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.

Jasmine Noghrey

The journey to starting Joojeh Joy really began years ago when I first started working with special needs children and adults. Over the past decade, I’ve had the privilege of working in various roles — as a behavioral therapist, a special education instructor, a preschool teacher, and even a dating coach. Through it all, one thing remained consistent: the positive impact sensory toys had on individuals across all ages. Whether I was helping children self-regulate in therapy, supporting a toddler with developmental challenges, or guiding teens through social situations, sensory toys were a game changer. They not only helped with self-regulation but were also a fun way to build essential life skills. Read more>>

Hunter Cohen

When I first thought about transitioning from music photography to fashion editorials, the biggest challenge was simply starting. My mind often races with a million ideas, making that initial step feel like the hardest part. I had this vision of creating a Gucci photoshoot and instead of getting lost in overthinking, I decided to dive in and make it happen as fast as possible. I called up a few friends, and within a single day, we turned the idea into reality. We shot at my friend Casie’s apartment complex in Echo Park, which has this perfect mid-century modern vibe. Casie, Taylor, and June took on the styling and modeled for the shoot. Casie & Taylor worked together for Creative Direction and June worked on Hair & Makeup. Our goal was to capture something that screamed Gucci—bold, vibrant, and unapologetically extravagant—and I believe we absolutely achieved that. Read more>>

Esther Castillo

When I started Accesso Care, I made a lot of mistakes—it’s one thing to know the field, and another to dive into the actual work. I’ve spent years working with immigrant populations, from being an ESL teacher to managing community health programs, serving as a community liaison, and designing workforce development initiatives in public health and vaccine equity. However, this venture—preparing immigrant workers to become Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) and work in nursing home facilities—was a whole new challenge. Read more>>

Siobphan Mcgann

I’ve been a massage therapist since 2012. I worked at a popular massage company for about 8 years from 2012 to 2020. Throughout that time I definitely had thoughts of branching out & starting my own massage business. Finally, in 2015 I found a beauty salon that let me use an extra room they had to take my own clients while still working for the massage company. That was great but it wasn’t enough for me. Soon after, I found a suite that my best friend & I shared for a little over a year. Then we decided to let that space go in hopes for a better one. Not having a suite gave me time to go back to the drawing board & really figure out what I wanted & how I wanted to do it. I decided I wasn’t going to keep paying for suites that I didn’t really want regardless if it was due to location or aesthetics. I just wanted every aspect to make sense to me. The next few years I remained working at the massage company. I did take clients here & there but I was mobile so I traveled to them. Then in 2020 Covid hit & changed everything. The world stopped for everyone, entrepreneurs included. This was such an odd & scary time. People didn’t know what to do. By October of 2020, I decided to take a leap of faith & move to Charlotte to pursue full entrepreneurship. I got to Charlotte & immediately starting looking for suites. While searching, I started to accept clients as a mobile therapist. I also started to offer body contouring & postop care after taking a few classes. Finally in May, I found a suite in my price range, applied & within 30 minutes was approved. By June of 2021, I had my own suite & business was booming!! It all happened so fast. I was just grateful that the chance I took was worth it! Read more>>

Luke Hiotis

I have been working in the fields of landscaping and forestry for 15 years. Many of those years were spent in the field working with or leading crews on the job. One day, a co-worker suggested that I look into becoming an ISA Certified Arborist. Once I started the process, I fell in love with what I was learning. That started years of schooling and studying, with a goal of becoming a Consulting Arborist. This meant working long days up in the mountains of Colorado, performing hazardous tree removals and wildfire mitigation. Then I would go home and study for the night. It has been a huge learning curve for me, to merge my main source of work from tree removals to professional consulting services. But it has been incredibly rewarding. Today, I am working as an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, an ASCA Registered Consulting Arborist, and an SAF Urban Forester. I work with Colorado State Forest Service, private homeowners, and cities around Colorado. Read more>>

