Kevin Echemendia, 29

Kevin Echemendia, co-founder of Two Stories Media, a Tampa photography and a video production firm, is a family man and makes no apologies for putting the needs of his wife, 2-year-old child and work family ahead of other priorities.

It’s ironic, then, that he quit his previous job, with UpDog Studios, a week before he got married.

“It was a leap of faith,” he says of the decision to strike out on his own. “It sounds crazy now, but at the time it felt right. I just had some different viewpoints about how a production company should be run and how services should be rendered. What they were doing wasn’t wrong. I just thought it could be done differently.”