Search

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY THESE DAYS, the guy who was once Chicago's most recognized nightlife entrepreneur just wants to talk about his lawn. 'I wish you could see it,' Billy Dec [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Kendall Reynolds, 24 Founder and CEO, Kendall Miles Designs When Kendall Reynolds turned 16, her boyfriend at the time gave her a pair of red-soled Louboutins--'and there [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Dan Klein, 29 Co-founder, Tiesta Tea Dan Klein remembers the day he decided to start a company: Feb. 24, 2009. Sitting in a teahouse in Prague, Klein--then [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney As McDonald's prepares to move into its West Loop headquarters next month, the burger giant last week debuted a sleek, next-generation restaurant on the building's ground floor. [...]

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY Just how desperate are you for that 3 p.m. weekday nap? The founder of a Loop nap studio is banking on the assumption that miserable corporate zombies [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney By his own admission, Kraft Heinz CEO Bernardo Hees doesn't pay much mind to the media attention his company's biggest shareholder, Brazilian private-equity firm 3G Capital Partners [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Alex Niemczewski, 29 I Aviva Rosman, 28 Co-founder and CEO I Co-founder and COO, BallotReady, Chicago Alex Niemczewski always considered herself an informed voter. But her stomach [...]

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY Ikram Goldman was fed up. After thieves attempted to break into her River North store in December 2015, Chicago's pre-eminent fashionista went to the top of the [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney BRITT Nolan 37 Chief creative officer, Leo Burnett USA He may have quickly ascended to the top of Chicago's ad world, but Britt Nolan would prefer not [...]

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY Trunk Club is now charging a $25 'home try-on fee' and has shortened its return window, marking a significant change to the styling service's business model. Since [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney 7 MARKET6 Location: Deerfield 2015 revenue: $23.6 million 5-year growth: 2,736.9% Local employees: 54 Total employees: 100 Profitable? No What it does: Retail supply management software These [...]

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY In one more example of the new sweeping out the old in the West Loop, 100-year-old custom suitmaker Oxxford Clothes is selling its seven-story manufacturing building at [...]

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY Custom suitmakers have flooded Chicago in recent years, capitalizing on technology and outsourced labor that allow them to sell suits for significantly less than previously possible--often starting [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Nneka Jones Tapia, 37 Executive director Cook County Department of Corrections, Chicago Growing up in a trailer in rural North Carolina, Nneka Jones Tapia encountered America's justice [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Monica Royer, 39 Founder Monica & Andy, Chicago Monica Royer has spent her entire life giving advice to her little brother, Andy Dunn. From their childhood in [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney COLD TREAT, HOT TREND Four years ago, Eladio and Judith Montoya were stuck in jobs they didn't love: Eladio worked in construction and Judith was a receptionist. [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney CANDY CRUSH When you walk into Dulcelandia in Little Village, you may as well be in the Technicolor, sugar-fueled dream of a 4-year-old. The store is chock-full [...]

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY In this age of monthly subscription services--which exist for everything from cosmetic samples to movie passes and music streaming--ClassPass is not exactly revolutionary. The New York-based startup [...]

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY If your job involves protecting your company from online assaults, it's about to get harder. On June 19, the new URL suffix '.sucks' will go up for [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Alaina Kaczmarski THE LIFESTYLE BLOGGER Age: 29 Co-founder The Everygirl Six years ago, Alaina Kaczmarski was like a lot of recent college grads: a bit lost. After [...]

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY EXERCISING OPTIONS By 29, Jonny Imerman had beaten testicular cancer twice--and was left with an abiding sense of gratitude, as well as recognition of life's fragility. Mr. [...]

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY It all started with an outrageously expensive ThinkPad. In 2001, Brad Wilson was a broke English and history major at the University of North Carolina at Chapel [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Brandi Pitts 39 -- Senior director, integrated marketing, Reynolds Consumer Products, Lake Forest @BranLPitts If you've seen Reynolds' Hefty Ultimate Garbage Men campaign, in which muscle-bound guys [...]