Nicole Berger

After years of dealing with extreme bloating and stomach pain, I wanted to wear comfortable outfits (NOT sweatpants) that would help me regain my confidence. I knew I couldn’t be the only one struggling with this, so I started sharing bloat-friendly outfits on social media. After months of posting, everyone kept asking, “What jeans do you wear?” My answer? None. That’s when I realized that not only I, but the world, also wanted bloat-friendly jeans. I knew designing and manufacturing jeans was a complicated process, so I needed a really good team. I wanted to find the BEST denim designer. Having managed a recruiting department in my previous life, this was my time to shine. It was crucial for me to find a designer who truly understood the problem so we could solve it authentically. After interviewing several designers, I met Christine Rucci, one of the top NYC-based denim designers with nearly 40 years of experience, along with her right-hand pattern maker, Luis. She had personally dealt with bloating and knew exactly what was needed to create bloat-friendly jeans. Such a win! Read more>>

Vince Pascua

This is a great topic because I talk about this a lot with friends and coworkers. This can be very simple for some, but very difficult for others – let me explain. When someone has an idea and they would like to actually turn it into something, like a business, there has to be some sort of calculated approach. Think of your idea as stepping stones in a pond, crossing to the other side is determined by how you strategically execute to reach your end goal, which would be your business. If you are hesitant and not committed, you will fall short. If you are overconfident and not calculated, you will over jump and fall as well. You need to find that sweet spot so you can land right in the middle. I can’t tell anyone what steps they need to take because everyone’s ideas are different and entail a variety of factors. Read more>>

Lisa Miller

Last year, my neighbor, her sister and I thought it would be fun to do a podcast about music. After talking about it for several months, I ordered microphones, headphones and a podcast audio recorder. I learned how to use the equipment by watching numerous YouTube videos with a lot of trial and error. We decided to stick with a 30-minute, pre-recorded, audio-only podcast interview format and we called ourselves, Podcast Sistas. Unfortunately, shortly after launching our podcast, my co-hosts decided that they no longer wanted to continue being a part of doing the podcast. I decided to continue on my own and changed the name to Podcast Sista. This wasn’t a difficult decision for me as I already knew how to manage all aspects of the production, marketing, and booking guests on Podcast Sista. Much to my surprise, it was significantly easier to be on my own and I enjoyed the challenge of strengthening my interviewing skills as a solo podcast host. Read more>>

Yuwei Li

I love painting and I chose to major in painting in college. I had no intention of being a professional artist, and my first client came to me by chance. It was my first client who inspired me to continue to develop my painting career to now. Painting gives me a lot of pleasure and it is a channel for me to express my feelings. I offer the viewer my perspective on the world and my understanding of it through my work, and I think painting is a wonderful thing for me. Read more>>

Dr. Quinn Denny

When I sold my Managed Services business, my intent was to become a counselor. I wanted meaningful work, work that seemed even more suited to my personality (a recurring and common theme I encounter from all kinds of people). Going back to school I finished my B.S. in general psychology. During that process I became increasingly aware that I have that entrepreneurial energy, and that it would take me considerable additional years to start my own counseling practice after achieving a master’s degree. This was not attractive as I had just recently turned forty, my career clock was ticking! There were also practicalities for supporting my family and the annual salary would make it hard to meet our needs long-term. The big determinant that counseling was not for me came when I had trouble sleeping during my abnormal psychology courses. It was evident that I would struggle to leave clients’ challenges at the office. You can imagine my discomfort and disillusionment. What was I going to do? Read more>>

Crystal Watkins

Back when my son was in college (only child) I found that I had a lot of free time on my hands. I began to bake as a pass time. I started taking classes at my community college and then decorating classes offered at Michael’s craft store. At the same time I was working at a call center where my colleagues became my first customers. Baking at home, a lot of my neighbors would notice and stop by for a taste which led to orders! I began to build up my clientele by word of mouth. Eventually I left my job to pursue this full time. Before I knew it, I needed to hire some help to keep up with all of the orders. After 11 years of baking at home, I decided it was time to open up a store front location. Read more>>

