Founders Story

Isaiah Tatum and Noel Stemn started their business in Tatum’s basement, with the two longtime friends juicing fruits and vegetables and coming up with new recipes for fresh, healthy and delicious juices and smoothies.Now, the pair has its own store, Woo Juice, which is located in the Midtown Mall in downtown Worcester.Tatum and Stemn met in middle school at the Nativity School of Worcester and have been friends ever since. They always knew they wanted to start a business together, but weren’t...

Today we are joined by Joe Astrella and Vinny Astrella founders of Rocco's Doughnut Company. The Astrella family has always been involved with doughnuts in one way or another, whether it was with Joe's father, Rocco, being an original Dunkin franchise owner, or other family members owning doughnut shops throughout Massachusetts. Since the beginning, Joe has involved his children, Vinny, Dominic, and Kerri and now they are the future of Rocco’s. The rich family history is what inspires them to...

Today we are joined by Todd Snopkowski Co-Founder and CEO of SNAPchef. SNAPchef is New England’s premier on-demand hospitality training and staffing solution, connecting job seekers to job opportunities. Founded by chef Todd Snopkowski and his wife Daniela. The idea for SNAPchef is a culmination of years of experience and recognizing the gap in the availability of qualified, supplementary staff. It is because of their passion to fill this need within the industry that SNAPchef was born and ha...

Today we are joined by Michael Jones, CEO and Luke Magnan, COO from Combined Ratio Solutions. They specialize in insurance technology software that allows insurance companies to better leverage their relationships with agents to increase profitability. They meet during a business trip, started a company, and had venture capital funding pulled out from under them right before they were expecting to launch; but then went on to build a business of over 100+ employees in four short years! Have a ...

Today we are joined by David O'Donnell, Chairman and Founder of The Patriot Financial Group. David was in the financial business for 20 years before he had the vision of what The Patriot Financial Group would become. Over the past 18 years, David has grown Patriot Financial Group to 89 representatives across 9 states and is one of the largest financial groups in the area. His vision of building teams of different expertise and independence was the innovative he saw for the financial service i...

Drink Well, Do Good! Today we are joined by Troy Milliken, one of the founders of Seven Saws Brewing Company. The idea for starting the brewery happened when the founders of Seven Saws Brewing Company were talking around a fire pit about how their community needed a place to hang out. A place where people would actively engage with one another all while drinking a refreshing locally brewed beer. That is when Troy Milliken, Tom Anderson, Thomas Mulroy, Paul Mulroy, and soon after Greg Ce...

Today we are joined by Tory Gisleson, Owner of True North Personal Training. They are formerly known as True North Performance Training. Tory started his career as an infantry Marine, after he finished his service in the Marines he worked security. While working in security he got his personal trainer certificate and started working with Mike Covino. This is what leads Mike and Tory to partner together to open True North Performance Training and eventually create a performance race team known...

Today we are joined by Casey Cormier, President of Angel-GUARD Products and US Tool and Fastener. Casey talks about growing up with Angel-GUARD and doing a little bit of everything within the company. He discusses why they originally started working with the Center of Hope as a way to give back to the community and trying to figure out ways to keep their workers employed year-round. Casey also shares how they went through the purchasing process of US Tool and Fastener and how important it was...

Today we are joined by Karim El-Gamal and Michael Kasseris founders of The Rail Trail Flatbread Co., New City Microcreamery, and Less Than Greater Than all of which are located in downtown Hudson, MA. Karim and Michael have always been in and around the restaurant business growing up, and when they met at Babson College getting their MBA's they hit it off. They were bouncing around different ideas before finally landing on the idea of opening a pizza restaurant, and the rest...

Have you ever been put in a situation where you had to change all of your life's goals in an instant? Greta found herself in such a situation near the end of high school when she became pregnant, though this isn't where Greta's story ends. She hustled and worked hard to get her college degree and reimagined a new dream that would work with her new situation in life. She battled against the adversity of not only being a woman in a man dominated field but also being an immigrant that had to tea...