- [Announcer] Anyone can have a good idea.
But the difference between those who have an idea,
and those who have a successful company,
is in the execution.
These women figured out how they could transform
a concept into a thriving company in New York City,
and it all started with Her Big Idea.
(light jazz music)
(upbeat jazz music)
Malene Barnett was recognized for her
artistic talent at a very young age.
While she was in college, she became interested
in the idea that as an artist, she would be able
to share her globally inspired artwork through
surface textile design.
So she founded Melane B., an exclusive,
custom textile design studio.
- My name is Malene Barnett, and I'm the founder
of Malene B.
Malene B. is a design studio that specializes
in globally inspired custom carpets,
wall coverings, and tiles.
My work can be found in commercial and residential
spaces such as Viacom, WeWork, Saks Fifth Avenue,
the Chatsworth, and Astor Place.
All of the carpets are custom, custom size,
custom color, custom even construction.
Hi Orlando, welcome to Malene B.
- [Orlando] Thanks Malene, how are you?
- Let's get started with our consultation.
- [Orlando] Alright.
- Malene B. is located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant
section of Brooklyn, New York.
All the work is produced as far as designing,
specification, right here.
I really love living in the city,
but I also love suburban life, too.
Being in Brooklyn allows me to get the best of both worlds.
- [Orlando] Let's see some of the options.
- Now this is called Tap Tap, it's bamboo silk
which is the shiny area here, feel that, it's quite soft.
This is called Pupunya, this is actually inspired
by the aboriginae hand dot art, and then this one
is called Kingstown, this is another graphic pattern,
it's really great for like all over,
like wall to wall carpeting.
- I'm partial to the Pupunya, this one.
- Oh the Pupunya, okay, let's look at that one there.
Well ever since I was a young child my mother
incorporated travel into our everyday life.
Having my parents be from the Caribbean, there was
always an opportunity to go away.
When I would travel I would be inspired
and so as I grew older, and when I was able to go
on trips of my own, I took those opportunities
and took those experiences to create the designs
that I incorporate for my business today.
These are all yarn palms here, how do you feel
about this color right here?
- It's a little too orange for me,
make that a little darker.
- Okay, a little darker, well that would have to sit
next to something like this, see?
And, now it creates more of like a neutral palette.
How are you starting to feel?
- I like that, a lot.
- Well I've always been interested in art,
ever since the third grade, I was actually selected
for a program called Artistically Talented,
and we would draw and paint on a weekly basis.
In third grade I was signing my name Malene B
on my paintings, and hence it's become
the brand of my business.
If I look at a lot of my work, back then,
I already see my style had developed,
and I see how much I love color,
and I love pattern, and I love people.
So Orlando, I'm gonna do a quick sketch based
on some of the colors that we selected.
I'm just gonna start to play with some of the dots, colors,
how do you feel about that one?
- Yeah, that's nice.
- Let's see how it looks next to the green
so we can kind of mimic this one here.
How about this one, is it a little too blue, or?
We could also tone it down.
- [Orlando] Yeah, let's try it, and see.
- Alright let's try this one.
I went to college at SUNY Purchase, and then I transferred
to FIT, the Fashion Institute of Technology.
While I was at FIT, I was walking the halls
and I discovered surface textile design,
and I saw the products that people were making,
and I thought that was quite interesting
because as an artist it allowed me to create product
that multiple people could use verses just doing a
painting for one person to experience.
After college I got a job at a textile manufacturer.
I was doing all the artwork and specs.
I learned about how to make a product, in addition
to selling it because I was also the marketing manager.
I look at it as my foundation to business
as a creative person, and then after that
I got a job at a carpet company.
And that's where I really learned about the carpet business
and I started to search for manufacturers to make
my own designs based on my design aesthetic.
I launched my own business, Malene B. in 2009.
Everybody was doing like beige, and plain simple carpet,
and I was designing carpets with people on it,
and creating stories, that was not a common thing
to see in carpet, and it's still not.
The way it built was really a lot of sweat from me
networking like crazy, and not being afraid
to introduce to people who I am and what I do.
I went to Las Vegas to a trade show, I was getting
on the plane, and low and behold, I see that the
editor in chief of Interior Design magazine,
Cindy Allen, was getting on the plane.
I introduced myself and she said, oh,
she says, you know what?
You should call my assistant, I'm working
on the flooring issue.
The issue came out a few months later,
I had a full page in Interior Design magazine.
And that's what really started the business.
And then from there it just continued.
We're gonna take the colors that you selected
and I'm gonna show you how they look in the design.
And here is where we could start to play with the
different fibers and we can see what it looks like
in our actual room.
- Okay.
- Alright, there are these room view options,
and now you see, you see what it looks like?
- [Orlando] That's great.
- Well we're all set to go and then we could
order your carpet.
