The North Shore Entrepreneurs Podcast with Jordan Russum

#18 Mele Mele Bakery - Song Ebbesen

🎙️ Episode 18 of the North Shore Entrepreneurs Podcast features Song Ebbesen, the woman behind Mele Mele Bakery — one of the North Shore's most beloved small businesses. In this episode we get into her story, how she built something special from scratch, and what it really takes to run a food business on the North Shore. 🌺

#17 Capelli Salon Hawaii - Courtney Choi

Courtney Choi is the owner of Capelli Salon in the Waialua Shopping Center and The Loft Salon in Haleiwa. In this episode, she shares her origin story — growing up in Adams, Massachusetts as a foster child, skipping college for trade school, doing movie makeup in Florida and Hawaii, and eventually making the North Shore her home.What started as booth renting at a local salon turned into owning two locations, managing a team of both booth renters and employees, and building a brand with merchandise, community events, and social media. Courtney talks honestly about the leap from cutting hair to running a business — figuring out payroll, navigating leadership, and how Square Capital helped her expand when a coffee shop space unexpectedly opened up next door.We also get into the hybrid booth renter/employee model, why the wedding market is growing, and what it looks like to build a loyal, local clientele on the North Shore.Topics covered:Growing up in foster care and finding a path through trade school * Working in film makeup before transitioning to hair * The booth renter model — pros, cons, and what it teaches you * Buying a two-chair salon for $2,000 and building from there * How Square Capital funded an unexpected expansion * Managing a team and learning to lead * Community involvement — beach cleanups, kids' haircuts, local events * What's next: social media, merchandise, and a 5-year anniversary event

#16 Sam Bergan - Field Social

Sam Bergan grew up in Mililani spending every free moment on the North Shore. She tried real estate, didn't love it, discovered she was really good at Instagram, and launched Field Social Hawaii in September 2024. Two weeks later she was fully booked.In this episode we sit down with Sam to talk about how she built her social media agency from the ground up, what small businesses are getting wrong on Instagram, and why she thinks most business owners are sleeping on a free tool that could change their business.Fair warning — I told myself going in I was NOT going to turn this into a free consulting session. I did my best. No guarantees. 😅In this episode we cover:📱 How she went from realtor to running her own social media agency🚀 How she launched in September 2024 and was fully booked within two weeks📈 How she grew @lyricwoodwork from 730 followers to almost 16K🎥 What full service social media management actually looks like day to day❌ The biggest mistakes small businesses make on Instagram — and how to fix them🎓 Why she ran a social media education program before launching the agency — and what it taught her🤝 Why showing up in person and networking is still the best first move for any new entrepreneur📹 Why YouTube is way easier than you think — and how one video can become 10 pieces of content💡 Her top tip for aspiring entrepreneurs: just start meeting people Whether you're a small business owner trying to figure out Instagram, an aspiring entrepreneur on Oahu, or just someone curious about how local businesses get built up here — this one is worth a listen.Go give @fieldsocial.hi a follow and check out what Sam is building. 🌊

#14 Gabriel Gross - Hero Moving Hawaii

In this episode of the North Shore Entrepreneurs Podcast, Jordan Russum sits down with Gabe Gross, founder and owner of Hero Moving Hawaii, for a wide-ranging conversation on building a service business from the ground up in Hawaii. Gabe shares his origin story — growing up in a Christian community in Brazil, moving cities every few years, and learning the power of faith and persistence by going door-to-door asking for donations as a kid. He talks about leaving Brazil at 22, selling head massagers in a Chicago mall in the dead of winter, hanging drywall in Toronto, driving 26-foot moving trucks in LA traffic with no prior experience, and eventually landing in Hawaii through a national moving company. After 10 years working for someone else and feeling like he was always "hanging by a thread," Gabe launched Hero Moving in November 2019. Today the company runs three trucks, employs 10–12 people, and offers local, inter-island, and long-distance moving plus storage. Gabe lays out his plan to 10x the business in five years, the role of mastermind groups and coaching, and why investing in personal development has paid back many times over. We also get into the realities of moving in Hawaii — extreme summer-vs-winter seasonality, why long-distance shipping is so prone to damage, how Hero is helping flood-affected families with donation moves, and why Gabe believes food, housing, and transportation are the indestructible foundations of any economy. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a Hawaii resident, or anyone who's ever moved more than once, this conversation is full of practical wisdom and hard-won lessons. CONNECT WITH GABE / HERO MOVING:Website: https://heromovinghi.com [https://heromovinghi.com]Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heromovinghi/ [https://www.instagram.com/heromovinghi/] new

#16 Emily Klein - Little Sprouts Preschool Oahu

In this episode, I sit down with Emily Klein, owner and lead teacher of Little Sprouts Preschool at Sunset Point. From a converted carport classroom to a thriving North Shore institution, Emily shares the winding path that led her here — growing up the daughter of a teacher in San Clemente, getting her teaching credential in San Diego, traveling through Central and South America, raising kids in Costa Rica, and ultimately building something all her own on Oahu. We talk about: * How a magazine article about a barn-turned-preschool in Maine planted the seed years before she opened her doors * Why she sought "blessings" from established North Shore preschool teachers like Nancy and Jackie before starting * Taking over the Little Sprouts name in 2017 when another teacher moved away * Her Montessori-inspired, mat-based classroom and the daily ritual of making bread with the kids (a tradition borrowed from a Waldorf school in Australia) * Why she ditched Pinterest-perfect art projects in favor of messy, kid-led creativity * Navigating community, competition, and collaboration in a small town * Her dream of growing into a bigger space with gardens, fruit trees, and proper drop-off parking * Why aspiring entrepreneurs should just start — even if it's not perfect Plus local shoutouts to Sea Haven in Haleiwa and Lyric Woodwork.