Gail Lillian
 After 18 years of working in the food industry, where she had held a wide variety of positions, including stints as a pastry chef and as the owner of “The Lilly Pad” café on the CCA Campus in Oakland, Gail Lillian acquired the skills and experiences she needed to strike out on her own and pursue a new venture. In the spring of 2008 Gail enrolled in Renaissances 14-week Business Planning Class to learn how to achieve her goal of opening a café featuring her own breads and pastries. A standout student, Gail received the Best Business Plan Award and left the class ready to start baking.
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Neal Gottlieb of Three Twins Ice Cream
 After spending years working in corporate finance at Gap and Levi’s, Neal Gottlieb knew he wanted something sweeter out of life. After weighing his options: enroll in Cornell University’s Johnson School of Business or open his own small business, Neal decided that the freedom of entrepreneurship was the way to go. Neal found the inspiration for his business, an ice cream company, from a childhood memory of his mothers fresh orange sherbet which she’d make in their kitchen, and after hearing that Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center’s Business Planning Class had been called “The Mini MBA Program,” Neal enrolled at Renaissance in the fall of 2004 to learn how to turn his dream into a viable business.
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Nora Tong of Nora's Patisserie
 For fifteen years Nora Tong worked as a pastry chef in numerous hotels, restaurants and gourmet pastry shops. After training in Switzerland, Belgium and France Nora used her talents to create delicious treats that were enjoyed by the likes of Bill Clinton and Julia Child. However, she always dreamed of owning her own pastry business and in September of 2001 Nora used her personal savings to begin renting kitchen space and opened Nora’s Patisserie. Using all natural ingredients, organic flour, and pure butter to create her European-style pastries, Nora knew how to create the perfect product, but she needed help managing her business so in 2004 she came to Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center to attend the Business Planning Class.
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Christiane Schmidt of Walzwerk & Schmidt's
 Seeking new experiences and adventures Christiane Schmidt moved from her native Germany to San Francisco in 1997. Having worked sixteen years in the restaurant industry prior to emigrating to America Christiane was confident she could run her own eatery. Like many Bay Area entrepreneurs, Christiane had the industry-specific knowledge and experience required to succeed but came to Renaissance in 1997 to obtain the comprehensive business training she neede d.
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Eifya Asabi of Iyoba
Efiya Asabi started her business, Iyoba, in 2005. Iyoba is an organic soap and skin care products company that was born out of the need for Efiya to find a product for her son that helped his eczema condition. There was nothing on the market so Efiya made natural oatmeal soap for him, and it worked! Friends and family started to order soap and Efiya started to realize that she could start a business!
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Sharon Eisenhauer of Haiku
 When Sharon Eisenhauer moved to the Bay Area from New York in 2000, a union strike made it impossible for her to find the voice-over work that had sustained her for years. Sharon took this as a sign that it was time for her to move out of the entertainment industry and fully pursue her passion by starting her own business in sewing and design. Like many aspiring Bay Area entrepreneurs, Sharon came to Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center and enrolled in the Business Planning Class to help her gain the comprehensive business training she would need to be successful.
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Geraldine Martinez
 When Geraldine Martinez turned 15, a very important year for young women in Mexican tradition, her parents threw her a “Quinceañera” or debutante ball. That experience led them to open their own party decorations store in Michoacán, Mexico. Eventually, the family immigrated to the United States and opened a very similar business.
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Creative Core Design
 Creative Core Design is a graphic design collaborative consisting of three principals: Dan Arcos, Martin Douglass, and Mike Lenhart, who cumulatively have over 50 years design experience! Creative Core Design was launched after Mike Lenhart, a Renaissance graduate, became ill; it was becoming increasingly more difficult for him to manage his business and take care of his health needs. In working with Mike, Renaissance recommended that he seek out the Positive Resource Center, an advocacy group for people living with HIV/AIDS. Mike did, and through PRC he was able to connect with other Graphic Designers living with similar health issues. With time, effort, and a good deal of personal investment, Creative Core Design was born.
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Rachel Pearson of Speesees
 Speesees began in 2003 as an all-organic, friendly, and fun children’s clothing line. At Speesees, founder and designer Rachel Pearson is dedicated to employing fair business practices from beginning to end. The craftsmanship of her children’s clothing is made to provide a fabulous product while using sustainable business practices that will help protect future generations of “speesees” to come.
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Myra Holmes & Jacqui Heard of Star Partners Security, Inc.
 Twenty-five years at the Department of Defense, private patrol certification, and special events patrol. These are all credentials of a female small business owner. What does one do with 25 years of experience in the security field when she wants to put that experience to work on her own terms? For Myra Holmes, starting a small business that provides high quality, professional armed and unarmed security guard and private patrol services is the only answer. After working for over two decades in a variety of capacities at the Department of Defense and private firms, Myra Holmes started Star Partners Security, Inc. with her sister, Jacquie Heard, who also possesses extensive experience in the private security industry.
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Angelique Clark of Angelique Interiors
 After working in a sewing workroom serving interior designers for over 12 years, Angelique Clark took the leap and opened her own custom workroom, Angelique Interiors in 2001. While simultaneously taking the Business Planning class at Renaissance, Angelique was able to successfully start what has become a very lucrative sewing workroom that produces high-end customized window treatments, pillows, table coverings and more. Angelique has done showhouses with Bay Area designers, and has worked from Napa to Carmel as her reputation has grown.
