Katie Mills Giorgio

When Carissa Johnson came upon a luxury picnic business in Arizona in 2021, she recalled, “The idea stuck with me and I wondered if I could do something like that in Cedar Rapids.” So she started Boujee Picnic.

Maher Brothers Transfer and Storage was started in 1922 in Iowa City as a company that worked moving consumer goods across the country after World War I. Today, it is led by brothers — and equal business partners — Tom and Tim Riley who have been at the helm for several decades.

Julie Parisis knows the experience of being a NewBo City Market shopkeeper firsthand, having run a space several years ago before joining the administrative staff.

Deb Ralston has long worked in the medical field, but the work she does today — both professionally and as a volunteer — is the most fulfilling, she said.

Members had met weekly at Elmcrest Country Club for a number of years, but the group voted to move to a new meeting space, at Groundswell Cafe, located next to and operated by not-for-profit Matthew 25 on Third Avenue SW in the Kingston neighborhood, near downtown Cedar Rapids.

The decision to to pull Cedar Rapids-based Phelan’s Interiors out of the retail sector was nearly a decade in the making, said Paul Phelan Jr., the company’s CEO and president. And it did not come lightly.

Mayzie Tucker decided to turn her talents into a floral preservation business. And so far, business is blossoming

Green-ish Iowa at Outlets Williamsburg sells houseplants to wine

Unique Events in Cedar Rapids is a “one-stop shop” for weddings, including event planning, coordination and design, a flower shop, rentals, D.J.s, photo booths, a lighted dance floor and more, the owner says.

Casey Peck Peck started out at Kalona Cooperative Technology as an accountant and worked her way into being controller. From there she moved on to being CFO and in 2013 stepped into her current role of both CFO and general manager.

Oranges and Elbows offers residential and commercial cleaning in the Iowa City area.

Critical Hit Games in Iowa City specializes in role-playing card games, such as “Magic” and “Pokemon.” It also has board and miniature games, and they buy and sell retro video games as well.

‘The glue that brings a community together,’ Kathy Waychoff has spent a lifetime connected to volunteerism.

“Nobody's going to be more committed to these goals than me and nobody is going to understand this community that Horizons is serving better than me,” says Sophia DeMartino of Horizons, A Family Service Alliance.

Hia Dog Boarding in Hiawatha offers doggy day care, overnight boarding, basic training, supervised swimming and more.