A dad can’t find a bakery to make a birthday cake that can accommodate his daughter’s allergy-related needs. Two freelancers realize they need a way to organize all of their client contracts and can’t find software that adequately handles their use case. Necessity is often hailed as the mother of innovation – but not all ideas come from necessity. Unfortunately, in our experience, often media coverage of the ideas that powered amazing businesses and projects often stops at a very superficial level. The founders noticed a need and boom – idea. Often the ideation process has a much longer, more complex story and so we’ve asked some entrepreneurs and creatives we admire to go into detail about their ideation stories.

Timothy Olson

It started a long time ago in High School where I was taking a photo with a manual SLR camera. The sun had long set and the full moon was rising up over the Wisconsin Cabin Lake. My Engineering mentor was at the edge of the dock and I asked him what setting on the camera to capture the image. He mentioned to open up the aperture and slow down the shutter. Read more>>

Jessica Glasner

The idea for eNVy formulations sprouted in late 2019; I had gone through a gutwrenching break-up and divorce, just quit a job I’d been striving to attain for a decade… basically, I felt utterly lost and could no longer muster a sense of purpose. Read more>>

Marsha Jackson

In 2019 Southern Sector Rising (SSR) was established to disrupt illegal operations that littered more than 150,000 tons of discarded shingles next door to the home of Floral Farms resident Marsha Jackson and the community. Read more>>

Madeline Miller

I started this business after studying marine ecosystems and textile waste at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School. My research focused specifically on the contribution of the textile and apparel industry to landfilled waste and the resulting environmental impacts. Read more>>

Jack Kalsched

Photography, and as a matter of fact art altogether, was never a part of my wheelhouse. Before I discovered sports photography, I considered myself a 2-D individual; athletics and academics were the two “dimensions”. But, during a baseball game in 2019, I tore my ACL and meniscus tracking down a fly ball in centerfield. This forced me to turn to my creative side, which I embraced for the next 15 months of recovery. Read more>>

Dee Leavell

I came up with the idea of Next Leavell Inspiration during the pandemic. We were a couple of months into the pandemic, shut-in, unable to socially interact, and quickly entering a state of depression. Read more>>

Renee King

November 8th 2018 the entire town of Paradise California was burnt to the ground by a raging wildfire. In a matter of hours, the town I grew up in, and called home, was gone. We lost everything in the fire. Not just our physical home and possessions, but our places of work, our place of worship, and every piece of “home” I grew up with. Read more>>

Lyric Amodia

While living overseas with a Filipina and African American background, I had an immersed multicultural upbringing. After briefly living in Japan, I spent the majority of my developmental years in Germany, which cultivated my passion for travel and dedication to servant leadership. Read more>>

Jacqueline Hinton

I moved to Los Angeles after college where I was a dance major and introduced to Pilates. After moving to Los Angeles, I worked retail for a while and then decided I wanted a changes. I decided to get my Pilates certification. It was a wonderful experience but, I saw a need for a cleaner Pilates experience. Read more>>

Kaleidoscope Affect

Kaleidoscope was created (and named) very intentionally. Neither one of us was looking to create THIS when it all went to seed. When we first decided to pursue this endeavor it was actually because of a series of events with a different business concept, and it included a mutual friend of ours. Read more>>

Keisha Henson

My name is Keisha and I am the founder of CreativeKei, a party rental company based in Kansas City,Mo. Read more>>

Sherry Younge

I have been a Hairstylist for over 25 years. I collaborated my business with my husband Adrian where we have a hair salon and record store. My husband is a music producer and dj. When we collaborated our businesses together, I found that having a hybrid business was appealing to our clientele. Read more>>

William Combs

I have over 22 years in the hospitality business and at the time I came up with the idea for a mobile bar business, Back in 2018 I was an owner of a restaurant called 913 Whiskey Bar & Southern Kitchen. Read more>>

Greg Crafter

As a child, I remember planting a garden with my mom. She gave me a handful of seeds and told me to dig a hole and plant one seed every few steps. Because of my excitement and lack of following directions well. I placed all of the seeds in one hole. Read more>>

