling is an approved exercise activity during the current Stay At Home orders. What are your thoughts on cyclists choosing to NOT ride rather than risk injury? How will this impact the future of SafeSense?

Many cyclists are choosing not to bike but at the same time, since gyms are closed and activities are limited due to quarantine, a lot of people who don’t normally bike are biking; we think that its going to create a huge impact in the post-pandemic society because cycling is a healthy activity and more and more people are embracing it now. So, we are hopeful that the potential market for SafeSense will actually see growth. 

To follow SafeSense‘s product development journey and to receive updates, visit:

website: https://www.safesense.xyz/

linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jibran-nabeel-39a124123/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/safesensetech/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SafeSenseTech/

SafeSense Team Members Joshua Shelley, Toan Huynh, Jibran Nabeel and Robert Decker

The New Normal Post #2: How Drexel Entrepreneurs are Creating Opportunities in the Age of COVID-19

Up until now, I have featured only female entrepreneurs on this blog. (After all, the name of the blog is The Ladies who Launch!). But at this unprecedented time of COVID-19, like a good entrepreneur, I am pivoting to include male founders, whose stories of how they are adapting to the “new normal” are instructive to budding entrepreneurs everywhere.

Featuring Adam Pawelec and Monika Maj of WhyFit

WhyFit is a wellness app designed to help employers help employees lead healthier lives with a focus on a holistic approach that includes mindfulness, food, nutrition and exercise. WhyFit’s target market is small to medium-sized companies; each company pays a monthly subscription fee for each employee user. 

When WhyFit first began (under a different name – Mad Body), it targeted the employee rather than the employer. Mad Body was having difficulty retaining users and founder Adam Pawelec realized that people, despite their good intentions, struggle to keep to their fitness goals. Life gets in the way, and, in particular – work. On average, people commute an average of 2 hours per day, work 8 hours, and return home to domestic responsibilities: dinner, childcare, chores. People spend an average of 90,000 hours at work over the course of their lifetimes – 1/3 of their lives. This was WhyFit’s aha moment – if the typical person has trouble incorporating fitness into their outside-of-work lives, then the answer was to bring health and well-being on site into their inside-of-work lives! With partner Monika Maj, he pivoted and began targeting employers, rather than employees, and WhyFit was born.

If ever there was ever another time for a business pivot, that time is now. Workers are (temporarily?) off-site, working from home. How will WhyFit pivot to face the unique challenges of a work-from-home workforce? I posed the following questions to Adam and Monika. Here are their answers:

What was WhyFit’s pre-pandemic business model?

WhyFit is a platform that helps employers run and manage their employee wellness program and fitness initiatives. Using the platform, employers can find vendors and services such as yoga instructors, massage therapists, fruit and healthy snack delivery to bring to the workplace. The platform was also designed to bring employees together in fun activities and it provides content – employees can participate in challenges, access fitness routines or learn about nutrition and stress management.

How are you turning the hurdle of social distancing into an opportunity? How has your business pivoted?

We have had to re-think the WhyFit platform and create new initiatives that embrace the new work-from-home (WFH) environment. We are pivoting to virtual or live wellness initiatives. We are now offering virtual classes such as yoga or stretching sessions with a live instructor. Employees can join a youtube live stream from the comfort of their own home. For those that miss out, they can re-watch a recorded version. Employees can still participate in various challenges and they can set reminders to help them in adapting healthier nutrition, activity, and stress management habits. Additionally, WhyFit is focusing on creating initiatives that help solve common problems in WFH environments such as isolation, distractions and work-life balance. 

We realize that remote-working may be a big adjustment for companies and we are reminding employers to promote a healthy work/life balance. They can still encourage wellness through our initiatives, challenges, and services to a remote workforce. For the next two months, we have decided to waive our subscription fee to make it easier for employers to offer our solution to their employees in these troubling times. 

How important is “thinking outside the box” to the survival and growth of your business?

We are closely following LinkedIn, online forums and apps where employers and employees discuss their working conditions and issues relating to the work environment. Initially, all we heard from different sources was how amazing it was to work from home. At that moment, we thought we were going to have a very hard time growing since most of our product was designed for on site wellness and not for a remote business model. Nevertheless, we know that there is always room for improvement! We decided to dive deep into researching the problems associated with working-from-home. We discovered that companies with employees that had been working fully remote, pre-pandemic, had already been talking about the many issues that affect their employees well-being and productivity; issues such as isolation, being distanced from other coworkers, home distractions, and work-life balance. Instead of listening to the initial excitement from crowds praising the WFH model, we looked into the new working patterns and quickly made product development decisions based on these patterns. We were already prepared for employers as WFH issues began to surface. We quickly adapted our product and we are now adjusting our sales process and marketing. 

How important is resiliency to you? 

The pandemic makes it obvious that we have to adjust our business model and product – it will last at the very least a couple more weeks before people will slowly start going back to their pre-pandemic routines. We also believe that the pandemic is going to permanently change many employers’ and employees’ routines. Some employers may continue to run portions of their employee base from home and employees who have been exposed to working from home may look for new WFH opportunities. We had to be resilient to quickly adapt to the pandemic; otherwise, we would have made no progress from a growth and product development perspective. Once everything returns to “normal”, we will have a much better product that fits both styles of work. 