Seth Garnes

At the very beginning of The Everything Collective, we really were into founding this community to collaborate with other artists from different disciplines. At that point, my brother and I had just moved to LA and would shoot music videos for his brand, Localcolor, and almost anybody else who would ask. We wanted to celebrate the work we were making with our friends and clients, so we started throwing gallery events with live music. At the time, I was working in the entertainment advertising industry as a motion designer, so I would animate flyers or backdrops for the show’s interiors. I also shot a few short documentary pieces featuring co-collaborators, interviewing them on their artistic processes. We seemed to be making an impact on the community around Downtown Los Angeles, and we still find those artists reminding us of that with their inspiring work today. Read more>>

Marino De La Cruz

Erstyl was born on August 14, 2021, during a transformative trip to Florida. While on vacation, I found myself wrestling with the idea of becoming a business owner, uncertain of the immense responsibilities it would entail. Yet, throughout my time away, a powerful vision kept emerging—one that felt almost like a calling. I realized the impact this venture could have, not just for me, but for the countless lives it could touch and transform. This realization became my driving force. Upon returning from my trip, I immediately began working to turn my vision into reality. I brainstormed names that were both striking and meaningful, eventually combining the words “empower” and “hairstyle” to create Erstyl. The next step was to design a brand logo that could truly capture the essence of the name. Using the platform 99designs, I worked with a talented designer to bring my vision to life. Read more>>

Georgia Bonney

I am a mother, musician, and military wife. After moving our family 18 times in 22 years, we finally landed in Southern Maryland. With fourteen children, finding a large enough home is always a challenge. My husband’s job in Washington, D.C., brought us here, but affordability meant we had to settle in an area that offered fewer opportunities for our children compared to more affluent communities. Athletic options were plentiful, but as a family with strong artistic leanings, I yearned for something more. That’s when the idea for the Neighborhood Creative Arts Center (NCAC) was born. It started with a simple piano studio. I still had 10 children at home—four had already left for college—and life was busy, but I knew I could bring music and creativity to our community. Simultaneously, I started a homeschool co-op, inspired by the challenges of constantly moving and the need to connect with like-minded families. My focus was on fostering hands-on, creative thinking. Read more>>

Tracy D Shorter

Starting the travel business was just suppose to be an add-on offering to my wedding clients. As a wedding and event planner, I found myself working with couples, creating a wedding vision for themselves and their guest. Our time together ranged from six (6) months to one (1) year. What I found is that when it came to the honeymoon, this concept was not discussed with me or we had to get an outside travel agent involved in the process. When looking at how to scale the business, this was a missed opportunity I needed to correct, so Shorter Route Travel agency was born. But during this time, I was so unsure of myself, specifically whether the business could work. Read more>>

Amanda M. Ferris

The Messy Version As tempting as it is to give a candy-coated account of one concept to completion, success as I define it today would not exist without a series of false starts and failures I had to build on. In hindsight, we can make any story linear. But we don’t know what will produce our desired results when we initiate a new idea. So in service to anyone who is living those beginning stages in real-time as it unfolds with each passing moment of uncertainty: I hope this helps you reflect on your own experiences of all kinds, to grab hold of the answers you already have to leverage and launch into the idea stirring in your heart- or something even better. Read more>>

Krystal Stark

Before Crafty Krystal, I was an elementary teacher for almost a decade and loved it, but becoming a mom encouraged a change. It was late summer, I was at Forsyth Park on a play date, when an older child expressed wanting to do something different. That’s when the idea struck: what if I offered a craft or activity right here in the park? As a teacher, I am great at prepping projects and giving directions, and I know all too well that there is a lack of screen-free creative options out there. The next week I applied for a permit and then soon after set up a little table at Forsyth Park offering only a paint kit and weaver craft activity. Now that’s grown to a variety of paint kits, different textile kits, science and sensory, and more! Read more>>

