Inspiring Entrepreneurs and the Mothers who Made Them

Introducing Lemonade Stories, a documentary film by award-winning filmmaker, Mary Mazzio, about extraordinary entrepreneurs and their mothers. This film, produced in collaboration with Babson College and Scott Timmins, focuses on how mothers have contributed to the entrepreneurial spirit of their sons and daughters. The film, which garnered the First Place Judge's Commendation for BEST DOCUMENTARY at the Rhode Island International Film Festival (one of the few festivals which qualifies films for the Academy Award), also aired nationwide on CNNfn and has been broadcast nationwide in the UK, Israel, the Middle East, Latin America, New Zealand, and Hong Kong.  The debut of the film's panel discussion aired nationwide on C-SPAN.

Garnering a full cover page story in USA Today, complete with pictures and streaming video on USA Today.com's home page, Lemonade Stories was also featured in cover story articles in The Christian Science Monitor and Forbes.com, both of which stories were syndicated around the world, including a feature story on ABC News.com's home page, as well as NPR, CNN Headline News, ESPN, The Boston Globe, Fast Company, Bloomberg Radio, The Providence Journal, Yahoo Business, MSN Business, among others.  

The film has been screened and used for international consulting firms, unemployment training centers, state business conferences, corporate retreats, high schools (being incorporated into high school economics curriculum in school districts), entrepreneurship symposiums, business schools and colleges in the US, Canada, Japan, the UK, China, Mexico, Brazil, and France. 

An official selection at the Rhode Island International Film Festival (a qualifying festival for the Academy Award) as well as the Palm Beach International Film Festival, the Tiburon International Film Festival, and the Swansea Bay Film Festival (Wales, UK), the film was also a finalist in the 25th Annual USA Film Festival.

The individuals featured in this film include:

Richard Branson (The Virgin Group) and his mother, Eve Branson (herself an entrepreneur, who also served in WWII)
Russell Simmons (Def Jam/Phat Fashions), his brother Reverend Run (a/k/a Run of the hip-hop pioneers, Run-DMC), and his brother Danny Simmons (co-founder, Def Poetry Jam)
Arthur Blank (The Home Depot) and his mother, Molly Blank (who took over the family business after the death of her husband and built it into a multi-million dollar operation)
Kay Koplovitz (USA Network) and her mother, Jane Smith (a 90 year old who loves Brett Favre and is known to yell at her favorite players during playoff season)
Tom Scott (Nantucket Nectars), his mother Jane, his grandmother Dorothy (featured in Nantucket Nectars' radio spots), and his wife, Emily Woods Scott (founder of JCrew)
Billy Starr (Pan-Mass Challenge), who founded the world’s largest bike-a-thon, raising over $100,000,000 for cancer research in memory of his mother, Betty Starr.
Kelly Reinhart (TPak International), an 11 year old entrepreneur who invented a thigh pack and obtained a million dollar contract with the US Army.

NOTE:  There is one segment of the film which discusses the landscape facing inner-city African American men, including drugs.  This segment, while appropriate for middle school and high school, should be previewed before screening to elementary school children.  The DVD is formatted such that segments of the film can be skipped or fast-forwarded.

CLICK HERE to see another clip of Lemonade Stories.  CLICK HERE for audio clips.