How important are Mentors to you at this time? 

We have used the Mentor Match program in the past and we are continuously in touch with all the mentors we have interacted with through this program. They have been essential to our learning and growth, and are always willing to connect us with professionals to help with sales, marketing, and business development. We continue to update our mentors on our progress and value their feedback. 

How are you connecting with your peers? 

We connect digitally and virtually. We have a Facebook group chat where anyone can set up a time for group calls. This is where we also play games as we had been doing during breaks when we were all on site in Baiada. Additionally, we have had phone calls daily with our peers where we talk about current situations, the economy, and business progress.

What new learning are you planning?

We are focusing on learning about the problems employers and employees experience associated with the WFH environment, particularly in regards to employee well-being.

To learn more about WhyFit and to connect on Social Media, visit LinkedIn and  WhyFit.

WhyFit founders Adam Pawelec and Monika Maj with Bob Knorr of Timeless Tartans and Alma Matters during Drexel’s recent Fund Run Competition.

The New Normal Post #1: Drexel Entrepreneurs Creating Opportunities in the Age of COVID-19

Featuring Paris Gramann and Rebecca Lee of Just Be Books LLC

Drexel graduate (’20) Paris Gramann began developing the idea for Just Be Books LLC when she was in high school. As a young person, she battled mental health issues that included anxiety, depression and thoughts of suicide. She never felt that she had the words or the permission to tell the adults in her life how she was feeling. Paris has experienced mental health difficulties throughout her young adult life. It wasn’t until college that she realized she was allowed to talk about her struggles and ask for the help she needed. Paris believes that childhood is the most important time to learn how to talk about our needs, about how to speak-up for ourselves and how to listen to others. Just Be Books gives parents the tools to teach children how to do what Paris struggled with as a child – how to use their words to express their emotions. The Just Be Books tool kit includes the illustrated children’s book Just Be which tells the story of an apple named Albert who discovers, with the help of friends, how to manage his feelings of sadness, a plush Albert Apple toy and downloadable supplemental information.

The current COVID-19 pandemic makes this a scary time for everyone and especially kids who haven’t developed the skills to express their fears. Children have been pulled out of school, isolated in their homes; they can sense their parents’ anxiety over not only health, but also about the financial repercussions of a shut-down economy. Children are most certainly struggling with fears of illness, death, dying and uncertainty. Now, more then ever, they need Just Be Books!

I asked Paris and her partner, Rebecca Lee (an undergraduate student studying Middle School Education at Temple University) to answer a series of questions aimed at discovering how Just Be Books is pivoting to face the unique challenge presented by this “new normal”. Here are their answers:

Describe your pre-pandemic business model plan:

Before the pandemic, our sales were all Business to Consumer. We fulfilled 85 book orders prior to December 1, 2019, and we raised $4,205 from a Kickstarter campaign.

At the start of 2020, we continued online sales from our website and began working with Business to Business organizations. By March 2020, our books were in two retail locations: Magical Child in Encinitas, CA and Blue Literacy Bookstore in Cincinnati, OH. We began to work with schools and tested at three different schools and were hoping for more testing at additional schools.

Our focus was on 1) School District Partnerships 2) B2C online sales 3) B2B retail store wholesale partnerships and 4) Clinician Partnerships.

How are you turning the hurdle of social distancing into an opportunity?

With most schools closed and people practicing social distancing, parents are turning to online resources to help continue their child’s learning and creativity at home. Just Be Books LLC is shifting our focus from in-person school assemblies (which have been canceled) to creating free content for parents and kids — accessible via our social media accounts and our website. Since parents are cooped up in the house, we have noticed greater activity on social media so we are using this time to become more present on social media platforms. We are currently working with our adviser, Shannon Sweitzer, Ph.D in School Psychology, to create positive mental health activities and crafts that keep kids learning and help them work through some of the anxieties and stress that can arise from an unprecedented situation like this. Just Be Books hopes to provide free, fun, and helpful content to our wonderful existing customers as well as gain a greater following by reaching out to our partners and networks.

How has your business pivoted? 

We had assemblies and readings scheduled throughout the end of March that were either canceled or postponed. With this disappointment comes a fantastic opportunity to get more creative and pivot to better meet our customers’ new needs. Just Be Books is launching a 20-Day Mental Health Activity Challenge that will give parents ideas and instructions for positive activities such as arts and crafts projects and brain teasers that they can do from home with common household supplies. We also plan on utilizing video platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook to do live readings, breathing activities, and yoga. All of this content will be saved and available for customers to view at later times.

How important is “thinking outside the box” to the survival and growth of your business?

Thinking outside the box is very important to our business! We always want to be bringing something new and creative to the families we sell to, but we also always want what we are doing to be rooted in research. We are striving to create new “outside of the box” content that is grounded in what’s known to work for kids. We are brainstorming activities with professionals and modifying them to be do-able with simple things that most families have around the house. We are really excited to make these educational crafts accessible to all families. These activities can be accessed here.

How important is resiliency to you? 

Resiliency is an important aspect of every part of both our business and professional lives. In regards to the pandemic, we took a few days to process and readjust, but we think our shared resiliency and passion for our customers is helping us stay motivated. 

