In our view, far too many ideas die at the imagination stage. It’s not because people are lazy, we think the primary reason is because many people don’t know where or how to start. So, we connected with some sharp and generous entrepreneurs who’ve agreed to share their stories of how they went from idea to execution.

Laurie Blasko

At the end of 2020, I left my position as an event coordinator for a country club after 5 years with the company. It wasn’t that I didn’t love what I did; I was in an unhealthy environment with terrible work/life balance and I needed to change it! Don’t get me wrong… it was terrifying. I wanted to throw up every time I even considered stepping away from what I knew and what I was good at. I went through a year of “what am I doing with my life?”, bouncing from idea to idea until my husband finally gave me the push I needed to start a business where I would be planning events on my own. Read more>>

K. Sparks

Rhythm Couture was initially a concept myself and my business parter had to create a Music Licensing company where musicians were treated fairly. We both have been in the music business for years so it was a natural progression for the both of us. We gathered musicians from various musical backgrounds and genres such as Hip-Hop, R&B, Rock, Jazz, and etc. From that point, we began pitching our musicians music for television and film. As music began to get placed in television and film we were able to successfully establish ourselves as a dominate force within the Music Licensing community. Read more>>

Melissa Villanueva

Have you ever looked on Craigslist for an espresso machine only to buy a coffee shop instead? That is the story of Brewpoint Coffee. Nine years ago, I was working as a recruiter for a finance firm. During my first conversation with my now husband, Angelo, I shared that I was waiting for a sign to leave that job and figure out what my next steps would be. He shared that sometimes the universe is waiting for us to take that leap, so I took that as my sign to quit my job and spend three months in the Philippines to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Read more>>

Ivan Torres

The idea floated around in peak COVID, while being furloughed at the time and not knowing what was to come. I thought to myself, “what am I going to do when this passes?” After roughly 4 years working professional kitchens, I surely thought it was time to venture into my own. With the idea set into place, came the concept of the truck. My affinity for Asian cuisine and my cultural background, what better way to put the two together. Now after came the financial aspect of it, “how am I going to afford this?” Read more>>

Brooke Snider

I got the idea when I was thinking about planning my own wedding. I actually didn’t realize that a Wedding Planner was a real and legit job. I ended up shadowing another company 1 time and when I was there I was like “oh my gosh I want to open my own company”. Read more>>

Susannah Anderson and Brittany Forman | CircleMoms

CircleMoms was founded because we recognized the need for postpartum support in our own community. While there were a few lactation groups and one-off support groups available, as first-time mothers, we desired something more comprehensive. We wanted a holistic approach that would allow us to form a community with other mothers experiencing the same milestones, and incorporate various topics of conversation related to the first few months after childbirth. Read more>>

Margot Hartford

What I really want to talk about are ways to come up with ideas if you are a creative person. There is a joke ….. how many photographers does it take to screw in a light bulb? The answer: Ten. One photographer to screw in the bulb and nine other photographers to stand around and explain how if they had done it how they would have done it so much better. Read more>>

Jared Winston

Diving into photography and content creation had been something on my mind for about 2-3 years. I didn’t really know what I wanted it to look like or how I would do it. Evolving my photography to include content creation was not an overnight thing for me. I resisted for quite sometime because having to learn all of these new softwares, programs, and concepts just to make a quality video felt overwhelming. Read more>>

 Christina Dankert

For years, I knew I wanted to write a children’s book. One day the idea of “The Kindness Machine” popped into my head and I knew that would be the title of my first book. As so many authors have already suggested, get a little notebook and write any idea that pops into your head. That weekend, I went out and bought my first, of many, little notebooks. I wrote the title, characters, setting, concepts, etc. For years, those ideas lived quietly in the little notebook. Read more>>

Yolanda Brunson

Well, my then employer had gone through a reduction in force, and I was offered a buyout with severance pay from my mid-management position in the nonprofit sector. I’ve always been in love with fashion and accessories, the adorning of taking a simplistic outfit to glam in a matter of minutes by adding the right accessories to make that outfit pop (is such a vibe)! At this time, I was also leading and mentoring a women’s group at my local church. At one of our social gatherings, I thought it would be a great idea to do a bonding exercise. Read more>>

