Cristie Street

Founder and managing partner, Nextrio

Age: 34

Community involvement: Arizona Small Business Association, board; American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure, chair; NAWBO; Tucson's Leading Women networking group

Best advice you could give: Never ask someone else to do something you're unwilling to do yourself.

Describe yourself with one word: firstborn

You attribute your success to: Some small proportion of good gut instincts and intellect (thank you, Mom and Dad), a healthy dose of luck (thanks to my husband, Bill Street), and the kindness of strangers who took a chance on me. I try to make up for all other shortcomings with old-fashioned hard work.

A word from the nominator: "Cristie is able to take the faintest glimmer of an idea, flesh it out and test its viability by talking to the ultimate customer, gain consensus from shareholders, plan the process of making it a reality, manage the construction, make it ready for consumption and market the results." - Julie Krell, director of marketing and communications, Eller College, and 2005 40 Under 40 winner