How are you connecting with your peers? 

We are so happy to have built amazing relationships with our peers at the Baiada Incubator. We have been able to continue some of our “break times” (aka playing cards or a game called Spyfall) via video chat. Using technology like Facebook Messenger and Google Hangouts has helped us all stay connected with one another. We have also been able to touch base emotionally with our peers and give emotional support to one another through text messages and “vent sessions”. 

Everyone is going through this together. Some peers are taking a hit and others are thriving with the extra challenges that the pandemic is providing. 

How important are Mentors to you at this time? 

We are excited to explore the additional resources that our Universities provide (Paris is a recent graduate of Drexel University and Rebecca is currently an undergrad at Temple University). Among those resources are the Mentor Match program where we can find extra support to help us better understand our current challenges. As I mentioned before, our adviser, Sharon Schweitzer, is helping us to create positive, research-based, activities for our 20 Day Mental Health Activity Challenge.

What new learning are you planning?

Our team at Just Be Books is excited (and anxious) about all of the new challenges that will come from the changes in the world right now. At the heart of us both, we are students. We are currently working on our second book as well as the specific projects listed above. We are both learning how to provide effective content for families in need of mental health resources at this time. 

To learn more about Just Be Books, visit the following:

Facebook: @justbebooks https://www.facebook.com/justbebooks/

Instagram: @justbe_books https://www.instagram.com/justbe_books/?hl=en

Website: justbebooks.com/

• 

  Paris Gramann

• 

  Rebecca Lee

On a personal note: As a kid, I had a crippling fear of death and dying. It took me years before I felt brave enough to say something to my parents. When I finally found my words, my mom very simply said, “Everyone dies. It’s just a part of life”. Not a particularly reassuring reply, but just the act of speaking my truth out loud provided instant and sustained relief.

How I wish the Just Be Books tool kit had been available when I was a child! It could have helped me find my words at an earlier age and saved me a lot of stress and worry.

Chloe Coltharp: Fashion Tells a Story

Chloe Coltharp

This blog post (my second in a series of posts featuring creative, young, female entrepreneurs) is based on a written interview that I did with Chloe Coltharp, a Fashion Design and Merchandising Student at Drexel’s Westphal School of Art and Design. I asked Chloe to describe her first creative experience; I asked her about her influences and I asked her who she considers her artistic ancestors. These are the same questions that my instructors posed to me when I was a college student, studying painting, thirty-some years ago. Although these questions got me thinking about my place in the creative world and in the trajectory of the history of art, they are basically un-answerable: only time can answer these questions: time spent – hours and years, in the studio, creating a body of work.

And now, about Chloe…

Chloe Coltharp grew up outside of Pittsburgh in a small borough called Bradford Woods with her parents and brother. Bradford Woods was developed in the early 1900’s as a summer getaway for Pittsburgh’s city-dwellers. The homes, built on large, tree-laden plots, are more modern than the majority of Pittsburgh. Chloe’s childhood home was mid-century modern in style with an open floor plan and an entire wall of windows, providing a warmth of natural light. Her grandfather’s home, also contemporary in design, had an Eames lounge and cantilever chairs. Growing up surrounded by modern shapes set in a natural environment was a force in the development of Chloe’s aesthetic sensibilities and is reflected today in the juxtaposition of the angular and the organic in her fashion designs.

Both of Chloe’s parents were architects and so Chloe grew up in a household that encouraged the exploration of the visual arts. When she was four years old, they enrolled her in art classes at the Carnegie Museum of Art. One of her clearest childhood memories is walking through the museum after class and being awed by the colors, shapes and emotion of the art exhibited on the walls. Her reaction was completely instinctual and unbiased.  Chloe knew then that she wanted to be an artist when she grew up.

Post Impressionist Jacket

Chloe enrolled at Drexel University as a Fashion Design major; her early experiences at the Carnegie Museum of Art influenced her decision to minor in Art History. Her interest in art history is a big influence on her fashion aesthetic.

Her fashion silhouettes reflect a Post-Impressionist emphasis on the formal elements of shape, line, and composition.

Renaissance art is another influence. Below is a dress design inspired by Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli’s famous painting, “The Birth of Venus”. One can see the scallop-shape reflected in the ruffle of the dress and it’s off the shoulder silhouette and model’s stance reflect Venus’s pose.

In addition to being influenced by the art of the Renaissance era, Chloe is also influenced by its fashion. Her ruffled collar (pictured below) is reminiscent of the detachable collars worn in the 15^th and 16^th centuries by Renaissance women and men. Its adornment with screen printed hair combs is not only a nod to grooming implements of the era, but it is also a subconscious nod to the commonplace objects used as subject matter in the screen prints of Pittsburgh’s most famous son, Andy Warhol.

Collar Design

They also tell a story. Hair combs are an intimate part of a grooming ritual. This collar evokes an image of a woman sitting at a vanity, gazing at her reflection in the mirror. She fastens the buttons on the bodice of her dress. She places the collar around her neck and ties its black satin ribbon into a bow. She runs a comb through her hair. Satisfied, she is ready to face the world.

