Trailer:

Episode theme: People whose musical success enhances the lives of everyone that hear it.

For many years, Kenny White was a fixture in the NY studio scene, writing and producing literally hundreds of commercials for TV and radio. In this capacity, he worked with artists like Gladys Knight, Linda Ronstadt, Dwight Yoakam, Ricky Skaggs, Kim Carnes Felix Cavaliere, Dobie Gray and Aaron Neville. After being hailed by reviewers from the NY Times to the SF Chronicle for his thrilling and unique piano playing, White chose to devote himself to making his first album and subsequently, “hitting the road.” Since 2001, he has released six albums and toured worldwide.

Website: Kenny White

Marco d’Ambrosio has scored numerous award winning films, documentaries, and live theatre projects. Marco is also responsible for creating much of the dynamic sound and music heard in the acclaimed Lucasfilm THX trailers.  In 2005, he was one of six accomplished composers awarded a fellowship from the Sundance Institute.

Website: www.MarcoCo.com
Address: 701 De Long Avenue / Suite D / Novato, CA 94945
Phone: (415) 898-3403
Email: Marco d’Ambrosio

Trailer:

Episode theme: People whose businesses help feed the local community.

Andrew Brait is one of 4 partners of Full Belly Farm, a highly diversified 300 acre organic farm in the Capay Valley. Prior to arriving at Full Belly Farm in 1990, Andrew came from Vermont where he had worked for 5 yrs on an organic farm. As a first generation farmer, he comes to agriculture with an appreciation for redefining the roles of stewardship, production and marketing. With a background in education, environmentalism and small business, Andrew believes successful farming must look at a “triple bottom line” – ensuring fiscal solvency, ecological sustainability, and social profit. Andrew and his wife Anna live in a quieter corner of a very busy farm with their two sons, Ellis and Jonas.

Website: Full Belly Farm
Email: andrew@fullbellyfarm.com
Address: End of County Road 43 / Guinda, CA 95637
Phone: 530-796-2214

Carola Detrick, inspired by volunteering for Project Open Hand (a non-profit that delivers meals &  groceries to people living with HIV/AIDS) in 1993 started the non-profit organization Meals of Marin in her home kitchen. Since then, she and her staff of volunteers have cooked for and home-delivered over 900,000 appetizing, healthy, home-cooked meals to people with life threatening illnesses living in Marin County, California.

Email: carola.detrick@gmail.com
Website: www.MealsOfMarin.net
Phone: (415) 457-4666

Trailer:

Episode theme: People whose businesses are a family tradition.

Loren Poncia‘s family has lived and farmed on the same ranch site in Tomales, California since 1902, when his great-grandfather Angelo, first immigrated to the United States and started working there.  His family-owned Stemple Creek Ranch raises 100% Angus beef and lamb.  Their animals eat organic clover and grass and are never subjected to artificial hormones, growth promotants, or antibiotics. Stemple Creek Ranch is environmentally conscious and values biodiversity in their pastures and riparian areas. They strive to work with mother nature to keep the land abundant and the animals healthy and happy.

Website: Stemple Creek Ranch
Address: P.O. Box 85 Tomales, CA 94971
Phone: (415) 883-8253
Email: Loren Poncia

Tripp Carpenter runs Espenet Furniture (in Bolinas, CA). He has worked with wood since he was six years old. His father, Art Carpenter (the creator of West Coast style of sculptural furniture), passed on his self-taught knowledge to his son. In addition to dreaming up his own functional and artistic woodworking pieces, Tripp continues to produce editions of his father’s famous designs, including the “Wishbone Chair”.

Website: Espenet Furniture
Address: 1100 Olema-Bolinas Road / Bolinas, CA / 94942
Phone: (415) 868-1542
Email: Tripp Carpenter

Trailer:

Episode theme: People who decided to skip college and instead learn business skills by trial-and-error, rather than by formal instruction.

Jon Gillespie-Brown is a United Kingdom-born entrepreneur, business mentor and author (So You Want To Be An Entrepreneur) who now lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area. A lifelong entrepreneur, he has established and grown more than a half dozen businesses, and remains the active CEO of two of those companies Nalpeiron, Inc. (the leader in hosted software licensing solutions that maximize revenue for developers and publishers) and Digital Ventures (a band of entrepreneurs and angel investors that mentors, advises and provides seed investment to emerging companies).

Website: Nalpeiron
Address: 2225 E. Bayshore Road #200 / Palo Alto, CA 94303
Phone: (888) 800-8818

Neal Gottlieb started Three Twins Ice Cream in 2005 with $75,000 in lieu of returning to business school. The company started with one small shop and has grown rapidly from its humble beginning and now includes 3 stores, a dedicated organic ice cream factory, a farmers’ market business, bulk ice cream for restaurants and cafes and packaged ice cream for supermarkets.

Website: Three Twins Ice Cream
Phone: (415) 577-0144
Email: threetwins@gmail.com

Trailer:

Episode theme: People who created businesses as a “synergy” of their individual talents.

Three Stone Hearth is a worker-owned community supported kitchen (CSK). It offers nutrient dense foods to homes and families around the San Francisco Bay Area. The founding worker/owners are: Porsche Combash, Misa Koketsu, Jessica Prentice, Catherine Spanger, and Larry Wisch.

Website: Three Stone Hearth
Address: 1581 University Avenue in Berkeley, CA 94703
Phone: (510) 981-1334

Having met in the late ’80s through the improv company Bay Area Theatresports (now BATS Improv), 3 For All (Rafe Chase, Stephen Kearin and Tim Orr) formed an ensemble in the summer of 1996 to pursue their distinctive brand of high-stakes theatrical improvisation. 3 For All regularly plays to sold-out houses and rave audience reviews in the San Francisco Bay Area. They’ve enjoyed equal success in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Austin, and Amsterdam.

