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.

Andrea Womack

I didn’t start with a polished business plan or some huge vision of becoming an entrepreneur. At the time, I was running a handmade jewelry business and selling at craft fairs almost every weekend while honestly trying to figure life out as I went. Read more>>

Kennedy Lewis

I started my business during a season where I honestly had every reason to give up. I was balancing motherhood, school, work, healing from a lot personally, and trying to figure out who I was outside of survival mode. Read more>>

Sheila Goodwin

Turning the idea of RightSideof50 and RS50-Collective into reality came from a very personal place for me. I saw so many women, especially women over 50, carrying wisdom, strength, and life experience—but still feeling overlooked, disconnected, or unsure about their next chapter. I didn’t want it to just stay a conversation between friends or another “one day” idea sitting in a notebook. Read more>>

Amanda Ward

Since I was a child, I have always had BIG BIG Dreams. I knew even though I was very insecure and more of an outcast at times, that I was going to show the world all the things I could do. My first real dream was to become a Hair Stylist! Read more>>

Dede Roberson

I was always the girl in school that did her own hair & people loved my hair & how I dressed. I actually got in the hair game on accident it wasnt my actual dream. I always tell people the hair game chose me I didn’t choose to be a hairstylist! Read more>>

Shavannah Moore

I didn’t start with a perfect business plan or a room full of resources, I started with a story, a vision, a calling, and a deep desire to create impact from the pain and experiences I had lived through. Read more>>

Bryant Massingale

The Story: From Sacrifice to SovereigntyThe Idea & The ‘Fall’The idea for Wolf of Fitness didn’t start in a boardroom; it started in the fire. For over a year, I was pouring my soul and nearly $10,000 into people who didn’t value me. I was playing the ‘provider’ role until I hit a wall—homelessness. Read more>>

Jazzy Kash

What started as an idea became a lifestyle change and transformation that required me to show up as the version of myself that had the capacity to not only launch but scale my business. What started as a brand name and mission became a culture, and it required me to develop my skills and hone in on my purpose. Read more>>

Tori Stevens

My brain naturally thinks in analogies, so I’ll start with this one: The straw that finally broke the camel’s back for me was realizing that most people are playing hot potato with themselves in their careers. Do you like me? Was that a good enough answer? Would you like me to do the work differently? Read more>>

Diana Alford

I never really had a big “I’m starting a business today” moment. It happened slowly, over years, and honestly started because I became a mom. When my first daughter was born 12 years ago, my in-laws gifted me my first DSLR camera. At the time, I knew absolutely nothing about photography. Read more>>

Nawal Al-Nouri

My story starts the way a lot of pandemic baking stories do. Stuck at home, too much time, and a kitchen that suddenly felt like the most important room in the house. But while everyone around me was nursing sourdough starters, I went down a completely different rabbit hole: the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Read more>>

Megan Blanchard

When I was still in college I was very active with my local Dive Shop, I was earning my Divemaster levels and attended a lot of the trips that they would host around the world. Each December they would participate in a local Christmas parade and would sponsor a float. Read more>>

Delora Green

There wasn’t some huge corporate blueprint or fancy manuscript behind it honestly. I just reached a point where I knew I had outgrown the cage I originally built around my creativity. What started as The Caged Juelz Collection evolved into something much bigger spiritually, creatively, and artistically. Read more>>

Carol Yim

I attended my first mahjong lesson back in January 2024. Looking around the room and seeing 24 women willing to pay $80 to learn and hearing how the mahjong instructor was booked solid everyday, my mind couldn’t help but think if all this money for mahjong went toward a non-profit. Read more>>

Bill Gitre

I was introduced to pickleball in late 2023 and very quickly I realized that the paddles in use were very unpredictable and in my eyes, very strange looking in that they had the edge guard on them. I thought this was so bizarre thinking ‘would a ping pong paddle have an edge guard on it’? Of course not! Read more>>

Erika Mayor

I never intended to be an entrepreneur or consultant. For most of my career, I worked in-house in the nonprofit sector for organizations such as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the American Red Cross. But in 2013, I found myself at a crossroads, trying to balance a second pregnancy with a demanding workload and frequent travel. Read more>>

Jalissa Carter

I remember sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck, just chatting with my baby sister about careers and dreams. At the time, I wasn’t sure what was next. I knew I didn’t want to take the traditional academic path, but I knew I loved hosting events. From 2010 to 2014, I was always throwing community non-profit events or baby showers for friends and family. Read more>>

Tabitha Fielteau

The initial idea for creating Chic Riot, a women’s motorcycle gear brand, came from my husband. As an avid rider, he recognized a gap in the market and strongly believed we could be the solution. At first, I needed some convincing, but shortly after I was on board. Read more>>

Shirley Su

Despite me being a visual creator, many may not realize that the most important aspect of my profession is to solve clients’ problems. Pairing that concept with two-way communications has been the greatest tool in my toolbox, because that is when beautiful collaborations start to coalesce. Read more>>

