PODCAST · business
We Built This Life
by Jennifer Walker
How do entrepreneurs turn their ideas into thriving small businesses or side hustles? This podcast highlights small business owners, their origin stories, and how they built their careers and companies from the ground up. Host Jennifer Walker, a freelance writer and small business owner herself, talks to entrepreneurs about their successes and challenges, their advice for other small business owners, what they wish they knew when they started their businesses, and more. If you are a small business owner and entrepreneur, you'll gain insight and motivation from hearing stories from your peers. If you're a consumer who likes to support small businesses, you can listen to the stories behind some amazing companies--and gain inspiration for your own career and ventures, whatever industry you are in. Thanks so much for listening!
Episodes
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Finding a Niche, Remaining Debt-Free: How Kari Miller Built Tiny Dog Press
Episode 35 with Kari Miller of Tiny Dog Press is about growing a small business at your own pace, and more. When a friend asked Kari Miller to print his wedding invitations, she saw that his fiancé at the time had created an illustration of Baltimore's "Greatest City in America" bench for their...
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From Family Recipe to Small Business: How Tiera Chin Built Yorktown Spice
Episode 34 with Tiera Chin of Yorktown Spice is about when a family recipe inspires a small business. In 2021, Tiera Chin was working full-time in the healthcare industry while raising two little daughters, the youngest of which was 4 months old at the time. This is also when she launched her new...
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From Hobby Podcast to Small Business: How Erin Scott Built the Believe in Dog Podcast and Erin Scott Podcasts
Episode 33 with Erin Scott from the Believe in Dog podcast and Erin Scott Podcasts is about when a hobby leads to a small business. In 2019, Erin became a cancer survivor and decided to start saying yes to the ideas that excited her. She started the Believe in Dog podcast to tell heartfelt…
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Mental Challenges & Triumphs in Entrepreneurship: How Rebekah Murray Built Dare & Co.
Episode 32 of We Built This Life with Rebekah Murray from Dare & Co. is about mental challenges in entrepreneurship—and the rewards that come with getting through them. In 2014, Rebekah Murray, an entrepreneur throughout her adult life, was looking to transition from international wedding...
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From Educator to CEO: How Ashley Williams Built Clymb
Episode 31 of the We Built This Life podcast with Ashley Williams from Clymb (@clymb_up) is about persistence and mindfulness and how these two skills were assets as Ashley built her own company. In 2018, Ashley Williams, a former educator and school leader in Baltimore City, founded Clymb (then...
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6 Small Businesses to Support for Earth Day 2023
Welcome to Episode 30 of the We Built This Life podcast! I'm your host, Jennifer Walker, and I'm talking this week about six small businesses that make low waste or sustainable products and that you can support for Earth Day 2023. I'll share my favorite products from these businesses or the...
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How Mandy Memmel Built The Well and Hon's Honey
Episode 29 of We Built This Life with Mandy Memmel of Hon's Honey is about building relationships and community and helping women rise through social enterprise. After spending a decade serving the community of Curtis Bay in Baltimore, Mandy Memmel founded Drink at the Well (The Well) to provide…
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How Emma Reisinger Built Yellow House Farm
Episode 28 with Emma Reisinger of Yellow House Farm is about finding your place in the industry that interests you, even if the road is slightly winding to get there. Since 2017, Emma has owned Yellow House Farm, her small business that started as a tiny farm and CSA outside of her yellow house…
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How Kate Christian Built Bliss Woodworks
Episode 27 is a small business story about saying yes to opportunities and having the courage to follow new paths. After moving to Baltimore in 2014, Kate Christian—who had worked as a business analyst, a boat captain, and as chief operating officer for a company that made at-home STD tests—got a...
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2022 Small Business Holiday Gift Guide
Welcome to Episode 26! For this episode, I'll talk you through a fun holiday gift guide highlighting 10 small businesses in a few categories: jewelry, planners and stickers, skincare/body care, photos and related products, wood creations, clothes for kids and adults, gift boxes, and, briefly…
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How Nina Ross Built Nina's Cookie Explosion
During the pandemic, Nina Ross' full-time job suddenly became part-time, and she needed something to do with the extra hours in her week. Her family holds cookie parties every December, and these are some of Nina's most cherished memories.So Nina started baking again to fill her free time and…
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How Jaz Erenberg Became an Independent Community Artist and Muralist
While she was a student at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore-based artist and muralist Jaz Erenberg worked on her first community-centered art piece with the homeless population residing along Falls Way. Then, around graduation, Jaz was part of artist Michael Owen's HOME Artist...
