A layoff and a leap of faith convinced Katie Teixeira she had what it takes to run her own business

In 2010, Katie Teixeira adopted a kitten found all alone in an abandoned house. The kitten – so tiny she fit in the palm of Teixeira’s hand – needed to be bottle-fed every few hours. For weeks, Teixeira set her alarm for middle-of-the-night feedings and drove home on her lunch break to care for the kitten she named Milo. As the cat grew, so did the connection between them.

“We just bonded,” Teixeira says. “Like mother and daughter.”