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.

Rhona Nain

There has always been a drive in me to one day own something that was mine. Something I could one day be able to pass down to generations after me. As a child I saw my mother and father work so hard to provide for my sister and I and I wanted to do the same for them one day. Before starting Dope Vegan, I held a great career, surrounded by amazing people but yet something felt like it was missing. I wanted more. Read more>>

Anthony McCauley

In 2015, I began working with young boys and girls when I saw the need for more assistance to be given to help support families and communities with focuses on building self-esteem and improving the well-being of students within the school systems and local community who needed guidance, support and role models. As I began to research juvenile justice and those males who found themselves making bad choices, I saw that I could use my success building and character development talents to bring together males to help those affected by making poor life decisions. Read more>>

Amber Ferguson.

It was 2019. I was several months away from graduating with four associates degrees from my local community college where I was also student ASB President and student trustee of the school board. I had spent almost 4 years studying for and preparing to go into a communication and real estate career. In November of 2019, I received a financial blessing in an amount that I will not disclose, however, I immediately knew that it was my opportunity to invest into a business idea that prior to this windfall, I never saw as a possibility. Read more>>

Briana Lopez.

Briana was the first one to venture into the KPop World when she attended PTDLA Day 3 in December of 2022 after hearing about BTS from friends and family. Shortly after Kristin was encouraged by Briana and their group of friends to listen to BTS. After seeing PTDSeoul Live Kristin also became an army. Together we both attended PTDLV in April of 2022, with a group of friends and after coming back home realized that we wanted to share the joy that we experienced from the concert. Read more>>

Victor Harvey.

As a former athlete, rap star, and hotelier I was always attracted to the entertainment business. I was very fortunate to be successful at all of them and generate a significant amount of money which I used primarily to invest in real estate. In 2007 as the market started to tank I liquidated my real estate portfolio and started searching for my next venture. I noticed in a recession people were still drinking and spending money on entertainment so it gave me the idea to start my own spirits company with my own brands, something that not many Black people, if any had done before me. Read more>>

Simone Busby Regan-Lea Jenkins

Our story starts off as a fun night helping a lifetime friend of ours. We agreed to help our friend, Olivia, set up for an engagement party that she was throwing for some of our other friends. She pulled us in to help her create a balloon arrangement to go down the stairwell in her house. At this time, we were blowing up balloons using our mouths and one hand pump, just the air from our body and tons of forearm strength. So, we were blowing up balloons individually for what seemed liked forever. Read more>>

Neron Adams-Escalera.

Foodies LLC (Foodies DMV) started as an idea during the pandemic, where I turned one of my greatest passions into a legitimate business. I have always had a passion for cooking as a young kid and attempting new recipes, but I also love to host events and ensure that my friends and family have a good time, while eating amazing food. I am a foodie and have a love for trying different foods from all cultures, so the business name naturally derived from that term. Read more>>

Courtney Kelly

I first got the idea to write my book, Celeste Saves the City, in 2017 while driving back to Dallas after visiting my parents for Thanksgiving. Somewhere along the course of those seven-hours I decided that my story was worth telling and that if told, it could help encourage other girls of color to become civil engineers and manage construction projects like me. Read more>>

Tré (No Last Name).

We live in a 3D world of Dreams, Desire, and Determination. Most Creative Execution requires these main components: • DREAMS: My inspiration comes from the dreamworld. When creating for others, I just need a song or words to set the stage. Possessing projective and associative forms of synesthesia allows me to see, hear, taste, feel, and experience life in a blended way. Artwork draws itself in my mind, long before any paper is touched. Read more>>

Akshay Thomas

When I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in Film Production, I was looking for a video editing position at a local post-production house. I planned to work at a company for a while and get established before starting my own. After countless interviews, I soon realized that most workplaces I applied to weren’t willing to pay a reasonable wage. I decided I needed to shift my focus. Read more>>

Patricia Perman.

I’ve been a visual artist as long as I remember, always drawing, painting and crafting. I didn’t really think about creating a business for a very long time. As I started to sell more art and people asked for commissions, I considered making this hobby into a business which was probably 5 years ago. It’s still a side hustle but I am hoping one day I can go full-time and support myself through my art. I figured steps along the way… Read more>>

Chelsea Jarrell.

I fell in love with taking photos in my High School yearbook class. I wanted to learn more about it and design so I went to college and got my Advertising and Graphic Design degree at a local community college. After graduating I found my heart leaning towards the camera more and more. I had friends and family asking me to take their photos and that is where it all began. Read more>>

Stephen Cadwell

While I’m still nowhere near the success that I hope of achieving, the process to get to where I am now was very long. I began recording my first songs on my flip phone in the third grade which transitioned into writing little raps. These were songs I never recorded in a studio or ever shared with anyone. Even after coming up with the name “KillA CAD” four years later, the fear of sharing my music with anyone was still strong. Read more>>

Meghan Muckenfuss.

The match that lit my fire in the California cannabis industry was when I was introduced to a few gentleman in 2011 that offered me the opportunity to become their infused cannabis baker for a few medical cannabis delivery services out of San Diego. The deal was, they supplied the plant material, half of which I got to keep, and I infused products for their services. Read more>>

Sarah Nicole.

