Editorial Staff

Jitka Borowick on Starting a Small Business during COVID

/0 Comments/in , , , , /by Editorial Staff
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

This week on JobMakers, Guest Host Jo Napolitano talks with Jitka Borowick, Founder & CEO of Cleangreen, a cleaning service committed to environmentally-friendly practices, and Nove Yoga, launched during COVID. Jitka grew up under communism in the Czech Republic. Determined to learn English, she made her way to the U.S., initially with plans to stay for only one year – but ended up making it her home. In this episode, they discuss the difficulties of learning another language and culture, her pathway to entrepreneurship, and her courageous decision to open a new business during a pandemic. Jitka shares insights on how her companies have successfully adapted to the challenges so many small businesses have encountered over the past year.

Guest:

Jitka Borowick came to the U.S. in 2003 from the Czech Republic, with the goal of becoming fluent in English. Five years later, she launched Cleangreen, a natural cleaning company serving residential and commercial clients on Cape Cod. The company’s mission is to provide safe, effective and affordable cleaning options which support its clients’ well-being and contribute to environmental sustainability. The business has earned designations as “Best of Cape Cod” from Cape Cod Magazine’s readers and the 2014 Business of the Year from the Hyannis Area Chamber of Commerce. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jitka courageously launched a second business, Nové, a yoga and wellness studio with in-person and online offerings. Jitka has been recognized for her leadership and involvement in the community, including awards from Cape & Plymouth Business, Cape Cod Magazine, Cape Cod SCORE, Enterprising Women Magazine; 2017 recipient of the Community Advocacy Award from Eastern Bank, and alumna awards from Cape Cod Community College and Suffolk University. Jitka is currently a trustee at Cape Cod Academy, and has served on the boards of the Barnstable Village Business Association and the Cape Cod Community College Educational Foundation. She is a past President of the Business Network International Convergence Team and the Rotary Club of Hyannis; and past Board Chair of Flower Angels USA and Hyannis Rotary Good Works. Jitka earned degrees from Cape Cod Community College and Suffolk University.

Get new episodes of JobMakers in your inbox!

Browse recent episodes:

Jitka Borowick on Starting a Small Business during COVID

0 Comments
/
This week on JobMakers, Guest Host Jo Napolitano talks with Jitka Borowick, Founder & CEO of Cleangreen, a cleaning service committed to environmentally-friendly practices, and Nove Yoga, launched during COVID. Jitka grew up under communism in the Czech Republic. Determined to learn English, she made her way to the U.S., initially with plans to stay for only one year - but ended up making it her home. Jitka shares the difficulties of learning another language and culture, her pathway to entrepreneurship, her courageous decision to open a new business during a pandemic, and how her companies have successfully adapted to the challenges so many small businesses have encountered over the past year.

Josh Feast Answers the Call with AI

This week on JobMakers, Guest Host Jo Napolitano talks with Josh Feast, the CEO and Co-Founder of Cogito, a Boston-based software company that deploys Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help employers in a wide variety of industries improve their customer service call centers. They discuss the many applications of Artificial Intelligence, how it helps provide emotional intelligence to augment management practices at large organizations, and how to address some of the concerns about privacy and bias that have been raised around its use.

Mahmud Jafri Builds on a Pakistani Legacy in America

This week on JobMakers, Host Denzil Mohammed talks with Mahmud Jafri, who built on a legacy started by his grandfather and began importing hand-knitted rugs from his native Pakistan, creating opportunities especially for women who traditionally couldn’t work outside the home. Today, he has three Dover Rug & Home stores across Massachusetts, including the Back Bay.

Larry O’Toole on Workplace Culture & Immigration Policy

On this week's episode of JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks to Larry O’Toole, founder of the multi-state Gentle Giant Moving Company that started in 1980 right here in the Boston area. They discuss Mr. O'Toole's journey at a young age from Ireland to Brookline, Mass., the challenges of being uprooted, and the ability to thrive despite barriers such as skills gaps, that many immigrants face.

Amar Sawhney on Sikhs, STEM & COVID

On this week's episode of JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks to Dr. Amar Sawhney about his journey from India to Boston, and how he is using his chemical engineering background to save lives through remarkable local therapy innovations. To date, he has founded eight companies accounting for 4,000 jobs and more than $2 billion in revenue.

Max Faingezicht on the Skills Gap & the Future of Work

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Max Faingezicht, an immigrant who founded ThriveHive, a marketing software company for small businesses, and Telescoped, which uses remote software engineering to connect Latin American engineers with U.S. companies in need of their skills. The entrepreneurial ecosystem of Boston and Cambridge have allowed Max to achieve dreams he didn’t even know he had when he arrived. In this episode, he shares his fascinating immigration story, as well as his ideas on where workers go next.

Hilda Torres Makes the Grade

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Hilda Torres, an immigrant from Mexico who runs My Little Best Friends Early Learning Center in Malden, Massachusetts. One of the most successful businesses in the city, the center enrolls over 100 students whose parents come from more than 25 different countries. In this episode, Hilda shares how she used the tools of education, and her own grit and determination, to make her mark in the land of opportunity.

Hong Tran Goes from Refugee to Realtor

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Hong Tran, a Worcester, Massachusetts-based realtor and small business owner who emigrated to America as an orphaned refugee from Vietnam.

Sandro Catanzaro Takes His American Dream to Mars and Back

This week on JobMakers, host Denzil Mohammed talks with Sandro Catanzaro, who started several businesses in his native Peru but had no idea he’d end up helping NASA go to Mars, or that he’d use that same technology to plan and buy video ad campaigns. Now Head of Publisher Services Strategy for Roku, which acquired the company he founded, dataxu, in 2019, Mr. Catanzaro is an emblem of ingenuity and inventiveness. His demand-side platform, device graph technology and analytics platform help accelerate Roku’s ad tech roadmap and ability to serve a wide array of advertisers. But he’s not done yet!

Christina Qi Goes From Welfare to Wall Street 

This week on JobMakers, Host Denzil Mohammed talks with Christina (Chi) Qi, who started a hedge fund at just 22. They discuss her background and journey, moving with her family from China to Utah, being on welfare, and then attending MIT. She went on to co-found Domeyard, a quantitative trading firm, in 2013, among the longest running high-frequency trading hedge funds in the world, and was trading up to $7 billion dollars a day. In 2019, she founded Databento, an on-demand data platform for asset managers and quantitative analysts. They discuss how being an immigrant, Asian, and a woman in the cutthroat, male-dominated world of Wall Street didn’t deter her from success.