Tri Town Advice Givers: Interviewing Our Brightest Minds | Thought-leaders | Business Owners | Entrepreneurs | Mark Borst

Summary Sarah Coulter was working as the senior program manager for the Millennium Reserve when the steering committee gave her the charge to start working on the development of a bi-state nonprofit entity. In January of 2017, Calumet Collaborative was officially started. Now Coulter has projects in four focus areas to address the region’s challenges. There […]

Summary Rachel Delaney believes it is the mission of every person to make a difference. Born to teenage parents who divorced when she was young, Delaney moved around a lot, but she remembers what animals meant to her when she was a child. She began spending all her free time volunteering at the shelter despite […]

Summary Jennifer McMullin and her mother had spent a few years looking for something they could do as their own business that interested them both. When McMullin fell in love with escape rooms after a visit to her brother, they knew they had found their business. They have only been open for about a year, […]

Summary Katie Sannito developed her passion for food from a young age, learning to cook the things that her great-grandfather, a chef, made in his restaurant. To her Italian family, food is everything. She enjoys meeting new people, and has now married her passion of sharing good food experiences with the people she meets to […]

Summary By the time Jim Slavo was a sophomore in high school, his family had moved so often that he’d gone to nine different schools. The result was that he became skilled at communicating and making friends. Just after turning sixteen, Slavo learned that he was going to be a father and knew he had […]

Summary It took Elizabeth Steel about six months to convince Annette Mckeown to go into business together and they co-found Smalltown Coffee. As Steel always says, “I can do anything I want,” and she eventually said it enough times to convince Mckeown. The two women were living in separate states at the time, so they […]

Summary Chef Kate only opened Green is Good by Kate about four months ago, but she’s been working in restaurants since she was sixteen years old. More recently, she’s catered events, sold food items each week at a local health foods store, and sold in farmer’s markets in Crown Point. It’s been a slow transition […]

Summary  Indiana native and architect Kevin Tempelman started Region Wear in 2015 to showcase regional pride in the area. Now he has a growing business, a social media presence, and ideas to test out new products.  Time-Stamped Show Notes  [00:00] Introduction and background of Kevin Tempelman, creator of Region Wear. [03:45] Lifestyle brand. [05:15] Creativity […]

Summary Ron Papke, a man on a journey to inspire others and be the best man he can be, started Quality Carpet Care in 2003 after a chance truck-borrowing incident. It wasn’t until he narrowed his focus in 2010 that the business took off, but today they are going strong. Time-Stamped Show Notes [00:00] Introduction […]

Summary Northwest Indiana native Jeff Meyers began working at his family’s insurance company over a Christmas break from Indiana State University. Eleven years later, he’s the Chief Operations Officer of a now merged two family business. Jeff attributes being successful in the COO role, to his strict adherence to Policies and Procedures. We also touch […]

Summary Country boy Dr. Bob Newhalfen became interested in chiropractic after receiving help from his basketball team’s athletic trainer, who was also a chiropractic. He graduated from chiropractic school in 2010, and by 2015, he had opened his own practice, Northwest Indiana Chiropractic in Schererville, IN. Today, he has three offices with four chiropractors, one of […]

Summary William Ruff always marched to the beat of a different drum, and that has taken him on some interesting journeys in his seventy-one years on this planet. As the world’s leading hydrothermal physiologist, Ruff, founder of Applied Medical Technologies Inc., has developed technology to help address a multitude of breathing issues and lung ailments. […]

  Summary Health nutritionist and personal coach Jeannine Quigley shares her story of being a teacher turned wellness professional. Using her own personal work ethic and healthy lifestyle training, she transforms her clients and others with her personal coaching and wellness tips. Quigley discusses this transformation and her continual search for better and more nutritional […]

Summary A mother/daughter business duo has established their unique brand of goods in Crown Point. Though the two sell vastly different products, the end result is a complementary mesh of style and function. Celebrating their first year of business, Mink 64 owner Kristen La Rocca dishes out advice on entrepreneurship, motherhood, and perseverance Links/Resources/Sponsors Mentioned: […]

As a business owner myself, I had an interest in meeting other smart business owners and fascinating entrepreneurs. When I started to reach out to these people and started talking to them, I realized others needed to hear their stories too. These are experts in their respective fields, smart and intelligent, not to mention, many […]