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.

Lynsey Jordanna Photography

When I was in my early 20s I had this moment where noticed everyone around me having a “thing” . I noticed how people were accomplishing much more than I was and creating lives for themselves and I felt so lost because I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I had a fire in my heart to do something , the fire would keep me up at night BUT I didn’t know what this was .. Read more>>

Chris Clark

After spending 9 years in corporate, I was furloughed during the pandemic in July of 2020. I was sitting back home thinking what do I do? At that time there were no jobs so I decided I would never go back to corporate and chart my own path. I started Toss and Spin and never looked back. We went from 10 players to over 20,000 players interacting with our brand over the last year. Read more>>

Abbey Feldkamp

As the pandemic swept through the world, we suddenly were seemingly living on shifting sands–our “normal” was stripped away and we began a new journey of figuring out how to navigate life as we knew it. I think the duration of it was key here. We had been quarantined and restricted for so long that we lost sight of where we were and didn’t know how to crawl out. When schools transitioned to distance learning I really began to see the impact on our kids. Read more>>

Lily Kramlich-Taylor

It was my business partner and co-founder, Kara who originally concepted the idea from her work at Teach for America helping make Dallas feel like home for the new teachers coming into the city. We both moved to Dallas for jobs in the mid-2010’s, along with numerous other millennials, without any connection to the city, and had to explore it and figure it out on our own. Read more>>

Domonique Mills

The Faith Over Logic brand was originally just a motto or message for myself. I’m a very detail-oriented and logical person. I have a strong desire for things to make sense, but I also have very strong faith in God. One day I was thinking and reflecting and got this reminder from God that my faith in Him must outweigh my need for things to make sense because “it won’t always make sense”. Read more>>

Olga Nadal

I had been coaching clients to help them navigate the complicated process of divorce until the pandemic hit and two problems quickly emerged: Most of my clients could not make it to the calls since their partner was now at home 24/7 so I had to find another way to provide them with the help they needed. Secondly, I intuitively knew that there would be a huge surge in divorces due to the strain that the “stay at home” orders put in marriages that were already struggling. Read more>>

Kristen Crowley Jill Bunny

reFRAME was born out of a need in the industry that we saw time and time again…. Women being taken advantage of and chasing shiny objects and empty promises to end up with nothing to elevate their brand image online. Read more>>

Jasmin Foster

I launched Be Rooted to change the face of the stationery and gifting industry. There are so many categories where black women and women of color are underserved – across all stores and in all product categories. I thought back to some of my passions, and writing/journaling has always been something that I’ve been fond of. I was always that young black girl that had multiple journals and planners, even when I didn’t necessarily use every page of the planner. Read more>>

Jacki Gatt

I’ve worked in the restaurant industry since I was 15, I started as a hostess and quickly moved to the kitchen where my passion was. The industry took me all over the place along with schooling. In 2010 I moved to Florida and began working for Marriott World Center and a fabulous Caterer. The catering job allowed flexibility that the restaurants did not offer, so began the thought in the back of my mind. Read more>>

Dr. Pam Perry

I’ve always loved personal development books and speakers. Often as a young adult, I would attend motivational conferences and events where there were speakers who were authors. I got hooked on books. I loved being inspired by great speakers. Problem was, there wasn’t even attention given to Black speakers and authors. Read more>>

Michael Jackson

The founders of JML, Joey, Michael, and Laboris are former college teammates that have overcome a lot of adversity to get to where they are now. Michael survived electrocution, and Laboris survived a shooting. Through it all, we have been able to stay in top condition, train elite athletes and start JML in 2020, during the pandemic. Read more>>

Melodie Betts

The name The Lemon Door was an old password that Yahoo assigned me back in the 90’s ( yes, they did that) and it stuck. I didn’t know what I would ever do with this name, and how could I remember it decades later…but I did. I moved back to Wisconsin from Montana after the loss of my husband to be near friends. I had no idea what I wanted to do, only knew I wanted the last of my “work resume” to be something of my own and creative. Read more>>

Chantal Brown

I.G.N.I.T.E the Flame Tutoring was created because after teaching in the classroom for several years and seeing several of my students struggle with keeping up with the rigor and pace of the classroom; I wanted to provide a way to help young children through Adults do well in their studies at every level and not create or further the narrative that they can’t when they are capable but need a more one on one slowed down approach. Read more>>

Harli Gawronski

One question that I have always asked myself is “What is my ultimate purpose”? Ever since I could remember, I have asked myself this question but have never been able to find an answer or been motivated to find an answer. I would have conversations about purpose with other people and they would say: Read more>>

Erica Humphrey

It started when my husband went to the Great American Beer Festival. I was a teacher at the time and at home with our newborn. Sterling sent me pictures while at the festival. Among the first was of him and his two friends in their Denver hotel wearing a neck full of… snack foods?!? I literally laughed out loud. Read more>>

Mauricio Gonzalez-Aranda

The concept for Bar Talk came to Andrew and I, as you might expect, on a night out of our own. We were kicking it at the bar, talking about literature. We’re both writers, the buzz kicked in, maybe the music got a few notches louder. In any case, we began discussing Literature with a capital L, leaving behind the particulars of our own work. Read more>>

