Everyday we meet business owners, professionals, artists and creatives. Photographers, florists, realtors and more. They might come from different backgrounds, work in different industries, have varying personalities, and have vastly different income and educational profiles, but the one thing we’ve seen over and over again is that most people have a unique and special reason for why they do what they do. From a realtor helping families afford the first home he always wished for as a kid to a photographer using her skills to give a voice and face to victims who feel voiceless, we have been blown away by what happens when you just ask people a simple question – why do you do what you do?

Devin Johnson

The mission behind your business is to provide people with opportunities to achieve success through hard work and perseverance, regardless of their backgrounds or circumstances. Having faced personal challenges such as growing up with a father battling addiction and a sister with brain cancer, you understand the value of determination and resilience. Your own experiences have driven you to build a business that empowers others to overcome obstacles and achieve their goals, and you have done so by embodying the same relentless spirit that has brought you success. Read more>>

Yolanda Brunson-Sarrabo

Chronic Fitness is a business that lends itself to clients that have had the unpleasure of being diagnosed with some form of a chronic condition, and want to get a leg up in their exercise plan in adding a healthier perspective to their day-to-day despite whatever they’re facing, I had no inkling of starting a business in the fitness industry. My professional career was based in fashion as a Production/ Product Development Manager for some well-known corporations. I had experience in fitness gear but in no way thought my life would go into this lane of possibilities. Read more>>

Mercedies Wakefield

I’d like to start by saying, I’m still learning, still evolving, still trying to reach that niche that completes the mission behind my story. I’m a very creative person, its my outlet. With that said, I wanted to create something that people, women in particular, could relate to in regards to feeling empowered. I want to help women feel empowered and confident from birth on to live consciously. To let go of what society says you “should” do and instead do what feels good for YOU. Especially when it comes to your health and wellness. Read more>>

Monique Sadarangani

When I started my own law practice in trusts and estates in early 2019, I was still in the process of healing from an illness that almost took my life the prior year. I had been diagnosed with Crohns Disease in 2014, after experiencing a very traumatic and life shattering event, and after being placed on medications, and in remission and off medication during my pregnancy and a period thereafter, the symptoms returned. Read more>>

Corey Edwards

Here is information from my “One Pager” and I will email it to you for review. Corey is a motivational speaker, author, and serial entrepreneur. Born in Detroit, Michigan, he has had to break through substantial challenges in his life to get where he is today. Corey has built numerous successful businesses and now he shares his inspirational stories to help others as a motivational speaker with “Corey Edwards Mastermind.” Read more>>

Brittanie Reynolds

TUTTO (two-tow) is a class studio and party venue located in downtown Carlisle, PA. It is always our goal to provide our community with a family-friendly and welcoming experience every time they enter our studio. We strive to create an environment that is inclusive to everyone, whether attending classes or a party. Read more>>

Tareek Montague

4L Brand LLC is a LIFESTYLE BRAND relatable and welcome to all. We are a Black Owned Brand based out of New Jersey with goals to spread a positive message through quality apparel worldwide. “4L” is a multi-acronym which stands for “4 Long, 4 Life, 4 Love” and that is a message that displays positivity and exactly what we believe in. LIFE is all about LIVING, LONGEVITY, as well as spreading LOVE daily. Read more>>

Shaniah Loriston

Toned By Shay was created by a black college student struggling to balance academic, personal and work life. Being faced with so many competing demands did not allow the time to focus on mental and physical health which lead to stress and anxiety as well as low self-esteem. As a freshmen in college, entering adulthood can be very overwhelming and the gym became my mental relief. Read more>>

Maggie Fast

My entire passion for dog rescue started with my personal dog Kodee. I adopted Kodee and found myself going through trainers in an attempt to fix all of his behavior issues. I eventually ended up being a dog trainer and spent 10 years in that industry. Emotionally, I could not hack it in dog training. People often come to a trainer expecting a quick fix, and after putting in little to no effort – would blame the dog trainer for their failure and reason for surrendering the dog to a shelter. Read more>>

Arvilla Beckwortj

My mission is to help women, specifically single moms reach their full potential by reclaiming their time, discovering their purpose, and going after their dreams. Read more>>