This desire to tell a story first began for Chloe during a visit to a Paris flea market. She found a skeleton key and placed it on a chain that she wore around her neck. She was curious about the key’s backstory: where did it come from, what did it open? She began actively looking for other curios. When she returned home from Paris, she found her grandfather’s baby spoons which she then turned into charms. She loved how the act of wearing these objects felt experiential. It made her think about clothing design and how fashion is an act of self-expression. Fashion tells a story about who we are – our moods, our personality, our history, even our sense of humor. Through the clothes that we choose to wear, we write the story of who we are.

When I asked Chloe who her artistic ancestor was, she mentioned being inspired by contemporary British designer, Simone Rocha. I can see that – Rocha’s work similarly has a strong art history influence.

www.simonerocha.com

I mentioned Andy Warhol as a possible artistic ancestor, but Chloe didn’t see it because of his Pop Art leanings. But I would like to suggest, Chloe, that you take another look.

Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol’s style and execution may not speak to you, but I feel his connection to you – not just in his interest in screen printing and the repetition of commonplace objects in his art and his Pittsburgh roots – but also because of his penchant for storytelling.

There is a collection of ephemera and objects that Warhol collected during his life and his travels that is displayed at the Andy Warhol Museum (Have you been there? It is amazing.) These objects had a life all their own and their stories sparked his imagination and his creativity.

In conclusion:

Chloe, I hope that someday, in the future, maybe when you are my age, you will look back, read this, and think about who you were then, and who you are now. Perhaps it will show you how far you have come; perhaps it will remind you of how much you are the same!

Cat Pfingst – Fashion Designer in the Making

This blog is the first of a series of blogs that feature young and upcoming creative entrepreneurs.

Catherine (“Cat”) Pfingst is an undergraduate student, studying fashion design and merchandising at Drexel University’s Westphal College School of Art and Design.

Cat grew up in the western suburbs of Philadelphia, in Bluebell, in an historic farmhouse full of character – creaky floors, horsehair plaster walls, antique furniture, and an accumulation of knick-knacks collected over the years by a family that, according to Cat, “loves their stuff.” 

She also spent a lot of time at her family’s second home in Talbot County, the heart of the eastern shore of Maryland. Cat’s childhood summers are filled with memories of the Chesapeake Bay, being out on the water, crabbing for Blue Claws and learning how to sail. These summer memories are an integral part of who Cat is and what she is attracted to visually: think of the Susquehanna River spilling into the Chesapeake Bay – its dark blue-black waters under a cirrus-streaked cerulean sky, punctuated by snow white geese and steel gray herons; salt tidal marshes dominated by blue-green sedge grass turning a soft yellow in the fall.

Her fashion aesthetic reflects the impact of these early, formative summers spent in nature. The color palette of her clothing designs leans toward neutral and agrestal colors. The fabrics she gravitates towards are tactile and textural, not sleek and man-made, but natural.

As a child, Cat was always finding ways to express herself. She would draw on place mats at restaurants, write stories and songs, and sculpt characters out of Model Magic clay. She would bring home natural objects that she had collected while exploring outdoors that she would later incorporate into artwork or store away in one collection or another. One of her earliest artworks is a collage of a a leaf transformed into the dress of a girl wearing long earrings. It hangs in her parent’s kitchen to this day.

Girl Wearing a Leaf Dress

Looking at this, Cat’s first significant piece of art, it is easy to see its correlation to her fashion design work. Her designs are inspired by unconventional found objects or textures she sees while walking down the streets of Philadelphia, such as the concrete surface of a city sidewalk. She enjoys the challenge of figuring out how to turn these “not-traditionally-fashion” things into “fashion”.

Jewelry made with Unconventional Found Objects

Cat began to realize her love of fashion design when she was in middle school. It was at that time that she began to push herself out of her comfort zone by choosing clothes that expressed her individuality. She also began shopping at thrift stores, buying used clothes and reclaiming them as her own.

Cat felt exhilarated by the idea that she could communicate information about herself and her perceptions of the world through the language of clothing. In the fifth grade, a fortune teller predicted that Cat would be a fashion designer one day.

The person in Cat’s life who has influenced her most is her mom. Cat’s mother went to Tyler School of Art for graphic design in the late 1970’s, and later studied textile design at the Philadelphia College of Textiles (now Jefferson University).  Cat has always been surrounded by her mother’s creativity and passion – she grew up having unfettered access to her mother’s drawers of art supplies. She credits her mom with teaching her the value of observing the natural world and with training her to be observant.

Today, Cat’s fashion design continues to focus on up-cycling. She looks through her own closet for clothes that she can re-purpose and she still shops at second-hand stores. She enjoys the process of transformation; she likes the idea of breathing life into something old and its role in sustainability.

Cat says, “I think we have enough clothes out there. We all own so much fabric in the form of clothes, so why not use that? All it takes is some imagination.” To that end, she and a friend are collaborating to make a coat entirely out of re-purposed home textiles, such as potholders and tea towels. Humor is very important to Cat.  Fashion is meant to be fun, and she hopes that people can see the whimsy in her work.

Humor is a part of Cat’s aesthetic. Her designs are whimsical and funny.

