Photo: Flickr/Sean MacEntee

The story of a corporate denizen leaving her cubicle to start a small business has become common to the point of banality.

Usually, the subject sustains years of creative suffocation in a regimented, fluorescent-lit office building before breaking free to start a trendy restaurant or adorable clothing boutique.

The story of Ana Peterson, a professional home- and office-organizer, resembles this narrative arc, but it differs in an important way: she was quite happy as a big-company employee, thank-you-very-much. “I was very much into the corporate world,” Peterson said. “I was motivated and driven to make things happen within my division.”

But when Peterson’s company merged with another, the ensuing layoffs cost the Edison resident her job.

(more…)

Photos by Brendan McInerney

Bakers often chafe at the challenges their customers’ dietary restrictions present.

But Entrepreneur University graduate Michelle McFadden-DiNicola decided to embrace these restrictions and come up with delicious and creative treats geared toward a thankful niche market.

Before McFadden-DiNicola’s children were old enough for school, the Highland Park resident hosted with a friend daytime classes for mothers and their toddler-aged children.

Preparing daily snacks, among other tasks, was up to McFadden-DiNicola. Offerings like hen- and rooster-shaped biscuits pleased her customers for a while, but when vegan families began enrolling, she had to tinker with her recipe. Soon, she hit another roadblock: “It seems like everyone is allergic to gluten nowadays,” she said.

Dealing with dietary restrictions like these would push many hosts to scour the shelves of upscale grocery stores for inoffensive, hypoallergenic treats. But McFadden-DiNicola relished the challenge of crafting her own recipes free of the allergens and animal products her guests sought to avoid.

(more…)

Below are interviews with three of the more than 100 entrepreneurs who have received Intersect Fund loans since 2009. Our clients use their loan dollars for things like equipment, insurance, and supplies. Learn more about our loan program here.

Maximino Rodriguez is a barber looking to open his own shop.

In March of this year, Virginia Sanchez received an Intersect Fund loan to buy a new refrigerator for Danny’s Grocery and Deli, her store. The business is located at 240 Somerset Street, New Brunswick, NJ.

Fernando Gutierrez, also a barber, owners Ferdy’s Barber Shop, located at 412 Kearny Ave., Kearny, NJ.

A formally trained artist and architect, Janis Blayne-Paul puts her skills to work carving custom illustrations into small, stone squares.

Sometimes, the best way to find your niche is to think small.

That’s what Entrepreneur University graduate Janis Blayne-Paul did when she started her business, Karmic Stone, a few years ago. The Lambertville-based entrepreneur and former architect once expressed herself by designing big buildings. Now, she carves precise illustrations into small, flat stones no longer or wider than 16 inches.

(more…)