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How Michele Dickinson Became a Life and Business Coach
Michele Dickinson had been building her successful corporate career at a large investment firm for more than a decade. But after having her third baby in 2018, she started to think about her life's purpose and began to feel she was meant to be doing something else. Michele ultimately became a…
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How Aaron Dante Built the No Pix After Dark Podcast
For about a decade, Aaron Dante was one of the hosts of an annual party called No Pix After Dark. So in 2018, when he was planning to start a podcast to tell positive stories, he used the same name. Back then, the people who came to his parties—which had grown to about 1,000 attendees, including...
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7 Tips for Reaching Big Personal Goals
Episode 21 of the We Built This Life podcast is about 7 Tips for Reaching Personal Goals. Last month, I reached my big personal goal of 20 podcast episodes, which is a number I have been working toward since starting my podcast in September of 2019. In this episode, I talk about the steps I took…
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How Theresa Cangialosi Built SoBotanical
Theresa Cangialosi was drawn to essential oils in the 1980s, long before they were readily available in the United States. She was one of the first people to start an aromatherapy bar in the U.S. and has had some form of this type of retail space for more than 30 years. Today, SoBotanical,...
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7 Tips for Eczema and Grover's Disease + Thoughts on Food Elimination for Skin Issues
Episode 19 of We Built this Life is Part 2 of a three-part series about my experiences with naturopathic care for skin issues and more. This episode focuses on my seven tips for dealing with eczema and Grover's disease. I'll cover resources, products (beauty, clothing, home), and supplements that…
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Storytime: My Experience with Naturopathic Medicine
I'm breaking from this show's normal format today to tell a story about my experience with naturopathic medicine. I'll cover why I sought out this type of care (eczema, Grover's disease), how this type of care was structured, what tests I had done, and my treatment plan/recommendations from my...
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How Rachel Wagner Bought and Shaped FIT4MOM Baltimore City
Rachel Wagner's path to fitness company franchise owner began in a pub with a near stranger about 7 years ago. This is when Rachel, a former teacher and a mom to one young daughter at the time, got to talking to another mom about how FIT4MOM Baltimore City, a company that offers fitness classes…
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How Jerron Johnson Built the Hidden Know-Hows Podcast
Writer and Director Jerron Johnson realized his dream when he started his podcast, Hidden Know-Hows. In this episode, he'll talk about growing up in a small North Carolina town that didn't offer many options for young people in terms of activities and future opportunities and finding his place…
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How Mora and Henry Reed Built Zoe & Co. Candle Company
Parents Mora and Henry Reed had a big year in 2020: They got married and started their business, Zoe & Co. Candle Company, both during the pandemic. Since launching Zoe & Co. in May, they've met all of their targets and have seen steady growth. In this episode, Mora and Henry talk about how they...
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How Heidi Shenk Built Row House 14
Nearly a decade ago, Heidi Shenk, a middle school teacher in Baltimore City Public Schools at the time, began illustrating at night as a way to relieve stress after long days in the classroom. She opened an Etsy store for her greeting cards and other stationery-type products and got her big break...
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How Davon Pulliam Built Tortuga Kombucha
Chef Davon Pulliam had his first taste of kombucha at an early morning farmer's market in Baltimore about five years ago. He began making his own kombucha as a hobby, then opened his business three years later. Tortuga Kombucha offers several varieties of kombucha that showcase the teas' natural...
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How Kate Schauer and Nicole Santacroce Are Balancing Work and Kids During COVID-19
For Episode 12, I talked to two full-time working moms, Kate Schauer, whose son is 12, and Nicole Santacroce, whose kids are nearly 6 and 3, about how they are balancing work, virtual learning, pre-existing health challenges, anxiety, communicating with partners, and more during this time of...
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10 Lessons I Learned in One Year of Podcasting
The We Built This Life podcast has been around for one year! (Plus a few months, but that's a small detail...) When I started this podcast in May 2019, my goal was to complete 10 episodes. And in May 2020 I reached that goal. I'm calling this collection of episodes "Season 1" this, Episode 11,...
