Austin earned a dual degree in Spanish and Marketing from Washington University in St Louis before relocating himself to Barcelona, Spain to perfect his language skills and launch his first company, Mejora Tu Inglés, an English tutoring service for professionals. Upon returning to the US in 2005 he landed with Alante Financial a DC-based Microfinance startup. He later relocated to NYC to work in HR at Wells Fargo.

Carolina started her career in journalism in San Francisco but it was in food that she found her true calling. She started CMB Sweets, a gourmet jam company, out of her home kitchen. The concept quickly caught on and within one year she had national distribution, and counted Whole Foods among her company's customers. She later sold the business to return home to Miami where she joined the Tio Gazpacho team.