"Steve Burke helped us clarify what we needed to do to achieve our goals,” said Kristina Orille, financial and creative director of Verde Organic Body, a holistic health, personal training, massage and yoga studio that she and her husband incorporated in November 2016. "
Kristina and Michael Orille
TACOMA, Wash.—The Great Recession may have knocked the construction industry on its heels, but architectural firms didn’t escape unscathed either. Architect Jennifer Weddermann left one firm in 2008 in search of more professional challenges just before the recession hit, and then was laid off from two different firms over the next 12 months. That’s when … Read more
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – After working for mid-sized building contractors since the early 2000s, three longtime friends and colleagues were inspired to start a company that focused on building lasting relationships while easing the burdens that inevitably come with construction projects. Saul Whitworth, Kenny Nichol and Elke Stevens started Ethos West Construction, Inc., to extend their … Read more
PULLMAN, Wash. – DJ Goldfinger and Molly Golden have a heart for large-scale hospitality whose innovation and service attract first-time customers and then convert them into lifelong fans. The partners – in marriage and business – had worked 15 years at the popular college dance bar Stubblefields when it was forced to close in August … Read more
"Sarah’s advising has given me confidence to keep going,” said Marquez Henderson, who has owned his wholesale printing business for about a year. “She affirmed my direction and helped me find what I needed. She has helped make what could have been a difficult process go very well."
Marquez Henderson
WASHOUGAL, Wash. – Family-owned Green Flush Restrooms builds flush restrooms in efficient, environmentally sound, accessible modules. Over 10 years, father and son Ken and Kyle Earlywine likewise have fashioned the components of good business practice into a company that continued to provide work for its three employees and associated supplier businesses through the Covid-19 pandemic … Read more
RICHLAND, Wash.–Joselyne Hernandez and her father, Jorge Hernandez, started The Black Woodpecker construction company in 2018, a goal Jorge had been working toward for nearly a decade. In the late 1990s and 2000s, Jorge had been a foreman at one of the biggest construction companies in Arizona, but when the recession hit he was out … Read more
ELLENSBURG, Wash.—Wheel Line Cider, an Ellensburg-based cidery, has been named the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Seattle District Rural Small Business of the Year. The public got its first taste of Wheel Line Cider at the Windfall Ciderfest in Ellensburg in 2018, but owner Susie Jensen has been planting rootstock, tending her expanding orchard on … Read more
"If you don’t run the reports every morning, you might think you are making a lot of money, and you aren’t. Now, we have better systems. "
David Ruelas
OLYMPIA, Wash.—PCI Pest Control in Olympia has been named the 2020 U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Seattle District Veteran-Owned Small Business of the Year. Owner Matthew Purcell Sr. started the business in 2007 after retiring from the military, where he spent 20 years in the Active Guard Reserve Program supporting National Guard units in Alaska, … Read more
SPOKANE, Wash. – Family-owned Washington Equipment Manufacturing Company has grown steadily since its founding by John and Karma Rouse in 1989. Son Juston joined at age 20 in 2004, followed by his wife Lisa in 2016. WEMCO built a new facility eight years ago, averaged 84 employees throughout 2021, and, with recent hires, now employs … Read more
RENTON, Wash.—The irony is not lost on Gordon Alvord or his business partner Bradley Donaldson. They lost their jobs as pilots because of the recession but ended up founding a flight school that is thriving today. “People told us, ‘You guys are either insane or geniuses,’” Alvord said. “Who starts a flight school in a … Read more