- [Orlando] Okay, great, looking forward to it.
- Starting a business is no easy task for one woman.
You remember 2009 financially, or economically
I should say, for this country it was not good.
I did whatever it was that I needed to bring
in money to keep afloat.
I worked at Bloomingdales, I actually was assisting
a stylist on a project, I did tag sales.
You know I had to do what I had to do, and I did it.
Entrepreneurship is not about being comfortable,
it's a serious roller coaster ride, and you don't know
when the next dip is coming, you don't know when
the next hill you're gonna have to climb,
but the key is just being ready.
What I love about working in New York City,
it is really like a global Mecca here,
we have people coming from all over the world.
It's continued to inspire me and my work.
That's the thing, New York has so much to offer,
it's all about what you wanna do.
When I go outside, I look at buildings,
I look at sidewalks, I look at people,
I see design in everything.
The beauty of being in a city like this
is you really could pretty much do almost anything.
And it's a great testing ground to see
if your idea is going to stick.
- [Announcer] Ellie Kassner began working with metal
in the family subcontracting construction business
when she was just 13 years old.
After a stint in nearly every position in the company,
Ellie took over WH Kassner as its first female president.
- I'm Ellie Kassner, I'm the owner and president
of WH Kassner, Incorporated.
WH Kassner is a miscellaneous metal commercial construction
fabrication installation business.
We custom fabricate stairs, railings, and platforms
on public works, and commercial projects.
My grandfather started the business in 1961,
in Glens Falls, New York, and in the 70s
my father joined the business.
They created a niche in the major pharmaceutical companies
Phizer, Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb.
Every major pharmaceutical from Pennsylvania
to Vermont, and we work in their high end
R and D facilities making custom stainless steel
platforming for their equipment.
We worked on quite a few things in New York City,
we worked on projects at Wards Island,
Tallman Island, and projects at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
This is a 1970s Peddinghaus ironworker, it's called,
and it's a major piece of machinery that runs our business.
We've had it for over 20 years.
It cuts flat and angle on this side, and bar stock,
and on that side there's a punch.
I grew up around the shop, I learned to weld
with the Boy Scouts because I didn't like
being a Girl Scout, and when I was 13, my gift
from my parents was that I could get my working papers,
and work here, and so I started working in the office
and then I quickly moved on to being a shop hand,
later in life I was a field hand on the install.
I was the third man on a crew for a while,
and then I became a project manager later,
before taking over the business, so I like to think
that I've worked in almost every position here
before becoming president.
Like any good construction worker I got my double major
from Skidmore College in women's studies
and english literature, with a business minor,
and I lived a whole other life before I came here.
I was in South Africa writing policy for a girl's shelter,
so I went and did that because I knew once I signed on
to this, once my last name was involved,
I was never gonna leave.
I came back from South Africa and I immediately
was with the business.
WH Kassner, Incorporated, is unique
because we are a team that's been together for so long.
My brother Dirk Kassner is my business partner.
- Yeah, so they're building back to the retaining wall.
- Back to the retaining wall with these angle frames
that are drawn more completely in another set.
We divide out the work by our natural skillsets
which we know implicitly.
Two inch oak slat, they're gonna demo this.
As a woman in a dramatically male dominated industry,
I used to struggle with being the only person
who looked like me or sounded like me in a room,
but I don't really have those insecurities anymore,
I just see us all as being on the same team
and working for the goal of the project being on time,
on budget, and done well.
These are new W12s by 30s for a new roof hatch,
we can try to value engineer those to be lagged in
or we can weld the anchors like usual.
Being an entrepreneur to me means being the first one in
and the last one out, but even in its toughest moments
knowing that you're working for yourself
and that all of that work pays off,
and having confidence in that.
Business owners in New York City have the unique
opportunity to do anything they want,
and have a market for it.
It's such a unique population, everyone is interested
in their own thing, and there are so many chances.
Sometimes that can feel overwhelming,
but once you get in the right mindset, it's just
every turn holds a different opportunity.
And when you come together as a team,
when you put something in place and it all fits,
at the end of the project you realize all these moving
pieces are fastened strong and you're gonna pass it
for your whole life, I pass projects everyday that
my grandfather completed and that my father completed.
You fall in love.
- [Announcer] Cheryl Gentry discovered her entrepreneurial
spirit very early on, she started her first business
in high school, years later, after working for several
large corporations in the music and fashion industry
in event planning, she went off on her own to create
Glow Global Events, a full service world wide events agency.
- [Cheryl] We're on schedule.
- Perfect, good to go.
- Thank you.
My name is Cheryl Gentry, I am the CEO and founder
of Glow Global Events.
Glow Global Events is an award winning
event agency based in New York City.
I'm trying to find the clients to still make sure
we're still on for the 8:10 start time,
we have about two minutes, so if you see her let her know.