Tara Joseph

When we founded Big Plan Holdings (BPH), a family enterprise with national and international investments in entertainment, music, arts and fashion, food and beverage and hospitality, cannabis and commercial real estate, athletics and multimedia, we did so committing to the hard work involved in each of these endeavors. We knew that we had to be willing to try and fail at things, to persevere through the challenges, and critically by surrounding ourselves with the right people throughout. Read more>>

Shantell La’Nise

At the time, it was a difficult decision to close my salon after just six months and leave the hair industry. As a hairstylist for years, I felt like my profession was a core part of my identity. However, the daily grind, long hours, and physical strain on my wrist had taken a toll on me, leaving me feeling burned out and unfulfilled. Although it was a tough call to make, I had to decide whether to stick with the familiar beauty industry or take a chance on something new. Read more>>

Megan & Emily

We both attended Kent State University’s fashion program. We have always been passionate about the intersection of sustainability and fashion. The average American throws away around 82 pounds of textiles annually. We wanted to create a business that takes discarded clothes and turns them into something modern and new again, ultimately keeping them in circularity and out of landfills. Read more>>

David Nicholas

My love for photography and videography is not what encouraged me to start this business. It was actually my love for the art world in its entirety. S.P.A.D.E. is an acronym for “Spreading Positivity Anywhere Darkness Exists”. This is something I try to live by. Staying positive in a world full of negativity, jealousy, hate, belittlement, and struggle, is an absolute necessity for me. I’ve even had people say that I was “too positive” or it’s “weird seeing someone so happy”. Read more>>

Ruby Taylor

I was a school social worker, but my career ended because of a car accident that caused me a traumatic brain injury. I was in a financial crisis, on the verge of losing my home and becoming homeless due to a lack of savings or investments. TBI also impacts my physical and cognitive health. But I was able to turn my fortunes around when the parents of a former student taught me about long-term investing and the power of compound interest. Through learning and growing as a personal investor, in 8 and half years, I grew my net worth from $-15,000 to over $487,000. Read more>>

Andrea Cervantes

I never imagined owning my own business. In 2016, I gave birth to my youngest daughter at 26 weeks. Given her life-threatening circumstances, I basically lived at Texas Children’s hospital for the first 8 months of her life. The need for a career that allowed me the flexibility to be present for my baby, led me to take a chance and build a business of my own. I made a hard decision to quit my 8-5 corporate job. With my background in the beauty and lash industry, Read more>>

Jenny Lee

My life was filled with diapers. I joined a moms’ group in the Milwaukee area. I signed up for a lot of meal trains. I made meals for moms who just had a baby. I had been a restaurant line cook for several years and stopped when I was 5 months pregnant. When I dropped off meals, these moms’ faces lit up. Word spread fast that I am a chef. I felt gratified and surprised how one meal could make someone so happy. Read more>>

Sadith Ulloa

I’ve always loved cooking, ever since I was a little girl living in Peru. I’ve always loved to share everything that i make with neighbors, coworkers, family members etc. At work, my coworkers always told me I was in the wrong industry and that I should open my own restaurant. I love taking pictures of everything I make and still have a hard time organizing them in my phone. Read more>>

Dennis & Charlotte Peña

Mr. & Mrs. Fix-It began as a distant dream that we would discuss after getting home from our regular jobs just a few years ago. Dennis, also known as Mr. Fix-It, has spent most of his life working with his hands – from his 10 years with the Navy in a leadership role for Preventative Maintenance, to his jobs in all aspects of subcontracting – he is an expert at anything he attempts. After spending time learning the ropes in the areas of electrical, plumbing, roofing, flooring, and painting, he knew that he wanted to run his own contracting business. Read more>>

Samantha Strange

So I actually went to college for Sports Broadcasting! I wanted to be on the court reporting for Kentucky Basketball haha. I minored in culinary just for fun and quickly found out I hated being on camera. I planned to go into radio and continued to take culinary classes. One day they had us made a fat free cheesecake for dessert – it was gross. Read more>>

Jade

Ever since I was a girl I have always been aware of my extreme sensitivity to those around me; but beyond what the painted picture of an empath is. The urge to energetically relieve people of their pains and TRANSMUTE it into holy power for the world. Because “energy can neither be created nor destroyed – only converted from one form of energy to another.” Beyond this vision my passion is to connect with people on an individual scale to teach the power and ability to clean up our energetic entanglements. Read more>>

Thomas Jones

In July of 2016, while heading back to Atlanta, Ga from Texas I was pulled over. Never having done so before I didn’t know what to do or expect, especially with the recent shootings of Alton Sterling & Philando Castile at the time. The officer said I “looked to have been going over the speed limit” although he did not have a speed radar. Read more>>

Jessica Buchman

When I create art, I want it to tell a story. I don’t post on social media just to post. STORY is a Creative Direction brand where your visions, ideas, and passions are brought to life. STORY is meant to have a beginning, middle and end but it’s all in the execution. A start middle and end – whether you see all parts or not, you know it took each chapter to get you to the final scene. Read more>>