Simone Van der Meer

Teaching youth movement classes has been my passion from the very first time I assisted in my childhood dance studio. All the years I attended and assisted at The Dance Gallery made me feel like it was a second home. It’s where I gained confidence and learned the value of self expression. I’ve taken those building blocks with me as I’ve taught gymnastic and dance classes over the past 16 years. The dream of owning my own studio for dance families to call home began after I graduated college and was looking towards what is next. Read more>>

Leticia Cabrera Calvo

Color Switch began in a college classroom. I was tasked to come up with a business idea for a “Shark Tank” type classroom. Right before the class started, I was out home doing my makeup. I usually would grab a tissue paper right before I did my makeup so that I can wipe my brushes clean in between colors. This particular day, I had forgotten to grab that tissue paper and was a bit frustrated to have to stop and go grab one. Read more>>

Leah Harper Cohen

Conscious Market is a collective of environmentally-friendly small businesses popping up on Third Street Promenade and a vintage market every Sunday at The Hollywood Roosevelt with a luxury eco store inside the 1Hotel West Hollywood. The idea evolved from hosting community fitness events with Fit Girl Club LA and started with one table supporting a friend who started a business growing to 40+ tents in Downtown Santa Monica. Read more>>

Nell Jasinski

Hello, my name is Nell Jasinski, but everyone calls me Nelly. There isn’t anything to crazy about me or my story; I am your typical twenty three year old girl. I love fashion, watching twilight, drinking my morning coffee, going on hot girl walks, and following all the latest gossip and trends. But I am trying to take a different approach to what I want to do with my life. Read more>>

Erika Allen

Urban and farming has not always been understood as it is now. When I first started this work back in 2001, farms were not part of our landscapes in cities. I coined the phrase “Productive Landscape” back in 2009 to broaden our collective visioning of what depleted and often toxic vacant spaces could be if we had a collective vision of how these areas could be transformed into public health resources to grow food, rest and regenerate habitats for the natural world. Read more>>

Brooke Molinaroli

I had just relocated from Dallas, Texas, where I worked as the Marketing Director of the Dallas Museum of Art to Westchester, NY (Larchmont, NY). I was at a career crossroads as I was not sure if I wanted to find another role in a museum/art world or in a corporate business doing marketing. After feeling very dejected about the job search process and my prospects for roles in NYC, my husband, Nick Robinson suggested I start my own business helping people find contemporary art for their homes. Read more>>

Zharia’Elizabeth McGlothin

Becoming an author at 19 was never initially on my list of life goal plans. It just kind of happened that way. I started a personal cleanse where I dedicated the next 90 days of my life investing in my healing journey. I used this time to take a step back from dating and being involved in activities that took me away from the morality of who I am. With this it was only supposed to be a personal journey, never one that was intended to be shared. Read more>>

Dontaye Ball

It all started with an unforgettable gumbo party I hosted at my place during Christmas 2017. The response was amazing, and my friends started encouraging me to sell my gumbo. I had been throwing these parties every year, but this time, something clicked. A friend even tried to pay me for the gumbo, but that wasn’t my motivation. Read more>>

Julie Chu

Oysters Hawai’i is Hawai’i first and only mobile oyster catering company. It is a local, family owned, minority owned, and female owned business. The owners are Allie Chu, Hopena Pokipala, and Julie Chu. The idea started when Allie was living in New York City pursuing her modeling and acting career. As a side hustle, she learned how to open oysters and was a part time oyster shucker on the weekends. Read more>>

David Johnson

My business journey starts like many recent business journeys during the Pandemic. In early March of 2020, I decided I was going to start selling cookies at my local farmer’s market. I reached out to the city and got the application. I was ready. Two weeks later, a nationwide emergency was implemented to stop the spread of COVID-19. I had to wait a year and a half before I was able to attend my local farmer’s market. For all the harm during the Pandemic, this was a blessing in disguise for my business. Read more>>

Kristina Stuller

I started off by just being creative with my boyfriend Josh at the time in our living room. Whenever I had my creative urge it always seemed to be after 8 o’clock at night. Most of my friends by then were tucking their children into bed and so did I. Which also meant I didn’t have a lot of free faces to work on when the mood hit. Read more>>

Andrew Colarusso

I’d been teaching at Brown University’s Literary Arts program for the past seven years. When my contract was not renewed in 2022, I came back home to Brooklyn. While looking for jobs and waiting to hear back from writing fellowships, I’d find myself walking several miles to the nearest indie comic shops and bookstores. I thought “wouldn’t it be nice to have a little shop right in the neighborhood?” Read more>>