Our clients include non-profit organizations,
we work with Emma Bowen Foundation, Boys and Girls Harbor,
the Meteor Network, we also work with corporations
like Allianz, Kaiser Permanente, we do work with
the PGA, and so we've really had a great experience
with working between sports industry,
fashion, non-profits, and foundations.
Did you get everyone their scripts?
Then our team is all ready.
Thank you, excuse me.
- Please take your seats, our program
will begin momentarily.
- The students were instructed, do they know where to go?
- [Woman] Yeah, they should, they should know.
- Hey guys, it's showtime.
I grew up in Washington DC.
My first business, actually as an entrepreneur
was in high school, my sister and I were selling
lyrics to songs, people wanted to know the lyrics
to the songs, we would write them, produce them,
and then sell them.
I attended Howard University, I worked at Marriott,
the front desk, while I was still an undergrad.
I was transferred to the corporate headquarters
and worked there for two years.
I left and moved to New York and started
at Arista Records, I found myself staying in the office
until midnight planning the album release parties.
After that I moved to the fashion business
and worked at Girbaud and Boss.
And again, I found myself staying extra late doing
all the fashion shows, and preparing for Fashion Week.
People were coming to me saying, who produced that event?
Who did that fashion show?
At that point I sat down for a retreat weekend
with my mentors, and decided to start Glow.
We spoke to the client today, we are making some changes.
We had about four more sponsors come in for this event.
Once we have that all laid out and planned,
if you can just do the inventory list.
- Okay.
- Alright.
I don't think people really see the details
and the tasks that go into event planning.
It's not just showing up the day of the event,
everyone attends events and they're beautiful,
they're colorful, they're electric.
The attendees, the celebrities, that's only the last part.
That's the last 10% of planning.
An event requires months, sometimes years of planning.
We've always usually done the glass and I think that
picks up for every event really well,
so I like that, I like that look.
I don't think we've done rock in here before.
So that might be a good idea.
Glow Global Events, over the last 19 years,
has grown remarkably.
We've been able to plan events world wide.
London, and Africa, we've also done events
in Hong Kong and Beijing, Macau,
so we're truly a global agency.
Later this week we have orchids, are we doing orchids?
Is that delivery here, is that order here?
- It's on its way, so we'll make sure everything is ready.
- Perfect, so we have some great ideas for November.
We have some great ideas for next week.
I think with all the China, it's gonna look beautiful.
- [Man] Great.
- We started off with three clients,
and now we have over 40 clients.
We now have three offices globally,
we have the New York office, we're in Los Angeles,
and we're in London.
There's no better way to influence the way people feel,
act, or think, than through an event.
- This is a celebration.
(audience applause)
- With a $40 billion event industry,
I really do think within the event planning space,
sky's the limit, and I plan to get there.
I think the people that opened doors for me
are my mentors, I really been someone
that's been blessed with great timing.
I meet great people at the right time
that push me forward to the next introduction.
Load in, we'd like you to arrive by 11 AM.
My team will get there at six AM.
What I love most about working in New York City
is the energy, it's just electric.
The one piece of advice that I would give
entrepreneurs starting your business,
you have to maintain your passion, you have to be focused,
and you have to make sure when the road gets tough
that you're gonna stick to it.
Another glowing event.
- [Announcer] Leith Hill was raised on a healthy diet.
She learned to cook the food that she loved
as a young adult, and many years later,
noticed the need for accessible, nutritious,
and delicious food, after finding a perfect space
in the West Village, she opened the first
Ellary's Greens Restaurant.
- My name is Leith Hill, and I am the proud
owner and founder of Ellary's Greens.
Ellary's Greens, most succinctly, is a healthy restaurant
here in the West Village in New York City.
We have a very veggie forward menu,
we have beautiful entrees, we have salads,
sandwiches, we have four different types of burgers.
We don't limit the market, we open it to everyone.
- Which of the desserts are gluten free?
- Sure, so this is gluten free, our pumpkin pie
is gluten free, our turtle cookie is gluten free,
our chocolate chip cookie is not.
- [Woman] Oh okay.
- Okay, everything's vegan, all of our desserts are vegan.
Which also, as I know you know, if anybody
is lactose intolerant,
- Yes.
- They can eat freely because,
- [Woman] All the desserts.
- All the desserts they want because they're vegan.
- Awesome.
- I'm from New Orleans for six generations.
Now New Orleans is not known for super healthy food,
it's known for booze, butter, beignets, but,
I was raised by a health food enthusiast,
so growing up I only ate whole foods and organic foods.
It's very important to me to know the source of your food,
so we know our farmers.
I come to this quite naturally and I started making
smoothies with my sister at age nine,
and I've been juicing since I was 21.
We're lucky enough to have this on tap,
and we're one of the few restaurants that does.
