One of the challenges we’ve seen to true equality of opportunity is that schools and books often can’t (or choose not) offer access to one of the most equalizing resources – first hand stories of how successful entrepreneurs made their ideas a reality. If you grew up in a family or community that had many successful entrepreneurs you may have been lucky to hear many conversations and stories about starting and executing on an idea, but there are millions of people across the country who haven’t had the same advantage and so our hope here is to create a space where those stories can be told in a more public forum for the benefit of any and every aspiring entrepreneur.
Akiko Izumitani
Here is my story to execute an idea to make a short film called “Yae: Blind Samurai Woman.” Back then, before SHOGUN, Hollywood was all about ‘writing your voice.’ I kept watching television shows and movies that had samurai in them, but they were strange to Japanese eyes, so I thought maybe I should make a samurai film so no one would say I don’t have enough experience when someone tries to hire me for a samurai movie. My co-writer, James ‘Doc’ Mason, previously asked me to write a script for African Samurai, “Sasuke,” but we decided not to pursue it at the time because a famous actor announced that he would make the movie. I asked him if he would be interested in writing an original samurai film with me, and he accepted. I then realized that I had always made movies with male protagonists. I told him that I wanted to write a story about a woman this time. Read more>>
Chris Martin
The idea was very simple for me… I’ve always felt that I’ve had an eye for fashion. I was told that I was talented by my peers at dressing people and myself since the age of 14. I’ve been into modeling and fashion since the age of 18. I created a business plan on it years years ago, however I never took it seriously until one day someone doubted my fashion abilities. While working in the fashion industry my old boss Darren from the UK told me that 99% of my ideas were incorrect about the fashion industry. It pissed me off so much because while doing that he didn’t know that I already had 2 mall locations in Los Angeles and I owned a nail salon. So I stayed quite during the conversation while being extremely upset. After that during the next couple of weeks I decided to fire my boss to start my own clothing business, When I left the business entire staff left. We had incompetent leadership and positions given through nepotism in which they weren’t actually qualified for. I made myself a promise to be bigger and have better locations than my former employer. I now already have better locations and I’m almost as big as they are in less than 4 months. I had to figure out how to connect with brands, where to invest money, who to speak to that actually made decisions and taking huge risks that are now paying off. I was able to secure 2 mall locations early that I am extremely grateful for. Now I’m opening my 3rd storefront at the North County Mall where my biggest customer base is. Read more>>
Miracle Bey
The idea for my business came from a combination of my passion for cooking and a unique opportunity I stumbled upon in the summer of 2022. Before I get into that, let me give you a bit of context. I’m originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and have been living in Texas since 2019. I’ve always been passionate about the culinary arts, and after earning my degree from Nicholls State University in 2017, I launched my first business, Catering Miracles LLC, in November 2017. I started small, offering private chef services, catering for large events, and teaching cooking lessons around the Houston area. But my business really took off when I was introduced to the concept of a floating brunch in July 2022. It was a unique dining experience on the water that immediately caught my attention. The idea struck me so strongly that, without hesitation, I ordered the baskets needed to create my version of the experience that very day. I knew I had something special, and the next few months were all about figuring out how to turn that spark of inspiration into a fully-fledged service. Read more>>
Eric Norwine
I was teaching high school Social Studies at Lutheran St. Charles when I was asked to put together a video for their annual fundraiser. My original degree is in Cinematic Arts from the University of Southern California, so this request was not foreign to me. I decided to take this on as a side project, not expecting to make anything of it. Once I did it, I was hooked (again). I couldn’t stop thinking of all the ways I could get back into the “storytelling” business. I continued to do the videos for the next few years until finally making the jump to tell stories full time in June of 2023. Read more>>
Doyeob Dee Kim
Before founding YUP (Young Universal Players) Tennis Academy with my wife, I had envisioned starting my own academy since I was 13. My goal was to create a better environment for junior players, offering the guidance I lacked in my journey—wasting time and money on unsuitable coaches and not having the right information for tournaments or college recruiting. I wanted to build a tennis community where players, regardless of background, could thrive and enjoy the game without worry. Read more>>
Magda Delgado