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How Ashleigh Becker Built a Nonprofit Jewelry Company
Ashleigh Becker began making jewelry as a way to relieve stress and boredom after her first child was born. Then, wanting to raise money for a mission trip for her husband, Ashleigh went to her first craft show, where she realized there was a market for her designs. Today, Sela Designs sells...
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How Kenny Yee Built a Painting Practice
More than a decade ago, Kenny Yee would often wander the streets of Chelsea in New York City, drifting in and out of galleries to look at art. This is where he learned about color, form, and texture. Then he'd go back to his basement apartment in Queens to paint. He had a side hustle of sorts…
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How My Family Has Built a More Low-Waste Lifestyle
When I was pregnant with my first child in 2012, I was interested in using cloth diapers to reduce waste (and save money), and I've been slowly making more swaps in our home ever since. In Episode 8, which releases around Earth Day, I talk about my favorite swaps--and the ones that I think have...
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How Designer Amy Homan Built a Sustainable and Ethical Fashion Company
In 2017, Amy Homan took a fashion design course. Today, she has her own fashion line and a sustainable and ethical clothing company called Evolverie. In this episode, Amy talks about the 16 years she spent working in collections, the rise and fall of her wedding décor business, and the ups and...
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How Astrologer Adam Elenbaas and Clinical Herbalist Ashley Litecky Elenbaas Built Sky House Yoga
Astrologer Adam* Elenbaas and Clinical Herbalist Ashley Litecky Elenbaas started dating in September 2011. Three months later, they decided to go into business together. Based in the Washington, D.C., area, Sky House Yoga encompasses astrology services (readings, certification courses, and…
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How Emily Silverstein Built an Organic Skincare Company
Six years ago, Emily Silverstein was a barista at Starbucks (having stepped down from her role as store manager after having her first child) who made her own skincare products at home. One day, while talking to her husband, Cory Silverstein, about how they were going to balance work and daycare...
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How Graphic Designer Ashley Shelly Trotier Built a Planning Company
Episode 4 is about Ashley Shelly Trotier, a graphic designer who sells planners, budget notebooks, and other items through her business, Ashley Shelly. While working full-time as a creative director for a weight loss company, Ashley began thinking about being more intentional with her finances…
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How Sociologist Mercedes Lyson Built a Career in Beauty Blogging
Episode 3 is about Mercedes Lyson, a sociologist who runs an online beauty blogging business called L'Amour et la Musique. Mercedes graduated from Brown University with a PhD in sociology and spent a few years working in research. Along the way, she began making beauty videos on YouTube. Her...
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How Ryan Sullivan Built a Career in Real Estate
For this week's episode, I tell a story about Ryan Sullivan, my friend since high school whose career has come full circle over the span of nearly 20 years. Ryan began working in real estate in his 20s then went back to school after the stock market crashed in 2008 to become a mental health...
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How I Became a Freelance Writer and Why I Started This Podcast
Thanks so much for tuning in to the first episode of We Built this Life. I wanted to start off with sharing my story and my goals for this podcast. In this episode, I talk about how I started off working at various nonprofit organizations after college, the life event that nudged me into…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
How do entrepreneurs turn their ideas into thriving small businesses or side hustles? This podcast highlights small business owners, their origin stories, and how they built their careers and companies from the ground up. Host Jennifer Walker, a freelance writer and small business owner herself, talks to entrepreneurs about their successes and challenges, their advice for other small business owners, what they wish they knew when they started their businesses, and more. If you are a small business owner and entrepreneur, you'll gain insight and motivation from hearing stories from your peers. If you're a consumer who likes to support small businesses, you can listen to the stories behind some amazing companies--and gain inspiration for your own career and ventures, whatever industry you are in. Thanks so much for listening!
HOSTED BY
Jennifer Walker
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does We Built This Life have?
We Built This Life currently has 35 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is We Built This Life about?
How do entrepreneurs turn their ideas into thriving small businesses or side hustles? This podcast highlights small business owners, their origin stories, and how they built their careers and companies from the ground up. Host Jennifer Walker, a freelance writer and small business owner herself,...
How often does We Built This Life release new episodes?
We Built This Life has 35 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to We Built This Life?
You can listen to We Built This Life on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts We Built This Life?
We Built This Life is created and hosted by Jennifer Walker.
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