Business Writing I'm fascinated by entrepreneurs.
I love writing about individuals who have built a business with their bare hands. What makes these people tick? Why do they succeed when others fail?
The lessons learned from those who prosper in business is something that should be shared. These lessons are what I hope to convey when writing a business profile. My articles share the secrets of those who have taken the risks, overcome the problems, and carved a path where others now follow.
Click the articles below to discover stories of beach bar owners, charter pilots, catamaran captains, culinary virtuosos, island presidents, rum experts, photography adventurers, yacht concierges, and much more.
Blue Light Caribbean – A Gin Story
By Tim Cotroneo In 2010, Jim Jardine decided it was time to slow the pace of his hectic life as a software development professional in Calgary, Alberta. Of all the options laying before him, owning a gin distillery on the Caribbean island of Grenada was far off his radar. After traveling 4,000 miles to plant […]
Designer Reveals What Makes Sandals Resort So Romantic
By Tim Cotroneo In 1995, Sarah Hartman was hired to join one other interior designer working on the Sandals Resorts portfolio of eight Caribbean properties. Today Hartman serves as the Director of Interior Design for Sandals Resorts International’s billion-dollar operation that includes 23 hotels located on 7 Caribbean islands. Hartman has the enviable task of […]
A 5,000 Mile Kiteboarding Journey to Turks and Caicos
How does one shift from a corporate banking career in Budapest, Hungary, to becoming co-owner of a kiteboarding business located 5,000-miles away in
Profile: Travel Photographer Dani Ashley
Travel photographer Dani Ashley has followed her passion all over the world. Dani has ventured as far north as Iceland and she’s also toted her camera to the turquoise waters of the Maldives and Seychelles. Travel Dreams caught up with Dani and asked if she’d share some of her favorite photos, as well as her […]
Dennis’ Cocktail Bar and Restaurant in Antigua
As a child, Dennis Thomas often climbed to the top of a hill sandwiched between two of Antigua’s most beautiful beaches. Upon reaching the pinnacle of this hill, Thomas would daydream of owning a restaurant that would honor the cooking of his mother and the memory of his father. In 2006, Thomas’ dream came true […]
An Interview with Four Seasons GM
John Conway
Engaged. That’s how Four Seasons General Manager John Conway wants guests to feel when staying at his iconic resort perched on one of the Bahamas’ most idyllic beaches. The Ocean Club and Four Seasons recently incurred a hospitality marriage made in heaven. When the Four Seasons brand embraced The Ocean Club as part of their […]
One Man 7 Caribbean Islands
An Interview with Wilbert Mason of Ocean Club Resorts Which Caribbean island is the best? If you only had one person to ask this question, Wilbert Mason, the Managing Director of Ocean Club Resorts in the Turks and Caicos Islands, would be a perfect choice. That’s because Mason’s nearly 20 years in the hospitality industry […]
Anguilla’s Rhum Room – It’s Not What You Think
If you thought the 16-mile-long Caribbean island of Anguilla was thick with rum bars you’d be wrong. In fact, when the Rhum Room at Zemi Beach House Resort opened in 2016, it became the island’s first and only rum bar. If in your mind’s eye you envision the Rhum Room as a rustic shack that’s […]
Making Beach Bar Music in Great Exuma
Musically, the owner of Exuma Point Beach Bar and Grill has a legendary first name to live up to. When asked if he is the singer in the family, Elvis Rolle shakes his head and smiles, “I’m a dancer.” If Exuma Point Beach Bar patrons are hoping for high notes to accompany their Punch Cocktail, […]
A Spa is Calling in Turks and Caicos
Edmonde Sidibe-Jones achieved Master spa and beauty status in the South of France before arriving on the Turks and Caicos Island of Providenciales in 2002. After working for several years on a cruise ship that traveled the world
Captain Jerry – Exuma’s Legend of the Sea
Roker Point Estates, the island of Exuma’s newest residential development, employs a secret weapon for convincing potential home buyers that their island is a magical place to yacht, explore, and reside. A majority of Roker Point clientele choose this 58-acre oceanfront community because they enjoy or envision a yachting lifestyle. Who better to show curious […]
Isla Mujeres Oceanside Oasis
If your favorite vacation dream starts with the letters B&B, then Villa LaBella, on the island of Isla Mujeres, is certain to make your
Chef Leads Eleuthera’s Top Restaurant
Upon relocating to the island of Eleuthera, Chef Peter Hamm learned that surprises were a way of life. Hamm’s kitchen crew must
Adventure in Antigua
Eli Fuller’s office isn’t like yours and mine. One day his workplace is a 32-foot speed boat. Another day it’s a 52-foot catamaran. This 40-year-old native of Antigua conducts business and meets clients on the Caribbean Sea.
