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Roni Bolton is one of the best examples of how life can be an amazing journey that takes you places you never could have expected. A Chicago native, Roni, an ambitious young woman, was already a Director of Promotions in insurance at the age of 23. After that she found herself in the beauty industry holding leadership roles in both marketing and business development. 

Always striving to advance her career, she began taking night classes to earn her MBA while her mother, battling breast cancer at the time, helped Roni, a single mom, by taking care of Roni’s young daughter. Although her mom unfortunately passed before her MBA was completed, Roni knows she’s beaming down at her prouder than ever. By the age of 34, Roni pivoted once again answering a calling to become a Registered Nurse. 

She now owns PSRx Body & Skin focused on aesthetics and also, as a mental health advocate, hosts Coffee Hip Hop & Mental Health. Her goal is to normalize therapy and help her patients understand that confidence first begins from the inside, aesthetics are just an enhancement. More than anything, she wants people to know that it never hurts to try something new and saying ‘yes’ to opportunities can truly transform your life.

Michael Reeder is passionate about business. A Chicago area native and accounting wiz, he purchased two small CPA firms, merged them into one and became a managing partner at the young age of 28. He went onto become a shareholder a few years later at 32 and built a business franchise consulting firm from the ground up. He is on a mission to provide business advice as much as he can to anyone in his network.

As passionate as Michael is about business, he's equally devoted to learning about and incorporating healthy lifestyle habits. Whether it's taking cold showers, meditating, or intermittent fasting; he's committed to make the sometimes difficult choice to optimize his life the best way he knows how. It's paid off for him, too. Within less than one year, Michael managed to lose nearly 80lbs and turn his life around.

https://www.tfocb.com/tfocb-podcast/michael-reeder

Moving to Chicago at 18, Katrina Roddy has always been a hustler with the mindset of an entrepreneur. She has spent over 30 years in the insurance industry educating and advising individuals on their personal insurance.

One of her favorite parts about this has been getting to work with Seniors. Katrina genuinely enjoys talking to Seniors in her community and hearing them regale her with stories from their own lives. While educating them on the healthcare system has been her main priority, she’s found that what truly helps them most is being a good listener.

After working in the corporate world for such a long time, Katrina realized she was ready to leave it all behind to start something of her own. Connecting the various parts of her past with her passion for helping and connecting with others she now focuses on coaching other entrepreneurs who have left the corporate world and are now left navigating their new lives.

A new author, you can find her book Steal your Skills from Corporate on Amazon. As an Accountability Coach, Katrina doesn’t only teach her clients how to use their corporate-taught skills in their own entrepreneurship but she’s also there for them to help them through the huge changes in their lives. Always on the grind, she lives by the same lesson she has taught her son, London: learning never stops. 

United States Marine Corps Veteran and South Side native Jesse Nuñez is a self-proclaimed “regular guy.” In his words, he hasn’t had any advantages in life but he has taken risks and made the most out of opportunities presented to him. Anyone who has met Jesse can attest that that has paid off. For over a decade, he has served as the Creator, Executive Producer, Director and Host of The Man Card Crew, a Chicago based home improvement show geared toward an Alpha male demographic.

A true entertainer and event promoter, Jesse also founded Elite Amateur Fight League (EAML) MMA where he provides opportunities for local fighters to compete on a televised MMA promotion to build their name and brand to become a legitimate professional athlete. To Jesse, chasing his dreams is a tribute to his father, someone who always had great ideas, but was always told to work for someone else to provide for his family. Jesse knows it makes his father ecstatic to see him making the most out of his own ideas and opportunities.

By way of Colombia and Louisville, Kentucky, Maria Puche planted her roots in Chicago three years ago. After graduating Summa Cum Laude from the University of Louisville, Maria began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a senior consultant working on major IPOs.

A desire to empower the black and brown communities of our diverse city coupled with Maria’s passion for financial literacy and independence led her to begin teaching individuals how to save, grow, and protect their money. She provides free literacy seminars and workshops to help enable these historically disenfranchised communities to advance their lives and financial freedom.

Her personal mission is to empower 1 million families with financial literacy and as Co-Host of Escuela de Finanzas, a weekly Facebook Live event, she is well on her way.

Brandon Burrell always tells his team, “if you’re hungry, go eat.” A South Side native, he is no stranger to the hustle. After receiving a Bachelor’s Degree from Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, Brandon found his passion consulting with aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners.

