Coming up with an idea for a business or creative project can feel exhilarating. Inspiration for a new idea can come from so many places and we’ve asked some great folks from the community to share their stories of how they came up with their ideas.
Javier Mendoza
Connect Global was born out of the simple idea that we could discover and implement sustainable, community-driven solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues. Problems such as food and water scarcity, the lack of access to education, and inadequate healthcare can all be solved if we just could just rally our friends and family around embracing solutions and empowering those around us to make a difference. One of the first issues we took on was food scarcity and the solution because creating a way for local leaders to gain knowledge around fish farming and help them source the materials needed to build basic, but efficient aquaponic food growing systems. These systems can grow fish and vegetation in the same space it takes to grow a traditional in-ground garden. Read more>>
Shane Reitzammer
CinemaStory was created in 2010 for two reasons. First, I witnessed the need for a production company that truly cared for their client’s success instead of just collecting a pay check. Too many companies were focused on “one-offs”, pump and dumps or even just the ability to create any type of content. Our process starts with relationships and is focused on our client’s experience with us, not only through a well conducted production but equally important a well guided overall project that results in success for our client. Read more>>
Jordan Elizabeth
I started my career in fashion in 2013 working at a mens custom clothier! I hustled to build my book of business and I worked hard to make sure all of my clients had a wide variety of custom suits, shirts, and sport coats to fill their wardrobe. After working with several people for a few years, they had their closets stocked and no longer needed to invest in adding more professional wear. I couldn’t lose the clients I had worked so hard to gain, so I decided I would offer shopping for their casual wear on the side. They enjoyed the convenience of it and I enjoyed getting to be more creative and become familiar with brands, sizing, and different stores! Then it turned into “would you shop for my wife? “Can you help a friend of mine?” And it continued to grow and grow. Read more>>
Brigitta Hoeferle
I’m Brigitta, and no, it is not an English name. I’m originally from Germany. I grew up in a small little village of 600 people in southern Germany surrounded by vineyards. Actually most of my friends’ parents were vintners. I grew up in an absolute beautiful countryside and I couldn’t wait to get the heck out of there fast enough! In the village, so the stories of my mother, I was always the leader of the Kindergartner kids pack. I loved life at age 5 and life loved me back! And that story was true until I went to middle school. I struggled. I was bullied. I hated school. Read more>>
Danna Alencar
The world was shut down. Gigs that had been in my calendar for years, all concerts and events I looked forward to, everything had to stop. As with many others in the entertainment industry it was devastating to the DJ business I had worked hard on fueled by my passion for music. The pandemic forced us all to not only stay at home but look for way to entertain ourselves. All around me I saw fellow creatives ,who have the power and talent to inspire others, not have a way to do so because all venues were shut down. Many resorted to live streaming themselves and relied on self promotion on social media as an attempt to continue to support themselves via their talents. Read more>>
Ade Ogbomo
In 2015, GabeJade Accessories was just a thought. In 2017, it became a reality. One day as I was wearing my native African skirt and blouse, my 7-year-old nephew came running into my room shouting, “I want a bow tie that looks like your African dress with all the beautiful colors”. He’s my baby, so I immediately got online and googled “African Bow Ties” and “Bow Ties made with African fabric”, but what I found was blah. None of them seemed good enough for the little prince. So what did I do? Grabbed one of my dresses, my box of needle and thread, and scissors and started to make him one because……..uhhh…he wanted a nice bow tie so he HAD to have it. (My boy gets whatever he wants.) Read more>>
Rogers Healy
When I first started my real estate career, it was only me as a realtor. I was still in college, so I was beginning to learn the ins and outs of residential real estate. When I graduated college, I joined two large brokerages that helped me continue to learn in my early career. After some time at those brokerages, I decided to branch off and work independently. From there, I was inspired to build my own team. Rogers Healy and Associates Real Estate is the largest independently owned brokerage in Texas. I saw the opportunity to develop a large team under my own leadership because it was something that nobody else was doing at the time. I had faith that I could build a team around myself of individuals who shared my vision. I was very inspired to teach others and introduce them to the career in real estate that I was blessed to have. Read more>>
Lorie Fangio
I had been writing about food and teaching cooking classes for almost 15 years when it happened. I was teaching a French pastries class and telling the story of carrying a beloved copper pot back from Paris on my lap when a longtime student said “Lorie, when are you going to take us with you to France?” I stopped in my tracks and felt something churn deep inside, you know that feeling that the world is crashing over your head? That night, I had a dream in vivid color about sharing my love of food and France with students that would travel along with me. I woke up and told my husband about the dream and he said, “you have to do it!” Read more>>
