Career Academy 2023: How to Move From Side Hustle to Full-Time Business Owner

Katie Minister, Zeta Upsilon, has a loyal and long-standing relationship with the pool. She started competitive swimming at age eight. This led to friendships and confidence as a high school and collegiate athlete. Fast forward through marriage, coaching water sports, careers in technology and digital marketing, and raising four busy kids. Katie took hold of an opportunity to capitalize on the shared experiences of aquatic athletes. Alongside her husband, she co-founded Chlorine Deckwear, a custom clothing company for team spirit wear for the pool deck. Her advice? Focus on progress over perfection, don't overthink, and listen to feedback when it’s time to change direction.

Mindy Fetzer, Akron, is a Los Angeles-based life coach, movement instructor and leadership facilitator. Mindy’s career spans various creative industries — from producing fashion week events to creating partnerships with thought leaders in the wellness industry. Throughout her experiences, Mindy has always listened to her curious mind and adventurous spirit. More importantly, she says she learned to fail fast and embrace the messiness of change. Mindy now supports creative entrepreneurs, founders and teams through the intersection of mindset work, yogic philosophy and practice, and meditation. She focuses on the collision of emotional resiliency, discovery of values, alignment to vision and goals, and creative problem-solving.

After graduating college, Caitlin Picou, LSU, discovered her love of product development in the beauty industry. After developing products for Bed Head, she relocated to New York City to work in brand development for Suave Professionals. Taking all of her learnings from the industry, Caitlin created her own beauty brand, Kismet, in 2013. Kismet has been featured in national magazines, subscription bags and CNBC’s Billion Dollar Buyer. Kismet was also named one of LSU’s top 100 fastest-growing businesses in 2019. Caitlin is the beauty editor for Edge of the Lake Magazine, keeping the Northshore up to date with the latest hair, makeup and skincare trends.

Alex Young, South Carolina, has over 10 years of experience designing and delivering leadership curriculum to high-performance organizations. She works with organizations to assess, strategize and develop leaders and teams for growth. As a trainer and facilitator, Alex has presented to a wide variety of audiences across the country. She received her undergraduate degree in journalism and mass communications from the University of South Carolina. She went on to receive her law degree from the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis.

Leanne Matullo, Pittsburgh, is a perinatal yoga therapist, women’s health mentor, birth doula and creative entrepreneur. She seeks to improve the perinatal outcomes for women and their babies. Leanne has worked with hundreds of individuals via her women’s health curriculum. Her consulting work, strategy creation and writing include collaborations with the Seattle NICU, the University of Washington, Expectful Inc., Yoga Girl, Motherly, Foster Forward and more. She holds certifications as a birth doula, infant/child sleep consultant, and yoga teacher educator, and she has over 2,000 hours of training as a yoga therapist in Ayurveda. She has founded two businesses.