Nicole Baker

My son was diagnosed with severe food allergies as an infant. I’ve been on a mission to promote food allergy awareness ever since. I created my bakery to be an allergy friendly resource in the community providing plant based, dairy-free, egg-free and nut-free baked goods that are safe, easily accessible, and delicious! Read more>>

Tiffany Murphy

My mission is to increase awareness within individuals. Also guiding people to effectively deal with emotions and learning how to manage energy wisely. Many years ago I gave more energy into an individual that was undeserving, which left me drained and depressed. I kept fighting my intuition, and not wanting to release this person that was not serving me and was neglectful in regarding my feelings and me… Read more>>

Tyrell Hughes

During 2020 at the time of civil unrest in America after George Floyd’s death, I asked myself what I could do to get involved in a positive way which promoted change. Tensions were high, the stories being reported included a lot of negativity and I wanted to change that. I began a Podcast that focused in on positivity and highlighting organizations and individuals to inspire others. Too many times we hear of all the negatives things going on in the world and I wanted to balance that with positive stories. Read more>>

alex kittoe

The story behind my mission is pretty simple to be honest. I believe that people should chase their passions early on in life with little fear of failing. It’s important to look back on life and at least know that you tried and gave something your all. Deciding to pursue photography full time has come with some very high highs and some very low lows, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Read more>>

Ely Honkpo

My mission is to show people that it’s possible. That any endeavor you choose to embark on if you truly have the passion, the patience, work ethic, the faith and determination you can achieve anything that you desire in this world. I started photography in 2016 on a Samsung Galaxy s6 and wasn’t able to get a camera until 2 years later. I started by taking portraits of my friends and students that went to my school and even though I was shooting with people locally my goals from the beginning was to touch the hearts of the youth around the world by expressing myself through my art, Read more>>

Shannon King

I worked with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools as the “baker” for 8 years and once I left in 2012, I still longed for the desire to bake. My kids, boyfriend and mom didn’t care much for bakery items so much of it went to waste. After a few weeks, my boyfriend( now husband) , came up with the idea to turn it into a business. I initially started with the idea of just baking for special holidays. The first holiday was Mothers Day and it has grown so much since then. Read more>>

Luz Agudelo

As someone who grow up on the middle of the Colombian guerrilla warfare, as a kid, it wasn’t a strange thing for me to be playing freely outside with my neighborhood friends, when suddenly the sounds of shots sent us all running into our homes looking for safety. I remember clearly spending sleepless nights hiding under my bed in fear that a lost bullet could hit me. Wondering about life and death and trying to make sense of all the chaos that surrounded me. Read more>>

stephanie weiss

My mission is to guide anyone that is willing into a path of healing, self-love, and becoming their best self. The story behind my mission is my personal story of healing. Throughout my journey I have experienced trauma, self hatred and several different health issues. However through learning and using all of the healing modalities provided at High Frequency Healing I have essentially been able to heal myself . Today my mission and passion to guide others into healing themselves, feeling their best and learning to love themselves above all. Read more>>

Christian Wilson-Poole

The story behind my mission began my freshman year of college, in Boaz, Alabama as a student athlete at Snead State Community College. As a child, I did not realize the true value of having the only parent involved in my life be a CPA. As I matured even through high school, I realized that basic money management, budgeting and credit knowledge was something that not all kids were taught in their households, no matter their demographic. Read more>>

Woodsheil Dominique

Our mission is to create wearable works of art that expands the boundaries of the imagination. I just want to add my artistic twist to the world of fashion. Read more>>

Victoria Celeste

19th and Bell is a multifaceted lifestyle consulting company that focuses on business/life coaching, fashion/image consulting, helping authors publish their life’s work, and helping young artists/aspiring models to break into the rather challenging industry of modeling/entertainment and begin to make a name for themselves. Read more>>

Tammy Rice

I love to create; I’m hardwired to look at objects & see a new purpose for them. I thrive on being uncommon both personally in style & in what I create. Fourteen years ago, my mission was to reduce waste & make repurpose items fashionable. And of course, it had to be different! Read more>>