Travis Albright
As the executive director of the Future Arts Foundation, I really wanted for us to have a flagship event which was both world class and gave back to the community. We launched the Bluebird Music Festival in 2018 with the idea of hosting a unique music festival. The event features afternoon Strings & Stories events which are similar in form to the old VH1 Storytellers, and also features evening events with full bands and full sets of music. Since inception just four years ago, the event has seen attendees from over 10 countries and almost every state, as well as bringing in millions of dollars to the Boulder County economy from its 8,000 attendees. Read more>>
Carlo Raciti
On a weekend trip to Miami, I met the love of my life, Rebecca, made the choice to propose and move to Miami to start a family. When we welcomed our first son Mario Carlo, we decided to take off a year and move to my family’s house in Sicily to raise our son. I really wanted him to experience firsthand Italian customs and life. This was the perfect time for me to focus on my craft and my family. While in Sicily, I went back to my cooking roots and completed a certification in Pastry Chef at Chef Academy at Terni, Italy. I trained with Pastry Chef Stefano Fittuccia at his bakery Pasticceria Fittuccia, Read more>>
Hope LeNoir
My book “RUSH” tells all of my secrets and the journey to your secrets. ;-) I am here to help get the right people in the right places with the right set of diversified skills. My bottom line is this is my purpose. Accepting, engaging, and growing my life-given purpose is what put me on the good foot with ideas on ways to support professionals. Also know that purpose is not passion, though one can fuel the other, in addition, purpose is not something you chase. It’s already there, you have to accept it. Read more>>
Khaldun OLUWA
It’s simple for me, I never believed in my time being a wage. In order for me to have the quality of Life I wanted I knew I had to invest all of my time, energy, and currency into ME. Read more>>
karla lisboa
I am originally from Recife, Brazil. A beautiful city right at the beach. Growing up I used to go to the beach every week with my family. When I was 14 my mother decided to move us all to the United States and choose Atlanta, Ga to be our home. At first, I loved the city, but after the excitement was gone, I started to miss that beach life I had in Brazil and so I always told everyone, that one day I was going to move closer to the beach again. So my husband and I always had the dream to move closer to the beach. We used to vacation a lot in Clearwater. when the time was right, we finally decided to make it happen. We planned for over 2 years. During that period, every time we came down to Clearwater/Tampa we did research of waxing places around, and we really saw the need for a top-quality hair removal salon where women can feel comfortable, not intimidated, appreciated and satisfied with the service. Read more>>
Carolina Montoya
When I used to watch my favorite show on The Food Network, I realized how I could combine my architectural background with my culinary skills and turn them into a UNIQUE edible piece. I felt that by joining these two creative outlets I was able to create an unforgettable piece of art which would please my friends, family and people in general. It is with this feeling how Unique Designer’s Cake was born. Read more>>
Kimberly Bien
I started making skincare products out of neccesity for my sensitive skin. Now I know that sensitivity is related to Lupus, an auto immune disease, so it’s important to my health and the health of my customers, that I use healthy ingredients. Read more>>
Scott Baker
I owned a pretty successful gym in Connecticut. I sold it to do it all over again in San Diego. I moved out here by myself and I struggled for a long time. It was about 5 years until a could get a steady flow of private clients. I was really just barely keeping my head above water. One of the ways I did it, was taking a small group, 3-5 people in my 800sq ft studio and I created a class around my private client schedule. I was pretty happy with that small group and didn’t think I could fit anymore in here. Then another one came, and then another one, etc. I had to get creative on how to manage all levels in this one little classroom. Read more>>
Dajai Monae
My brand or Public figure name “Dajai Monae the Dallas Activist” was originated by the community. I always went by Dajai Monae and wanted my actions and community engagement to speak for me. “Dallas Activist” was formed from peers of my community that saw me doing the work that fit with the name. In 2017, I began my social media ranting of the injustice minorities face within this country daily. I did not have an expected goal of how far my voice would reach, I just wanted to educate my peers. In my mind, I’m thinking “we’re young, this is our generation, our time. We can do it! We can be that change.” Read more>>
Gabriel Oliver-Kose
I spent the better part of ten years working in Colorado’s bar and restaurant industry. During this time I grew a passion for fermented food and drinks. For me, watching that magical transformative power that is fermentation was amazing and I wanted to share my discoveries with our customers. My first batch of fermented ginger beer was far different than what we bottle today, but it set me on a road to create a truly unique beverage mixer and sipper. I found it strange that the beverage mixer market was inundated with mass produced, sugary and additive driven options. Read more>>
