Nirasha Rodriguez – Zdena Jiroutova – Spirit of Entrepreneurship Winners

In 805conversations by Mark Sylvester

Celebrating Entrepreneurship

Create experiences that friends will talk about."

In this episode, we meet two amazing women, Nirasha Rodriguez, and Zdena Jiroutova, both winners in their respective categories of the 2018 Spirit of Entrepreneurship Awards. We've been partners with SOE for some time now, and love having these conversations. Both women are remarkably accomplished as you will learn in this spirited episode.

Nirasha, the winner in the Hospitality and Tourism category, has built a thriving business based on her passion for food. She outlines how she went from attending Brooks Institute with a degree in photojournalism to starting The Food Liaison with her husband and growing it to be able to feed 4,000 people a day.

Zdena, the winner in the Retail category for Zfolio, has grown her passion for art glass that comes her home country in Eastern Europe, into a business based in Solvang, California. She and her husband have grown the business from art glass and jewelry to include a shop featuring olive oils and a new shop called Flavors, which is an artisanal cafe and gelateria.

I loved the eclectic nature of our conversation, as will you. Next time you're in Carpinteria (during lunch) stop in at The Food Liaison's counter for a treat, then when you're in Solvang, stop into Flavors, after visiting Zfolio's Gallery to see the art glass.