One day, Cat would like to have her own line of made-to-order clothing. She wants her line to be versatile and comfortable and her silhouettes to be “gender-less”. She sees this unisex realm as another way to increase an item’s sustainability – its universality extends its lifespan.

Of the process of fashion design, Cat writes: “… it’s like you create this world and decide what lives inside of it— what shapes, what colors, what textures— it’s like the manifestation of something living inside of you … and your job is to pull out what’s going on to visually represent it.”  

You can explore Cat’s world at “The Proving Ground Pop Up, Women’s Edition” on March 9th, 3 – 6pm. Behrakis Grand Hall, Creese Student Center, Drexel University, 3310 Chestnut Street as part of the Maguire Empowerment Summit for Women Leaders. Cat will be showing and displaying her designs as one of the female entrepreneurs and makers featured at this event. For more information about the Summit or to RSVP for this free event, visit http://bit.ly/WomensSummit20.

Or visit https://catpfingst.myportfolio.com/.

Hidden Gems – Sheetal Bahirat

Sheetal Bahirat was born in India in 1986, but spent her early school years in Cupertino, California, before moving back to India with her family to Bangalore, India, when she was in the 8^th grade. Like all of India at that time, Bangalore was in an economic boom. Information Technology was exploding; in fact, Bangalore was, and still is, considered the “Silicon Valley” of India. It was there that Sheetal launched three startup businesses, all before the age of 30!

Sheetal Bahirat

Sheetal started her first business while studying Business Management in undergraduate school at Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College. As a student, Sheetal was struck by the difference between her educational experience in California compared with her experience in India. In California, the education system included experiential and project-based learning techniques that helped in a child’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual development. In India, the system focused on a teacher-based system, leaving a big gap in the development of students.

Born with an innate sense of fairness and a penchant for social responsibility, Sheetal saw how India’s educational system could be supplemented. Sheetal’s first business tackled this issue. Seed Leads, as it was called, attempted to bring the California educational model to India’s primary school system.  Seed Leads quickly landed its first Elementary School client; but, Sheetal had little actual business experience and Seed Leads closed at the end of that first school contract.  

Her next venture, Voonik, was a personal styling and shopping app geared towards wealthy housewives of Indian CEO’s. Voonik was extremely successful: it grew from 6 to 600 employees and raised over $10 million dollars. 

At first glance, Voonik and Seed Leads seem like two very different businesses. But there is a commonality: both businesses are about learning, self-help, personal growth and the idea that change comes from within.

The belief that change can be affected from the inside-out was even more evident in her third startup, Big Blender (a cold-pressed juice company). Sheetal had always had an interest in whole foods and their positive impact on a person’s well-being. There was just one problem: as the company grew, Sheetal became increasingly bothered by the amount of food waste generated by the production of her juices. Sheetal began researching ways to utilize every part of the fruit and plant and eventually found herself at the website for The Culinary Arts and Food Science Program at Drexel University. She contacted Professor Jonathan Deutsch, the director of Drexel University’s food product development program and Food Lab, Drexel’s culinary innovation testing ground. Deutsch was so impressed with Sheetal, her history of entrepreneurial ventures, and her passion for the science behind food that he offered her a position (which she accepted) as a Research Assistant in Drexel University’s Culinary Arts Graduate Program.

It was there, while making guacamole, that Sheetal and her co-founder, Zuri Masud, first started thinking about the avocado seed and whether it could be used to create a food product on its own. Could it be a resource, rather than a waste product? Guacamole only used the fruit’s pulp – but what about its seed and skin? Sheetal discovered that the majority of the healthy antioxidants contained in an avocado are found in its seed and skin. Her discovery that these antioxidants are also water-soluble led to the creation of a beverage made from the avocado seed. Sheetal used the resources at her disposal – all that she had learned in her Food Science classes and in her experiments in Drexel’s Food lab, as well as her experience in product development with Seed Leads, Voonik and Big Blender – to create a tea from the avocado seed which she named Avoh Tea.  In the process, not only did she create a delicious and refreshing beverage, she made a sustainable drink that is zero-calorie, sugar free, probiotic-rich, with three times the antioxidants of green tea.  

Sheetal and Co-Founder, Zuri Masud

In 2019, Avoh Tea was awarded a cohort with Food-X, a prestigious food incubator located in New York City. She has since re-branded her company, changing its name to Hidden Gems, and the name of her flagship beverage to Reveal. It’s mission:

Hidden Gems wants to change the way we look at our resources. Our mission is to create beautiful, environmentally safe, and socially responsible up cycled products by discovering the hidden value in the food people would normally call trash. Our hope is to reduce food waste, continue to create and support sustainable systems for sustainable living, and inspire everyone to discover the hidden gems in the world around us.  

At the heart of Sheetal Bahirat’s entrepreneurial journey, from Seed Leads, to up cycling Avocado seeds, is the goal of making the world a better place. Hidden Gems provides consumers with a healthy beverage alternative (healing again from the inside out – a reoccurring theme in Sheetal’s story), it keeps food by-products out of the waste stream and it educates consumers about the possibilities of sustainable living. I can’t wait to taste what comes next!

For more information about Reveal and Hidden Gems, visit http://www.drinkreveal.com/.

