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.

Rissa Miller

My professional life was born from ashes. In one of the saddest seasons of my adult life, marked by loss, divorce, and the deaths of people I loved, I found myself reaching for anything that felt real. Read More>> 

Thip Athakhanh

I didn’t wake up one day and say, “I’m going to start a restaurant.” The idea came from a feeling—one I couldn’t shake after travelling to Laos on my honeymoon in 2016. I opened a notebook. I wrote down what kind of restaurant it would be if it existed. What it would feel like. Who it was for. What it would not compromise on. Read More>> 

Ashley Izquierdo

I technically started with intention, because I went to school for photography and knew it was a field I wanted to pursue. But when you’re 18 or 19 and choosing a career path, you don’t really understand how much your interests and direction will change. At the time, I thought I would photograph nature, travel, and maybe work for National Geographic. Read More>> 

Josh Chambers

A friend of mine from film school, Brice Abawi, had the idea to start making commercials for local businesses. When he conceptualized the idea, we were still in High School and thought we’d make the commercials for free, with the intent of doing it for experience and exposure. Read More>> 

Mia Fury

I’ve always written, and I’d even published a few books years before, but never really knew enough about the marketing side of things, so they were well-received but to a smaller market. I actually left my job of eight years during the pandemic, when the management decided to make me the sole customer service department for a huge business, and it nearly broke me. Read More>> 

Destiny Lanese

Karma was my third and most recent studio project. I decided to challenge myself with the creation of this EP. I decided that I had not pushed myself enough in the studio. I felt like I was limiting myself in scope before. I had already released GENRES, a seven song EP containing one song from 7 different genres, in 2020. Read More>> 

Tiffany Washington

I think I started before I ‘actually’ started. By that I mean that, throughout my childhood and early twenties, I had been appreciating the daily rituals in my life and noticing what made otherwise uninspiring tasks seem special. Read More>> 

Alondra Marshall

For me, entrepreneurship wasn’t random— it was rooted in my story. I started cosmetology- hairstyling while I was still in high school. I’ve always loved art, creativity, and transformation, and beauty was my first language as my first salon visit was at 5 years old. Even as a teen, I understood how deeply how we look can affect how we feel. Read More>> 

Emii Le

Lexe Heels didn’t start as a business plan—it started in as a personal and community need in the dance studios. I’d been dancing in heels for years and had just begun teaching when students started sharing heartfelt messages about how heels dancing and the way I taught it made them feel inspired, confident, empowered, and uplifted. Read More>> 

Monique Van

The idea for Fierce Competitor began during a Thanksgiving conversation with my family in 2017. That night turned into staying up late at the dinner table with my dad, designing the first logo together. Growing up, my father owned a sports apparel company called VanSports, so I had been exposed to the sporting goods industry for most of my life. Read More>> 

Brittany Reinbold

I am not an academic or a neurotypical person so getting into business the way we are ‘suppose to’ was a very overwhelming idea to me. Business plans and budgets…forget it. Of course I like to make an informed decision but sometimes dangling the carrot is more efficient and motivating to me. Read More>> 

DJ Millz

For me having ideas are more like visions. My ambition allows me to want to see something through til the end but seeing the idea become a visual reality. I’m always learning from people who are great at what they do in the field I’m in to be able to be better when my last creation. Read More>> 

Sharon Diotte

I am the author of Te’ora. From Vulnerability and Wounding to Wisdom and Freedom. The assignment to write this book was realized when I was in my early 40s. The story lived inside me for another thirty years before it could be written. I carried it through fear, silence, shame, and slow healing. Read More>> 

Leah Moulds

I got the idea to draw 100 people in LA after asking my mailman if I could take his photo so I could illustrate him. I’ve wanted to draw him ever since I moved into my apartment a year and a half ago because he’s the cutest man I’ve ever seen. I took the photo home and created a drawing of him that night. Read More>> 

Camilyn Leavitt

I didn’t start Camilyn Beth with a grand master plan. I started with a feeling. I knew I loved design. I knew I loved classic silhouettes. And I knew I wanted to create pieces that made women feel confident during some of life’s most meaningful moments. But beyond that, everything unfolded one brave step at a time. Read More>> 

Sylvia Faircloth

The Process I saw there was a need I would go out in the community and someone always needed prayer.We all have things going on with someone we know.I began to pray about it and the birthing of Sweet Hour Of Prayer began. Read More>> 

Powerful China

It all started with a simple idea — to create something that truly improves lives and drives innovative growth in our community and industry. The vision behind ‘Life Innovations’ and ‘Bad Girls of Detroit INC’ came from recognizing a real gap: people and businesses were seeking solutions that not only worked but actually made a meaningful difference. Read More>> 

Haley Biggins

I think the biggest hurdle to getting started is often ourselves. We make excuses, create reasons to delay, and convince ourselves that what’s possible is somehow impossible. We get nervous. We doubt our abilities. We talk ourselves out of trying because we’re afraid of failing. But the truth is this: failure can only happen if you start…but so can success. Read More>> 

Migdalia Quintana

I started my own art gallery without even looking for it. My early years in art were simply driven by a desire to share my ideas, using painting and writing as my means of expression. I did this through art exhibitions in public places like art centers and libraries. Read More>> 

Laur Gethers

I didn’t wake up one day and decide, “I’m going to start a consulting and coaching business.” “It began gradually, with each experience building on the last until the path forward came into focus.” The seed was planted in graduate school while I was earning my Master’s Degree in Public Information with a focus on nonprofit organizations. Read More>> 