Hardy Vibert

Honestly, it didn’t start with a business plan. It started with wanting to meet new people and build a network in a brand new city. I grew up in Boston, and in 2012 I moved out to California to study Computer Science. I didn’t know anybody. No crew, no connections, just me in a new city trying to figure things out. Read more>>

Annika Baylis

The idea for Prickly Pear Coffee Co. didn’t arrive in one single lightning bolt moment, it built gradually, the way most God-given dreams do. I had always loved coffee shops. The way they bring people together, spark conversation, and create space for real life to happen. Somewhere along the way, a quiet conviction started forming in me that I was supposed to build one. Read more>>

Sadaf Khan

Layla Loved Designer Events began 14 years ago, purely from a creative desire and freelance energy that gave me an outlet while I worked full-time in financial services as an Executive Account Manager. What started as passion project slowly planted a seed that, unbeknownst to me at the time, would grow into something far greater! Read more>>

Chef Rome

Going from idea to execution with Rome’s Kitchen wasn’t one big leap—it was a series of small, intentional decisions. At the beginning, there wasn’t really a “business.” It was just me cooking for a few people and realizing they had a real need: they didn’t want random meals—they wanted structure. That insight shaped everything. The idea wasn’t just to cook good food. Read more>>

Jessica Newman

It started with being laid off in 2020—and then again in 2025—as a DEI professional navigating corporate America. In that space, my work always felt like it lived in tension. Either it was “not enough”—pushed into low-risk, surface-level initiatives that didn’t actually get to the root of inequity—or it was “too much,” asking questions that challenged systems people weren’t ready to disrupt. Read more>>

Erica McBeth

I had been saying for years that I wanted my own business, but I swore I would never own a marketing/advertising agency. I’d been in marketing and advertising for over twenty years. I loved my job. I loved my customers, but I hated the corporate atmosphere and politics that I saw in most of the companies I worked for. Read more>>

JT Scott

It all started with running into a Facebook advertisement stating that you can use the video game development software ‘Unreal Engine’ to develop and create video games for free. It sounded way too good to be true. Read more>>

Dr. Isaiah Drone III

Moving from a conceptual vision to a functioning consultancy requires a shift from idealism to operational discipline. The transition for 100 and Beyond: The 5C Collective Consulting Group wasn’t an overnight realization but a strategic build-out that followed a specific narrative arc. Read more>>

Victoria Conigliari

I started with a clear idea of the kind of experience I wanted to create. Something more fun and built around creative concepts, especially for teens and adults who want something different from standard portraits. Instead of waiting until everything was perfect, I jumped straight into building a portfolio. Read more>>

Colleen THOMPSON

Colleen’s Cookies began with a single order – 250 cookies for a charity event. Friends knew my passion lived inside a kitchen and convinced me to turn the ovens on. I had excessive self-doubt, but I am always up for a challenge. I started with a family recipe, tweaked it, and baked batch after batch after batch. Read more>>

Michael Zimmerlich

It actually started with a problem. After partnering with brands for years under my independent record label, 80/20 Records, I realized how many were overwhelmed with keeping up with their existing relationships, let alone developing new ones. Read more>>

Dr. Tina J Ramsay

For me, the journey started with seeing a problem. I realized that so many amazing entrepreneurs, educators, podcasters, and purpose-driven people had powerful messages, but they lacked visibility and access to media platforms that could truly amplify their voice. I kept thinking, “If people can’t find you, they can’t support you.” The idea didn’t become a business overnight. Read more>>

Victoria Abadir

In 2023, the space (15,000 square feet) at 100 North Queen Street had been sitting vacant for a couple of years after the bank on the first floor moved out. Given its location—right on the corner of Queen and Orange, one block from Gallery Row and the city square—it felt like too important a corner to remain dark and underused. Read more>>

TaLeah Faumui

It didn’t start as a business, it started as a creative passion. On a whim, I applied for a job at a small local flower shop. Thinking it would be temporary and just something for me to do while I was on a pause from school. But it quickly turned from ‘just a job’ into a creative passion that I didn’t know I needed. Read more>>

Chelawnta Lewis

I did not start my business from a place of theory, I started it from lived experience. With my first child, I went into labor at 41 weeks. I labored naturally for 37 hours before ultimately having a C-section. What followed was something I was not prepared for at all: postpartum psychosis, depression, and anxiety. Read more>>

Allison Burton

It didn’t start as a business. It started as frustration I couldn’t unfeel. I was watching the same patterns play out over and over again in military spouse life, moving, losing identity, rebuilding, disappearing into the background of someone else’s career, and realizing how little of it was being said out loud in a way that actually stuck. Not the sanitized version. Read more>>

Miwa Mayemura

Creating Matcha Miwa from the ground up wasn’t on any of my New Year’s bingo cards. It honestly never crossed my mind that I could build a legitimate business out of making matcha lattés with uniquely handcrafted flavors. Read more>>