Immigrant Entrepreneurs alina

Immigrant Entrepreneur: Ali Payani

Ali is originally from Iran but his entrepreneurial journey started when he was living in Dubai. He wanted to launch his startup but the government in Dubai did not allow him to do it only because he was Iranian. He tried so hard for 2 years, but was unsuccessful. So, he took his business idea to Silicon Valley.

He came to the United States to be able to launch his company. He was working on a prototype in the air quality industry but a year later he decided to pivot. So he connected with one of his friends from Dubai and they launched a digital marketing agency without any knowledge, or any experience in that field.

One year after coming to the States, Ali took his business to the streets of Ventura Blvd. in Los Angeles County. In the middle of summer he went knocking on businesses and asking them if they wanted any of his digital marketing services. With his fire and drive he kept on going and saw massive success.

Only 4 years later, LookinLA announces 300% growth and didn't lose a single client in 2020 during the pandemic. LookinLA is a full service digital marketing agency beating all the odds.


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Immigrant Entrepreneur: Tal Frankfurt

Tal studied Business Administration and Communications in college, back home in Israel. He came out to the U.S. for a short program and met his wife. He later came out to live in the States at 26 years old and had to go find a job.  

But 4 months later he found himself jobless and merely out of a necessity he started his company. Initially, it didn't even seem like a company because he had no idea what he was doing. Cloud for Good was created over 11 years ago and they offer services that are directly related to what Salesforce.org offers to their non-profit and higher education institutions. 

Tal never had any computer science degrees, or a whole lot of experience in the computer science world. But because he had no other choice, he got creative. Cloud for Good is a 3x Salesforce.org Partner of the Year, Certified B-Corp and a 7x Inc. 5000 company that creates transformation value for nonprofit organizations and higher education institutions with Salesforce.

Prior to his involvement with Salesforce, Tal was the Director of Resource Development for a nonprofit organization that worked with at-risk immigrant youth in Israel. He was looking for tools to better manage his donors, participants, and volunteers. It was through this experience that Tal learned about Salesforce. The adoption of Salesforce into his everyday work was what sparked the inception of Cloud for Good.

After 4 months of starting his company he signed a 6 figure contract and it grew rapidly, and all organically. He now operates with amazing and talented 100 employees! Tal is completely self taught, and drops a lot of wise advice to all immigrant entrepreneurs about what he learned along the way in his journey!


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Immigrant Entrepreneur: Maria Karr

Maria originally came from Siberia, Russia when she was 19 years old. Her plan was to go to college and then go back home. It was never her intent to stay in United States. However, after college she started working for the corporate world. She ended up working for a PR agency that focused on Korean beauty products. 

After diving into the beauty products world she noticed that there wasn't a single company in the States that sold Russian beauty products. So she decided to change that. 

Maria launched, RumoreBeauty where she works with specific brands from Russia to bring beauty products to our markets. Her mission is to only work with brands who source their ingredients naturally, from the Russian's nature. 

She initially launched her company with her husband during COVID as a side hustle, but quickly learned that the business was taking off and she had to quit. Maria has a remarkable story to share and her experience from immigration to entrepreneurship is truly inspirational. 


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Immigrant Entrepreneur: Amanda Ma

Amanda moved to California with her family from Taiwan when she was 10 years old. Amanda Ma is the Founder and Chief Experience Officer of Innovate Marketing Group, an award-winning live & virtual experience agency that provides full-service event & activation for Fortune 500 companies. Through her leadership, the company has flourished into one of the most distinguished live & virtual experience agencies both locally and nationally. She started her company with nothing and after quitting her corporate job she went all in. 

Her vision is to help fuel brands to change lives for the better. Amanda has been running her business for 15 years now. She's been featured in Inc, Bizbash, Meetings Today and many others. She was recently named "Top 100 Most Influential People in the Event Industry Globally" by Eventex.  Bizbash also featured her as: "Top 500 most influential event professionals in the US."

She is recognized for her business and philanthropic work in the community. A collaborative leader, she is consistently sought out as a trusted strategic advisor and knowledgeable resource, and she’s respected for uncompromising integrity and expertise. 

She currently sits on the board of Entrepreneur Organization- Los Angeles as the Diversity & Inclusion Chair. A strategic Advisor to The Diversity Advisors. Emeritus Chair of the Asian Pacific Community Fund and board of California Events Coalition. Board of Asian Business Center Los Angeles. She is a big champion for diversity & inclusion. When she is not working with the White House or Secret Service, you can find her spending time with her family or traveling.


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Immigrant Entrepreneur: Lily Roden

Lily came from El Salvador with her family when she was 7 years old. The country was suffering from civil war, gangs and drugs. They lived very poor and the area they lived in was considered "the projects." So her parents decided to move to United States.

When they initially made the move, her mom fell into depression and anxiety. Their family had a very rough start as immigrants in the States. Since her parents didn't know much of English and always had to make ends meet, her grades suffered in school as a child.

Lily tried her best to get her grades up and landed at UC Berkley where she excelled tremendously. After college she went into the corporate career doing HR. But her job made her miserable, depressed and full of anxiety. Lily didn't know what to do.

Through her dark journey, she found herself picking up flowers and arranging bouquets. She would post pictures on her social media and it went viral. She started doing flowers for weddings and didn't even know she was running a side hustle. Lily's talent was quickly found by transforming flowers into amazing and beautiful pieces that light up every single wedding.

She grew her business in the last 5 years all organically, without any debt or spending any money on advertising.


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Immigrant Entrepreneur: Benita Kasbo

Benita came to the United States from Syria with her family. Her family came with very little when they first immigrated. They initially lived in a very small low income apartment complex. Her dad was a tailor, so he was able to secure a job fairly quickly, but her mom stayed home to take care of the kids. 

So she grew up and got into the pharmaceutical industry where she worked for 14 years. She tried to launch her business 2 times. But when the pandemic hit, she couldn't resist. On the third time, she finally launched her company, Kasbo's Market where she makes authentic Syrian cheeses. She launched this all by herself, during the pandemic and was able to get everything off the ground in 3 short months. 

Benita launched her business when she was 42 years old all while having 3 kids and a husband. 

She's determined to make everything work and has a huge passion and drive to bring authentic Middle-Eastern food to United States. 

In this episode she shares everything she learned from how to launch a business to getting her cheeses into 3 stores in New Jersey. 


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