Shante Anderson

Thinking of unique brand names can be an a tough process. We all want out brand names to stand out. I came up with the name of my business after months of brainstorming. I focused on what I wanted my company to represent. Then, I identified what services we would provide and how we would make an impact in our industry. Read more>>

Chandler Schexnayder

Figuring out what to name my business was extremely hard. Creating SchexLevel Education, LLC wasn’t something I came up with in a day; it was a multi-year process. My last name is pretty unique: Schexnayder. Schexnayder has its own history which can take up the article, but long story short, I never thought my complex name would be able to used as a part of my business name. Read more>>

Juliann Johnson

I’m always happy to talk about out company name. “Unreal Designs” is of course a play on words. We have the pleasure of working with artificial (not real) greenery and hope to invoke the wow factor in our work, making clients say, “That’s unreal! It looks so real!” Read more>>

Jocelyn Ross

I began by carving and building a book shelf because we had too many books and nowhere to put them. I didn’t want any bookshelf, I wanted an amazing intricate bookshelf. A year later it was built and I thought, “Hey, I could make money doing this.” I knew it would be great to build a business off of it because there are so many facets to what I do. I love teaching the craft and so many people were starting to reach out to me to teach them. So many people want unique furniture too. Read more>>

Drae Solberg

While a stream of messages saying “We wish you the best in your future endeavors” flooded my email inbox for two years, I took a part-time job in pet care. Even though my part-time gig was a constant for me over the course of those two years, I felt defeated as I was unable to secure a full-time role with an existing organization. I confided in my partner about my discouragement and self-doubt, Read more>>

Carol McMahon

The idea for this business actually started way back with my husband and I having met, married and moved to the beautiful, but tiny little town of Friendsville Maryland. We purchased a lovely old Victorian on the banks of the Youghiogheny River that had been empty for 40 years, and at first, opened the Windrush Gallery, a place for local, contemporary artists to showcase and sell their work. Read more>>

Jennifer Ledwith

I’m a Houston native raised by a single mother with high debts and no child support. People repeatedly told me that my mother made too much money for me to get any college financial aid. But grants are just one type of aid. When I walked across the stage at high school graduation, I had received so many scholarships that the announcer was still reading them after I was done crossing the stage. Read more>>

Maya Rodgers

I honestly came with the idea from a bracelet. Yes, a bracelet! I saw it and thought to myself “the roses would make some cute earrings” so I bought all the colors. When I wore them someone saw them, screamed because she loved them and bought them right out of my ears. So it gave me a thought that there was a market for what I liked in accessories. Read more>>

Venus Thomas

Each year as the seasons changed, my children seemed to have challenges with their skin. Like most parents, the first thing I did was make an appointment to see their pediatrician. The grunting feeling of “did they eat something”, “were they allergic to something”, “perhaps I need to change their detergent”, “what soap are they using” and the list goes on. Nope, It was the big “E”! Eczema for both my middle daughter and youngest son. Read more>>

Ryan Li

By accident. My cofounder and I met at Yale University when we were still students. Passionate in sustainability and technology, we were investigating ways to convert large electric lawn mower batteries into energy storage units to take facilities off-grid. Part of our initial prototype measures power usage of various home appliances and we noticed this constant power draw from devices, even after they are turned off. Read more>>

Hope Bas

Ida Balloons is in honor of my late granny Ida. She was a phenomenal woman, but at the same time didn’t play any games lol. We talked everyday before she got sick 8 years ago. She brought so much love to those around her. I take pride in bringing that same love and light through my balloons services. But I also don’t play when it comes to my balloon art! Read more>>

Shawna Jana Carr

My dad is the descendent of sharecroppers. He knew he wanted more for his life, and although opportunity didn’t come easy for him, he persevered and became a North Carolina cattle farmer. Through years of hard work, he purchased the land, and throughout my childhood and now adulthood, made it into what it is today. I can recall my dad hosting pig pickings and pit style BBQ parties. Read more>>

Elijah Cloud

Originally it was four of us trying to start this business and we used the name K.I.S (Keep It Simple) because that’s what our basketball coach would always tell us and he gave us the idea to start our store so we thought it would be cool to kinda pay our respects that way. Read more>>

Linnell Burton

That’s a great question! I’d be remiss if I didn’t provide some background to how my journey began. Born and bred in Detroit, MI, I’d like to believe I was destined to enrich communities, youth and adults by way of the Criminal Justice system or to some degree influenced by law enforcement. During my senior of high school, instead of attending the senior trip to Disney World, I diverted and took a trip to Atlanta, during Freaknik, a well known annual spring break event in Atlanta, Georgia. Read more>>

Michael Salazar

So, I had been a collector of fragrances for many years. I sometimes wondered to myself why some were super expensive and some were not at all. And just about the art of it on its own. So one day I decided to try it out myself and ordered some basic materials and started researching different things about perfumery and trying to learn the basics and essentials. Read more>>