Website: 3 For All

Trailer:

Episode theme: Business owners whose companies were launched with well planned financing.

Karen Behnke has enjoyed a long and successful entrepreneurial career in the Healthy Lifestyles sector of business. Her consistent goal is to equally marry her passion for helping people enjoy healthier lifestyles with her skill at building financially successful businesses that are mission driven. Karen’s latest endeavor is Juice Beauty, an Organic eco-chic beauty products company.

Website: Juice Beauty
Address: 711 Grand Avenue, Suite 290 / San Rafael, CA / 94901
Phone: (415) 457-4600

Shahram Bijan entered the restaurant business with a commitment to customer service and a background in the software business. Forced to flee war-torn Iran in 1987 at the age of eight, he had already created and sold two successful Internet companies by the time he was 25, when he acquired First Crush in San Francisco in 2002. He now also operates two successful Toast locations (Mill Valley and Novato).

Website: www.ToastNovato.com
Address: 5800 Nave Drive, Novato, CA 94949
Phone: (415) 382-1144

In Brief (a 3-minute show highlight):

Episode theme: Business owners whose companies are inspired by nature.

Jay Harman, President and CEO, has developed a number of successful companies. As founder and CEO of ERG Australia Ltd, he took the company to a highly successful IPO. ERG went on to become one of Australia’s most successful technology companies. Jay has extensive experience in technology licensing and is the author of numerous patents. His designs have won numerous design awards and his products have been featured on the international television series “Discovery.” Jay is also CEO of PAX Water Technologies and Chief Inventor of PAX Streamline.

Website: PAX Scientific
Phone: (415) 256-9900
Email: info@PAXScientific.com

Bruce Hammond, LEED AP has been a General Contractor since 1980. He is CEO of Hammond & Company, a company which builds high quality residential and commercial projects throughout the northern bay area region with particular emphasis on energy efficiency, resource conservation, and durability. Bruce was the founding Chairman of the US Green Building Council – Redwood Empire Chapter and is also a Principal at Longview Education Associates, a training and education organization delivering programs for organizations and individuals on focused topics the design and management of sustainable development.

Website: Hammond And Company
Address: 490 W. School Street, Cotati CA. 94931
Phone: (707) 795-6045

In Brief (a 3-minute show highlight):

Episode theme: Businesses that achieved odds-defying success through the single-mindedness of our guests.

Dan Chan has performed over 2000 shows for public and private events around the world. He has performed his unique combination of skills (including: magic, rapid costume changes, juggling, acrobatics, pick pocketing, and dog tricks) around the world. In 2007, Dan was awarded the title San Jose Magician of the Year.

Website: www.DanChanMagic.com
Email: danielgchan@gmail.com
Phone: (415) 244-2700

When identical twin brothers, Logan and Noah Miller’s homeless father died alone in a jail cell, they vowed that their film, Touching Home, would be made as a dedication to their love for him. Either You’re In Or You’re In the Way is the amazing story of how–without a dime to their names nor a single meaningful contact in Hollywood–they managed to write, produce, act, and direct a feature film in under a year starring four-time Academy Award-nominated actor Ed Harris and a cast and crew with 11 Academy Awards and 26 nominations.

In Brief (a 3-minute show highlight):

Episode theme: Businesses that improve the richness of children’s lives.

Scott von Eschen is a graduate of Dartmouth College where he majored in Geology, leading him to a two year stint as a geologist for a small oil company in Amarillo, TX. Scott returned to Dartmouth for his MBA and then embarked on a 9 year investment banking odyssey in New York, Tokyo and San Francisco where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions. In 1993, Scott acquired majority ownership in Adventures Cross-Country and became President/CEO.

Website: www.adventurescrosscountry.com
Email: svoneschen@adventurescrosscountry.com

Christopher Melville grew up in Mendocino County where he attended the Melville Montessori School, a school run by his parents. After years of enjoying roll-playing games like Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and Arduin, in 1994 he developed Fantasy Warplay – a local Live Action Role Playing (LARP) group where players (ages 8-60) can simulate sword play and be an adventurer, a wizard, a warrior, and even a monster.

Website: www.fanwar.com
Email: christopherpuma@fanwar.com
Phone: (707) 462-6292

In Brief (a 3-minute show highlight):

Episode theme: People who “give back” to their community as part of their business model.

Bruce Burtch is a nationally-recognized cause marketing catalyst. He helps for-profit and nonprofit organizations develop win-win partnerships which maximize their strategic marketing and fund development. He designed and directed the most successful cause marketing program on emergency preparedness in the country through a partnership between the Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the American Red Cross, resulting in 1,000,000 people being trained in emergency preparedness. In 1993, Bruce was awarded the Distinguished Leadership Award, presented by the National Association of Community Leadership for spearheading the building of the Tenderloin After-School Program in San Francisco’s most crime ridden neighborhood.

Phone: (415) 454-0839
Email: bruce@bruceburtch.com
Website: www.BruceBurtch.com

Jimmy Dillon is a San Francisco-based guitarist, singer/songwriter, teacher, and playwright. Growing up listening to everything from early Beatles and Stones to Howlin’ Wolf, he has since toured and recorded extensively, backing up great artists (John Lee Hooker, Clarence Clemons, and Bruce Springsteen) as well as forming his own bands (The Edge and The Jimmy Dillon Band). In 1999 he wrote Ascension of the Blues, a musical history of the Blues (from Blues to Bop, Ragtime to Rap, and a whole lotta’ Rock n’ Roll) and has been performing/producing since then. He is most proud of creating Blue Star Music Camps where he and other touring musicians pass on their years of performing experience by teaching kids Rock & Roll .

Email: jimmydillon@comcast.net
Website: www.JimmyDillon.com