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.

Michael Dedenbach

When I began this clothing journey many people said that it was a pipe dream of mine, which would never amount to a brick-and-mortar shop in Detroit. In middle school I told people I would open a clothing shop someday. At that time in my life, it was a skate shop influenced by hip hop and extreme sports like snowboarding and skateboarding. Read more>>

Kelsey Buelow

Since college, I knew I’d love to run my own company someday. After graduating, I took a corporate position, not entirely sure where I was going, or what I wanted to do. Over 5+ years I dabbled in different areas of business (MLM’s, fitness coaching, Etsy shops, etc.), and through all that I decided I’d love to run a retail business. However, after really thinking about running a retail company, I decided I didn’t want to simply purchase items at wholesale cost and re-sell them. I’m a designer/creative to the core, so wanted to add that middle piece where I get to be creative, and then resell the items. Read more>>

Kaitlyn Beise

Prior to opening my business, Tidy Details – I worked in the social work field for 9 years. I worked primarily in victim-based advocacy services and my passion was always talking to youth about healthy relationships. Once I had my first child (now five years old), it really led me to take a look at how I spent my time outside of the home. I often would come home from my job in the social service field feeling completely spent and not having a ton of extra energy for my family. Read more>>

Jared Dalton

After returning back to the States from pursuing a music career in Perth, Australia, a friend of mine noticed that my social media was always flourishing and consistent – showing highlights of my music, videos on concerts I hosted locally, and pictures with local artists. Now, this was in 2012, when Facebook was just getting popular and MySpace was starting to phase out and I was adamant about making sure that I was getting my name out there. Read more>>

Randa Hunter.

My eyewear journey truly began when I was 14-15 years old. Every year when I would get my eye exam, I noticed there weren’t many frame options, and they all seemed very bland and boring. This in return made me feel like I had to stick with one pair of frames year after year. As time went on, 2018 approached and I lucked up on a traveling job that allowed me to see the majority of the U.S. During this time, I met 2 genuine individuals that would fuel the business ideas I had floating around in my head. Read more>>

Dr. Ariel D. Smith

The ideas for both The Food Truck Scholar and BuyBrokoli came from wanting to address critical needs in the Black entrepreneurship community. I created The Food Truck Scholar in 2018 when I saw there was no place dedicated to highlighting Black food truck owners. I noticed that nearly every time a list of food trucks were mentioned or when food trucks were included in television programming, Black people were few and far in-between. Since I was also researching Black food truck entrepreneurs (which developed from my personal interest in them as a foodie), Read more>>

Anna Morley.

I used to struggle with skin irritations and dryness. I knew that eliminating ingredients like parabens and sulfates was important but it was also expensive and the research was time-consuming. When I had my son, I became more invested in making sure that what I put in and on his body, was made of “clean” ingredients. Unfortunately, finding products made with simple, natural ingredients was difficult. Even at a high price-point, products weren’t as “clean” as I wanted. I began making products myself. Read more>>

Guanesha Motley.

When the pandemic started back in March 2020 due to Covid-19, I was furloughed from my job as an office coordinator. During this time, businesses were shutting down and everyone was forced to stay at home. The government was providing unemployment benefits for those who couldn’t work, and from time to time, people would come to me for help with filling out their unemployment applications. Since I was in middle school, my friends and family would come to me for help with writing tasks, resumes, job applications, and more. Read more>>

Emily Benson Anya Chase

Being vegetarian and living in the south can sometimes present a bit of a challenge when wanting to go out to eat. In the initial planning, or goal was to create something that no one else in the surrounding area was offering. Using locally sourced sustainable ingredients, and ensuring everyone can find something to enjoy, Read more>>

Tracee Lynn

I launched my business for the first time in 2007, I enjoyed creating beautiful scents that people would enjoy in their homes. After a year or 2 I stopped making candles and didn’t relaunch until 2020. My relaunch journey was much more impactful and meaningful to my journey. I relaunched my business with a more thought out plan on how I wanted to present my business as a luxury brand, I wanted to pour affirmations into people in the way I learned to pour them into myself and in my life journey. Read more>>

Crispina Ffrench

In 1986, I was an art student working my way through school which meant three very part time jobs and a full-time class schedule. There was not a lot of time for hanging out, or seeing music… One day, after clocking out at my sandwich shop job, I saw a flier posted in the entryway looking for vendors to join a craft store coop in Harvard Square…. so I applied. Read more>>

Katie Schowengerdt

Always a beer drinker, I was more than happy to help my husband and his partner open Two Plumbers Brewery + Arcade. For the first year, I was working as a Dental Hygienist who made business calls on my lunch breaks, and I would bartend evenings and weekends. I worked the two full time jobs for about a year, and once we were able, I left my corporate dentistry life to come onto Two Plumbers full time. Read more>>

