Our stories | UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

From Tradition to Timeless: Limma Ali’s Vision for Sustainable South Asian Jewelry

Growing up, Limma Ali had two choices: either wear real gold or silver that was expensive and difficult to style for her Eid functions or buy beautiful, yet low-quality, jewelry that would irritate her skin. This gap inspired her to create her own jewelry brand, Ataro, which solves both of these issues.

Kunal Desai with a local weaver in Kutch, Gujarat, India.

Rethinking Fashion, One Thread at a Time: The Philosophy Behind Umber and Ochre

In an industry obsessed with production speed and volume, Kunal Desai founded a brand based on the exact opposite: only make what you can sell, use materials that matter and preserve traditional art forms on the verge of disappearing.

How Georgia Elliott-Smith Fights Dirty

"The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must." Georgia Elliott-Smith carries this line from Thucydides' Melian Dialogue as both warning and weapon.

Flex Gen and Green Heffa Farms Win

Earth Month ended with our 2023 UNC Sustainability Awards, a wonderful celebration of North Carolina businesses, alumni and students who all work to take i...

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Turning Legacy into Leadership

Wes Carter spent his childhood in the waters of Wrightsville Beach, surfing the breaks and fishing the marshes that felt like a second home. The countless hours in the wilderness sculpted a reverence for the outdoors that would later shape his life’s work as president of Atlantic Packaging Corporation.

Equiti Foods: Reimagining Health, One Good Bowl at a Time

How do we tackle the challenges of food insecurity without having to rely on temporary fixes? A solution to a problem as vast as food insecurity rarely arr...

Rooted to Rise: Clarenda Stanley on Building a Sustainable Brand

From Alabama roots to the rolling hills of Liberty, North Carolina, Clarenda Stanley—better known as Farmer Cee—is cultivating more than crops. Through G...

Circular Roots: Regenerating Land, Culture and Community

From food scraps to producing food, Kris Steele and the Crown Town Team are building a circular food economy across Charlotte. Leading the next generatio...

A Question That Never Let Go: Bonnie Monteleone’s Lifelong Journey

A Question That Never Let Go: Bonnie Monteleone’s Lifelong Journey In the mid-1970s, 12-year-old Bonnie Monteleone watched from the kitchen as her mother ...

Aliyah Carrion on Style, Change and Student Activism

“When I was young – before I really cared about what other people thought of me — I would wear absolutely anything and everything,” says Aliyah Carrion, a...

Powering Resilience: How EnerWealth is Reimagining Clean Energy Access

Imagine it’s a stormy day, sheltered in the comfort of your home, when suddenly the power goes out. In the city, electricity might return in a few hours. B...

Sustainable Aquaculture: Adapting to a Changing Climate

The Birth of Bama Bay: Jackie Wilson’s Journey to Oyster Farming Bama Bay Oyster Farm, located on the coast of Alabama, is Alabama’s first and only woman-o...

Meet in the Middle

Having grown up in Marblehead, Massachusetts, Chris Buchanan is familiar with the fishing industry. He remembers the little harbor down his street filled w...

A Jack of All Trades

Tiago Gomes, co-founder of the Latam Climate Turnaround Fund Tiago Gomes plays the role of a psychologist, a diplomat, a scientist and an investor, but mo...

Bridging the Gap between Farmer and Consumer

The Root of It All Alex Piaski Every entrepreneur’s journey starts somewhere; Alex Piaski’s began at the dining room table with his family in Philadelphia...