Throughout the month of March, the CAN BE Innovation Center is proud to celebrate Women’s History Month by highlighting its female clients.
In this short Q&A, we sat down with one of our incubator tenants, Bernice Platek from NSB Trainers, to reflect on her journey and what it means to be a female entrepreneur.
The Hazleton Kitchen Incubator welcomes its newest client, Alfa Foods, LLC. This small, food manufacturing business is owned and operated by area native, Alejandro Llerena, and specializes in crafting various meat products, including hot dogs, ham, sausage, salami, chorizo, bacon, jerky, and jerky sausages, which are all made from premium ingredients such as pork, beef, and chicken.
With a commitment to quality and innovation, Alejandro has worked diligently to bring his culinary dreams to life. "I am happy to embark on this journey with Alfa Foods," said Llerena. "My mission is to provide the community with exceptional meat products that stand out in both flavor and uniqueness…selling my products in a niche other companies won't do."
Alfa Foods is currently in its sampling phase, which includes perfecting recipes and designing labels to go on its packaging. Mr. Llerena aims to have his products readily accessible to the public very soon.
The CAN BE Innovation Center is proud to celebrate the one year anniversary of Stray Threads, a woman-owned, manually operated, screen-printing company that specializes in smaller productions orders and specialty inks. In celebration of this milestone, we sat down with Stray Thread’s owner, Megan Sterenchock, to reflect on her journey
For those who may not be familiar with you, tell us about who are you and your business’s story?
“I’m Megan Sterenchock, the founder of Stray Threads. I’ve been in the screen printing world for the past 10 years - my first job out of college was for a bigger, local screen-printing company, and I’ve done artwork for other local printers over the years. As a t-shirt and hoodie enthusiast, I’ve also been on the consumer side of ordering shirts and merchandise for companies. I love nothing more than a well-designed shirt printed on a nice soft and cozy garment!
Members of CAN DO’s Student Action Committee recently toured the CAN BE Innovation Center to learn about its mission, function, and how the organization helps entrepreneurs in the area.
During their visit, Student Action Committee members had the opportunity to meet and interact with CAN BE tenants, who spoke to students about how they started their businesses and what resources were provided by the regional incubator. Students were able to ask questions, including how each local entrepreneur learned about the Innovation Center and what local resources have been the most impactful in starting and growing their businesses
In addition to learning about CAN BE, the visit gave CAN DO’s student members a firsthand look at local entrepreneurship and the organization’s role in promoting business opportunities within the local community.