Blayne St.Marie

I’ve always wanted to own my own business. I’ve been working full time first in the restaurant business and then in healthcare since I was fifteen. I started to research different types of businesses and what the start up cost would be. Read more>>

Marthea L. Pitts, MSW

As a 3x award-winning workforce development career counselor and macro-focused (advocacy and program design) social worker, I became very intrigued with solving the deeply rooted equity issues I saw as a result of federal policy interpretation and implementation on the local level. Read more>>

Marnie Jackson

Our Black Mountain Farm is very near the Pacific ocean. I spent many weekends when finished with farm chores, cleaning up plastic off our beaches. One such hike, I saw a dead Sperm whale with plastic hanging from its mouth. Read more>>

Kennedy Hall

Looking back, I have always loved entertainment and the arts. When I was growing up, I knew I wanted work in the entertainment industry in some way, but I didn’t know in which field. When I went to college, I was on track to being a music business major, with plans to workin A&R. Read more>>

Christopher Santiag

I love to make people laugh! Growing up I wanted to be an actor and didn’t pursue it so I thought to myself how can I make people laugh on a broader scale. I started posting skits and different monologues that ultimately made me laugh so I knew that I had to share it with other people. Read more>>

Marcella Armstrong

I grew up in a small town in rural Utah and I learned to sew because I wanted things that I didn’t have access too. I was always crafting and making things with the supplies I had. I got a sewing machine when I was 11 and I would alter clothing to fit me and make things for others. The need to customize everything I had became an obsession and sewing became a big part of my life. Read more>>

Melanie Torvi Grant Basile

We started growing peppers in our parking space in front of our apartment building. Originally we just bought starters, but that evolved to us growing all of our plants from seed, and keeping that cycle going. The first year we had such a large yield of peppers that we needed to do something with them quickly. Read more>>

Jessica (Jess) Lugg

2020 was rough for everyone, but it was the first time in my adult life where everything felt as if it was falling apart. I had just started a new job when COVID hit 3 months later. While in lockdown I realized this new job was not working. Plus, COVID was running through our department and I was terrified. Read more>>

Marilyn Pianelli

While out walking my dogs late one night in a couple of years ago, a black cat happened to cross our path. One of my dogs, a black Terrier named Mo, managed to wiggle free from his harness and decided to give chase. We live in a dark, suburban neighborhood with poorly lit streets. Read more>>

Amber Holmes Lisa Smith

At our prior jobs, we worked together planning Destination Weddings, and were always seeing what astronomical amounts brides were paying for flowers. There just seemed to be no feasible options for them! We decided to team up on this endeavor and started FauxReal Flowers in 2020. Read more>>

Eliyahu Shmuel Ben Yah

As it pertains to Health wether it be Physical, Emotional, Spiritual and Mental Health which all are of great importance being a known fact that these are a major problem not just in the USA but around the world. As I began to do extensive research. Read more>>

Dana Dykema

I have always loved supporting local. In 2019 I was somewhat irritated and flummoxed about the lack of local representation at the grocery stores, particularly for garlic. I was connected to a garlic grower in Kamloops and for 2 summers I bought her garlic to sell to the North Shore. Read more>>

Justin Jackson

When I redeployed back to Germany, after a 12-month combat tour in Afghanistan, I was determined to experience life with renewed passion and appreciation. Being a paratrooper with the 173rd Airborne Brigade was a rigorous assignment. As a Forward Observer (JFO), I was responsible for all indirect fire assets, including Close-Air-Support, for a CAV Scout platoon in the 173rds RISTA (Reconnaissance, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition) Squadron (1/91 CAV). Read more>>

Shawn Bloemker

When I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade firefighters came to my school to talk about fire safety. The firefighters showed us their air-packs and the fire truck. I remember thinking, when I grow up I will be a firefighter. Read more>>

Tia King

I’ve always loved taking pictures. Once my oldest was born, I had her pictures taken every few months. By the time my second child was born, I had decided to start learning more about photography. Read more>>

Nickquolette Barrett

My idea for my business came from two of my direct reports while working as an Insurance Claim Team Manager. Our organization went through a growth spurt and there was a need to prepare our employees for new opportunities that included a promotion and increase in salary. That increase was anywhere from 15% to 50% of their current salary. Read more>>

