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When I think of innovation, the first person to come to mind is Louis Foreman, founder and chief executive of Enventys (www.enventys.com).  The company is an integrated product design and engineering firm which under one roof provides the services needed for a person to take an idea to the marketplace.   Enventys is based in Charlotte, N.C. but also has offices in Hong Kong and currently has 65 employees.  You may have seen Louis on the Emmy® Award winning PBS-TV show, Everyday Edisons which he created and continues to serve as executive producer and lead judge.

Louis graduated from The University of Illinois with a Bachelors of Science degree in economics. His interest in starting businesses and developing innovative products began while a sophomore with his first company founded in his fraternity room, called Competitive Edge Sports, where he sold lacrosse equipment.  Over the past 20 years he has created five successful start-ups and has been directly responsible for the creation of dozens of others. A prolific inventor, Louis is the inventor of nine registered U.S. Patents and his firm is responsible for the development and filing of well over 150 more.

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Vaune Charles is an accomplished dance historian, technician, choreographer, instructor, performer, storyteller, costume designer and seamstress.  Vaune is a graduate of the Cincinnati School for the Creative and Performing Arts and Alvin Ailey American Dance Center.  Additional training affiliations include: University of Cincinnati Corbett Center of Performing Arts, Southern Illinois University Dunham Dance Department, CoSaan African Dance Company, International African American Ballet, Muntu Dance Theatre & African American Dance Ensemble. She received extensive training in Ballet, Horton, Graham, traditional and contemporary Jazz and African, Dunham & Tap dance techniques. She has worked extensively within the arts for many nonprofit organizations for over thirty years and was the program director of arts education for Muntu Dance Theatre of Chicago for 12 years. Awards and special recognition include: Black Women’s Caucus honoree for Academic Excellence, Black Theatre Alliance best costume design Fat Tuesday & All That Jazz, Rites & Rituals, and Woloba for Muntu Dance Theatre, City of Aurora Certificate of Appreciation. Memorable performances include: Jacob’s Pillow with Muntu, the movie “Believers” director John Schlesinger, Anti-Apartheid dancer for Stevie Wonder Circle Tour, Cervatino Festival in Vera Cruz Mexico, Brighton Festival in England, Dance Festival in Scotland, Ghana Panafests.

Tell me a little about yourself?

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An interview with Patrice Perkins, Founder Lifestyle Zen

www.mylifestylezen.com/ www.thelzgroup.com

I worked full time through law school, and was already employed at my almost-dream job. I was perfectly happy at the job, but also had an entrepreneurial spirit that began to tug at me. I’ve always had an interest and passion for everything creative, so that’s who I connect with the most, and who tends to be in my network. Most of the creative entrepreneurs that I knew lacked an attorney for their business. Having an undergraduate degree in economics (and being a bit of a nerd), I fully recognized the full potential, and the significant role that “creative” play in our society. On the same token, there was still this “starving artist” mentality and very old-school perspective that artists and creative people make money by doing. I recognized that the changing digital landscape creates new opportunities for artists to earn passive income. I wanted to serve the community of creative entrepreneurs, by creating a boutique law firm just for them. I developed my business plan and launched a blog to get my brand out there while working. Once I was ready, I took the giant step into full-time self-employment, working to protect the dreams, brands and work of my clients.

So take me in the day of the Life of Owner of Lifestyle Zen LLC?

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Posted by: Sacha Blalock

An interview with LaToya Renae Porter, a lifestyle brand entrepreneur who specializes in small business support.

Q: What is your start up story?

My start-up was quite circumstantial. I had been laid off in 2009/2010 at the height of our modern day “economic depression” I was laid off and subsequently left Chicago for the much cheaper cost of living state of WI. The job market was horrible with more lay-off and companies collapsing than hiring in any state. During my down time, my mentor and “aunt” Emmy award winning Rae Lewis-Thornton recruited my help in planning the 1st ever Chicago HIV/AIDS tweet-up. What started as me simply drafting a few letters, soon turned into me being the lead event marketer designing flyers, securing sponsorships and leading a team in the execution of the event. ALL from my cell phone and laptop.

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