Starting was the most difficult part for me. I knew I wanted to create travel content, and people had been telling me for awhile that I should try it. However, I guess, being afraid of failure held me back for awhile. Once I decided to just do it and see what happened, I had to come up with a username/name for my brand. I brainstormed for weeks but nothing stuck. Eventually, I came up with My Macroscopic Life. My day job is a chemist, and macroscopic means “as seen by the naked eye” so I thought that was perfect! It’s also pretty unique I think, and can set my content out from others. Read more>>

Nicole Rapp

It was a cold January morning (2021), and I was sitting at my computer contemplating our potential move back to GA the next summer when I remembered something my husband said to me. It was simply, “You have enough yarn to start your own yarn shop.” That got me thinking. I knew the area of GA that the Army was wanting to send us back to, and I knew that they didn’t have a local yarn shop, so being me, I went, alright, let’s do this! Read more>>

Nisha / Aroosa Shah / Shaikh

Amara’s Enchanted Forest (AEF) was founded by Nisha Shah and Aroosa Shaikh. AEF was inspired by Nisha’s daughter, Amara, who is a magical 6-year-old with a VERY colorful imagination. Amara loves everything unicorn, pink, rainbow, and enchanted. Nisha came up with the idea to bring Amara’s enchanted universe to life through a boutique that would also provide a magical experience. Read more>>

Seneca Clark.

I remember when I came home from college. I was confused as to what I wanted to do. So I decided to go back to school for nursing. My mother already being a nurse sat me down and said you really don’t want to do this so you? Are you doing this to make me proud or do you really have a passion for nursing? I sat there a second and told her I didn’t know what I want. I also let her know yes I was doing it to make her proud. Read more>>

Shyana Barrozo

I have always had a very entrepreneurial like mindset and knew for sure I wanted to own a business. I’ve tried a couple other avenues in the past but my passion would eventually dwindle out. What gave me the idea to start a cotton candy business was actually a tiktok I seen of a bride holding a big pink cotton candy cone. I originally thought how cool would that be to have at my own wedding one day because I LOVE cotton candy. Read more>>

Laura Pacheco.

I have grit because I earned it the hard way; and not by choice. I have had a lot of trials and tribulation in my lifetime that made me who I am today. Raised by a single mom on minimum wage, I skipped college after highschool because I knew everything already. ;-) I went straight to a full time job, got an apartment with a roommate, and dove straight into adulthood. Ended up marrying my high school sweetheart at age 21. Six weeks before my wedding, tragedy struck. Read more>>

Frankie Cerquetti

Storia Studio is a mother/daughter team, born from a love of photographer and filmmaking. In 2018, we made a huge decision. We decided to take a chance by starting a business together. Rena was 57 at the time and Frankie was 26! That decision seemed like the most important part at the time, but actually everything that happened up to that point is where our brand and dream began to develop. Read more>>

Katey Morgan

In high school my dad sold perfumes on eBay, so I had always been familiar with eBay and had always had an account and randomly sold things here and there. Then in 2019 I became pretty sick, and struggled mentally with trying to go into my 9-5 everyday both physically and mentally. I was a single mom with my daughter and working hard to manage being a home owner on my own. That’s when I decided I really want something I can do to help with bills and to get out of debt. Read more>>

Dewayne Hollyfield.

Growing up I was around a lot of hustlers and business minded individuals. My mom for example enjoyed taking care of the elderly. She genuinely enjoyed making sure that they were being properly cared for. Many times she would express her concerns that she had about how other care takers misused their positions. So one day my mom decided to open her own very own home care business . I can remember her asking me to help her think of a name for it. The one I came up with was the one she ultimately chose. Read more>>

Caitlyn Viars

Y’all-Mart started as an idea from my partner Candace. She saw a need for a market space in Columbia for eclectic makers, creators, and curators. I came up with the name and we ran with it. Our first Y’all-Mart was an unexpected success! Each market since has provided us with new challenges from which we’ve learned and grown. We’re still learning and understanding what success means to us. Read more>>

Jadon Johnson

I started my business, LUXE Financial Consultancy, LLC during the thick of the pandemic in April 2021. I received a bookkeeping certificate and decided I was just going to take on a few clients to get my feet wet. Little did I know God had a bigger plan. They say “tell God your plans if you want to make him laugh”. After six months, I had 4 accounting clients and numerous tax preparation clients. In a year, the number doubled and I was no longer accepting clients. Read more>>

Quenisha Williams.

I always used to baked brownies when I was younger as a hobby. One day I baked some brownies for an event at work and one of my coworkers told me that they was so delicious that she would buy some from me but I knew they was more to just starting a business. I started making cakes and cupcakes with my sons but I did not know how to decorate them so I was talking with my former boss and she offered to send me to some decorating classes and that is where I learned how to pipe, work with fondant and make flowers. Read more>>

Steven Lendrum

I started off performing in multiple bands for over 15 years before I decided to start booking myself. I have been writing songs for just as long but always served as a player in someone else’s band. Read more>>

Heather Itzla

Our company started as a reseller of the least wasteful school + office supply products we could find in the marketplace. It was nearing the end of 2018 and my business partner and I went out to shop for weekly planners to use for the upcoming year. What we found was that EVERY planner we came across was ultimately destined for landfill due to the way they were bound, or because of the cover material (pleather, leather, cloth, laminated papers). Read more>>

Katie Gelsheimer.

5 years ago starting a business was not on my radar. My family and I had just moved from Dallas to St. Louis for my husbands job. I was going to stay at home with my kids and I wasn’t super rushed to get back to work. I quickly found myself somewhat bored and watching ALOT of Instagram DIY-ers. I purchased my first power tool and just started designing and building things for our house – custom cabinets, barn doors, millwork walls. Read more>>