Zachary Green

Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna’s ice cream company, Ample Hills Creamery, was a runaway success. A few years after they launched in Brooklyn, New York, they were endorsed by Oprah Winfrey and opened a shop at Walt Disney World. Then, in 2020, the company declared bankruptcy. Six months later, Smith and Cuscuna filed for personal bankruptcy. Now they’re trying again — with new investors and a bevy of lessons learned from failure.

28-year-old Chabely Rodriguez earns over $200,000 a year as a certified anesthesiologist assistant. See how she spends her money.

Chisom Okwulehie was gifted at drawing from a young age. She decided to turn her artistic instincts toward a more profitable line of work, studying architecture and public planning in college. Today, the 35-year-old mother of two earns about $163,000 a year working as an architectural designer for the Port of Authority for New York and New Jersey and running her own interior design side business for private clients, Juntero.

In 2014, business partners Matt Scanlan and Diederik Rijsemus drove into Mongolia’s Gobi Desert with $2.5 million tied up in plastic bags. Their goal: purchase 50 tons of cashmere wool from nomadic goat herders for their new clothing company, Naadam. Today, Naadam brings in more than $100 million per year selling relatively affordable cashmere clothing. Its lowest-cost — and most popular — cashmere sweater sells for $98.

25-years-old Jake Spotswood is training for the pole vault in the 2024 Olympic trials. At the same time, he’s working as an IT analyst from 9-5 and as personal trainer and volunteer assistant coach for George Mason University’s track and field team. Jake also posts sponsored online content to his 90K followers on Instagram and TikTok. Jake says he’s able to balance all of these plates by sticking to a meticulous schedule every day. Even while training, he expects to earn over $100K in 2024.

Ji Hye Kim took a significant pay cut when she went from health care to food services. Her Michigan-based restaurant, Miss Kim, is now a success.

At 27, Ji Hye Kim quit her job at a medical administration company to become a cheesemonger at Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Eight years later, she opened her own Korean restaurant, Miss Kim. Ji Hye is now a James Beard Award semifinalist. In 2023, her restaurant brought in $1.8 million in sales. Ji Hye passes much of that revenue on to her staff, paying them $12-$15 per hour and sharing the restaurant’s profits with them.

During a visit to Spain, Andrew Benin discovered his passion for high-quality olive oil. He went on to found Graza, a single varietal olive oil, in 2022. Graza is projected to bring in $48.4 million in 2024.

33-year-old mom moved her family from Texas to an island in Greece: ‘Our life is just so much more fulfilling here’

After decades spent as the pinnacle of nerd culture, the popular tabletop game has broken into the mainstream.