William Tidwell
If I’m being honest, I accidentally stumbled onto my passion. Early on I realized that college just wasn’t for me; I originally thought that I may want to be a teacher or writer, but quickly realized that I didn’t learn or think things through in traditional ways. I was often miserable because society teaches us that quitting college or not having college degrees is seen as the ultimate failure. After leaving college I was lost as to what I wanted to do, but I knew for a fact the things that I didn’t want to do. So I listed out everything that I was passionate about then I asked myself how can I help others by doing what I love and what I’m passionate about, but still make money and support my family? Read more>>
Taylor Rodriguez Kempton
Everyone remembers March 2020 all too well, especially me. I was stuck at home. I was bored out of my mind. I’m someone that is used to staying busy, so when I was forced to stay at home without anything to do, it was really challenging for me. I tried puzzles. I tried drawing. I watched movies and binge-watched Netflix like everyone else, but even that got old. I was sad and confused and stuck inside because of forces outside of my control. I needed something new. Read more>>
Jen Sulak
I had been a photographer and in the creative industry for over 14 years and when 2020 shut everything down I really had to sit and question where I wanted to go. Who was I as an artist? Who was I in this wedding industry? I had been seeking these answers after the initial grief & shock passed through and I found my passion remained. For years now, I’ve considered myself weird. I am eclectic and the clientele I work with is also creative, eclectic and creating fun events to celebrate life or portraits of where they are. I attend a Photography convention every year since 2015 that was always welcoming of the word weirdo and it occurred to me, WHY could I not embrace this and push it into the wedding industry! Read more>>
Jarrod Glasby
The motivation really came from necessity. I had started working on my first original rock project, Feel the Void, with a great audio engineer, John Ellis. He was already doing great work and I was just getting my feet wet with writing, recording & mixing. The real motivation came from wanting to make creative/mix decisions about the music we were working on, but John was often unavailable to help me make these changes due to his busy gig schedule. So for the next 6 years and up until present, I have amerced my self head-first into learning recording, producing, & mixing. Read more>>
Trish Schappell
Almost 10 years ago, I found myself in an apartment parking lot sitting in my car with sweaty palms on the wheel. Sweat appeared on my brow as I told myself, “Trish, get out of the car!” I couldn’t do it. After reliving this experience 2 more times, I told my husband about my idea to begin The Kids’ Reading Room. I was afraid because I didn’t have a plan. I only had an idea and no knowledge of how to execute it, yet there was no question that I had to do it. Soon after, my husband and I both got out of the car and walked into a nearby apartment community and spoke to management about my dream of creating a vibrate space full of books and literacy experiences for the kids living there. Read more>>
Idalis Richardson
Haus FE started in many different variations. First got the idea to start my own business one day in college. I know continuing formal education wasn’t for me. I think to much outside of the box, I grow up with business owners and I watched how hard they worked. I always felt that I can do that as well. I knew my only option wasn’t college so I started Kons multi media Group at the age of 20. Fast forward 5 years later KONS I have became Haus FE. A Media production company, A photography studio and fashion line. FE stands for FCK EVRYBDY/EVRYTHNG. When I came up with that name, that was just my mood, how I was feeling. Read more>>
Samara Garth
Who doesn’t love a good gift! That’s how my cookie business started. As a new full time Hairstylist, I wanted to give my clients a Christmas gifts and decided to bake fresh homemade Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies- they loved them. I always loved to cook and bake and would often bring in baked goods to share when I tested a new recipe. After years of hearing them say, “You should sell this!”, that’s exactly what I started doing! For several years, selling my baked goods was just something I did during the holidays. Eventually, I started offering my baked goods all year long. Over the years, business increased and I was ready to make a total career switch. Read more>>
Jeff Bednar
I grew up your typical middle-class American. We ate some good food at home, like tuna casserole, spaghetti pie, and frito salad. In highschool and after I moved out at 17, though, I ate a lot of fast food, like an embarrassing amount. It was cheap and convenient. Then I met my wife, who didn’t grow up in the US, and had never seen a drive-through until she moved to Texas when she was 28. She prepared fresh salad, baked chicken, and she made eating real food easy. Also, she tried to garden in our brutal Texas clay soil. Read more>>
Eliza Friedman
I have always enjoyed supporting meaningful causes and attending fundraising events. While I was browsing through the auction, I often saw a lot of things that would appeal to men and not a lot offered for women. Women love to shop, more so, knowing that we support a wonderful cause. I knew then and there that I could bring something unique, that can become mainstream for the nonprofit community, which would help them add glamour to their auction and also raise significant funds! So, I started Jewels With A Purpose, Inc. in 2005 and married my passion for helping others, while utilizing my experience in design and fashion. Read more>>
