We asked some of the city’s rising stars to reflect on what made a difference in their journey. We asked them to tell us about what they think the most important factor has been behind their success.

Andrew Amengor | Burgundee | Musician

The most important factor behind the band’s success comes from the authenticity of the music. For us, the music comes from a place of sincerity so it feels absolutely incredible when people tell us they really vibe and connect with these songs. At the end of the day, If we made you feel something that you can relate to then that’s one of the greatest successes we can ask for. Read more>>

Katiana Carre | Personal Finance Professional & Financial Strategist

The most important factor behind success is having success be defined by you and YOU ONLY. So many times we get caught up in defining success based on societal expectations , our parent’s expectations, or our friend’s and family’s opinions. This can leave us unfulfilled, stressed and disappointed. Success to me is defined by how much impact I have on my community, while simultaneously being able to lead by example. Success is being balanced emotionally, spiritually , physically and financially. The Success of my brand is defined by high impact, and accessibility. I teach professional women how to become profitable investors. Having 70-90% of my clients and students implement the knowledge they gain from my programs and achieve results is success. Having at least 14 streams of revenue for my business, and having my hand in multiple industries through my business is success. Having clients all over the world, is success. Having my clients empowered to teach and lead others is success. Read more>>

Paola Mendez | Founder of The Blogger Union & Blogger at Coral Gables Love

At The Blogger Union everything we do revolves around being of service to our members and our partners. “How can we help?” This is our main guiding principle and we use that to make all kinds of decisions. By focusing on the members of our community instead of ourselves, we’ve seen our community grow organically. Read more>>

Katrina & Charles Winters | Owners of Miami String Haus

The most important factor behind the success of our brand is that we incorporate education with sales and service individualized to every musician. Starting inside the walls of our Haus showroom and traveling to schools and music programs, our team offers training on string instrument care like no other. These presentations take place at public and private schools, Miami Music Project chapter locations, University of Miami, and Florida International University, among others. Presentation highlights include the origin of violin-making, quality instrument construction, and how to care for string instruments. In our showroom, we share a brief version of this presentation to each of our clients so they are better prepared to make informed decisions. We value education and so do our clients. As we share our love for musical instruments, our clients develop a deeper appreciation for the musical world we live in. Read more>>

Cameron Basden | Artistic Director, Miami Dance Hub

Miami Dance Hub was founded in 2018 by Artistic Director, Cameron Basden and Executive Director, Trisha Carter. We had the goal of uniting, supporting, growing and promoting the Southern Florida dance community through an organizational ‘hub’. As present and former dancers, we were used to hard work and persistence, so the idea that this lofty goal would need some focused attention with very little financial gain was not an unfamiliar one. Trisha and I knew the Southern Florida dance community needed a ‘hub’ to gather and disseminate information; we had very strong ideas about what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it. But we also recognized that we did not know everything. Our vision was to create an encompassing and easy to navigate website with resources for the community, to provide dance training information on an updated and regular basis, and to promote any dance performance, job opportunity, and event that was happening in the entire south Florida region. Read more>>

Brooke Exposito | Founder & Designer

The most important factor behind the success of STEL is my passion. Since I was young, I have always loved fashion as well as creating my own pieces. My mom and I have always made my halloween costumes from scratch each year, as well as anything I wanted in my closet that didn’t exist. My passion lead me to create a lifestyle brand that I felt was missing from every gal’s closet. I began creating pieces that I loved and felt I needed for my daily life when I’m on the go. Accessories for day to night, traveling, going to work, gym, beach, and always blocking the wrinkles! Everything I have created is something I feel passionate about and I knew that if I focused on what I love, the customers would see that and grow to love it too. Read more>>

Paul Gee | Artist, Actor, Producer, Writer, Live/On-Camera Host, and Entrepreneur

My definition of success has changed in the past 2 years. After the last two craziest years of my life, it may sound corny to some, but to me, peace of mind, love of self, and constant growth is true success. Success is not an endpoint. So to some, constant growth might sound incomplete. But I feel truly successful people have those three things ( peace of mind, love of self, and constant growth ) as a top priority because it keeps returning to that feeling I’ve made a cool amount of money doing what I love. But if I don’t love myself, accept what life brings and make the best of it, and look to keep getting better in all areas of life, how can I truly get the feeling I want? Rest is temporary, success is also temporary and subjective as well. It all depends on your outlook. So If I don’t hold those three factors high in life I can’t really reach success over and over again. I think Success is a feeling primarily. No matter how successful you become if you do not have peace at the end of the day happiness, and the motive to keep going. Read more>>

Daniela Garces | CEO and Creative Director of Guadalupe Design

Guadalupe does not compromise on quality and works exclusively with artisans that employ traditional, time tested techniques to produce the very best garments for our customers. Read more>>