Dale Cordice

We came up with the idea of Different Is The New Cool because Dale has ADHD. He struggles with staying focused, controlling his emotions, sitting still and holding conversations. His peers aren’t always kind or accepting of his struggles so making friends can be tough. He often felt excluded. To see your child go experience that is heart breaking. I will never forget when Dale was in Kindergarten one of his classmates walked up to me and said, “Dale is my friend. He’s a little crazy, but a lot good.” Read more>>

Minnie Erickson

Minnieology®️ Gifts (formerly known as Minnie Box) started accidentally several years ago when Minnie was wrapping gifts for close friends who had milestone birthdays. The project ended on the back burner, with her event planning corporate job demanding the focus. When she left her corporate job in August 2018 to focus on her health and building a family, she was inspired to start Minnieology®️ up again when putting together gifts for two best girlfriends turning 40. Read more>>

Kereen Brown

In 2016 right before I graduated high school high school I decided I wanted to do more with my hair. I had been using drug store hair products but nothing seemed to work for me. I spent the next two years researching and testing out different products and ingredients as well as learning about my hair in ways we never thought were explainable.. After realizing natural ingredients would be a better option, Read more>>

Angela Singleton

My early career path saw me traveling the world as an officer in the merchant navy. I was privileged to live this lifestyle for close to 12 years. I adored the diversity and freedom that immersing myself in the world’s heritage had to offer. My love affair with cuisine began during this time. I was fascinated by culture and food. From street food served on local carts to haute cuisine – I was hooked. Upon return to my native England, I found myself diving into cooking as nod to all the countries I had loved. My thirst for knowledge, from provenance to nutrition was born. Read more>>

Brittany Watson.

Since I was young, I’ve always had the passion to organize and plan everything out. I would be the go to person for family and friends to gather those details and information it took to plan an event or trip. Some may say that I have OCD when it comes to making sure things are in place but I think my attention to detail is what makes me great at what I do! Also, working as a quality analyst, it’s my job to help plan, design, and execute a project from beginning to end. Being in this field I am able to apply what I’ve learned and implement that into my event planning business! Read more>>

Colin Hudon

I’ve loved tea since I was a teenager. I minored in Asian Religious Studies in university then studied various eastern traditions through my 20’s, especially Zen Buddhism, Taoism and Kashmir Saivism. I decided in my late twenties to travel in Asia to learn more about tea and these traditions where I found a living tradition and teacher in Taiwan. I came back to Los Angeles and opened a tea house that focused on tea ceremonies. Read more>>

Adolpha Cole

When I moved to San Jose, I met my cousin’s wife who is white. At large family dinners, the two of us would have conversations about things happening in society and life experiences as a black woman and a white woman in America. They would listen to each other’s opinions and not always agree but we would walk away learning from each other and became friends. I wondered if other people would want to talk to people with different life experiences from their own and just like that, a thought became an event. Read more>>

Chandra Coffey.

RarePerspective Shoe Plug was always a drawn vision in my notebook. It was never thought to be as realistic as it is today. I started my brand in 2019, just a simple hustle to bring in extra income. The idea became my new life and I love every minute of it. It was a very risky investment if you ask me, I had 0 customers and plenty of inventory. Lol, yet hard work paid off to selling out everything I had. This business has brought in people from every 50 states and other countries. I can say I’m very proud of myself because I did that by myself. Read more>>

Kimberly Baker

Nearly 3 years ago we took a much needed weekend trip. In between dance battles and sips of wine, we talked about the many challenges we faced, our families, the mom guilt and how we wished finding time to relax wasn’t so difficult to do. Ultimately without proper self care, these things were affecting our health and overall wellness. Finding natural ways to combat that became a top priority. Read more>>

Emerald Bonds.

I threw an extravagant party for my 25th birthday. My party featured multiple vendors that provided entertainment services. What really had the crowds attention was the photo booth. Everyone was having so much fun utilizing the booth, I ended up paying extra for the vendors to stay all night. After my birthday party concluded, I sat back and reflected on everything. In that moment I realized that I paid a chunk of change for the photo booth; and that’s when the light bulb when off in my head. Read more>>

Whilly Bermudez

I am a professional marketer going on 23 years. My scope is service clients of any industry and working as a head of marketing in corporate America. Beyond that, I’m a podcast host and I really enjoy that. It’s like having your own TV Show or radio station. But my foundation was most definitely events. It all started with producing events in the South Florida nightlife scene. My first clients came through those doors. Read more>>