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Marlene Cazares of Las Muchachas
 Eating establishments are constantly tested by fickle customers, fierce competition and high overhead costs. When Marlene Cazares received a notice that her landlord intended to nearly double the rent for her Mexican restaurant six months prior to the lease expiring, she turned to Renaissance/Start Up for assistance. Marlene worked at a taqueria for twelve years before opening Las Muchachas at 2483 Old Middlefield Way in Mountain View in 2003. Despite her inexperience as an entrepreneur, her undeniable skill preparing made-to-order Mexican food from scratch made the restaurant a success.
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Alex Salazar of Salazar Architects Studio
 For years Alex Salazar, owner and principle architect for Salazar Architects Studio, Inc., has been fueled by duel passions for eco-architecture and social justice. Motivated by his desire to fuse his two passions, and help change the world in the process, Alex founded Salazar Architects Studio, Inc. in 2007 and began working with non-profit developers to design affordable and ecologically-sound housing in California. Even though he was busy running his own business, Alex still made the time to share his knowledge with local non-profits, volunteering for East Bay Housing Organizations, the Association for Community Design as well as founding the tenant’s rights organization Just Cause Oakland. Years of previous work experience provided Alex with the architectural training necessary for success, and in 2008, Alex came to Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center to gain the comprehensive business knowledge needed to expand his firm.
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Simonida Cvejic of Bay Area Medical Academy
 Simonida Cvejic immigrated to New York from Macedonia in 1995, and struggled for a couple of years before landing a position as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. While the war raged in her former Yugoslav republic in 1999, she was selling Goldman Sachs research on wartime investment opportunities. Simonida says, “While everyone was investing, I was sending money home and worrying about my family.” Ultimately, the 70 hour work-weeks, fierce competitiveness, and Wall Street’s moneyed culture left her feeling deprived, and she jumped at the opportunity for a job transfer to California.
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Ernest East of Miz Lynn's Pies
 Ernest East wanted a way to uplift people! He was not doing that as a bus driver, despite singing while he worked. When his lady friend baked him a pineapple-upside-down cake, he realized his calling.
Ernest comes from a large southern family, where eating dinner together was a nightly tradition. He remembers tasty home-cooked meals followed by delicious desserts, all prepared with real, natural ingredients.
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Feliciano Zavala of Peninsula Party Rentals
 Perhaps the first indication of Feliciano Zavala's potential for entrepreneurial success was a rapid promotion from truck driver to general manager during his ten year employment period with a party rental company. In 2005, the business-minded Feliciano followed his instincts, placed his bet and rolled the dice. Quitting his job with the party rental company, he and his wife opened the doors of their own business, Peninsula Party Rentals.
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Sheila Moon of Sheila Moon Designs
 Sheila Moon, owner and designer of Sheila Moon Designs, specializes in designing and manufacturing high-quality women's cycling apparel that is both functional and fashionable. As an avid cyclist, Sheila is passionate about her product and connected to the community she serves. Since Sheila began her line of cycling clothing in 2003, she has experienced a surging increase in sales every year. This year she expects a 30% growth in gross sales!
Before starting her cycling apparel business, Sheila gained experience in the industry as an employed designer.
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Alicia Lopez of W & A Transport
 Alicia Lopez, owner of W&A Transport, emigrated from Mexico in November of 1986 with her husband Jose Luis. They arrived with only the clothes on their backs, and today run a successful and sustainable interstate trucking business.
After years of working on the production line and as a mechanic for a Bay Area soap manufacturer, Jose Luis was injured on the job and forced to make a career change.
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James Adams of Adams Smoked Meats
 James Harold Adams came to Renaissance's Bayview Business Resource Center after he completed 16 years in prison. While incarcerated, James picked up literacy as well as culinary skills. In his own words, James previously "hustled" through business. However, his inability to read (which he did not admit to others) prevented him from succeeding.
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Yvonne Hines of Pralines
 Yvonne Hines has a talent and passion for making mouth watering Southern American style homemade sweets and specialty desserts. The incredible feedback she got from friends, family and her community about her delicious treats encouraged her to start her own business, Pralines by Yvonne.
Yvonne is a single mother and worked in a low income job for the city of San Francisco when she began selling her pralines at local events.
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Alex Saldarriaga of Home Health Advocates
 When Alex Saldarriaga was working as a nurse, he noticed a lack of quality home health care services for seniors. In 2003, Alex launched his own company, Home Health Advocates, to fill this unmet need. His tagline is "Care without Compromise!" Alex was recently featured in a San Francisco Examiner article titled "Nurse Launches Business to Address Unmet Needs."Alex is passionate about his clients, and the foundation of his success is exemplary customer service.
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Jill Litwin of Peas of Mind
The idea for Peas of Mind, an all natural and organic prepackaged food line for growing kids, came to Jill Litwin after seeing a co-worker struggle to come up with fast healthy meals for her growing child. At the time Jill was working for a snowboard company in Vermont and decided she would rather cook for her friend's child than see him eating only canned vegetables.
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