Nikki Harris

I didn’t start with a business plan — I started with an idea and a feeling. The idea had been in my head for years, but when the pandemic hit and everything shut down, I didn’t go back to work. I was at home, I had time, I had clothes, and I had this vision I couldn’t shake anymore. Read More>> 

Dr. Lucretia ‘Cre’ Taylor

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to helping people who are trying to make the world better actually succeed at it. Long before it was a business, that’s just how I showed up. Growing up, I learned early that if I wanted things to work, I had to be intentional about them. That showed up as both structure and service. Read More>> 

janie desir

It didn’t start as a business idea. It started as a moment of fear, love, and urgency. I’m blind, and when I became a mother, I knew there was a real possibility my son could one day lose his vision too. That reality sat heavy with me. Read More>> 

Kobe Manzo

I grew up watching ESPN’s ‘College Gameday’ and always thought it would be awesome to be behind the desk, so I decided I would do just that, but with my own show covering small school football instead of the household names featured on Gameday. Read More>> 

Alexandra Nolan

The idea for The Aroma Haus began as an observation rather than a business plan. I noticed that the spaces that stayed with me. Hotels, spas, and thoughtfully designed environments weren’t just visually beautiful, they were unforgettable because of how they felt. And almost every time, scent was at the center of that experience. Read More>> 

Daniela West

A few years ago, I had the vision for launching an online website template shop as a way to both make passive income and to provide a product for people who weren’t yet ready to invest in hiring a designer for a fully custom website i.e. more early stage entrepreneurs and creators. Read More>> 

Tyshel McPherson

I’m a natural entrepreneur at art. I’m always looking for the next thing, endeavor that peaks my curiosity. That has longevity and gap where I can fill. I was already doing independent contracting work, when my father asked me if I had taken a look into owning a courier company. Read More>> 

Dr. Shawanda Moore

I embarked on the journey to grow my business driven by a clear vision. I imagined my company generating millions of dollars annually, yet I struggled to see how this was achievable after years of operation without approaching that financial milestone. Read More>> 

Ave Macarthur

I didn’t start my business with a perfect plan or a safety net. I started it because I was unfulfilled. At the time, I was working a supervisor job that looked stable on paper, but inside I felt stuck. I knew I had more to give creatively, but I was suppressing it to survive. One day, everything came to a head. Read More>> 

Jordan Parks

I was always the girl with the camera. At a party. At school. In my car. When I became a stay at home mom, I found myself capturing as many little moments as I could…but a little bit differently than most. I would bring my DSLR to the grocery store. To the mall. And again, in the car. Read More>> 

glenn marsden

Three years ago, I sat with an idea that had been circulating in my mind for years. I wanted to build something meaningful aside from the Imperfectly Perfect Campaign, my advocacy movement founded in 2018 after the loss of a close friend to suicide. Read More>> 

Regine Campbell

The idea began with a dream; quite literally. After dreaming about owning a swimsuit business, I woke up and decided to act on it immediately. There wasn’t a long pause between inspiration and execution; the very next step was putting my ideas on paper. I started by sketching my designs, turning the vision in my head into something tangible. Read More>> 

Esthervencia Cherenfant

When I first had the idea to start my business, it didn’t come with a detailed plan or a clear roadmap. It came as a deep sense of calling — a conviction that I was meant to build something that served people, especially women, through creativity, structure, and purpose. Read More>> 

Ashley Miller

Black Rabbit Media didn’t start because I had the perfect plan. It started because the media world can be brutal when you’re just coming up. I dealt with clients who wanted free work for “exposure,” last-minute miracles, or endless revisions. I had projects where pay was delayed, reduced, or never showed at all. Read More>> 

Bryn Zitnik

In the early days in Denver, we weren’t thinking about national growth or franchising. We were focused on doing the work well, showing up for clients, solving problems before they became problems, and building trust one relationship at a time. As our client base grew over the last 15+ years, a pattern started to emerge. Read More>> 

RAUL MOSQUEIRA

I didn’t start with a perfect business plan—I started with a problem I kept seeing over and over again. People weren’t getting better, not because they didn’t care, but because the system didn’t give them time, education, or truly personalized care. I knew there was a gap, and I believed I could fill it. Once the idea became clear, I moved quickly but intentionally. Read More>> 

Hannah Banick

When I first had the idea for Han’s Kombucha, it didn’t arrive as a fully formed business plan. It started quietly and imperfectly, as a hobby. I was brewing kombucha at home while finishing my degree in Public Health, experimenting with low sugar recipes because I didn’t love how harsh or overly sweet most kombuchas on the market tasted. Read More>> 

Jenna Kadhum

I didn’t wake up one day with a neat business idea and decide to launch it. What happened instead was slower — and a lot messier. I spent years working inside entertainment and culture, and what people don’t always see from the outside is how much more you fail than you succeed. Projects fall apart. Deals don’t land. The wrong people sit too close. Read More>> 

Monique Hayward

My path hasn’t been a straight line from idea to launch. It’s shaped by experience, timing, and a willingness to trust what I already know. Read More>> 

Nastassia Simic

In 2024, I moved to Yerevan, Armenia from Paris. What struck me right away was the lack of infrastructure for tourists. When I later moved to Dilijan, a small town northeast of Yerevan, it was even worse. Read More>> 

 Kimberly Powell

One day, my sister, Meka was in town and needed a copy of an email. We decided to stop by a nearby office to take care of it quickly. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by the manager, who warmly welcomed us and began showing us around while asking one of his team members to make the copy. Read More>>

TreaAlise

Since my last interview, the biggest shift hasn’t been in what I do, but in how I move through it. Joining The Phoebes marked the start of a deeper learning period for me, one that’s been shaped by my experiences, the reflections from it, and a lot of internal recalibration. Read More>>