Vanni Wang Brings High-Fashion Couture To Cleveland With Her Brand, Lucio Vanni

By Alysse Dalessandro | Photo by Don Bensman

Project Runway viewers often watch the final three designers struggle to finish their 10-piece collections in the three months leading up to fashion week. Cleveland designer Vanni Wang sewed for hours a day to complete a 35-piece collection in a mere three months while planning the entire Oct. 30 fashion show for her Lucio Wang line. And she did it all without a single “make it work” from Tim Gunn.

The show, “Unmasking Design Beauty,” was held at LaCentre in W
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Reginald Sizemore Follows Through On His Dad’s Ambitions As The Owner Of Father’s Dream Appliances

By Stephanie Davis  |  Photo by Bradd Smith

Reginald Alfonzo Sizemore is living out a dream — with one important distinction: It is not his own. Instead, the dream was originally handed to him by his father, the late John Perry Sizemore, when Reginald was just 16 years old.

“I promised my father I’d live his dreams for him. And that’s exactly what I’m doing,” Sizemore says. “He didn’t get a chance to live his own dream, so he asked me to do it for him. But my father didn

Husband-Wife Team Finds Home In Northeast Ohio For Noro IP

By Patty Reiman | Photo by Jim Baron

Growing up in New York as a first-generation American, Miguel Taveras expected to run his own business someday as a means to financial freedom for him and his family.

“I was the type of kid who always had an idea about how to make money. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been coming up with business ideas,” he says.

At age 28, Miguel is four years into his entrepreneurial business ownership goal while providing patent services for attorneys, inventors, and businesses through Noro Intellectua

Area Firms Turn To Minority Business Solutions To Smoothen Ongoing Challenges Of Entrepreneurship

By Natalie R. Schrimpf  |  Photo by Thomas Skernivitz

During the first year of his construction firm’s business, minority business entrepreneur Aquil Zayid-Bey personally handled all the details that come with launching a company. By the second year, however, he realized that his Cleveland-based firm of six employees – A1Z Enterprises — needed guidance and direction from a valuable resource. That is when he sought the assistance of Minority Business Solutions.

“I was struggling with t

Northeast Ohio Hispanic Chamber Of Commerce Provides Education, Financial Opportunities, And Networking For Aspiring And Established Entrepreneurs

By Nina Polien Light | Photo by Laura Watilo Blake

George Cruz rose from never owning a business to being named the 2010 Cleveland Hispanic Businessman of the Year. Hard work and determination helped fuel his company’s astounding 300 percent growth in less than three years, yet the co-owner of PuroClean Professional Services largely credits the Northeast Ohio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for his success.

“There are many challenges being in b

Networking Group Encourages Asian Professionals To Remain In Cleveland

By Thomas Skernivitz | Photo by Laura Watilo Blake

Vi Huynh is not only the president of MotivAsians, he is living proof that the group is fulfilling its decade-old mission of preventing brain-drain within Northeast Ohio’s Asian community.

“I feel like I’m the poster boy for the intent of the group, (based on) the original founders’ visions,” Huynh says. “Through MotivAsians I went from being a member to a management team member to then being encouraged to go through the Cleveland Bridge Builders program. Af

Networking Group Focuses On Promoting Female-Owned Businesses — Big And Small, Established And New

By Natalie R. Schrimpf | Photo by Laura Watilo Blake

It is a fact that female entrepreneurs differ from their male counterparts in numerous ways. Studies reveal that the two even start businesses for dissimilar reasons: Men usually aspire to be “the boss” and target their company for maximum growth; while women are motivated by lifestyle reasons, such as a desire to integrate work and family and to increase flexibility and creativity in their lives.

Ladies Who Launch Cleveland and Akron