Generational Entrepreneurship in Alaska

Alaskans wear many hats, and unlike residents in many places in the country, they often don't self-identify based on their job or work. It’s not that common to meet someone who calls themself an entrepreneur. It's not because entrepreneurs don’t exist here, but because they’re exactly the opposite—ubiquitous.

Commercial fishers, local artists, and independent grocery store owners, for instance, have much more in common than they might think. Entrepreneurship is deeply ingrained in Alaska’s communities. Local businesses are everywhere here. Chain stores came very late to the Alaska business party.

In many cases, Alaska businesses are passed down, one generation to the next, or often multiple generations run their business together. This generational entrepreneurship is an important economic driver in Alaska.

Generations of business growth

In February 2020, Tanya Val and her husband Carson Baldiviez launched That Feeling Co. in Anchorage, and next to it, Carson’s parents, Johnny and Ginna Baldiviez, debuted Johnny’s Produce. Before they opened their enterprises, these generational entrepreneurs were set to make a splash. They already had a large Instagram following and modern branding.

“We originally wanted to buy a space that hosted both of our businesses,” Tanya, the branding brain behind That Feeling Co., noted. “We knew from the get-go that it would feel like a family-owned business.”

And they were right. Family owned is the exact feeling you get when stepping into the coffee shop and gift store. The numerous plants welcome shoppers, and warm lighting draws them in. Just a few steps away is Johnny’s Produce, an open produce market with a coastal feel.

“There are a lot of people who walk into our store, and they’re like, ‘This looks like it’s something that doesn’t belong here. Are you guys from here?’” Carson said. “Part of our interest in opening up the business in Anchorage was because we wanted to do something that would help make Anchorage a little nicer.”

The two are honest about the learning curve involved in starting and running a new small business. “We’re YouTube University. We’re DIY through and through,” Tanya said with a laugh. Carson agreed, “If you were starting a business in the early 90s... I don’t even know how you did it.”

“Well, you recreate the wheel. You figure it out yourself,” Johnny chimed in. “We just know that with the hard work we do, failure’s not an option for us.”

Johnny and Ginna have been working in produce and food since they moved to Alaska in 1982. “It’s certainly not for everybody,” Ginna added. “We had a baby, one toddler, and Carson had just been born [when we started], and yet Johnny still quit his job knowing that we were going into the unknown.”

Looking back at the generations of entrepreneurs in both Carson and Tanya’s families, that sentiment of going into the unknown couldn’t be more accurate.

“My family emigrated to Alaska when I was in sixth grade,” Tanya said. “My mom and my grandma raised me, and they had a shoe business, so I was always on the sidelines hustling with them.”

Meanwhile, Carson’s line of generational entrepreneurship goes back even further. His great-great-grandfather came to the U.S. from Sicily when he was a young man and sold bananas door to door to earn money to pay for other members of his family to immigrate.

Destined to be entrepreneurs?

There’s something to be said for growing up with parents who are entrepreneurs. It begs the debate of whether people are born entrepreneurs or are nurtured to become entrepreneurs. The data show that children with entrepreneur parents are only 10–11 percent more likely to become entrepreneurs than those without. Many studies point to external factors such as economic and social issues driving entrepreneurship more than familial backgrounds.

So what pilots generational entrepreneurship in Alaska? Simply put, necessity.

According to the Center for Economic Development at the University of Alaska, Anchorage, 89 percent of Alaska’s new jobs in the last ten years were from businesses less than ten years old. Entrepreneurs are vital to Alaska’s growth.

“I think one of the biggest reasons why we have been successful [over the years] is because of our location,” Johnny said. “Alaska brought uniqueness to us, that opportunity to be able to do whatever you want it to do. Anchorage isn’t a small city, but they still strongly support local.”

Obviously, in Carson and Tanya’s cases, entrepreneurship was always a part of their lives—it seems almost inevitable that they’d follow in their parents’ footsteps. “The kids were young when we started,” Ginna said, thinking back to her and Johnny’s AK Carrot Company days, an earlier produce business. “On the weekends, they would come down and help build boxes and put the liners in.”

And Carson agrees. “We’ve always been working with our family and for our family, so … it seemed very feasible for any one [of us] to just start a company.”

The Baldiviez family is just one of many generational entrepreneurs in Alaska, from small general stores in Kotzebue or brand new cafés in Anchorage. The Baldiviezes are one of the many humble families coming together to bring something valuable to their community.

“I feel like this entrepreneurial spirit with social media is going to only be on the rise,” Tanya noted. “I think there’s going to be more individuals interested in doing their passion and figuring out how to do it because the resources will be so wide. Locally, they are really amazing.”

As for what’s next for the Baldiviez business partners, Tanya said, “We’re always scheming; that’s the answer.”