Kyle Smitley: The Right Mix Towards Success

Succeeding in business is always impressive. Add law school into the mix and you’re even more outstanding. So far, that’s what Barley and Birch founder Kyle Smitley has been able to achieve. And if she doesn’t get your nod of approval for those, she’ll also wow you with the fact that her business has a heart. Just because you’re a successful business doesn’t mean that you’re just about the money. In the case of Barley & Birch, Smitley follows a business model that highlights giving back. After making sure a business loan and her staff are paid, she donates over half of the profits of Barley & Birch to organizations she supports. One of these is CoCoDa, a non-profit organization promoting community development in Central America.

While she has her heart in the right place, Smitley actually didn’t know a thing about the apparel industry when she started Barley & Birch. What drove her to start the business is a summer internship in Washington, DC. She was an environmental science major and in 2007 she took part in an internship program where she researched on the side whether or not companies making organic products where indeed making them. What her research revealed compelled her to start her own line that was accountable to both the customer and the environment.

Barley & Birch offers clothes made only from 100% certified organic cotton. For pigments, only water-based inks are use so they don’t harm the environment. The company also ships from Ohio because it’s centrally located and thus reduces travel and the use of gasoline. For designs, Jodie Milmore worked with Smitley. An eco-friendly boutique for kids in Chicago, Green Genes, was the first to pick up the line and Barley & Birch’s first offering was sold out within its first couple of weeks.

John Tu: The King of Kingston Technology

John Tu is an American philanthropist and entrepreneur, the co-founder of multinational computer technology company Kingston Technology. Born in China and raised in Taiwan, Tu studied in Germany at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt before moving to California where he lives today. Before Kingston Technology was established, he started out with Camintonn which Tu co-founded with David Sun in 1982. In 1986, they sold the company to found Kingston Technology.

The company went through a bit of trouble in 1996, pushing Tu to sell 80% of Kingston Technology for $1.5 billion, $100 million of which were spent as bonuses for employees. This was done out of Tu’s belief that the success of a company lies more in the positive attitude of employees and not just the best technologies. After three years, Kingston Technology bounced back and allowed Tu to buy back all of the company in 1999. In 2011, Tu is recognized as the 130^th richest in the US and the 400^th in the world.

Natalya Luckyanova and the Success of Imangi Studios

Natalya Luckyanova founded Imangi Studios in 2008 with her husband Keith Shephard with the aim of creating fun games for people to enjoy. What started out as simply a dream job for the two has turned into a very profitable business, thanks to the success of Temple Run.  Temple Run was developed in 2011 and is one of the most popular games today for iOS and Android devices. While Imangi Studios also has other games in its roster, nothing quite compares to the kind of success that Temple Run has.

Before Imangi Studios, Luckyanova was in Harvard studying Physics and Chemistry. She got her start in the industry by stumbling upon a computer science course when she was in her third year. She fell in love with computer codes and moved on to get her MA at Boston University for computer science. After working as a software engineer, she put up Imangi Studios with her husband. Kiril Tchangov, Imangi Studios’ game artist, completes the trio behind the independent game company.

For Luckyanova, changing gears and diving into business was completely different from what anyone would have expected from her. Being a female in a male-dominated field, she understands that there’s a big market for women with gaming. In fact, 55% of those playing Temple Run are women. Though she is just one person, Luckyanova’s efforts are helping the industry realize the potential of targeting female players.

Imangi Studios is a self-funded company, meaning it’s all Natalya Luckyanova, Keith Shepherd, and Kiril Tchangov. Their very first creation was a word game called Imangi. When Imangi did well in the App Store, it was then that they decided that they could take things up a notch and create a real business out of it. After Imangi came Word Squares, Little Red Sled, Harbor Master (a Top Paid App), geoSpark, Max Adventure, Hippo High Drive, and, of course, Temple Run.

Aida: A Look into Vienna's Coffee Culture

Vienna, Austria is a city most associated with music, culture and the arts. But it is also a city that loves its coffee, as evidenced by the many independent coffee shops and also the coffee shop chains that can be found in it. Aida is one of Vienna's most popular cafes, serving a strong and loyal customer base even before World War II hit the city.

Aida operates 26 espresso bar and pastry shops throughout Vienna, opening from early morning until the evening. While the original Aida cafes were destroyed during the war, Aida has since gotten back on its feet through the leadership of Felix Prousek who took over the coffee chain's management. Aida has held true to its traditions, including interior design and coffee menu, refusing to compete with newer, more modern coffee establishments. With their staff still in pink uniforms and their interior a nostalgic portrait of an era gone by, Aida has managed to remain a cult classic in fair Vienna.

Victoria’s Secret: The World's Most Famous Lingerie Line

Perhaps no two other words have more power in the world of fashion and lingerie than these: Victoria's Secret. Instantly recognizable worldwide for its famous models, the highly popular and much-publicized annual Victoria's Secret fashion show and its wide selection of underwear, Victoria's Secret is arguably the world's most famous lingerie line to date, raking in billions in yearly revenues and jump-starting the careers of some of the planet's hottest women, including the likes of supermodels Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, Gisele Bundchen and Claudia Schiffer. It has been credited with transforming the public conception of lingerie from embarrassing to glamorous with its promotion of underwear as a sexy, mainstream necessity.

However bright the Victoria's Secret star may be today, it took a lot of hard work and persistence for the brand to gain the current fame and fortune it now enjoys. The company was founded in 1977 by Roy Raymond and his wife Gaye in San Francisco, California, when Roy himself found it embarrassing to shop for underwear for his wife. Raymond made a detailed study of the possible business niche in underwear, then launched Victoria's Secret initially as a place where men could buy underwear comfortably. The primary shop at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, California did well, allowing Victoria's Secret to expand to more locations. The company opened a mail-order catalogue and opened more shops. But in 1982, as Victoria's Secret headed towards bankruptcy, Raymond sold the company to Limited Stores Inc., where Leslie Wexner overhauled the brand to focus more on women shoppers.

The revamped Victoria's Secret was a hit, and Victoria's Secret became the first chain of lingerie stores in the USA, outselling department stores in underwear. It was also making millions in its mail-order catalogue. While the company was plagued with controversial quality issues in the nineties, Victoria's Secret held on and kept its head afloat, making a successful comeback in the early 2000s and forever changing the landscape of the lingerie industry. Its wildly popular marketing stunts in the form of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows and the introduction of Victoria's Secret Angels, an exclusive group of models who are the face of the brand. Now selling globally, with over a thousand company-owned stores in North America and the United Kingdom, Victoria's Secret is a powerhouse that will stay successful for a very long time.

Lisa Hoffman Beauty: Concocting Scents from Around the World

Lisa Hoffman (LH) Beauty is a lifestyle brand manufacturing and selling perfumes, bath and body products and fragrance jewelries. The owner, Lisa Hoffman, gets her inspiration from her numerous travels. She wants her products to transport the user to the places she’s been to. The line only has five choices of scents, making them rare and exclusive. These are Japanese Agarwood, Madagascar Orchid, Tuscan Fig, Tunisian Neroli and French Clary Sage. All of which are featured in LH Beauty’s eau de parfum, scented beads, perfume oil and body washes. Their fragrance jewelries include earrings, necklaces and bracelets. Each line of jewelry has pendants which serve as receptacle for the scented beads. One has a choice to buy a collection where all products from fragrances to the jewelries carry each of the five scents.

The company supports different causes such as the Race to Erase Multiple Sclerosis, Support our Troop, Breast Cancer Research and Rainforest Foundations.