Candace Rivers

As of today I’ve been working, living, studying, and professionally working Health & Wellness industry for 20 years. My career started at a local family owned gym at the age of 19. A opportunity that I forever thank God for leading me to. Tom Buzan the owner of Anniston Family Fitness Center quickly became my mentor coaching me in mindset, health, wellness, scripture, people, and more. His coaching left a lasting impression on my life that I will forever carry with me until the ends of days. Read more>>

Angel King Wilson

Silent Books Publishing is a black-owned, woman-owned self-publishing company for aspiring and seasoned authors. Author diversity has been an issue in major publishing houses and Silent Books Publishing’s main goal is to help minority authors navigate the publishing process and elevate their voices in the community. According to a New York Times article, only 11% of books in 2018 were written by people of color; these were amongst books published by Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Doubleday, HarperCollins, and Macmillan (So & Wezerek, 2020). Read more>>

Troy Tintiangco

It is difficult to be a creative; especially being a young creative new to the space. It is a dog eat dog world out there where you compete with thousands of other creatives to try and make it in the space. Expectations are high and the leash is small. Opportunities are far and few in between. One failure can ruin a relationship you were trying to nurture into something larger. It’s tough in the creative space. Read more>>

Krystal Williams

Alittle bit about me (Krystal Williams) I am a 38-year-old black woman, business owner, entrepreneur, author, wife and mom in the field of Film and Video Production. My story began at the age of 14 when I visited a news broadcasting station in my home state of New Jersey and fell in love with media/television production. Read more>>

Jordin Redou

When I created my blog The Chic Observer back in college, I was focused solely on fashion. My initial thought was, “I have all of these clothes that I spend a lot of time styling and putting looks together with, so someone outside of the kids in my economics class needs to see this!” Over time though, I slowly started adding more details about the restaurant I was wearing the outfit in, or the event I went to that called for a certain look. From there, the idea of talking more about lifestyle started to form. Read more>>

N.S. Anderson

My vision is to unite positively with others on the pursuit of giving my brand motto is “where in giving is the new 360”. Thus our products are organic and natural with ancient traditions of Ancient Egypt of our formula blend that nourishes the skin and mood for a happier aromatherapy experience. Read more>>

Mia Sibert

Several years ago, I believe it was 13 years ago. I saw beautifully carved watermelons on a cruise. At that time I was pregnant with my first son, Kingsten. I told myself when I get home, I want to try this. Well it seemed so easy at the time, but it wasn’t. But the more I posted my creations on social media, the more people wanted it. Soon I had a name for my “new sought out business,’ Royalty Kreations, inspired by a King. The more I created, the more seriously I took my work. I noticed my creations changed. And the more people came for what I love to do. And that is create edible art with the use of fruit. Read more>>

Bruncha Milaszewski

The average individual works for 40 years, and given that we are living longer, it may be longer than that. In fact, the only thing we do more regularly is sleep. I believe it is a tragedy that so many people hate what they do every day and live only for the weekend. I started LifeCrafters to assist others in crafting a life they love to live. You do that by understanding your interests, abilities, passions, gift, dreams, and goals and matching them to opportunities in the labor market. Read more>>

Marketa DiStasi

After I found out, that 65% of American 4th Graders read below their grade level (which contributes to about 8000 students dropping out of high school every year) I started thinking about a fun way to make children fall in love with books and reading from an early age. Read more>>

Frank Moreno

The path to my current position has included many curves and deviations, all the while providing me with an enormity of opportunities to learn from multiple industries and individuals. The opportunities have allowed me to work inside the respective industries and outside through consultancy. Being able to work with two great passions is truly what drives me to work tirelessly. Read more>>

Amanda/Kaitlin Besler/Holt

Our families are very close so we have had the opportunity to travel and spend a lot of time together. We always had a bag of tricks and activities for our kids when we were on the go and realized it was something that could be made into a business. Two moms working together can conquer a lot! From airplanes, car rides, restaurants or for just a few minutes of peace at home, we have been able to translate our mom hack into something that others can benefit from. We are so excited about our product and that we get to do this together. Read more>>

