The Wood River Valley fosters innovation and creativity. But starting any business is not easy—self-doubt and uncertainty are a constant struggle and the initial months or even years of wearing many hats and surviving with low profits before first sales can make even the toughest among us take pause. Chase Geagan, Natalia Smith and Dominic Cooper are three rising stars who are finding success in aviation, poolside fashion, and home building and inspiring other emerging talents to follow in their entrepreneurial footsteps.
CHASE GEAGAN–Aviation Services
Local pilot Chase Geagan saw a need and is filling it. Some kids find work detailing cars, but Geagan took detailing a step higher by founding Sun Valley Aircraft Detailing. The opportunity was in plain sight, though was only realized with the help and advice from his mentor Bruce McLean.
Geagan has been passionate about flying since he was 4. He received a scholarship to the National Flight Academy at 15 and earned his private pilot’s license at 17. “I’ve wanted to center my life (on) the world of aviation, and starting this company has allowed me to do just that.”
Geagan started his detailing company in July 2024 but not before launching another venture and failing.
“At 16, I was inspired by Iman Gadzhi, a young and prominent entrepreneurial role model who was heavily involved in the digital marketing as well as online educational space. I fell in love with his story, his dual emphasis on personal and professional improvement, and the life that he was able to build from a young age being a resourceful entrepreneur. I knew that I wanted the same for myself.”
That motivated Geagan. But nine months later he was in a desperate situation with no clients, no case studies, and no more life savings after investing everything in his own digital marketing agency.
“At this low point, I learned about an aircraft detailing business opportunity from my mentor and decided to pivot. Given the larger need in the Valley, my love of aviation, and a local mentor willing to be my first client, I felt like it was a perfect opportunity to continue my entrepreneurial journey. I knew that the person that I would become through the trials and challenges of growing a tangible service business would be as valuable to me as the business itself.”
Geagan is quick to credit his mentor. “None of this would’ve been possible without my mentor Bruce McLean. He was a flying mentor of mine growing up, taking me flying in his Cessna 206 and supporting my journey toward getting my pilot’s license. Then when he heard I was in the entrepreneurial space, he told me about the need for aircraft detailing in the Valley and offered to be my first client. Bruce also founded AirSF, a Pilatus PC-12 charter company operating out of the Bay Area and Sun Valley. I began detailing their aircraft every month. Bruce has been an amazing business advisor, flying partner, and life mentor. This business and entrepreneurship is the greatest catalyst I’ve found for self-development.”
NATALIA SMITH–Beach Fashion
Beach Fashion
“Growing up in Hawaii and being a surfer, swimwear has always been a big part of my everyday life,” said Natalia Smith, founder of Cheeni Bikini. “I was constantly in bikinis, so I became really aware of what I loved, what worked, and what I felt was missing. That eventually inspired me to start creating pieces for myself, and from there, the idea of building my own swimwear brand naturally grew.”
The name Cheeni was inspired by an inside joke with friends, and it stuck. “I loved that it felt playful, personal, and a little cheeky, which fits the personality of the brand perfectly,” shared Smith.
Smith curates swimwear with the goal of empowering women to feel beautiful, sassy, and confident. Cheeni Bikini ensures a perfect fit for all body types with swimwear designed for every body. Smith wants women to celebrate their unique style with simple, flattering and timeless swimwear.
Whether you display a wild side with a cheetah print or select another fashionable option, Smith’s curated collection at Cheeni Bikini enables you to shine whether you are on the beach in Kauai or poolside at the Sun Valley Resort.
As an entrepreneur, Smith finds it challenging to simply balance everything. She also works full-time, so “finding the time to do it all can definitely be challenging. Our swimwear is made in Brazil, which I love, but working with production internationally can also come with its own challenges. It’s a lot to juggle, but it’s also been such a learning experience. I look forward to making more collections in the future!”
DOM COOPER–Custom Building
Dom Cooper, founder and general contractor of Cooper Custom Builds, was inspired to start his business in 2024 by “… two things that don’t obviously go together. One, I wanted to build the most interesting things I could find. That took me to Passive House construction. That means your housing envelope is so airtight and well insulated that the house holds its own temperature with almost no energy going into it.”
And now he is into giant concrete- hardened underground structures. “People hear that and think doomsday, but there is more to it than that. The engineers I work with have decades of military experience in these systems, since a lot of them spent years learning how to break into them in the Middle East. How much redundancy do you build into a filtration system so one failure isn’t fatal? How do you keep water out of something permanently buried in it, with no chance to go back and fix it? Same problem as Passive House with the stakes turned up. It all comes down to controlling a boundary: air, water, temperature.
“Two—and this is the real reason my custom home part of the business exists—ask anyone who’s been through a build, and they’ll tell you it was the most stressful thing they’ve done short of raising kids. I ran other people’s jobsites long enough to watch the same thing happen every time. The building came out fine. The experience was miserable. Clients found out about problems weeks after the crew did. Budgets soared and nobody explained why. The construction was never the hard part. Communication was, and nobody treated it as a skill worth learning. I’m good at calming that chaos down.
“A house is the most expensive thing most people ever buy and the least protected purchase they’ll ever make. No warranty covers a builder who stops answering the phone. When someone hands you their savings and two years of their life, the standard of care should look more like what you’d expect from an attorney than from a handshake.”
A Type A person, Cooper was surprised by how emotional the job is. “I thought I was going into construction. What I’m actually doing is helping two people who love each other make about 4,000 decisions in a row, under budget pressure, while living somewhere else.”
Cooper shared a story about how he helped a client. “This one’s personal. My American grandfather in Twin Falls had leukemia, and I was helping look after him. He was living in a house that was flat-out wrong for someone with his disabilities, and watching that was hard.
“It pushed me to get certified as a CAPS (Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist) so I could design that thinking into my builds properly. Zero-threshold entries, widened doors, walls blocked for grab bars later, a bedroom on the main floor. People love this community and don’t want to end up in a nursing home, and one bad fall takes years off someone. It’s not the most lucrative work I do, but it might be my favorite.”