Sheetal and her co-founder, Zuri, will be sampling Reveal at Drexel University’s Women’s Empowerment Summit, on Monday, March 9th, at Behrakis Grand Hall, 3250 Chestnut Street Philadelphia. Admission is free. RSVP here.

Nohra Murad of Camino Kombucha

Let me start this blog post by asking a question: do you drink kombucha?

If your answer is no, you should start!

Kombucha has multiple proven health benefits. First, it contains probiotics and is good for your gut health – a healthy gut not only makes you feel physically better, it helps you lose weight and has a positive affect on mood. Second, kombucha contains antioxidants and therefore, has the potential to reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer. And third, there is evidence that kombucha helps patients manage their Type 2 Diabetes.

What did you say? You’ve tried it, but don’t like it?

Admittedly, kombucha is not to everyone’s liking. Kombucha is a slightly alcoholic (very slightly), bubbly, fermented, sweetened tea with a hint of vinegar. Nohra Murad, the owner, founder and brewer of the Philadelphia-based kombucha company,”Camino Kombucha”, knows this and has set out to create a kombucha that delivers all the health benefits with a delicious, more universally-palatable taste.

Nohra first started making kombucha completely by happenstance. She was a Drexel University student working at her third Coop in Washington DC when her boyfriend gave her a pickling kit for Christmas. He thought she would have fun pickling vegetables. But instead, a small tag that read, “Can be used to brew kombucha”, sparked Nohra’s interest. Nohra liked kombucha but, as a student, she couldn’t afford to drink it on a regular basis. She decided to give brewing it a try.

Norah was lonely in DC – she was far from her Philadelphia home and friends. The act of brewing kombucha became a life-saver. Not only did she enjoy the process but she also loved to share the results with friends. The power of shared food to form community is an important motivator for Nohra.  She was hooked.

Nohra’s parents had immigrated to the United States from Iraq, settling in the Phoenix suburbs of Arizona. A large Assyrian community existed there and the dry, desert heat reminded her parents of Baghdad.

They joined the Assyrian Church of the East and church became central to their life. The Assyrian Church of the East was welcoming and not only shared their Assyrian traditions, but also their food. Black tea, samoon, lavish, dolma, booshalah and goopta thoomurta (a poor man’s fermented cheese which involves burying a cheese blend in a hole in the ground for three months – sounds delicious??? hmmm…not so sure) were foods that they bonded over.

As a young girl, Nohra would also travel to the midwest to spend part of her summer vacation with relatives. Memories of hours spent, sitting in her aunt’s kitchen on summer days, eating and learning how to make Assyrian dishes resonate with Nohra to this day.

Nohra had a distinct idea about how she wanted her kombucha to taste. Nohra was studying Biomedical Engineering at Drexel and her engineering brain kicked in – she loves to figure things out. Through experimentation, she was able to perfect the technique and the taste that is unique to her Camino Kombucha brand. Camino Kombucha is a traditional kombucha with a slight variation. Nohra brews a typical 50/50 black to green tea ratio but she slightly reduces her fermentation time and adds more sugar, decreasing its vinegar taste. She also adds CO2 for consistency. The result is a sweet, effervescent, light kombucha.

When Nohra graduated with her Bachelors and Masters in Science in June of 2019, she decided to concentrate on brewing kombucha rather than finding an engineering job. Nohra had been inspired to study engineering by her dad who had his PhD in Engineering. Nohra’s father never encouraged Nohra to be an engineer. He was passionate about history and had wanted to be a History teacher. However, when Nohra decided to pursue her own passion making kombucha, he was not on board. He was proud of his daughter’s academic achievements and was afraid she was throwing her Drexel degrees away.  

Nohra was not discouraged by her dad’s unenthusiastic response. She is a tenacious pursuer of her goals. Once she sets her mind to something, there is no stopping her.

Nohra Murad brewing at her Maken Studios facility.

When Nohra began taste-testing her finished recipe, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Even people who had tried kombucha before and claimed to dislike it, liked her kombucha. This was Nohra’s aha moment: if hers’ was the kind of kombucha that a person who thinks they don’t like kombucha likes, then there was a huge opportunity to bring a niche drink to a much wider audience. Nohra’s kombucha had the potential to be the next Vitamin Water or Snapple.

Nohra decided to go for it. She moved quickly. Within a year of brewing her first kombucha, her company was formed. She decided to call it Camino Kombucha and branded it to have a retro feel, reminiscent of Route 66 which had its heyday in the 1950s. Route 66 runs through Arizona and reminds her of home.  

Through a series of lucky breaks, Camino Kombucha also moved out of Nohra’s West Philly apartment kitchen and into its new home – a space in Kensington’s Maken Studios, the same launchpad for entrepreneurs that Thu Pham and Caphe Roasters (read previous blog) calls home.  

She now brews four signature flavors from her Maken workspace – Prickly Pear, Rose, Lime Ginger and my personal favorite – Grapefruit. You can purchase Camino Kombucha at 3 locations: 1) the Pennsylvania General Store in Reading Terminal Market, 2) V Marks the Shop and 3) The Tasty. 

