July 7, 2022Oakland Zoo – Nik Dehejia
#026 - Today we talk with Nik Dehejia, CEO of the Oakland Zoo, which is celebrating its Centennial Anniversary in 2022. The zoo started in June of 1922 at the corner of 19th and Harrison at what is today called Snow Park. ...
June 23, 2022Esscents of Flowers – Ariana Mabley
#025 - Today we talk with Ariana Mabley, East Oakland native and owner of Esscents of Flowers, a floral design company, which she started as a side hustle pop up business while still working a full time career. She wears MANY hats - wife, mother, chauffeur AND entrepreneur. She credits the tremendous support from friends, family as well as the team at the Uptima Business Bootcamp for helping her business succeed, but she credits her...
June 9, 2022Black Vines – Fern Stroud
#024 - Today we talk with Berkeley native and Oakland wine entrepreneur and Black Vines founder Fern Stroud. Fern founded Black Vines to celebrate black history while focusing on black future. Black Vines focuses on the future of wine, the future of art, the future of jazz, the future of culinary experiences while featuring black owned companies. ...
May 26, 2022P Harrell Wines – Paula Harrell
#023 - Today we talk with San Francisco native and longtime Oakland resident and wine entrepreneur Paula Harrell of P Harrell Wines. Paula’s love for wine and wine culture began while studying abroad in Spain while in college. Paula had no formal education in wine making. For 15 years it was a fun little hobby - she would blend other peoples’ wines. After sharing her concoctions with her wine connoisseur uncle, he told her to make her own...
May 12, 2022Fist of Flour – James Whitehead
#022 - Today we talk with Oakland Laurel District resident and restaurateur James Whitehead of Fist of Flour. James has loved pizza his entire life - it is his favorite food. He loves pizza so much he even scopes out the pizza scene whenever he travels to new cities. ...
April 28, 2022Pound Bizness – Nicole Felix Borders
#021 - Today we talk with Oakland native, resident and entrepreneur Nicole Felix Borders of Pound Bizness. Pound Bizness is literally a labor of love. Nicole’s husband Reggie made 4 pound cakes from a family recipe for Nicole’s mom to take to the church fish fry. She came home with a dozen orders....
April 14, 2022Federation Brewing – Aram Cretan
#020 - Today we talk with Oakland resident and entrepreneur Aram Cretan of Federation Brewing, a producer of award winning craft beer. Aram created Federation with his childhood friend and then roped in his retired “banker” dad to keep the books. What started as a home brewing project over 10 years ago grew into brewing for friends' weddings. ...
March 31, 2022Rocky’s Market – Brady Bellis
#019 - Today we talked to Brady Bellis from Oakland’s Rocky’s Market. The original store is located in the Oakmore neighborhood (440 Leimert Blvd, Oakland). Rocky’s is more than a local independent grocery store, it is a community fixture. Brady and his Oakland native partner Corinne Kinczel bought the Oakmore store in 2016 from the original owner, Rocky, who tried to rescue the store from a series of unsuccessful ownerships. They opened...
March 17, 2022The Lemonade Bar – Imani Glover
#018 - Today we talked to Imani Glove from The Lemonade Bar. The Lemonade Bar specializes in fresh squeezed lemonade and organic handcrafted frozen lemonades. She and her husband Cedric started off with a hot dog cart, but ditched the dogs in favor of the lemonade.
March 3, 2022Red Bay Coffee Roasters – Maria Fernandez
#017 - Today we talked to Maria Fernandez from Red Bay Coffee Roaster. Red Bay was founded in 2014 by Keba Konte, a renowned artist and successful food entrepreneur with deep roots in the Bay Area specialty coffee and hospitality industry.