Starting Voices Unchained Inc. stemmed from a very personal place. As a survivor of childhood trauma, I always felt there was a need for a space where survivors, particularly young mothers and women, could find support and empowerment. After publishing my book “My Name is King” in 2022, I knew I wanted to do more to support others who, like me, had faced significant challenges but still wanted to create a life of purpose and healing. The idea for Voices Unchained has been something I dreamed about for years. I remember reflecting on my own journey and realizing how isolated I felt at times. I promised myself that if I could get on the other side of it all, I would help young girls and women who went through what I did. Early 2023, I began sketching out what the organization would look like. I knew I had to provide a safe space for survivors but also offer programs that equip them with tools to reclaim their lives. The first step was writing down the mission, vision, and core values of what I wanted to build. Read more>>
Kelsey Ferrell
At 23, fresh out of college, I felt a mix of excitement and uncertainty. While taking my final art classes, I had a breakthrough: what if I created custom rugs for my community? This idea ignited a passion within me. I envisioned rugs that would be more than decor; I wanted to craft an experience. Determined to bring my vision to life, I dedicated my first year after college to mastering rug-making techniques and exploring various materials. It was a journey of discovery, filled with late nights and creative experimentation. In my second year of tufting, I decided to share my skills with my community. To my surprise, the response was overwhelming. People were fascinated with my passion, offering support and encouragement as I offered more workshops month to month I have been able to share this creative adventure. It became a beautiful collaboration, turning my dream into a shared experience that celebrated a small business owner. Read more>>
Makini Jovaun
I was first bit by the entrepreneurship bug at the age of 10. I would take $1 from my allowance and purchase 100 pieces of candy from the penny candy store each weekend, and sell them to the kids at school for $.10 each. The fire this put in my belly was something I had never felt before. As a student at a Catholic School, this was not allowed so my mother was called in by the head nun for a conference. When my mother learned about my candy business, she was impressed! Read more>>
Kay Bey
I launched my first business (JPB, Inc.) out of necessity. I began my career as a DJ, then grew into a producer, emcee, and show promoter. While learning these skills, I realized that the independent scene lacked substantial media coverage. My focus switched from being an artist to becoming a media professional because this was a void that definitely needed to be filled. Several signs led me to believe I needed to be more active on the media side of my business. I had hired a small media company to film my showcase and create commercials to air on TV as promotion for upcoming showcases. However, I wasn’t receiving footage in a timely manner. My commercials were often late and unable to meet the deadlines for TV airing. I decided to learn what I was asking others to do, to see if it was truly that difficult. Read more>>
James Warnken
While working in the digital marketing space I found myself in a conversation talking about building and designing websites when I was asked how I make sure the websites I work on are accessible. As a professional with a visual disability, this question had never been asked before and it caught me off guard. Instead of dismissing it, I leaned into the questions and asked how I could learn what that meant and if there was anyone I could talk to to ask questions. Until this point, I was under the impression that as a professional with a disability, I needed to make my world accessible to me and that it was no one else’s problem. I couldn’t have been more wrong. As I asked questions, explored, experimented, and dove into the topic of digital accessibility, an entirely new world opened up in front of me. I spent more than a year exploring, researching, networking, and experimenting before finally pursuing my IAAP CPACC certification and working on my first real project. For me, it all came down to one question “Do I want to diagnose the problem or fix it?”. I decided to try and fix it by training and teaching others about digital accessibility and how to do it right. I figure that I cannot do this alone and these skills, techniques, and best practices will follow those I train and teach through the rest of their careers. To date, I have trained several hundred professionals, including professionals with disabilities, on digital accessibility and it is my mission to continue raising awareness and driving change for a better,r more accessible future. Read more>>
Alyshia Assal Marion Karawia
Driven by our desire to make an impact in the skincare space, we brainstormed areas where we could truly offer solutions for people like us. Hormonal acne was something we had both experienced firsthand, and it sparked the idea – pimple patches. While we had both tried patches in the past, many seemed like novelties or failed to stay in place. Determined to bring something different to the market, we partnered with a formulator specializing in hydrocolloid patches. We envisioned something elevated, high-quality, and, most importantly, effective. That’s when the concept of Bloom came into fruition. Our custom-designed, floral-shaped hydrocolloid pimple patches, affectionately known as Bloomies™,emerged as a staple product. What sets us apart is not just the patch itself, but the thoughtful design of our Bloom Bouquet™—a sleek, mirrored compact that elegantly stores your Bloomies™ for ongoing use. Read more>>
Deontre Siler