Vanessa Saldana

Since I was a child, I’ve always had the ability to communicate with Spirit in my dreams. I’ve seen family members who have passed with messages, different timelines of my life, crimes and future events. As I got older, I got more into my dreams and the meaning. I started writing down my dreams with some being symbolic and others literal messages. I was given so much guidance that I wanted to help other people on their journey in life. Read more>>

Maria Carrillo Spanish with Maria and William

So, everything started when I was in my room in Mexico, thinking about doing something fun and educational on social media. As I have a master’s degree in teaching, I’ve always liked the idea of teaching in a funny and dynamic way. So, long story short, I told my now-husband William that we should record videos for TikTok teaching languages. Initially, as I am from Mexico and my husband loves speaking Spanish, we started our page by teaching Spanish. Read more>>

Anna Panter

In the Summer of 2019, I ordered custom sugar cookies with a logo on them for an event I was planning for work. Not only could I not find any gluten-free option, but the recommendation I had received turned out unimpressive design work. I purchased an extra cookie for my girls to sample and give me input on taste, and well, they threw it away. That was the moment I accepted our next baking challenge at home. Read more>>

Chloe Trent Deken Taylor

Chloe Trent’s sustainable childhood inspired the business concept. Chloe comes from a family that drinks a lot of water from plastic bottles and has seen how people discard them on a daily basis. She believed there was a way to transform these bottles that most people consider trash into something valuable. Her family has always repurposed everyday items like grocery bags, pasta jars, metal cans, paper rollers, and old shirts into newly functional everyday items like trash bags, snack containers, utensil holders, classroom manipulatives, and drying cloths. Read more>>

Beth Williams

I came up with the idea to start my own business through my own experiences. I noticed there were serious issues in the way many bridal beauty companies operated and the lack of experience and knowledge from the freelancers they used to execute services. Originally, I had no plans to start my own business but knew that with my knowledge, training, skills and years of experience I could offer people more than what is currently available. Read more>>

Nicole D.

The idea of starting a baking business did not come about until recently. At first, I would bake for family gatherings, office parties and for a friend’s birthday. Over time, people would request for baked goods around the holidays and I figured why not profit from it. I was hesitant because I felt like I needed more experience. I gave it a shot regardless. Read more>>

Tia Harrison.

During the Pandemic, I began to fear many things- one of the biggest things I feared was losing my income due to the results of Covid-19. I realized I needed to find a second stream of income to continue my lifestyle and better my financial future as I chart through adulthood. I went through tons of ideas but none felt like “me” until I really started to pay more attention to the things I truly loved and admired. Read more>>

Alexandria Brouard

Cozy Home Studios was created to help families and individuals maximize the space they already have to fit all the lifestyle changes that we endure day to day. When people hear interior anything they automatically think interior designers, “I could never afford that.” I wanted to change that outcome, I started by taking my passion and skill to the next level and get the educational background of it to put it all together. Read more>>

Tanika Nelson

Nika’s Cupcake Bar started as a way to cope with life . I always admired people who made beautiful desserts . I would sit on YouTube for hours as a form of escape from my real life . I taught myself how to pipe cupcakes and use to give them away as gifts . People loved the gesture and i thought well if this helps me and someone else maybe I’ll stick with it . 8 years later , here we are . Read more>>

Sodette Fox.

I used spirituality in my own life but never considered doing it for others. During the covid pandemic my son began to really struggle with his mental health. As a mother it was so hard to watch him suffer while feeling helpless so I did what I knew how to do best……I conjured. I conjured a spirits that is known for helping people “release mental torment” and asked him to help my baby release whatever it was the was causing him to suffer. Read more>>

Annette Watson-Johnson

I am an three time Amazon Best Selling Author and the CEO & Founder of Dynamic AWJ Products LLC. We offer both products and services. I would like to introduce you to one of our product lines. I finally understood the saying “God knows your heart”. I was always inquisitive as to why so many of my relatives suffered from the same type of sickness and ailments and how could I avoid them. Then I realized that my parents had done their best to break this generational curse. I am one of 11 children, Read more>>

Kenya Moore

After conversing with family and friends and reciting my daily mantra, Halo Effect, LLC was born. The name, Halo, was derived to memorialize my late brother, Allen. I often referred to him as my angel, my HALO. Halo Effect, LLC is a business that I’ve worked tirelessly to establish. We specialize in turning dreams into a fairytale reality. Although we offer special effects to make each event dreamy and majestic, we also afford our youth the opportunity to explore the world of entrepreneurship. Read more>>

Danquin May

When I decided to make that transition into becoming a life coach is when I realized that making a difference was my number one goal. Growing up I always was the go to person, the person who always gave advice, and even the person that people brought their secrets to. I enjoyed seeing the growth of others and really loved being apart of it. If I think about it, I really been a life coach my whole entire life! Read more>>