Success Stories

Helping Others Feel Internal Alignment

Since Stefanie was a teenager, she has been passionate about helping others improve their overall health. When she was 13, her father had a life-threatening heart attack. He was told he could only hope to live for one year.  “He decided to do everything in his power to challenge the odds by doing what seemed impossible. He changed his life, including diet, exercise, and stress management,” shares Stefanie. “The outcome was that he lived 18 more years! It was evidence that behavior change made a real difference in the quality and length of one’s life,” she adds.

That experience changed his life—and Stefanie’s. 

“I realized the connection between behavior, mindset, health, and longevity – the quality of life,” she recalls. “I was very intrigued with the mind-body connection and the ways we need to continue to move and create health in our lives. I decided to become a psychologist who focused on health.” With hard work and determination, Stefanie became a doctoral-level trained psychologist, a public health epidemiologist, a medical researcher, and a medical yoga therapist.

She works with individuals and organizations to improve health outcomes through behavioral change. Her work begins when help is beyond the reach of medications and surgeries. “The key to a healthier life is making behavioral changes,” she says.

Stefanie uses her expertise to teach people living with chronic conditions techniques they can use to achieve the best quality of life and work. She also helps clinicians and organizations transform the lives of their clients, residents, employees, and customers through professional development training. “My goal is to help people see the need for new health habits and translate their health goals into actionable steps leading them to better health,” she explains. “By taking these steps, clients learn to sleep better and reduce stress and pain to experience a healthier life.”

“Very few health psychologists work directly in the community. Most of them are tucked away deep in the inner sanctums of hospitals,” she explains. “Once pharmaceuticals and surgeries can no longer take a person further, then it’s up to the individual and the organization to work on behavior change.”

 In health behavior change, Stefanie saw an opportunity for herself to begin to minimize health disparities as it fills a crucial need in the medical system and our communities. “There’s a tremendous need and interest in health behavior change,” she says. “But this type of knowledge isn’t available nearly enough in our medical system or our communities. I constantly see opportunities. That’s when I knew I wanted to start this type of business. Everywhere I went, I could see an application.”

 In 2017, Stefanie launched At One LLC and stepped into a President and Founder role. Now, she’s learning how to integrate her decades of knowledge into business ownership—a challenge for someone in the healthcare field. “After incorporating in 2017, I spent the first couple of years focused on researching my market position, piloting programs, and conducting assessments to see what services would be viable. My expertise is not in business. Everything I needed to do to move forward involved business skills and knowledge,” she admits.

 “My field is about being of service, and I wanted to maintain that ethical bent of providing high-value service to people and organizations in need. But I wanted to do it with the same acumen and expertise I learned in my primary profession, and I wanted to be a skillful businessperson to be part of my business,” Stefanie adds.

Stefanie knew she needed outside assistance to help her business evolve. She started connecting with local resources, including the Connecticut District Small Business Administration. In 2018, she won their Microenterprise of the Year award. The same year, she was nominated for a Research Innovation and Leadership award at the Connecticut Technology Council Women of Innovation® awards.

 In 2022, she joined the Entrepreneurial & Women’s Business Center’s (EWBC) Small Business Technical Assistance Program, where they helped with important elements of her business, like designing her website. “They offered the exact kinds of programs I needed: How do you start your business? How do you do your finances? It’s not only the courses but also the business advising I found helpful,” she says.

The pandemic forced a shift, as it did with many businesses, so working in person was no longer an option. “I decided I wanted about 75% of my business to be online. I saw it was a way to reach more people, whether they had major health problems or had difficulty traveling,” she continues. “I could scale to reach groups of people and more of them than in person. I was able to make a greater impact by going online versus working with people one by one.” 

Stefanie is beginning to develop new online training, classes, and workshops. Her relationship with the EWBC is also continuing.  “The EWBC helps me find great resources and business consultants,” she notes. “I’m currently working on more marketing.”

In terms of business advice, Stefanie recommends utilizing resources. “It’s important to go to where the experts are,” she underscores. “It’s appealing to ask friends and family members who may have had business experience but they don’t have the expertise and the impartiality. My field didn’t prepare me for business ownership, “she adds. “I didn’t learn about how to go into business—and I wasn’t going to get that by asking my aunt or uncle.”

Stefanie is grateful for her involvement with the EWBC. “They’ve provided me with a skillset and support and mentorship,” she says. “If you’ve never done something like starting your own business, having people walk with you is tremendously valuable.”