Taking what he’s learned as an Agency Owner and licensed insurance agent with PHP Agency, he consults other like-minded, hungry individuals by day, and mentors young adults by night. He finds opportunities to partner with different minority-based community initiatives to speak and guide the youth. Brandon strives to teach others that nothing comes to those who sit and wait; you can accomplish anything if you never take “No” as a final answer.

Stephanie Pineda lights up any room she walks into. One might say she embodies the Los Angeles sunshine from where she was born and raised and has brought that glow with her to Chicago. 

Having worked in the hospitality industry for over six years, Stephanie found a new family in the staff at Hampton Social. They’ve helped her settle into the Windy City and grow her new life. When she’s not spending time there or with her son, AJ, Stephanie hits the books at Cosmetology School at John Amico School of hair design. 

An open book and beautiful soul, Stephanie is inspired to help others through various tough situations by spreading messages of positivity, hope, and encouragement through her social media platforms. Most importantly, she shares her own stories of hardships, abuse, and the many painful moments she has experienced in the hopes that by sharing her story, she can help others cope and learn how to overcome their own hardships. She strives to teach others to never give up and never stop pursuing their dreams. Life is tough, but we have to find ways to continue to learn and grow.

Lauren Najar grew up in Northwest Indiana graduating from Purdue Calumet in 2010. Shortly after celebrating this milestone in her life, she lost both of her parents. Catapulted into post-graduate life navigating this massive loss, she found herself in Chicago working in the financial industry. For the past ten years, she has worked in retail banking while battling and surviving cancer twice.

Throughout the immense hurdles Lauren has overcome, she’s learned how to build a strong mindset to pursue what she truly wants to do in life. Thus, she created Lauren Najar Business Coaching hosting in-person and online meetups and workshops for women entrepreneurs locally in Chicago.

Due to her work teaching and empowering women, Lauren has been featured in four various Apple podcasts and she’s contributed to Thrive Global, Medium and other online publications. All through her journey, the one thing Lauren never doubts is that her parents, gone long before she began building her own business, would be incredibly proud to see their daughter pursuing her passion.

Jen Coffel is the CEO of Engaging Speakers, a successful business coach, a philanthropist, and a best-selling author of four books. She has been featured on Inc.com, ABC News, and the Chicago Tribune. Jen has been mentored by speaking icons like Jack Canfield, Nick Vujicic, and Sandra Yancey, and has spoken on stage to over 10,000 people.

With two decades of business experience, Jen built her first four businesses to six-figures each, all in under a year and all in different industries. She has now helped over a thousand entrepreneurs build their businesses, with many reaching six-figure and seven-figure revenues. Jen has an innovative and down to earth speaking style audiences love. Her speaking topics include: “5 Secrets to Transform Your Business Into a $100k Profit Center" and “Leveraging Speaking to Get All the Clients You Want in Half the Time.”

In her previous career, she developed the largest team in Illinois for a billion-dollar direct sales company, personally generating over $25 million in sales and raising over $1 million in donations for nonprofits. But she is most proud of founding her own international nonprofit, Handing Hope, which brings comfort and smiles to children battling cancer in twelve states and three countries around the world.

Jen resides outside of Chicago with her four incredible teenagers: Madison, Luke and Lindsey (twins), Abby, and of course the family dog “Raider.” She stays active between speaking engagements spending time in nature with her family, reading every book she can get her hands on, and serving in her faith-based ministry, “Beautifully Transparent.”

Originally from Centralia in Southern Illinois, Greg DeKalb has become quite the mover and shaker in Chicago focused on launching start-ups. After receiving his B.S. from Eastern University and an MBA from DePaul, Greg followed his entrepreneurial passion creating his own company, AppointmentsIQ, an on-demand sales and recruitment firm aimed at humanizing the process and encouraging engagement amongst decision makers.

Together with his long-time friend, Tony Paoella, he co-founded Tony P's Networking Events planning and executing energetic networking experiences all over Chicago that give professionals an opportunity to meet and make meaningful connections. Proven to be wildly successful, even if you haven't met Greg personally, chances are you've been to a Tony P event. While expanding the reach and depth of Tony P's to other networking groups like Green in Chi, he's also been busy scaling his solutions thus far nationwide by building a proprietary SaaS Digital Marketing Platform technology.

While he's not busy launching start-ups or spending time with his kids, Greg makes it a priority to give back to the Chicago community. He's currently a board member for St. Jude's Global Warriors and A Boy and His Dream Foundation. A big believer in the values that were instilled in him by his parents, Greg is committed to serve as an inspiration to his own kids reminding them to stay true to themselves, stay focused, and always create.