Brittny Horne

In 2020 my life was flipped upside down. I was dealing with anxiety and depression and I just needed an outlet that would bring more peace, more joy and more accomplishment back into my life that I was no longer having during that tough year. And that’s when I started researching and saw that puzzles were really making a huge comeback. I felt connected to it because as a child I grew up doing puzzles with my grandmother and I remember the joy that it brought me when I would accomplish putting all the pieces together. Read more>>

Browniesha Blackman

My story started off with me first wanting to change myself. I know I am a born leader. So, I had to start this thing out and others would follow. Back in 2018, I launched my business TransformUrLyfe Coaching & Consulting LLC. I wanted to work closely with people and help them get unstuck and push them from one place to the next. I wanted to motivate them and encourage them that they can do whatever they put their minds too. I’ve been doing this for the past 5 years and so many lives has-been by my coaching, writing, and inspiration. Read more>>

Val Emanuel

My journey to entrepreneurship has been my entire life. It started when I was a kid, just selling candy and chips and things like that at school. I went to college after high school for art history and thought that I would work in a museum or in a library but I actually ended up becoming an art dealer at 20 and working for a very cool gallery in my neighborhood of Venice California. Before that I had worked for the few start ups that my friends did, mostly in fashion and I realized that I was a great operator. Read more>>

Tyler Fisher

I’ve always been ambitious, rooted from my mother and humble beginnings in poverty and homelessness. I always wanted to be successful in some form and believed that success starts in the mind. However, for a time I created the notion that football would afford my family new opportunities beyond our homeless and poverty background. I whole-heartedly gave my life to the sport. However, during a scrimmage game, a week before my high school senior football season, I broke my fibula and tibia. Read more>>

Chenelle Moseley

The mission of naturalbychen is to teach, to educate and to empower the black community on how to care for and love their natural hair, especially individuals with highly textured type 4 hair. Growing up in the beautiful island of Trinidad and Tobago, I never liked my natural hair. I felt like it was to “hard,” or to “nappy” to comb, which would often hurt when my mom combed it. This happened because there was not quality products for my hair type. Read more>>

BreYanna Mitriece

My mission was birthed after I went through my own healing and learned to love myself. I noticed that I was not alone in what I’ve been through. I recognized that many women like myself often find ourselves struggling with low self-esteem, lacking self-love, in a cycle of unhealthy relationships and sometimes we display unhealthy behaviors too which requires us to journey within to heal. Read more>>

Conor Dubin

I started writing my book series after a phone call with a friend one night several years ago. She was going through a break-up and I felt sad for her. I started examining my own life and where I was with regards to relationships and I wasn’t particularly happy either. I started wondering if the pit falls and lessons I had learned along the way in relationships would be helpful teaching tools for others and I started researching the ways we teach children about relationships. Read more>>

Chinyere Sam

When I was a little girl growing up in Guyana, my mother had a garden in the backyard and every evenings after school, and Saturday mornings she had me and my three other siblings work in the garden. As the garden flourished, we reaped a lot of vegetables and because my mom didn’t make much from her job as a Nurse, she would send me and my brother to the market/supermarket to sell some of vegetables to earn extra income. Read more>>

Cindy Lee Rhodes

MY STORY>The signs that got me start in my mission. Many years ago prior to starting my small business services and travel concierge, I sent a wedding letter to Princess Diana and received one back from Buckingham Palace and was inspired by all the work she had down with orphan children. Read more>>

Leiaa Morris

“Jewelry you can thrive in” is something I say about As I Am Jewelry Co. I created this brand coming out of a really dark time in my life. I started out with a single design, the Signature Affirmation bracelet with six affirmation charms, and then built on that. Our brand promotes mental health awareness and positivity. My mission is behind it is love, support, inclusion, and empowerment. There have been so many times in my life, and in the lives of others around me that have been filled with pain, disappointment, and loss. Read more>>

Sarah Shemirani

At the start of the pandemic, I found myself experiencing a totally new and unexpected way of life. I was stuck at home, teaching my 7th grade students from my living room, all while figuring out how to be a first-time mom. With these changes came weight gain, postpartum hair, and overall feeling pretty down about the way I looked — which was especially difficult as I had to be on camera with my students every day. Read more>>