There is a backstory to how I started my fashion content journey. In the beginning I never was interested in fashion or even more so content creating I never imagined it being something I would actually do because I thought it was an area that wasn’t for me exactly to say the least. The process of how I started was unexpected. In august of 2022. J’Ana, (My girlfriend) and I went to a shopping district to spend the day at. It was one of our planned dates that day and we decided to wear matching outfits and take pictures. I uploaded my pictures to Instagram and we enjoyed our day as the sun started to set. The next day i noticed that my post went viral and caught the attention of a clothing brand called ROMWE. They loved my posts because I was wearing one of their products and I was happy that day being noticed by them. From that moment I started getting a lot of attention from other companies as well that wanted to have me as an ambassador for their clothing brand to promote. Read more>>
April Barber
The idea that I had was to start to begin an advocacy business to help those who are justice involved. Advocacy played a crucial role in my release. I want to be the person that helped me through my journey. I registered the name and have been promoting it ever since. It had grown in recognition, but not as much as I would like. I receive ongoing advice, generate awareness, and funds to help those in need. Read more>>
Shelby Fisher
After spending nearly a decade traveling the world in my chosen career field I reached the end of all I knew. Physically burnt out and emotionally spent, my life foundation was shifting before I knew it. My head hit the pillow each night in exhaustion after running in circles putting together someone else’s dream. As my reality closed behind heavy eyes, dreaming allowed creativity to come back in exciting ways. Color became vivid while the shapes and objects I imagined were nearly tangible. The fear of losing these ideas pulling me back to reality. Tossing from bed to the nightstand I scribbled in the dark. A drive to see the magic in every day life was born again. Paying attention to my dreams gave permission to make my reality my dream life. When inspiration comes from a place as innocent as a dream, there is a sense of play. What happens if I..chose a brand name?… fill out this llc paper work?… get a RN?.. what happens if I tell people my passion and show what I am cable of doing? its all in the small steps. I don’t think you need to know where you’re going to get started. Enjoy the process and let each decision build the road of a beautiful journey. Read more>>
Sharree Chambers
I started my business during the pandemic while we were all at home. I had just taken my state board exam and was very eager to start working in my field which did not happen right away. Fast forward a few weeks and the stress from the pandemic caused my skin to go crazy. I tried everything and even purchased from other small businesses with the hopes that something would work. I later found out that I was experiencing a perioral dermatitis break out. After a lot of research and trial and error I developed my first product the Everything Oil . Read more>>
Gargi Joglekar
It’s funny how life sometimes nudges you in a direction you never quite expected. One afternoon, my husband came to me with this big grin on his face, holding out a laptop, and said, “If you can bring clients to other design companies, you can absolutely bring clients to yourself. Why not do this on your own?” That little moment changed everything. Without a second thought, we sat down together and started brainstorming. There was something exciting about coming up with a name that felt just right for what I wanted to offer. After tossing around a few ideas, *Modern Design Homes* was born. It felt bold, personal, and exactly the kind of brand that reflected my design aesthetic—modern, elegant, yet still approachable. And just like that, in January 2018, Modern Design Homes LLC came to life. Of course, it wasn’t as easy as just creating a website and putting my name out there. I won’t sugarcoat it—starting this business was a risk. I was stepping into unfamiliar waters, not knowing much about how to actually manage a business, what to look out for, or how to balance it all. I had a lot to learn. And you know what? I’m still learning every single day. Read more>>
Candis Jones
Cooking wasn’t something I dreamed of as a kid, but I discovered my love for it as a teenager! As I mentioned in my VoyageATL article, I was a homesick teen, trying to find a way to feel connected to home after my family and I moved to Atlanta following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At first, I didn’t think the move would be permanent. But after we settled in Douglasville, GA, and I started high school, everything changed. That’s when I began experimenting with cooking, just for fun. One day, my mom had a friend over, and she tasted my red beans and rice. She loved it so much that she told my mom I should sell it! That little nudge was all it took—I started selling plates on the weekends, and I absolutely loved it. Cooking brought me a sense of home and joy, especially when I saw how happy my food made others. From my teenage years through my mid-to-late 20s, I really grew in my passion for cooking. In 2019, I decided to take things seriously. I began researching everything—brainstorming names, snapping pictures of my dishes, coming up with logo ideas, and learning how to get an LLC and handle the legal stuff. Even though I wasn’t selling much at the time, I was laying the foundation to turn my side hustle into a real business. This is the part of entrepreneurship people don’t always see—the behind-the-scenes work that gets you ready for the big leap. Read more>>
Donnell Walder