Empowering a Sisterhood of Successful DJs

Qiana Coachman-Strickland has found success as DJ Q-Boogie, and she’s paying it forward by helping other women in the industry.

It isn’t easy to build a thriving business in the entertainment industry, but Qiana Coachman-Strickland is mastering it by balancing two worlds—real and virtual—throughout the pandemic.

Also known as DJ Q-Boogie, Qiana has been deejaying full-time since August 2019—and she’s quickly become one of the most popular DJs in the Greater Hartford area. She has deejayed and hosted events including The State of Health Equity Among Boys and Men of Color Summit presented by the UConn Health Disparities Institute, and she earned the title of Sound Artist through a commissioned soundscape project for the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center.

“My background is in insurance. I’d always worked in the insurance industry,” she said. “But I love music and dancing and making people happy, so about 14 years ago I started learning how to DJ while providing a platform for DJs to showcase their skills at the same time.”

As she worked her full-time job and honed her craft, Qiana began promoting and showcasing her DJ skills—and she was a hit. She got regular bookings for events, and for several years she kept up her DJ gigs while still working at her insurance job. Finally, in 2019, she was ready to leave that job and build her business as a full-time DJ.

Unfortunately, it was only a few short months later that the pandemic shut down all in-person events, a development that upended Qiana’s new business. But by connecting with Entrepreneurial Center & Women’s Business Center, she was able to make some new contacts and stay positive. “They offered a lot of different webinars in social media and marketing that were really helpful,” she recalled.

Qiana was also invited to join virtual panels like Women of Color in Business and Women on the Move, alongside other women business owners. She says opportunities like those helped her to stay inspired and empowered.

Now that in-person events are starting to pick up again, Qiana is positioned to thrive. Galas, weddings, fundraising events, and women’s empowerment events are all back in action, and attendees are ready to dance and enjoy the DJ Q-Boogie experience. “Live events are definitely coming back, so my business is doing well,” she said. “And I’m continuing to stay connected and get bookings for virtual events from clients around the world.”

Qiana has experienced first-hand how hard it can be for a woman to make it in the field of deejaying, so she has decided to expand her focus and develop tools to support and educate other women who want to be DJs. “When I first started learning how to DJ, there weren’t a lot of female DJs that I could turn to,” she said. “We have different experiences and situations from the male DJs, and we have to learn to handle things differently.”

She is in the process of building a platform especially designed to help female DJs, whether they are aspiring, new, or experienced. Qiana is the founder the Female DJ Association, an organization to empower and inspire women in the industry. “It’s a place to help them grow and build their skills as well as their businesses,” she said. “And I’ve also just started a podcast called ‘She’s the DJ’ where we interview female DJs and business owners, and we talk about their journeys, mindset, family, and of course, music.”

Through its Small Business Technical Assistance Program, the Center also connected Qiana with an expert who helps to design educational courses, so developing a course for female DJs is next on her agenda. She envisions all these pieces coming together to create a community of support and resources for women in the industry.

“I want to create a space where women will be comfortable asking questions,” she said. “I want to be able to help them with everything from branding to building their businesses to developing and improving their DJ skills. I want to be able to serve the female DJ community with anything that has to do with the business of deejaying.”

Bringing the Neighborhood Together for a Scoop and a Smile

Chantell Boissiere-Kelly’s ice cream shop is a vibrant gathering place for her Hartford community.

When Chantell Boissiere-Kelly and her husband sat down to talk about their dream of opening a business, they knew they wanted to find a way to serve their community in Hartford. As both a teacher and a mother, Chantell looked for inspiration in family activities, and she considered the kinds of things that she and her family liked to do together. “I thought about the fact that we’d travel to another town to get ice cream, because there were really no local ice cream shops in our area,” she recalled. “When we had our children, I felt like I wanted to have something more in our community that we could be proud of. Ice cream is just something that makes people feel good!”

So in 2018, Chantell and her husband opened Capital Ice Cream. They wanted to create a place where families, friends, and colleagues can gather and enjoy a little uninterrupted fun together. “Everybody is so distracted,” she said. “We’ve lost a lot of that sacred time of just being together. So I feel so much joy when I see families, or just people in general, sitting and having conversations, enjoying each other’s company.”

Shortly after she launched the business, Chantell came to the Entrepreneurial Center & Womens’ Business Center (EC-WBC) for some guidance, thanks to a referral from a friend in her church. She says they provided help in many aspects of managing her business. “We had a lot of conversations about pricing and profitability, and different ways that I could increase my revenue. We talked about marketing and events, and we started using social media. They are a resource for basically anything I need!”

