Riley Kaminer | Refresh Miami

South Florida doesn’t need reminders of what rising seas can do. Streets flood on sunny days, businesses brace for storm surges, and municipalities are under pressure to plan for a future where the waterline keeps creeping higher.

When Joseph Elias Phillips and William Corbera first crossed paths 15 years ago, it wasn’t in a boardroom or on a Zoom call. It was at Kukaramakara, a salsa club in Brickell. That chance encounter would eventually spark a friendship — and later a business partnership — that today powers one of Miami’s fastest-growing fintech companies.

Growing up in South Florida, Roberto Lama spent as much time underwater as he did on land. Surfing, diving, and exploring reefs gave him a love for the ocean – and a front-row seat to its decline.

When Trey Ferro compared pet-insurance adoption in 2019, the gap jolted him: nearly 40% of UK pet owners were covered, yet only about 2% of Americans were. That insight pushed the Chicago-born economist to launch Sport Pet Insurance in Miami at the start of 2020.

UM grad Sonlin is the founder and CEO of Global Settlement Network, a blockchain company headquartered in Miami. Recently the company made headlines for facilitating what it says is the world’s first fully tokenized capital stack for an operating energy asset: a $75 million acquisition of a Latin American oil and gas facility by Feniix Energy.

Fiorella Occhionero’s concerns about screen time and childhood development led to the creation of Focus Safe, a startup based in Boca Raton that offers software to help schools manage student-owned devices during class time.