Starting a new venture is hard and requires capital. Camino Kombucha has been self-funded almost entirely by Nohra and her family. In order to grow, she is going to need to find other sources of funding. Banks won’t lend her money – she has no proven track record and is too big a risk. Nohra is looking for people who believe in her product to invest in her idea.  

And her idea is a good one. In November, at Drexel University’s annual Start Up Fest, she impressed a panel of New Venture experts with her Camino Kombucha pitch and was awarded a cash prize plus space in Drexel’s prestigious Baiada Incubator, beating out some serious competition.   

If you would like to support Camino Kombucha and help Nohra Murad realize her dream of seeing her kombucha sold everywhere (including in your local Wawa), consider investing.

Visit  https://app.honeycombcredit.com/en/projects/10941-Camino-Kombucha-Co to learn how you can invest.

Nohra Murad (right) and her Operations Coordinator, Tatijana Taylor-Fehlinger (left).

Thu Pham of Caphe Roasters

In 2017, Thu Pham was approached by the founders of 12PLUS, the nonprofit organization for which she was working as a Fellow in Kensington. (12PLUS matches recent college graduates such as Thu with under-served Philadelphia high school students to provide mentoring and advocacy). They handed her a flyer advertising the application deadline for the upcoming Kensington Avenue Storefront Challenge – a competition inviting small businesses to propose ideas to revitalize troubled Kensington Avenue. For the winning proposals, up to ten applicants would receive free rent for a year in the Maken Studios, and funding and mentoring from Shift Capital and its partners. Located in North Philadelphia, Maken Studios is a launchpad for makers that occupies the large, industrial building that used to be home to Jomar Fabrics.

“If you were to enter this competition, what business would you enter?” they asked. She thought for a moment and replied, “a café”. She had long been dissatisfied with her experience of cafes in Philadelphia. In theory, they seemed like a pleasant place to hang out with a friend or to use as a remote work space.  Instead, they tended to be over-crowded and she often felt rushed and unwelcome. The right cafe had the potential to become the beating heart of a re-imagined neighborhood.

Thu was born in Vietnam and when she was four, she immigrated to Orange County, California, and eventually, to Northeast Philadelphia. Both places had large Vietnamese refugee communities. Thu had always been fascinated by the customs surrounding the drinking of coffee in her homeland. She remembered seeing men and women (but mostly men) sitting outside at Vietnamese restaurants on short stools, spending hours drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes and chatting. She remembered the unhurried sense of warmth and community that she felt. What if she could recreate that feeling in Kensington?

Another powerful memory from her childhood was that of her sister lifting her up to sit on their kitchen counter while she brewed Vietnamese coffee. Her sister would pour hot water into the phin and together, they would watch it slowly run over the coffee and through the phin’s filter and into a cup. (It takes 4 to 5 minutes to brew a cup of Vietnamese coffee). Her sister would add condensed milk and shaved ice and then offer Thu a sweet spoonful. In American restaurants, Vietnamese coffee is usually made from inexpensive Café du Monde coffee beans, a nondescript blend roasted in Louisiana that achieves its smoky flavor through the addition of chicory. Coffee beans grown in Vietnam are naturally smoky. Volcanic soil, hot temps, humidity and high elevations give Vietnamese coffee beans their unique, nutty, bold flavor.

For the competition, she proposed the opening of a Vietnamese coffee roastery and eventually a  cafe that would donate a portion of its profits back into the community to support 12PLUS. Within two months of entering, Thu found out that she and her partners (the founders of 12PLUS) had won and Caphe Roasters was born – the first and only Vietnamese roastery in Philadelphia.

There was one small problem – Thu had absolutely NO knowledge of roasting and/or brewing. She spent the next six months researching brewing and roasting techniques. In her parent’s poorly ventilated row home kitchen in Olney, she would experiment, trying to discover the perfect ratio of water and temperature. She used Rival Brothers beans (When Thu was studying Marketing Research and Psychology at Drexel University, class of 2015, she liked drinking Rival Brothers coffee from their truck located on campus), but, eventually, she switched to South Asian beans she sourced from a supplier. Over her family’s gas stove, she created her roasting profile by using a $20 Whirley-Pop popcorn popper that she had purchased at Williams Sonoma. She has come a long way from those days in a very short amount of time – she now operates a professional roaster that she considers her baby – a San Franciscan, manufactured out of Carson City, Nevada.

Thu sells her coffee beans to local Vietnamese restaurants, and at farmer’s markets and coffee shops. In the not-too-distant-future, she plans to open her café in Kensington. Last summer, she partnered with Weckerly’s Ice Cream in Fishtown to create a popular seasonal Vietnamese coffee ice cream. Part of the profits from sales of this flavor went to support 12PLUS. Partnerships with businesses such as Weckerly’s that are working to transform the communities where they do business is in perfect alignment with her values.

Thu was raised a devout Catholic and taught, by her parent’s example, the value of leading a life of service. She believes strongly in the work of 12PLUS – how it empowers young people to continue their education and to become entrepreneurs like herself.  No matter how delicious or potent it may be (Vietnamese coffee delivers a caffeine punch 3x greater than a cup of espresso), for Thu, it’s not about the coffee, it’s about community.

Join Thu and four other female Philadelphia food innovators for a panel discussion on November 14th at 12:30pm at Drexel University’s Food Innovation Startup Fest. To learn more and to register, click here.

