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Welcome to Florida State University's official entrepreneurship and innovation podcast, The InNOLEvation® Mindset! Hosted by Mark McNees and powered by the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship. This podcast features audio and video versions of our podcast, which highlights student and alumni entrepreneurs and innovators from FSU.
Get inspired by the next generation of young business leaders and hear their inside stories. Learn from faculty who teach entrepreneurship and innovation courses at FSU as they share key insights.
On this channel, you'll find:
-Full video episodes of our podcast conversations with founders of startups born at FSU
-Business advice and thought leadership from FSU professors focused on entrepreneurship
-Fireside chats and interviews recorded live with enterprising alumni making their mark
-Special segments and speaker events at FSU focused on innovation
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a current business owner, or you just love hearing success stories - subscribe now to see inspiring individuals daring to turn ideas into reality. With new episodic content added regularly, The Innovation Mindset podcast tells tales of vision, grit, failure, and triumph straight from the FSU community.
This channel visually brings the podcast to life with photos, graphics, and video. Join us by subscribing if you bleed garnet and gold!
Episodes
Mar 29, 2026
Mar 29, 2026
Mar 29, 2026
Mar 29, 2026
Mar 29, 2026
27 min
Host Mark McNees welcomes Abbie Garcia-Tunon, founder and CEO of GT Stitchery, after her Five Under 30 talk at the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship. Abbie shares how her Miami-based embroidery business evolved from seamstress work started in 2013 into primarily one-off custom embroidery (with some bulk orders) using three 10-needle machines. She discusses influences from her hardworking parents, her upbringing in Maine, including an all-girls summer camp, and her athletic background as an FSU swimmer with an ACC postgraduate scholarship. Abby describes balancing entrepreneurship with raising three sports-loving kids, how COVID-era mask making helped her business take off, and lessons on slow growth, delegation, saying yes to opportunities, and saying no when family must come first. She also highlights routines like early workouts and gratitude journaling, and future goals to hire help, expand event embroidery, and invest in multi-head machines.
00:00 Podcast Welcome Guest Intro
00:45 GT Stitchery What They Make
01:13 One Offs Vs Bulk Orders
01:46 How The Business Started
02:07 Early Influences And Mentors
03:23 Growing Up In Maine
05:11 Family Summer Camp Life
06:03 Swimming Scholarship To FSU
06:33 Marathon Training And Qualifying
07:21 Host Ironman And Swim Stories
09:36 Post Grad School And Sewing
10:43 First Job Seminole Boosters
11:20 Meeting Javi Garcia
12:50 Family Life in Miami
13:44 Masks Spark Business
15:49 Slow Growth Lessons
17:18 Mindset and Gratitude
19:29 Scaling and Delegation
23:30 Work Family Tradeoffs
25:46 Advice and Wrap Up
Mar 22, 2026
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Mar 22, 2026