CityView Magazine

Below | Michael Karaman, Karaman Communications. Right | Nicole Sullivan, The Sweet Boutique At first, he was involved in auto importing, but he quickly switched to telecommunications and founded The Phone Network. A pay phone business eventually gave way to cellular. From there, things just kept evolving. “I kept meeting people, and opportunities On point After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with a degree in electrical engineering, Capt. Michael Karaman came to Fayetteville and Fort Bragg in 1980. “Coming from Pittsburgh and West Point, it was a small-town atmosphere,” Karaman said. “I took it for what it was, and I adapted.” In 1984, Karaman resigned his commission to open his own business. 50|February/March • 2009 presented themselves,” Karaman said. “One thing led to the next.” To better reflect the diverse range of services they now offer, the name of the company was changed from The Phone Network to Karaman Communications this past summer. Karaman Communications is located at 4424 Bragg Blvd., Suite 101. Karaman, 51, said the city is the perfect size for his business because it allows him to have a large client base without the kind of competition he would face in a market like Raleigh. Baking up a business During her 13 years with the Army Signal Corps, Nicole Sullivan was always cooking up business ideas. In 2005, she retired as a major to spend more time with her children, and to turn up the heat on a long-time hobby. Sullivan grew up cooking and baking with her mother, grandmother and aunt. After leaving the military, she studied at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York, mastering cake design and perfecting her recipes. “I wanted to pursue something I had a real passion for,” Sullivan said. “It was a natural fit for me.” Once Sullivan started baking professionally, she quickly outgrew her home kitchen. Her store, The Sweet Boutique, opened at 1400 Walter Reed Road two years ago.

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