Sarah McCormick

Growing up my family always loved cooking together. When I met my husband Dane I loved seeing my future Mother in law have so much fruit around her house. She was the family jam connection. 7 years later we began to be obsessed with our local farms and I chose to sweeten our jam with honey and raw sugar. Read more>>

Alexis Johnson

I was dating a truck driver once. I loved riding on the road with him, minus the fact that I had to shower in a shared bathroom at a truck stop. Over time I fell in love with riding in trucks. I knew they always made good money. I said to myself I’m going to own a trucking business one day. Read more>>

Laurie Mann

It all began with a dream. The vision of using the marketing skills that I had developed during my over 20-year career to help people succeed. It was an incredibly difficult decision to walk away from a rewarding career. At the age of 53 and without a single client, I took that leap to launch MANN|MARK, and I have never looked back. Read more>>

Jeanette Jackson

To be honest, most of my opportunities fell into my lap. For starters I’ve been around and playing basketball since I was 4 years old. My passion for the game started early on while watching my big brother play. He would take me out and show me the ropes on the court. By the time I was 4 years old, I was on my first basketball team and the best player on the floor. Read more>>

Briona Johnson

After teaching in public schools, charter schools, after-school programs, private schools, acting studios, and theaters I became well-versed in teaching children of all ages, and backgrounds. Within those teaching experiences I’ve held the titles of department chair, teacher of distinction, and lead drama teacher. Read more>>

LaVoone Wallace

I knew absolutely NOTHING about maintaining healthy natural hair when I began my natural hair journey in 2014. After transitioning my relaxed hair for about 18 months, I did a “big chop” and the race began! I literally spent hundreds of dollars & switched from product to product, until I finally decided to do my own research, about what healthy hair needed, and created my OWN hair products. That is how Joeny was born! Read more>>

Mecki Johnson

I came up with Matched By Mecki by having a long time connection with love. I know we all deserve to experience true love for ourselves, and others – so I want to be someone to help others experience that true love. I have always been a go to friend when it comes to helping others solve their dating and relationship issues, so I figured I would broaden the range of who I help – instead of limiting my expertise to only those closest to me. Read more>>

Joseph DeAcetis

My background in fashion editorial, advertising, and journalism has helped me cultivate my menswear brand POTRO. My entrepreneurial skills helped me reach my goals in launching the brand. I also taught menswear styling at SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology from 2017-2021 Read more>>

Anita Chastain

I had worked in a corporate management role for several years and had gotten really burned out. The stress of the job and the long hours were taking a toll on my health. I realized, too, that in being so caught up in work, I was missing out on life. That’s when I decided to leave my job and find my way to corporate training and writing as a career. Read more>>

Essence of Hip Hop LIL Essence of Hip Hop

I fell in love with Hip Hop back in 2013. I was working at the United States Post Office. One of my coworkers gave me a beat (Backseat Freestyle- Kendrick Lamar) and asked to see what I would do with it. It was in the process of writing that verse that I found my true love. Read more>>

Manny Garcia

My name is Manny Garcia I’m a fully energetic, outgoing and happy 8 year old with a passion for fashion! My parents & I came up with the idea to start me a clothing line in March of 2020 when everything shutdown during Covid-19. It was inspired by my desire to become a leader and my overall love for fashion. Read more>>

Lauryn Scriber

During high school, I used to do my makeup everyday. I fell in love with color and would match my lipstick and waterline to my outfits religiously. As I transitioned into college, I wanted to branch over into application, but with the schedule I had, I didn’t have much time to venture out. Towards my last semester in college, I decided to branch out into makeup application, practicing on co-workers, friends, family members etc. Read more>>

Angela Hunter

My name is Angi and I have been married to my best friend for 29 years. I have 8 children and am the proud Granny of 6! My husband and I are both nurses and we moved to Texas from New York via the military. Read more>>

Dominique Morgan

I originally came up with the idea when I was in college but I didn’t know what to call it exactly. I knew I loved working as an admin and helping to streamline workflows, as well as making the work environment easier for my coworkers. However, I wanted to do this from home and had no clue how to get started. Read more>>