Feleceia Wilson
I started a business because I couldn’t find a job. In 2012, after being on a job search for over 4-months, I knew that something had to give. I was a the single momma of a little girl with Down syndrome, and I was running out of time and resources. I’d dabbled with the idea of being an entrepreneur for a long time. My mom likes to tell the story of how I hated going to pre-school and would ditch the classroom for daddy daughter time in fancy meetings. My dad was an entrepreneur before I knew entrepreneurship was a word. He’d been carving his own path for a long time, and without even knowing it, I was following in his footsteps. Read more>>
Humberto Comellas
I’ve been working in I/T for several years as director and CIO, however always wanted to run my own business. In 2000, I was provided that chance and joined a local CPA firm as President and Managing partner of their IT practice. Over the next 6 plus years, I grew the IT practice significantly. During the summer of 2007, I had wanted to focus some of our IT services towards the healthcare industry. Our focus at the time had been mostly legal firms in South Florida. As fate would have it, I sold my interest and started ulltium consulting in late 2007. Read more>>
Christine Fierce
Who doesn’t want to be a Rich Bitxh? Being rich is more than just what’s in your bank account. It’s how you feel, regulating your emotional state, taking care of your body, learning tools to have a good relationship with your finances and feeding your soul. It’s about setting your future self up. It’s about being who YOU needed earlier. It’s about community. I didn’t set out to be this leader, life sent hardships and I chose to turn my pain into power. I got married young and had a baby at 23. I thought my life would be this happy, easy going and fruitful life. Fast forward a few years later and my would was turned upside down. I was fighting to protect my son and myself. Court cases and a divorce left me broke AF. Read more>>
Lindsay Pomeroy
My business, The Wine Smarties, was founded from a unique combination of circumstances. I had recently finished working as an Admissions advisor to a technical college and found myself instead picking up more exciting and fun shifts at the then new wine bar (really the first real wine bar concept before “wine bars” were a thing). I quickly learned that serving, talking about and tasting wine was far more exciting and transitioned and worked my way to the manager role. I was here for a few years and during this time (this was like 2004-2006) I was purchasing wines for the store, recommending wines to customers, etc. I was in a position of authority of wine and I learned that my customers were as lost as I was. Read more>>
Sarah Hosseini
Right before the pandemic hit in early 2020, I began to get a strong stirring that I wanted to help women heal in an unconventional way. Writing has been my career for more than half my life, as a journalist first, then a professor of English. Mostly, though, writing has been my therapy. I know the power of words to self-heal intimately. I remember being a little girl, about six years old, witnessing domestic violence in the home and eventually, a divorce, and feeling like I had no way to express my feelings. No one I could be completely honest with, no one I felt truly emotionally safe with – except for, myself. Read more>>
Megan Parkison
It is a tough marketplace to navigate once a student has completed their degree in professional counseling from a graduate level program. Many recent graduates want to go right into private practice or have a great idea for starting a new position in a newer program. While these are both great options, it usually doesn’t help the new graduate get the required supervision hours needed to obtain their professional counseling license, which is desired in the field both by employers and those seeking services. Read more>>
Dianne Hancock
In 2012, I was laid off by my corporate job wherein I was personal assistant to the Vice President of traffic engineers. After a futile period of job searching for a year and a half, my partner told me to figure out what I wanted to do and that we’d make it happen. I immediately decided upon becoming a personal chef as I knew I was damn good at cooking. And we all want to do or discover that one thing we’re really good at, right? I was very fortunate that I had a friend who was already a personal chef and had been so for a few years. She cooked meat, but assured me that there was still a place for me in the Ft. Worth/Dallas area even though I wasn’t going to cook meat. Read more>>
Amy Barrett
Where did the Tables concept come from? Well some people have a shoe fetish, and some have hat fetish–I have a tables fetish. I always loved going to antique stores and tag sales and finding little drop leaf tables. Not just any drop lead table. It had to be wood, have spindle legs, a certain width and length. They were all different, but the same, if that makes sense. I would take them home and refinish them, paint them and find a place for them. The thing was, my husband and I lived in a little 900 sq ft house, and I was running out of room. I would come home and ask my husband for help getting something out of my car, as he would say, “It better not be another table, we have no where to put another but in the basement.” So that’s where they went. Read more>>