Conversations with Celeri Network

The SBA has announced that the PPP loan program has funded 3.9 million businesses to date under the current pandemic of COVID-19. However, based on SBA’s data, there are 30.2 million businesses in the US that qualify, equating to only 13% of them actually receiving the funds.Many small businesses are furious they feel neglected and out of options. In order to help our audience and small business owners to further understand how to survive in the current environment, we have decided to welcome our very own Jon Lederer, VP of Sales. Based on his extensive experience with Fintech companies. Jon can further explain how Celeri Network, a leading lending startup, can support their customers and help them get the funding they need. Jon is an experienced sales professional who has worked with multiple start-ups and has been actively involved with PPP loans..

In this episode, Jon also clarify some points of being a person in the lending industry on questions and concerns related to PPP loans and SBA regulations. We also asked him what does his opinion on the current pandemic of COVID-19 and how is his prediction on the future business models in different industries. 

Coming Out As a Dalit, a book that is about reflection on experiencing in traditional Indian caste system and a powerful young woman's struggle by speaking out for herself. Yashica Dutt, the author behind this masterpiece, is currently working as an Associate Creative Director for Admerasia, one of the top multicultural advertising agencies in the states. By coming from a background of being a Dalit, Yashica becomes a strong model by coming to U.S by herself and graduated from renowned Journalism School from Columbia University in New York City.

In this episode, Yashica shared her struggles on growing up being faced with many discriminations towards her identity as a Dalit, and her passions of working in marketing industry. When she was young, she confronted her friends’ parents about her caste, which taught her an important lesson to speak out for herself. If you are interested in learning how to get into the marketing world or becoming a successful author, be sure to check out this episode.

The Main Tab, founded by Liseda Shelegu is the first and only high-end wholesale marketplace in the current marketa. We are honored to welcome her to share her experience as a successful female entrepreneur. Being in the sales industry since the last decade, she understands the struggle of finding the right platform for retailing and discovering potential wholesale and independent retailers; which inspired her to start The Main Tab.

In this episode, Liseda shared with us her mission as a female entrepreneur in this current society, and the struggles she encountered during this journey.  Although she was rejected by many investors during the early stages, it did not discourage Liseda from fulfilling her dream. Instead, she developed skill sets and some personal techniques which allowed her to flourish in the VC environment. From there she was able to launch many platforms, and collaborate with many authentic and independent boutique brands. If you are looking to be motivated by an inspirational story of a successful entrepreneur, you should not miss this episode.

Jennifer Geng, Jewelry Designer in New York City, who founded Jennifer Geng Design in 2012. Being a successful entrepreneur who is proud of serving great customer service and authentic design from her jewelry collection, She has experienced working in major jewelry design companies, such as Tiffany & Co. Having rejected her dream of being a fashion designer by her parents in her earlier age, she decided to utilize her great aesthetic and passion for design on diamonds and jewelry. She shared with us about her journey on being a jewelry designer, her knowledge of diamonds and jewelry, and her experience in working with different projects in the jewelry design industry. Regarding running a business in the jewelry design industry, Jennifer disclosed her secret of achieving success by learning from working with her father. If you are interested in getting into the jewelry or diamond design industry, you should not miss this episode!

Meet Labinot Krasniqi in Conversations with Celeri Network. We had the pleasure to discuss in detail his entrepreneurial journey as a restaurant business owner. In Kosovo, Labinot owns a variety of restaurants. He shares, his father was the biggest inspiration to join the hospitality industry. Being an expert and successful European restaurant business, he is currently the chief director and co-founder at Bon vivant. He also worked as a chocolatier, with Raaka Chocolate a New York (NYC) based chocolate company in Brooklyn. An interesting insight on chocolate he shares, his experience was very different in New York as he saw the different patterns of interest among consumers. He mentioned the variety is much broader in the US and he has a lot to learn. As a graduate in economics, business and management, he sure has a deep understanding of business and start-up culture. When asked, would he rather prefer taking business loans or using personal funds when setting up a business? He had a quick response. Check out the full video to know more in detail.

