When Diona Green found herself in a window of unemployment after working in customer service for 15 years, she knew it was the opportunity she needed to become her own boss.
Green, of Jacksonville, had been chasing her catering and cooking dreams part-time for about 10 years when she suddenly became unemployed. She reached out to CareerSource Northeast Florida to find work and instead found the steps she needed to take to launch her business full time.
CareerSource Florida, a statewide workforce policy and investment board aimed to help guide development for the state, is celebrating entrepreneurs, like Green, for National Entrepreneurship Week this week.
“I went through CareerSource, where I met Marina [Hirshfield], and she pushed me to step out on my own,” Green said. “A year and a half after that, I started my business and became official in 2019.”
Because the COVID-19 pandemic began shortly after her launch, Green said she “took a start and took a hit at the same time.”
“I was always interested in cooking from a young age,” Green said. “I have always had a passion for cooking and always tried to create my own dishes, but I didn’t see it as a career. Would I have ever imagined that I owned my own business? No. I never would have imagined that I would be at different vending events. It’s amazing. It amazes me everyday.”
Green’s catering business, Djais Catering, specializes in private events, birthday parties and family reunions. It even travels around Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The name was inspired by combining Green’s name with her daughter’s, Jaiona, who Green said has helped her on this entrepreneurial journey.
“I had her when I was 21, so I kind of grew up with her, to say the least,” Green said.
Green described her daughter as her “junior chef,” and attributed her success to her family and community support systems.
“I think that is one of the keys to success when trying to own and operate your own business,” she said.”
‘I always wanted to be an entrepreneur’
Cora Fells, of Palatka, is no stranger to needing a support system either.
Fells is another CareerSource success story, working her way up from her first job at Burger King to owning her own restaurant, Cora’s Place, which opened in July in her hometown.
“I always wanted to be an entrepreneur,” Fells said. “I used to sell brownies in high school. My grandma would say she always knew that I would be an entrepreneur because if there was something to sell someone, I would sell it — especially food.”
Fells’ grandmother was a long-time supporter of these culinary aspirations.
“It was always my dream to own a restaurant,” Fells said. “I started cooking when I was in the seventh grade. I always loved cooking. I didn’t think it would be my actual career, but my grandma always wanted a restaurant, and that was my and her thing, that one day we would have a restaurant.”
Like Green, Fells said family was at the root of her ability to chase her dreams.
“[My grandma] is a pastor, and she prayed for me a lot, and that’s what I really needed,” Fells said.
Cora’s Place, a diner-style eatery that offers soul food specials like shrimp and grits and chicken and waffles, won the Best New Business in Putnam County Award in 2021. Northeast Florida Community Actions and CareerSource Northeast Florida also honored Fells for her success.
“It’s been really overwhelming, the love and support,” she said. “[CareerSource] honored [me] as one of their success stories because they paid for and helped me go to culinary school.”
Now Fells is looking at taking on a new endeavor in the spring: a food truck.
“It’s been very rewarding and a big experience to watch me grow and learn things and meet new people,” Fells said. “It’s been a really life-changing thing to me.”
Fells said moving to food trucks instead of a building is the most cost-efficient move for her small business. Cora’s Place is closed while Fells focuses on launching the food truck.
Green’s catering business will be featured at an upcoming pop-up event by Scarlett 12 Tribes. The Black History Month creators market event starts at 11 a.m. Feb. 26 at 3118 Edgewood Ave. W. in Jacksonville.
Green said she loves that her business allows her to meet so many different people and build up the community, like what she will be doing at the event later this month. She offers her services for several nonprofits as well, including It’s A Girl Thing and Quench the Violence.
“I wanted to be able to share my gift and my talent but also to [help] people,” she said. “My journey has had its ups and downs, especially with the pandemic, but you do what you gotta do. I’m not stopping. The journey is much farther for me.”