Failure is a Choice: Michelle Carfagno of The Greater Knead

Yesterday, I rode the wrong train – obliviously, to the end of the line, waiting to get off at a stop which never came. I felt like an idiot. It would take me over an hour to reverse direction. I decided to give up and call it a day.  However, I could not stop thinking about the words of Michelle Carfagno, CEO of The Greater Knead: “failure is a choice”. So, instead of pulling down the shades, putting on my pjs and binge-watching Netflix, I took the bus home, got my car, set my GPS and drove to my original destination. I am so glad I went.  I met some great people and made some excellent connections.  And most importantly, I no longer felt quite so incompetent. I chose not to fail.

The number of failed startups is high – about 90% by some reports.  Michelle Carfagno began her start up bakery, “Sweet Note”, in 2012 and over the years, her business has faced many near-death moments. Michelle credits her survival with a conscious decision to choose success over failure.  And her ability to pivot.

The Greater Knead CEO Michelle Carfagno

Michelle has wanted to be a baker for as long as she can remember. When her grandfather and sister were diagnosed with Celiac Disease, Michelle began experimenting with gluten-free dessert recipes. The diagnosis of Celiac Disease and gluten intolerance had become widespread and the need for gluten – free foods was increasing. In 2011, she bartered a deal to use a local bagel shop’s kitchen after hours in exchange for baking gluten-free goods for the shop to sell.  With access to bagel-making equipment in her test kitchen, it was a no-brainer for Michelle to hone in on baking gluten-free bagels.

Michelle wanted her bagels to taste like the traditional Jewish bagels that she grew up eating every Sunday morning. It took Michelle fifteen tries to perfect the sample that she then took to local cafes. She was elated when the Green Line Cafe placed an order for a whopping THREE bagels. As the popularity of her bagels grew, so did the size of their order (thankfully!) and eventually, Michelle was selling enough bagels out of her little night kitchen to garner the interest of the owner of the bagel store (and his lawyers).

Said, greedy, owner tried to claim proprietorship of her bagel recipe and Michelle was forced to shutter her operation. Another customer offered her their kitchen. This time, she signed a formal rental agreement that protected her against litigious claims.

Sweet Note continued to grow and from one employee it grew to five and from five to fifteen. At the start, she looked for a copacker to manufacture her recipe. She had a hard time finding a manufacturer willing to work with a business as small as hers’ who could guarantee no cross-contamination and a high-quality product. After a bad experience with the quality of bagels produced by one copacker, Michelle decided to manufacture her bagels herself. But first, she needed a bagel-making machine capable of working with gluten-free dough. Experts in the field told her it could not be done. Bagel machines were designed to stretch and shape dough, and gluten-free dough has no elasticity. Michelle changed direction and instead of buying a new, $25,000 bagel making machine, she bought a $3000 used machine on Ebay that she “McGuiver-ed” to work with gluten-free dough. She still uses that machine today.

Michelle outgrew her little rental kitchen and moved to a larger space in Manayunk and then to her current, much larger, space in Bensalem. The space in Bensalem was much more conducive to larger quantity baking and Sweet Note was able to increase its efficiency. What took five days to bake in Manayunk only took two days in Bensalem. Michelle now had time to take on the manufacturing of two other brands with similar allergen-free manufacturing needs. (A Gluten Free Brownie and Sweet Megan’s Cookie Dough, sold at Wawa Stores.)

Around this time, Michelle started to question her company’s direction. Sweet Note had shifted from being a small hands-on brand to a copacker. Michelle was not baking – her first love and creative outlet – at all. But, at the same time, she was proud of her path as an entrepreneur who learned everything she knew through trial and error and through a stubborn unwillingness to fail. She began to share her story, knowledge and expertise with other female business owners in the food industry. Through mentoring and soul-searching, she realized where her passions lie. She was passionate about helping other women realize their dreams and she was passionate about producing food that was absolutely safe for people with food allergies. Her manufacturing facility would not only be gluten-free, but wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish and shellfish – free.

With this realization, came the rebranding of her company. Sweet Note became “The Greater Knead”. Her business would focus on the food industry’s “knead” for an allergen-free manufacturing facility that would help other businesses with a similar mission get their products to market.

When I asked Michelle “what next?” her answer was wide open and includes continued growth of the contract manufacturing side of her business. Someday, she dreams of opening a food incubator to guide female entrepreneurs from idea to finished product. Whatever the future holds, Michelle is excited and open to any possibility – whether it be more co-branding opportunities such as the one she entered in 2018 to produce a sunflower butter and bagel chip snack, (“Sunsnackers”), or the expansion of her bagel sales nationwide or some other possibility that she hasn’t even considered yet. One thing is certain, for Michelle Carfagno, failure is not an option.

Michelle will be speaking at Drexel University’s Close School of Entrepreneurship on Thursday, October 24th at 12pm. The topic of her talk will be “My Start Up Journey: How I Funded by Start Up Using Non-Traditional Funding Sources.” To RSVP for this free event, click here.

Please visit The Greater Knead’s website: www.thegreaterknead.com to find where you can purchase The Greater Knead’s gluten free bagels and bagel chips.