Sam Van, Former Associate Principle of FINRA, shares his experience of being a finance industry veteran and working in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Have you ever wondered what is the difference of financial markets globally? By working between Bahama and the United States due to his projects with Deltec, one of the biggest banks in Bahama, Sam shared with us his opinion with the financial market in both countries.

Aimed to help young entrepreneurs and business students to gain more resources on learning entrepreneurship, Conversations with Celeri Network asked Sam “What is a good advice you will give to aspiring entrepreneurs”? Sam recommended aspiring Fin-tech entrepreneurs or aspiring finance professionals to keep an open-mind. If you are seeking any advice from experienced finance professionals or inspiration to start your own finance related companies, be sure to check out what Sam actually said in the video.

In our 10th episode, we welcomed Isabella Yu, a blockchain consulting expert. Isabella is a Managing Partner of KoinEra, a blockchain consulting agency in New York, which leaves her with much experience in the blockchain world. Graduated with a degree in Mathematics and growing up with parents who are both traders in China, Isabella has shown great interest in finance and technology. Being an early adapted trader since 2013, she shares her experience by running an investment firm with a focus on blockchain technology and digital assets. According to Forbes, approximately 5% of the crypto enthusiasts are women and 17% start-ups are led by females. Isabella shares the challenges she faced in this industry for being a woman and how she overcame those challenges. Isabella also shared that she believed since the fintech industry is the combination of finance and technology, she has faced “double troubles”. Check out for this episode if you are interested in learning blockchain investment, cryptocurrency, or being a cryptocurrency trader- you will surely love Isabella’s interview!

Today, we are honored to have Gentian Mazreku, also known as “George”, a successful small business owner in New York, and CEO of G’s Carpet Cleaning. Gentian started to work in the industry at the age of 15 and decided to open his own company at the age of 27. By managing to successfully develop a great presence on Instagram and collaborating with influencers on Instagram, G’s Carpet Cleaning has become one of the most popular house cleaning services in the Tri-States. Insisted on using plant-based products to clean his clients’ houses, Gentian showed us his strength and vision as a successful entrepreneur in New York. He not only shared his takeaways in life to aspiring young entrepreneurs but has also taught those aspiring entrepreneur lessons on utilizing more resources when they need, such as business loans for startups. Do you want to know his secret on surviving after being jobless in the first few months in his startup? Do you want to know how to survive as a small business in New York?If you are a fan of G’s Carpet Cleaning’s Instagram account or seeking success stories from an entrepreneur who has a struggling past, you would not want to miss this episode!

Today's episode, we have Wilfred Daye, who was a former head of quantitative trading in UBS Investment Bank. Starting his career as a CMBS desk analyst at Lehman Brothers, Wilfred combined his interest in trading and his scientific quantitative background into making his a name in the industry. If you look at his career so far, you would be impressed like us. Having three different degrees, one is Ph.D in Molecular Pathology from University of Southern California (USC), Wilfred has dedicated himself a lot in science, which later evolved into his sharp perspective into this competitive trading and quantitative financial market. Besides his scientific academic background, Wilfred shared to us his opinion on business lending, his experience of working in UBS and Lehman Brothers, and his opinion on current technology and finanical world.If you would like to know what’s working as head of quantitative trading in UBS and Wilfred Daye’s future projects, you shouldn’t want to miss this episode.

If you ask whoever is the best in knowing the cash flow of a big corporate or small business, an accountant is your go-to man. In this episode, we have invited an experienced Certified Public Accountant, Philip Kempisty, who has experience in working at a major accounting firm, and owns a personal accounting firm himself. Have you ever wondered what an accountant's life is like in reality ? For our small business and entrepreneur audience, Philip is going to share any advice and improvement to file taxes during the tax season. Besides mentioning the things a person needs to be careful when handling tax-related situations, he also disclosed his opinion on business loans for small business based on expertise in the accounting field, and whether he would regret being an accountant. As a podcast that is aimed to bring inspiration and assistance for small business owners, we would like them to get a great insight for Tax Season 2020. If you are those who are considering majoring and starting a career in accounting, this should be a great resource for you to understand the industry insight.