Overwhelmingly, media coverage of team building, hiring, training, etc. is often geared towards the issues faced by HR at Fortune 500 sized companies. Even when it’s positioned as advice for small business owners it is often coming from an executive or consultant working primarily with giant corporations. We think it’s far more relevant to hear from small and medium business owners who have successfully grown their businesses – and so we asked some very talented folks to tell us the stories of their initial hires and the struggles and lessons they can share.

Will Fenwick

During my time working as a park ranger in Washington state I was in a truly confused mindset going back and forth about whether or not I wanted to be a professional artist and how I could even afford to live in a city like Seattle working as a photographer or videographer. Read more>>

Camille Lee

The WearEmOut Tees brand was never supposed to be an online brand. In fact, the original business plan excluded selling online due to the unique nature of our graphic tees. Because every single t-shirt is different in some way, the plan was for us to sell at in-person Read more>>

Jayson Johnson

I’ve always wanted to work in the film industry, but with no formal training, I was like a frog in a blender trying to figure out how to get in. I tried the traditional route, wearing a dress shirt and tie, crafting a resume, and knocking on as many doors as I could, but all I got was a swift kick in the butt. Apparently, experience was more valuable than a strong desire to make it in Hollywood. Read more>>

Monique Marsh

Surprisingly, I grew up in the most diverse city in the world, Toronto, Canada; I witnessed my mother create an inclusive, safe space for women of all races with the same challenges in the beauty industry to come together and create success. That exposure to women from all walks of life coming together and supporting one another is what I applied to THELASHBRAND. Read more>>

Tabitha Turner

I’m very passionate about creating more inclusive workspaces in the photography industry – not just with photographers, but with clients. Read more>>

Arrianna Santiago

I genuinely love what the animation and visual art industry have given to society, but I don’t often see people who look like me dominating those spaces. We’re slowly working toward it but breaking out into the industry as a Latina or, for a lot of my buddies, brown-to-darker skinned women is like pulling teeth compared to being white/white-passing. Read more>>