Chantell’s joyful, colorful gathering place hit a major obstacle in 2020 when the pandemic hit. All of a sudden, bringing people together—one of the biggest goals at Capital Ice Cream—just wasn’t possible. Chantell and her husband had to pivot in their business strategy, so they moved to more online selling. They allowed people to order in advance and then safely pick up their ice cream outside the store. It was a difficult time, but Chantell says there were some bright spots. “People just wanted to get out and do something to enjoy themselves, so I saw a lot of kindness and a lot of patience,” she said. “And through being online, we reached people from other areas outside of Hartford, too. So we had people traveling from other parts of the state to visit us. That might not have happened prior to the pandemic.”

Even though they made the move to online ordering and were even able to reach some new customers, the pandemic was still a rough time for businesses like Capital Ice Cream. Thanks to assistance from the EC-WBC, they were able to access pandemic relief funds to help make up for the lost revenue, and now they are back and buzzing in their Frog Hollow community.

“I’m proud that we’ve not only been able to create something in our own community that’s a cool and happy place to be, but we’re also showing kids that it can be owned by somebody who looks like the people in the neighborhood,” she said. “That was important to my husband and me. So when I see people there having fun, and kids being silly, that brings me a lot of joy.”

Chantell is happy to have the EC-WBC on her team as her business grows. “I know that any time I have a question, I can call them and they’ll help me find the information or guide me to the right place,” she said. “I feel like I have my own team backing me up that wants to see me succeed, which is a beautiful thing. They completely have my back and want to see me win. They understand my vision and my passion, and they're there with me every step of the way, helping me figure out what the next best move is.”

Reaching the Height of Fashion

Troy Anthony is a designer who’s getting attention in the fashion capitals of the world, and he hopes his story will inspire other creative spirits to dream big.

Troy Anthony’s dream of being a fashion designer has taken him from city street corners to the runways of Paris and Milan. As the founder of Troy Anthony Fashion, he’s had to work hard, stay focused, and take risks in order to build the foundation of his unique and successful fashion line.

Troy studied fashion design in college, and after he earned his bachelor’s degree, he got the opportunity to continue his studies in Milan, Italy. “Everybody was telling me I should go work for a big company, a big designer,” he recalled. “But I chose to go the entrepreneurial route. That’s just who I am. I’ve always had that entrepreneurial spirit.”

He started out with a few friends, making clothes and selling them on street corners. His designs had to be simple, because he and his friends didn’t have a lot of money for fabric. They made up for that with creativity, using what they had to craft looks that reflected what was hot in fashion at the time—and their efforts were successful. “We were probably the only vendors at the time with a credit card machine on the street corner!”

From there, they set up shop in a flea market. That gave Troy more space and flexibility to show off his talents, and he built up a steady clientele. As time passed, though, his friends started to get married and pursue other aspects of their lives—but Troy was committed to the business. He continued to build his client base and his contacts in the fashion world, and it wasn’t long until he had the opportunity to participate in Hartford Fashion Week.

“That was a great success,” Troy said. “I got to meet and collaborate with a lot of other local designers and artists. I was really able to build up a name for myself. And that’s where I met the people from the Entrepreneurial Center & Women’s Business Center.”

Troy credits the Entrepreneurial Center & Women’s Business Center with being there for him through many stages of his business. He says Shelli McMillen and Jack Antonich provided valuable guidance that helped him set up the foundation of Troy Anthony Fashion. “They really helped me figure out how to develop a business plan, like a roadmap to follow so I don’t get lost.” More recently, Jeannette Dardenne has helped him secure media coverage.

Over the last couple of years, Troy Anthony Fashion has garnered worldwide attention. In 2021, Troy was invited to take part in Paris Fashion Week. The pandemic climate made him a little hesitant at first, but he realized that this was something he simply couldn’t pass up. “I just had a talk with myself. I told myself that I’m not going to get an opportunity like this every day. I had to jump on it. I had to put myself out there.”

So in early 2021, Troy debuted his Spring/Summer 2022 collection in Paris. He called that collection Angelic because he says the whole experience made him feel like his guardian angels were watching over him. The collection was well-received, and it put Troy Anthony Fashion on a new level of prominence and visibility.

When he returned home, local news outlets were eager to share his story of success on such a big stage. He appeared on television on a show called CT Live on NBC Connecticut. Troy says that was a great experience, because they highlighted his early struggles on his path to success. “As I was growing up, I stuttered and had a hard time expressing my ideas. I wanted to tell people about that, and how I found a way to use my voice to express myself.”

