This year I established the Good Art for Good scholarship, which aims to support UWO art students (demonstrating financial need) to pursue a career in art. My current financials show 65% YoY revenue growth in Q2 and in the very near future, I anticipate a career change. Currently/formerly, I work full time at UWO and do Good Art for Good activity in my free time. However, I am in the process of moving to a part-time UW position and will be able to devote more time to my business. With this, I can expect even greater revenue growth in the future. 

I am working on expanding my autism respite care for children from center-based to in-home as well. I’m adding a contract with an additional county to grow my market. I’ve hired eight employees in the last three months during a competitive job market with tremendous labor shortage. I went from two employees last summer to twelve this summer! 

The CEI was available to help me through difficult things like negotiating my commercial lease and understanding employee taxes. I have no business training as my master’s in psychology and I would have not been able to start a business from the ground up without their help! I am so grateful for all the program did for me. 

Alexandria, graduated from UW Oshkosh in 2016 with a management degree with a focus on entrepreneurship, last year at 28 became one of the youngest Culver’s franchisees in the country. She’s the owner-operator of the Culver’s in Sun Prairie, part of an ownership team with a pair of brothers who have a stake in dozens of locations in four states.

The first member of her family to earn a college degree, Mahoney started at UWO with the intention of studying education and becoming a teacher. After her first semester, though, she had a long conversation with her general manager at hometown Culver’s in Spring Green who stressed to her that she had a knack for business and there were opportunities ahead with the company.

Now she’s running toward more opportunities in entrepreneurship. Another Culver’s is planned to go up in Sun Prairie this year with Mahoney and the same partners—as owners. It’ll essentially double her workload, but she says she’s up to the challenge.

Since working with CEI in the mid-2010’s, Fifth Ward Brewing Company has grown from a small three person operation producing around 500 barrels of beer a year, into an operation with the capabilities of producing 3,800 barrels a year that employs four full-time employees and another seven part-time employees between both the front of house operations and the brewing and distribution team.

Time and time again, the groundwork that was laid while working with CEI during the startup stages of our business have proved to be invaluable to our success. From the connections made during the different affiliated programs we participated in to the continued support we receive, CEI has been an indispensable resource. As we approach our fifth anniversary this November of 2022, we look forward to many more years in our great city of Oshkosh.

The UWO CEI has helped me tremendously over the past few years as I have continued to find the best service and market where my two business entities, Imagine Road Productions LLC and Spring Waters, can thrive.  

Through the 2016 Alta CEI Incubator, I worked on a project developing the online meditation sanctuary ‘Spring Waters Meditation Sanctuary’.  While Spring Waters has taken a backseat to my work with Imagine Road Productions LLC, the principles of mindfulness and mindset are foundational to the digital marketing and content creation services we provide.  

Currently, Imagine Road provides content creation services as well as data and story-driven digital marketing services to healthcare providers, media companies, and others looking to harness the power of ‘story’.  In the content creation realm, our team specializes in ‘Feature Stories’ and ‘Documentary Film’, having identified a continuing need to help businesses reach their markets with evocative and emotionally engaging content.