Meet Mark NeJame: Entrepreneur at Law
The September edition of Startup Grind Orlando will take place this coming Tuesday, September 1. The event will last from 6-9 p.m. with the staple fireside chat at 7 p.m. Mark NeJame of NeJame Law is the featured guest.
You might recognize Mark Nejame from his billboards on I-4. Probably best known for his legal work as a criminal and personal injury attorney at Nejame Law, Mark is also secretly a serial entrepreneur.
Mark’s office, located on the 18th floor of Chase Plaza in Downtown in Orlando, is beautifully furnished with somewhat of a mediterranean decor i.e. Roman busks, lots of gold, etc. Mark himself, a snappy dresser with maybe a hundred bracelets and raven black hair, sat comfortably in his gray suit and shared his life story.
He wasn’t born an attorney, which may be surprising given his stellar legal reputation, but he was born an entrepreneur. Mark began working around age 10 to provide for his family (mother, two sisters, and grandmother) as his father, an alcoholic, was out of the picture. Whether it was his paper route in Audubon Park, where he set records for the Orlando Sentinel, or stenciling and painting numbers on houses, Mark was always working.
In his late teens/early twenties Mark bought his mother a cactus for Mother’s Day. He put the cactus in a little wine goblet, and decorated the soil with colorful stones. Everybody seemed to love the gift, and Mark had an idea – an idea which would later become his first major entrepreneurial endeavour. Mark would eventually begin driving to Apopka to buy cactuses that he would sell on consignment in an Orlando Winn-Dixie. Additionally, Mark began to resell Christmas cactuses across the country, as they were abundant in Apopka, and a commodity throughout the rest of the states.
Mark’s plant services would expand to include renting plants to local businesses, restaurants, and clubs. Mark was able to sell his company, Cactus Gardens, for $80,000, which he used to put himself through law school.
Now Mark is married with two daughters, and while it is evident he puts his family first, there are no signs that his entrepreneurial fire will be extinguished anytime soon. In the near future, Mark will be launching Nejame Reality, as well as continuing early stage ideas such as starting a faith-based social network, a reality television show, and butterfly themed tourist attraction. Mark and his wife Josie also founded Runway to Hope, a charity dedicated to aiding families and children impacted by pediatric cancer.
When it comes to entrepreneurship, Mark has one piece of advice: “Don’t hold on, don’t get emotional,” he said, “If it’s not working, get out.” While Mark is primarily labeled as an attorney, his story is rich with entrepreneurial feats.