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY The battle to dry the tresses of stylish Chicagoans is heating up as salons backed by big names and big money blow into town. DreamDry, the latest [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Oshoke Umolu -- 27 -- Occupation: Management trainee, Enterprise Rent-a-Car -- Degree: Bachelor's in finance, DePaul University, 2011 -- Current salary: $50,000 to $55,000 a year -- [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Jessie Smith -- 24 -- Occupation: Admissions adviser, International TEFL Academy -- Degree: Bachelor's in journalism and health and sports studies, University of Iowa, 2012 -- Current [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Matt Schieren -- 25 -- Occupation: Systems operations specialist, University of Chicago -- Degree: Bachelor's in painting and drawing, Columbia College Chicago, 2012 -- Current salary: $43,000 [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Millennials just can't catch a break. First we bashed Gen Y as lazy, entitled and narcissistic. Then research trickled in that made us feel sorry for them. [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Melissa Lupo -- 28 -- Occupation: Barre and Pilates instructor -- Degree: Bachelor's in political science, University of Michigan, 2008 -- Current salary: $25-$75/hour -- Student debt: [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Nina Litoff -- 24 -- Occupation: Public affairs assistant, Art Institute of Chicago -- Degree: Bachelor's in studio arts, Knox College, 2012 -- Current salary: Less than [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Jamie Kaminsky -- 23 -- Occupation: Teacher, private preschool -- Degree: Bachelor's in elementary education, Indiana University, 2013 -- Current salary: $30,000 -- Student debt: None Jamie [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Caitlin Grey -- 22 -- Occupation: Director of a youth employment program (temporary) -- Degree: Bachelor's in comparative human development (with honors), University of Chicago, 2013 -- [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Everette Jackson -- 28 -- Current occupation: Condo specialist, Guaranteed Rate Inc. -- Degree: Bachelor's in accounting, Loyola University Chicago, 2010 -- Current salary: About $40,000 -- [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Alexi Front -- 26 -- Occupation: Co-founder, Pivotal Rockordings; bartender, Local Option, and brand manager, Local Option Bierwerker -- Degree: Bachelor's in history, DePaul University, 2010 -- [...]

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY Whether she's launching a business, home-schooling her six kids ages 2 to 13 or taking up hockey at age 40--Ariane Fisher jumps in and figures it out. [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney April Erickson -- 29 -- Occupation: Ph.D. student in American cultural studies, Bowling Green State University -- Degree: Master's in history, Loyola University Chicago, 2010 -- Current [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Kelsey Carlson -- 20 -- Occupation: Nanny, bartender, office assistant -- Degree: None; finished two years of classes at College of DuPage -- Current salary: About $20,000 [...]

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY Recent grads may think their biggest challenge will be landing full-time employment, but some Illinois professionals are finding it's even tougher to get their hands on a [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney David Schwartz grew up in the flat Midwest--Evanston, to be precise. But when a fraternity brother at the University of Colorado at Boulder introduced him to climbing, [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney SHOW US YOUR WORKOUT: Monila and Brian Junkins Call it the anti-CrossFit, anti-paleo backlash: Monila and Brian Junkins are poster children for barre workouts that rely on [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Nearly every summer morning at 6, investment banker Douglas McConnell is in the middle of Lake Zurich, religiously counting strokes in his head as he logs two-hour [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney YURI MALINA, 23, & MERT ISERI, 26 Co-founders, SwipeSense Inc., Evanston Twitter: @ymalina, @mhi At best, hospital equipment design is unremarkable. At worst, it can be unhelpful. [...]

Byline: Brigid Sweeney Though he trains alongside professional and collegiate athletes at Performance Training Systems in the West Loop, Dan Hyman feels no need to pack on massive muscles. At [...]

Byline: BRIGID SWEENEY If workout moguls Jillian Michaels, Tracy Anderson and, of course, Jane Fonda have taught us anything, it's that personal branding is just as important as better bods [...]