Michelle Maryns

When I first started We Sparkle, I knew the problem that I wanted to focus on. From my experience helping thousands of entrepreneurs at a community development financial institution (CDFI) named by the U.S. Department of Commerce as the best minority business development agency in the country for 4 years in a row, I knew that women (especially women of color) are the fastest growing segment of entrepreneurs–but our revenues are not on par with our peers, and that gap is widening. Read more>>

Odanzy

A perfect example of this would be my latest single ‘Made My Day feat. Newman. It was a dope idea that was born 3 years ago in my room while listening to a beat my cousin made in Tampa. I had goosebumps on my skin listening to it and I started writing to it immediately. After I did, it was good but something was missing there, an extra layer I could not see at the time. So I put the project in the archives and I still made other music but came back to this track every couple of months. Read more>>

Melissa Kinkade

My business technically began to brew when I was in college for graphic design almost 20 years ago. I was a college softball player who loved doing hair and makeup, but I had never considered it a career. When my friends and I would go out, I was always the one doing 10 people’s hair and makeup beforehand. I really started to love it more and more but I was in the middle of college and a softball scholarship that I didn’t want to give up. Read more>>

Concept

In life we are often presented with difficult choices. Many people want the results that come from the harder choice but end up making the easier choice. The same can be said about the rap game. The easy routes are paying your way to the top or trying to be apart of someone else’s movement. The harder routes include starting by yourself and creating your own sound and movement. I chose the latter. Having moved around a lot it, my sound and style have always been compromised of eclectic influences. Read more>>

Sara Cifelli

The initial idea formed shortly after graduating college and looking at a difficult job market. It was very hard to find polocrosse equipment anywhere in the US, so I saw the gap in the market and an opportunity to use what I had learned in business school to start something profitable. To get going, I talked to someone who previously had been a main supplier of equipment in this country. They gave me valuable insights on vendors overseas and I bought out some of their leftover inventory to get started. Read more>>

Youyin Zhang

As a filmmaker, I believe that demanding perfection is not the key to taking the first step. Expecting a masterpiece from the start can limit creative freedom. Instead, I evaluate the feasibility of an idea and take immediate action once it’s viable. Maintaining a stable mindset during execution is crucial, as challenges can stimulate new inspiration. Read more>>

Rod & Dawn Fluellen

My husband, Rod, have always flirted with the idea of pursuing his dream of being an entrepreneur and having his own business. Never in a million years, did I imagine owning a business of any sort. After days of him convincing me, I agreed to start a business. However, at that time we did not know what type of business we wanted to open. Thus we spend countless hours brainstorming different types of businesses we could possibly open. Although we thought about several different businesses, we wanted to make sure whatever business we open it would have to be sustainable and provide the opportunity for us to serve our community and make a difference. Read more>>

Drew Reynolds

I was asked by an acquaintance to go to a short term rental presentation in Madison. I didn’t really have any interest in going, but he asked me to go, so I went. What is funny is that the guy that asked me to go didn’t show up. So I sat there by myself and listened to the presentation. And the concept that was presented made absolute sense to me. When I left the presentation I was fairly sure I was going to do it. I did some research and what I found backed up my gut feeling that it would work in this market. So, I called the guy who didnt show up to the presentation and asked him if he wanted to partner up. He said yes. Read more>>

Camie Lewis

When my grandmother passed in 2018, it really took a toll on me. To be honest, I still have days where it feels like she passed yesterday. My grandma meant everything to me. I remember staying over her house during the summers and she would always make her own remedies for different things such as colds, skin care, and she loved things that smell good. During the pandemic, the lost of her hit me hard and I needed something that would give me peace. Read more>>

Domenic Roberto

We began fostering our dog Angela at the start of lockdown in 2020. She was an ex bait and breeding dog that had suffered a lot of physical trauma on top of a persisting gestational diabetes. After a year of trying out best to control her blood glucose with her vets, we thought that there had to be something we could do differently. Read more>>

Laurie Urbancik

No Sugar Momma was born out of a health crisis. I lost my great health during a productive and accomplished 25 year career at a Fortune 100 company. I left at the age of 52 because I felt and looked very ill and I knew I had to walk away at the top of my career if I was going to get my health back. The 60-80 hour work weeks with a lot of travel, multi-tasking, fast-pace eventually took their toll. Read more>>