Companiesfor entrepreneurship / Quality of Life

While Brian Hock trained for the Louisville Ironman in 2010, he had an idea for a way to stay hydrated along the way. That idea evolved into Simple Hydration, a start-up company with an innovative product that is being manufactured in the US.

Five months ago, David Johnson and his wife Estelle McNair started a branding company together. Today, Johnson-McNair is beginning to gain traction and serve clients all over the country.

Using pure ingredients and plenty of passion, Queen City Cookies owner Peggy Shannon continues to build a sweet and savory empire, one gorgeous bite at a time. From specialty cookie sales in local shops to her own storefront in Findlay Market, Shannon continues to expand her reach. Now her cookies are available at Whole Foods in Rookwood and online through Sur la Table, with more outlets on the way.

Two sisters have set out to create the perfect no-cream ice cream. They experimented with different bases and came out with some textures that were barely passable. But they kept at it, and with a dedication to using only natural ingredients and lots of time and effort, eventually, Phro*ZEN was born.

Framester merges event photography, social networking and just plain fun into one package.

Encompass Workplace Solutions, a business spin off of the non-profit Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services, offers the corporate world a proactive solution for helping employees improve their mental health.

A Cincinnati area family with a love of healthy food has created a line of frozen and refrigerated gourmet vegan foods that mix flavor, nutrition and whole ingredients.

For young adults looking for sports and fun, Cincinnati Sports Leagues offers plenty. The ball got rolling in the summer of 2001; today, about 30,000 Cincinnatians attend a CSL event each year.

In only a few short years Cincy Chic grew from an online women’s lifestyle publication to a way of life for a collection of Cincinnati's most hip, professional women.

Girlfriendolgy gives new meaning to the phrase "tech support" with a web site based on celebrating female friendships

Started in 2000, Cincinnati-based SparkPeople now claims 3.1 million unique visitors to its site, and says it is the one the most-visited health and medical sites, behind only WebMD, AOL Body and Weight Watchers.