Tales from the Cabana Bar
Jeff Rollings, the owner of the Cabana Bar at Ocean Club, flashed back to his earliest Turks and Caicos memories. “When I first visited here in 1984, you could walk Grace Bay Beach on a Wednesday and still see the footprints from Tuesday. Nobody knew much about Providenciales back then,” Rollings said. The former Palm […]
Dublin Chef in Turks and Caicos Paradise
Paul Quinn, the Executive Chef at The Vix Bar & Grill, takes a whimsical view of working 14-hour shifts at his new restaurant. Quinn’s positive approach may have something to do with his restaurant being located near
I Catamaran Can in St. Thomas
The sounds of Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young serenade excursion customers as they step aboard The Cat, Jim Trilling’s pearl white catamaran. Like entering the living room of a palatial home at sea, guests hand their shoes to Trilling’s crew. That’s so The Cat’s deck stays spotlessly clean. It’s hard to read Trilling’s eyes behind […]
Tapping a Caribbean Dream in St. John
U.S. retail dollars for craft beer in 2012 was estimated at $10.2 billion, up from $8.7 billion in 2011. In 2004, on the Caribbean island of St. John, no bar or restaurant was serving, let alone brewing, craft beer. St. John transplants Kevin Chipman and Chirag Vyas decided their new Caribbean home needed the kind […]
St. Croix’s Flying Family
Billy Bohlke’s work environment fits like a glove, and he can make it move at mach speed. Today the
St. Barths President Pilot
Inspired by the exploits of legendary World War II fighter pilot Jose Dormoy, a young Bruno Magras dreamed of flying airplanes. In 1968, at the age of 16, Magras left his native St. Barths to seek out what he termed his “active life” on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. In 1973, Magras earned his […]
San Diego Chef’s Amazing Pace
The Executive Chef at San Diego’s Westgate Hotel begins his workday at 6:00 am. Fabrice Hardel’s early rising has nothing to do with his responsibilities attending to the restaurant, catering, and room service needs at his place of employment. Fabrice gets up before the rooster crows to run 15 miles
A Punta Cana Business That Clicks
It’s easy for Ernesto Dos Santos to freeze frame the turning point in his life and career. It was the day a representative from the Dominican Jazz Festival viewed his black and white photos exhibited in his hometown of Havana, Cuba. “She liked my series of photographs featuring jazz musicians. I was invited to show […]
A Taste for Rum in Nevis
If it’s Thursday night on the island of Nevis, then you’ll find three shot glasses perfectly positioned on the mahogany bar counter at 101 Rums Bar. Like a magician ready to
Maui Villa with Your Own Concierge
After 14 years working as a Concierge for the Four Seasons Resorts and Hotels, Irene Aroner had an entrepreneurial vision. Why not represent the best villas on the island of Maui and include her concierge expertise as part of a luxury vacation package?
Chefs Eat, Play, Cook in Key Largo
Julia Child’s “The French Chef “was one of the most popular television shows of the 60s and early 70s. Newly married and an aspiring cook, Carole Kotkin found herself mesmerized by Child’s culinary mastery. When Kotkin learned her idol would be appearing in her hometown of Miami, she couldn’t wait to see Child in person. […]
Romancing the Stone in Italy and Beyond
During a long distance phone interview with a U.S. journalist, it sounded like Tetyana Kovalenko, the CEO of Italy’s Elite Stone, was smiling. Maybe her positive tone had something to do with the fact that Kovalenko was holding her infant son. Maybe it had to do with her sharing the story of Elite Stone’s amazing […]
Walk Good
Recipe for Harbour Island Success
Harbour Island is one of the tiniest of what the Bahamas term the Out Islands. This petite Caribbean haven, located 60 miles south of Nassau, is where you’ll find the most pink sand, golf carts, and billionaires per capita in the world. Harbour Island is also home to Robert Arthur’s diverse array of entrepreneurial ventures. […]
Drone Video Career in Guana Cay
Video Producer Unni Marie Berg arrived in style at the Love Beach luxury villa on the Bahamian Out Island of Guana Cay. Berg’s vehicle of choice is a
Chat N’ Chill
A Beach Bar Story
As the water taxi from Great Exuma bobbed within 15 feet of Stocking Island’s dock, 10 passengers craned their necks in search of the island’s famous
Nevis Chef Dives for Your Dinner
It’s no exaggeration to say that Jason Adams knows Caribbean cuisine as well as any Executive Chef in the world. This claim rings true knowing that the British-born Adams cooked in
Networking to Success in Aruba
When Tina Causey-Bislick moved to Aruba in 1999, she never dreamed she’d be a restaurant owner. Then again, Tina never imagined starting a prominent Aruba magazine, launching a public relations firm, and becoming the top-ranked female beach tennis player on the island. To say the 45-year-old Causey-Bislick is a multi-tasker is an understatement. Today, the […]
Antigua’s Luxury Yacht Concierge
The roots of Tina Westwood’s business taking care of Antigua’s yacht owners sprouted when she was 19 years old. A girlfriend asked if she’d like to work on a yacht that was
Straw Hat
Anguilla Love Story
Peter Parles bolted out of his Straw Hat Restaurant office like a man on fire. “We’ve got Internet problems,” Parles confided to a friend. Straw Hat is located on the Caribbean island of Anguilla,
A Golf Storyteller’s Dream Job
For as long as he can remember, Tony Parker burned with a passion for history and a passion for golf. Parker’s twin loves drove him to study and work in St. Andrews, the Scottish Holy Grail for someone enthralled with the complexities of the game, its most revered players, and the courses where golf originated. […]
Sedona Rocks
When John Bradshaw came into this world in 1970; it was fair to call his Sedona, AZ, birthplace a one-horse town. “My Dad couldn’t afford to pay for my delivery in cash, so he traded the doctor a thoroughbred horse,” Bradshaw said. Two years later, Bradshaw’s brother Scott was born. “This time, my Dad paid […]
Wailea – Walk This Way
Strolling Wailea’s Magnificent Oceanfront Promenade By Tim Cotroneo If you’re considering Maui’s plush Wailea hotel zone for your next vacation, expect to pay $14 for a Mai Tai, $170 for Old Blue Golf Club greens fees and $285 for a weekly rental on a Mustang convertible. The good news is there is one awe-inspiring Wailea […]
Discovering Maui Through Photography
Photo Safari Hawaii by Tim Cotroneo Many of the oceanfront hotel properties on the Hawaiian island of Maui are so beautiful that guests rarely leave their cozy confines. Maui-based photographer Brian Ross felt it was a shame guests didn’t explore all that his island had to offer. Ross thought there had to be some way […]