Nikki Eke

Sooko Gardens began as a lifeline—a response to my autoimmune diagnosis that brought constant inflammation and pain. When my doctor said, “Eat whole foods,” I took those words to heart, eliminating processed foods and experimenting with anti-inflammatory ingredients like ginger, turmeric, and pineapple. To my surprise, these natural remedies improved my health, and what started as a personal project became a calling. Determined to share these benefits, I dove into learning about licensing, health regulations, and sourcing quality ingredients. Recipes like Bliss, our pineapple ginger infused with adaptogenic teas for relaxation, and Boost, our green tea and hibiscus blend with adaptogens for energy, were born from countless hours in my kitchen and feedback from family and friends. This winter, we introduce Golden Chai, a creamy, dairy-free blend made with tiger nut, naturally sweetened with dates, and infused with chai spices. Along with our Mulled Hot Cider, these new additions bring warmth and comfort to our lineup for the colder months. Read more>>

De’ane Kennedy

Picture it. London. October 2023. You’ve just entered your Julia Roberts “Eat.Pray.Love” and wherever you go you carry a tiny notebook with you with your alma mater’s logo on the front in big, purple, collegiate lettering. You carry this tiny notebook with you and whenever you feel the urge, you write down ideas. Event ideas, Christmas card ideas, business ideas, digital project ideas, friend date ideas, etc. You know you’re returning back home in the next few months and one thing you notice in your travels that you feel is not very prominent back home is spaces and events for the black queer folks outside of the clerb.  Read more>>

Laurel Kingman

My husband was gifted a small tabletop roaster, so we became home coffee roasters. Since 2016, we’ve been roasting our own beans, typically roasting one and a half ounces every two to three days for our home. After returning from a vacation in 2023, I started roasting coffee beans for our morning brew. Unfortunately, our small roaster decided it was time to retire. While my husband searched for a replacement, he received recommendations from friends for larger roasters suitable for home use. When the new roaster arrived, it came with bean samples from different regions around the world. As I explored which beans to roast first, taking notes and experimenting, it occurred to me that I could start my own home roasting business. I wanted something that would keep me busy while offering a flexible schedule. Learning how to use the new roaster and deepening my understanding of coffee has been incredibly valuable. As I learn, I also enjoy sharing that knowledge with others. Starting this business with just a batch of roasted coffee has brought both fun and challenges, along with plenty of educational moments. Word of mouth from friends and family has been the best way to spread the word about this new adventure. Read more>>

Amelia Philson

Dr. Amelia Carter-Philson has always been fond of writing since an early age of 10. Her dream of becoming a Teacher, Nurse & Doctor. started after graduating high school. During her undergraduate years, her role as a professional began to surface as she entered courses that would allow her to develop into her role as a medical professional. She worked with doctors at Memorial Hermann Medical Group and Baylor Methodist Primary Care Associates, Houston Texas, in the fields of Family Practice, Internal Medicine, Orthopedics, and Endocrinology for 14 years. Those physicians helped to shape her knowledge of the medical industry and the need to promote healthcare importance in many areas of the African American communities. Read more>>

Suz Iventosch

We are in the spice business! We’re selling an actual product! That is what our food blogging friends think is so wonderful! We were not so sure we wanted to dive head first into this competitive world, but because our blends were so popular with friends and family we did. We first got the idea of selling our spice blends, because so many of our family and friends, who had tried them at dinners at our house and loved them, asked us to make them a batch to take home. We did that for a number of years, before the question “Why don’t you sell these?” became a common refrain. Newly retired, and not sure of making that kind of a commitment, it took me a while to warm up to the idea of solidly committing to a new start up business. My daughter, Courtney, and I had the food blog, where many of these spice blends were born, and that project, alone, took up plenty of time. Ultimately, after much consideration, we decided to make a go of it starting with three of our blends: Diavola Spice Rub; Peppercorn Perfection; and Ranch Revolution. Just this past summer, we added a fourth blend: Taco Temptation. Read more>>