And we have the kombucha, but we also mix it
with the Pilsner to make a shandy.
- [Woman] Yum.
- Yeah, it's really good.
When I graduated from high school I took a gap year
and I moved to France, and I went to university there,
and had a job, and an apartment, and my apartment
was in a house with a family.
I cooked with them, and that was a joy.
And we have the catering on Saturday.
- [Man] Ah huh, yeah, I know.
- Good, how big is it?
- [Man] 60, 70.
- Oh yeah, I did see that one.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I saw that one, I saw that one.
They have a bunch coming.
And Monday night is gonna be very busy.
- [Man] Okay, yeah I know.
- We have a bunch of big parties, you know that?
Okay good, good, good, good, thanks.
That was a great experience to see a different cuisine
and be able to experience that, and I came back
to America and I moved to Boston where I went to school,
undergrad, and graduate, I continued cooking there.
I have my masters in social work,
I met my husband, and we moved to Long Island,
and I had both of my children there and raised them there,
and really the idea for Ellary's Greens came to me
way back then, because I knew that there was a need
for people to have beautiful, nutrient dense,
delicious food easily accessible to them.
I started Ellary's Greens actually in my kitchen,
and I moved to the city in 2012, very specifically
to dial up Ellary's Greens, and started looking
for space, and I looked everywhere.
It was surprisingly difficult because people who had
commercial spaces wanted retail, they did not want food,
and heat, and flames, and exhaust, and all the rest.
And I'd really wanted somewhere that had a neighborhood,
so there were people who worked here doing the day
and people who also would dine here at night.
Luckily I found the perfect place in the West Village on
Carmine Street, and walked in, and just knew it was right.
I opened the restaurant in April of 2013.
One of the biggest joys was right after we opened,
this kind of defining moment that said, oh my gosh,
I've actually succeeded and created what I set out to do.
It was a Friday night, and we were full,
and I was on the stairs, and I could hear
everybody in the kitchen laughing and talking
and preparing food, and I could hear everybody
in the dining room laughing and talking and dining.
I stood on the stairs and I froze,
and I just started to cry.
Starting a restaurant is not for the faint of heart.
When you go into something like food because its your
passion, and unless you have a background in construction
and building out, it's not your passion and it's
probably not your forte, and in my case, it was neither.
And there was a church a few doors down, and there were
many days when I would go in the church before I got
to Ellary's Greens, and I would have a little cry,
and then I would walk into Ellary's Greens
and I'd be able to face what was in front of me.
It's extremely important that you can do every job
in the company and that your team knows that.
Now you don't want to, you wanna work on the company
and not for the company, when push comes to shove,
you need to be able to do every job.
I think there's a lot of respect that comes from that.
Being a woman had an enormous effect on the process
for good and bad, I've built out three restaurants now,
and I have found that people assume that you
don't know what you're talking about,
that they can change your mind, and that you're just
not really bright enough to get it.
And that is incredibly frustrating and insulting.
So the good news is I was able to weed out
anyone who was disrespectful and keep the really good
people and continue to work with them to this day.
What I love most about working in New York City
is that I am surrounded by fascinating people,
everybody has an interesting story, and I learn
from them every single day.
In everything that I've done I've learned from
along the way and been able to bring into this,
my passion, and I am very happy that I really took the time
to figure out what is my next chapter?
What is my passion?
What do I really wanna do?
And then put my energy toward it.
It's been a great journey, and when I think back
on where I started, I do take a lot of pride in that.
- [Announcer] Each of the four women featured
in this episode of Her Big Idea, not only runs
successful companies, but also serve as mentors for WENYC.
- WENYC is New York City's women entrepreneurs initiative.
- [Announcer] Launched in 2015, WENYC is an initiative
based out of the New York City Department of Small
Business Services that is dedicated to helping women
start and grow their own businesses.
- WENYC will help you whether you're at the conceptual
phase, later in your actualization, or growth phase.
- As an entrepreneur, I'm alone a lot of the time,
and it's been a great community to help me understand
resources available for my business and for me.
- We spent about eight weeks together taking different
sessions around leadership development,
around how to gain access to capital.
- I love accounting and working with small businesses,
helping them set up their financials and their accounting
systems, and those are the questions that I get
and that's what I focus on when I'm helping them.
- My experience as a mentor has been absolutely amazing.
WENYC has created a space for women to feel comfortable
and be vulnerable, so I think the value is tremendous
and is priceless, it can't be matched to anything else.
- This journey can be difficult,
and it's nice to have people helping.
- It's such a unique moment for women entrepreneurs
in the world, but particularly in New York City.
This is our time to shine and there's so many resources.
- [Announcer] To learn more about WENYC programs,
or becoming a mentor, visit their website at WE.nyc.
(upbeat jazz music)