well, the idea for our credit repair business was started as a conversation that my wife and I were having in the car one day and she mentioned how credit had really been on her heart and how she was interested in looking into it and so of course, being the supportive husband, I encouraged her to do that and she begin to do her research and she found a platform and after reviewing the platform and seeing what it was capable of doing, we decided to go ahead and invest in the platform. so securing the platform was just the beginning. We also needed to have our business set up properly and so we had to secure our LLC and our DBA as well as we begin to set up our social media handles for the business as well once all of these entities were in place, we were ready to launch and start taking our first set of clients. This was a relatively smooth process, but a very uncertain process because this was a new business venture for us yet we stuck to our beliefs, our integrity, and in just a few months we were able to scale this business to the place where it begin to replace our hourly incomes on our current jobs Read more>>
Alesha Smith
Growing up in Baltimore, one of the highlights of my childhood was our field trips to Washington, DC. Every time we visited, I would make sure to stop by the Air and Space Museum’s gift shop. Rockets and space suits fascinated me—but it was the “Space Ice Cream” that I kept me coming back. There was something magical about this freeze-dried treat, and I always wondered how they made it. I dreamed of learning how to combine science and food in that way one day. As the years went by, that curiosity stayed with me. It wasn’t just about eating a fun treat anymore—it was about figuring out how it worked and bringing that experience to life on my own. The dream of owning a freeze dryer became a goal, something that would drive me forward. It even became the motivation I needed to fight for my VA disability benefits. After nearly two decades, when I finally received my rating, I used my back pay to buy my very first freeze dryer. Read more>>
David Creighton
From Food Service to Finding My Passion David Creighton, with DC Painting KC, began his journey in the painting industry when he was 18 years old while later gaining experience in roofing, roofing distribution and remodeling. By high school, he was working in the food industry which sustained him for a while but never really invoked a true passion. After a few years in food service, a friend of his connected him with a contractor and he quickly discovered where he wanted to focus and develop his career. His journey began, followed by 16 years of hands-on work in the field before transitioning into leadership roles, showcasing his ability to network and delegate responsibilities effectively. David’s life from a military family, broken homes, and being a sophomore dropout took a transformative turn to earning a GED while overcoming various legal troubles, and addiction. Juggling full-time work and single parenthood, he successfully graduated from Kaplan University with a degree in Business Administration and Business Management. With years of experience under his belt and a passion in the industry, he began thinking seriously about developing his path even further. In 2016, while walking to the river for some trout fishing, he had a very distinct feeling; “I heard a whisper of intuition that I should start my business, so that’s exactly what I did.” Within a year, he founded DC Painting KC with the mission to create a business that extended beyond himself to impact the lives of others. Read more>>
Annabel Maw
It took me a while to muster the courage to start my own business. I was scared of failing, and I used every excuse in the book to avoid taking the plunge. But then, an old boss of mine, someone I’d known for years, noticed my hesitation and pushed me to do something about it. He was always great at nudging me out of my comfort zone. Once I finally decided to go for it, I dove headfirst into the process. The first few days were a whirlwind of excitement and uncertainty. I spent hours brainstorming ideas, sketching out business plans, and researching market trends. It was like trying to drink from a firehose – there was so much information to absorb. One of the biggest challenges I faced was figuring out where to start. With so many things to do, it was easy to feel overwhelmed. To stay focused, I broke down my goals into smaller, more manageable tasks. I created a to-do list and prioritized the most important steps. Read more>>
Bonnie Lippincott
I always wanted to be a writer, ever since I read my 5th grade writing assignment in front of the class. Instead, I pursued engineering, and worked for over a decade in that field. I chose practicality, but always felt the writing itch. After my children were born, and I was reading them children’s books, I noticed more than a few were devoid of a lesson. This troubled me, because my kids were fully enthralled in a story, that could have packed a punch about honesty, kindness, or resilience. The familiar writing itch returned. This is why I wrote Toad Island, which has a theme of resilience. To do this, I created a profile on Fiverr.com and hired an illustrator, and typed out the story in Word document. Initially, I compiled this “book” for my father for his birthday, since Toad Island was a bedtime story he told my sisters and I growing up. My husband encouraged me to self-publish on Amazon.com, and after many months of hesitating, I began formatting it for Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). This took more time than expected, and my fear took over. I was worried my colleagues would think I was weird; it all sounds silly now but fear has a way of making any resistance sounding legitimate. Read more>>