Being a role model is important to Troy, and sharing his personal story is one way to do that. “My goal is to inspire people like me who are dreamers. Whether you want to be in a creative field or a technical field, or you want to be an entrepreneur, my message to those folks is don’t allow people to pin you down or put you in a certain category. Go out there and pursue your dream.”

Troy’s reputation in the fashion world continues to grow. He was invited back to Paris Fashion week this year to showcase another collection, and this time he has added Milan Fashion Week, as well. The event in Milan is happening in late February, and then Paris Fashion Week will be in March. “I’ve got my work cut out for me!” he said.

Troy is quick to acknowledge the Entrepreneurial Center & Women’s Business Center for its role in positioning his business for success. “They have given me so much guidance and a lot of good ideas,” he said. “We put together a business plan, and they helped me get all my paperwork in order. They’ve helped me to build my brand and market myself online, and when I wanted to renovate my store space, they helped me secure a couple of grants to finance that. There have been a few roadblocks along the way, but they’ve been there for me, and I’m really grateful.”

If you love what you do, why change?

Yahaira Rodriguez wanted to  become an entrepreneur and she thought that would mean leaving human services work behind. the Women's Business Center helped her create a business doing the work she enjoys.

The road to becoming an entrepreneur and business owner usually has a lot of twists and turns. Yahaira Rodriguez knows that well. She comes from a background in human services, holding an associate’s degree in the field and working in shelters and group homes for more than a dozen years. In 2018, though, she decided she wanted to do something different with her life—but it wasn’t exactly clear to her what that would be.

She initially wanted to open a jewelry store, and she turned to the Entrepreneurial Center & Women’s Business Center to help her figure out how to get started. She remembers that Shelli McMillen and Lacey Banks McGill took the time to help her determine if that really was the best path forward. “They told me that jewelry stores were really common, and I should think about doing something else,” Yahaira recalled. “They told me something that really stuck with me. I should find something that would make a difference and that people would talk about.”

Yahaira took a step back and thought about that advice. She mulled it over for a couple of months, with Shelli reaching out to her periodically to see how the decision was coming. Finally, it became clear. “One day, I just said, ‘Shelli, I want to do what I’m doing right now.’ Helping people is my dream, and once I really started working on this business, everything came together. I was able to develop my own day program for people with intellectual disabilities.”

It’s understandable that Yahaira would come back to human services work once she took time to consider her options. She initially got into the field because of her experiences growing up with a brother who had special needs. “My mother adopted my brother at seven months old, and he has intellectual disabilities,” she said. “I saw there was a need in the community, and I saw a lot of discrimination and lack of services. I saw my mom struggling, so helping became my biggest dream.”

Yahaira was matched with mentor Elaine Thomas-Williams, who coached her in every aspect of getting the business off the ground. She started out by putting together a business plan, something that Yahaira says she really needed guidance on. She needed to get everything in place for the business, including funding to show financial stability, before she could take on the difficult process of getting licensed. “Elaine made it happen,” she said. “I needed everything. We worked together to come up with the business name, the tax ID number, and the right insurance. Then she helped me get the funding. She found a lender, and I’ve been working with them since last year.”

The pandemic shutdown slowed Yahaira’s progress, but finally it was time for her to complete her DDS (Department of Developmental Services) licensing. That process included an interview that she found challenging. “They denied me at first. I had some trouble with my expression in the interview, but I was nervous. Who isn’t going to get nervous, having 11 people interview you? You feel like you’re in a courtroom.” She appealed the denial decision, and with support from Elaine and Shelli, Yahaira won her case and got full approval for her business.

Only Smiles Adult Day Services LLC officially opened on January 3, with offices on Farmington Avenue in Hartford. As a DDS qualified human services agency, they work directly with people with intellectual disabilities. Yahaira is doing the work she loves, assisting with job coaching, recreation, nutrition, financial skills, and other life skills to help adults with intellectual challenges live full and productive lives.

A jewelry store might have been simpler to open, but in the end, Yahaira decided to take a more difficult route to truly fulfill her passion to help others. She says the Entrepreneurial Center & Women’s Business Center deserves a lot of the credit for helping her make it over the hurdles along the way. “This business has been like a dream come true,” she said. “I’d never done a business plan, and I didn’t know anything about a website or all the business policies you need to have. I’m glad I followed their advice to find a business that makes a difference and gets people to talk about me. It was the right decision, and now everything is coming together.”