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.
D. M. Sonntag
Similar to how one would play tabletop RPGs (role-playing games), I along with a group of friends would role-play original characters on an online forum. The plots were mostly stolen from “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Once Upon a Time,” but the characters of Maylie, Ferryn, Behn, Elias, and Brii now featured in “The Lightning Bride” first started as Maddie, Forrest, Ben, Elliot, and Bree played by real people. Read more>>
Kenisha Lee
For as long as I can remember, I have always been the “fixer”. I have always been the person that family, friends and colleagues came to for advice and direction. My entire professional career has been me streamlining processes and procedures and organizing disorder. I have always been great at identifying a problem and analyzing the best solutions for that problem. It comes naturally to me, and I realized in the last few years that this is what I have a passion for. Read more>>
Betty Collier
In 2017, I was approached by an artist and sculptor whom I did not know, Terry Gurley, who is also the creator of The Gospel Symbol. He posed a simple question: “Can you write a fictional story about this symbol?” That was all he asked. He left it up to me to create the story to introduce the symbol to the world through a book. He had no idea what the book would be about or that the symbol would end up being a birthday gift found in the Middle East. Read more>>
Gisemonde Moise Ménard
When I was 14, my mother decided to treat my hair with relaxer trying to make it more manageable. Which suddenly caused my hair to fall out. In 2013, at the age of 29, I made what I consider to be one of the best decisions of my life: Embrace my natural hair. Read more>>
Illusionaut (band) Ryan Cook
The article initially focused on my band, Illusionaut, which these days, with the state of music, is Art, for arts sake. I own a Tattoo studio, with my wife, Brooke Cook, called Lucky Bella tattoos. Or Tattoo studio is named after her late Shih Tzu Bella and has become a safe haven for business professionals I also run a small record label called spinning inside records Read more>>
Ebony Donley
I came up for the idea to start my business out of frustration with my career and a passion for literacy. As an accomplished teacher I saw a need for more intense literacy instruction for some learners. After over a decade of teaching the middle grades as an intervention specialist I was moved down to the lower grades due to Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee. That law stated that anyone teaching third grade needed a Master’s degree in reading or a reading endorsement. Read more>>
Chelsea Schleifer
After five years of growing a variety of gardens on my own property, I noticed a pattern of conversations with friends (and strangers!) where I was troubleshooting their garden for them. Growing my own food, regenerating the soil around my home, attracting pollinators, and enjoying the outdoors through gardening have become such passions of mine, I wanted to help others do the same but also help them avoid the troublesome mistakes I made in my own journey. With eight years’ teaching experience already under my belt, I wondered if teaching about gardening could be an occupation. Read more>>
Ryan Balicki
Our brewery was born around friendship, and good beer. My partner was a home brewer, that brewed beer for a joint bday party we had every year. After drinking many of his home brews, the conversation about opening a brewery started. That conversation turn into trying to find the perfect spot, then building our business plan around that spot. From there there were years of hard work, changes in locations, changes in partners, but in the end we persevered through it all, and Copper Hop was born. Read more>>
Destiny Zellander and Le’Dederic Zellander
The idea for Zellcorp Industries began in high school. Our skills started out as just being hobbies, a way to escape some of the issues life presented us. Le’Dederic wanted to work with music, graphics and designs, and HBC products. I wanted to work with children and writing. Our outlets eventually became our salvation. We decided to put our skills and ideas together and create one company with multiple divisions. Read more>>
Kristin Marie Johnson
The idea for ORA came up after a year and a half of working for another organization. It seemed as though disappointment was becoming increasingly common for those we were working with and hearing feedback from. That’s not to say a few people that are unhappy means there is need for a new venture, but it was something to be considered. I met with a few people in the community from various organizations and career paths. Read more>>
Demi Butler
Every two years I would create D.I.Y Christmas gifts for the family… The previous year I made sugar hand scrubs and needed some inspiration for Christmas 2021. So, I went on Amazon looking for ideas and came across candles. After making gift bags and candles for the family, I thought about if I could have my own business making candles (never saw myself having a business let alone being an entrepreneur). Then a couple of days later, I researched and started the process. Read more>>
Christain Watt
I spent over 15 years working in the corporate sector–climbing ladders and breaking records, but always having to explain myself. Corporate life was full of proving myself– not only as a woman, but also as a relatively young woman in comparison to my colleagues. At the end of 2018, I realized that this grind wasn’t fulfilling and that life was too short to spend it chasing accolades and recognition. Read more>>
Barbara Wilson
I had no plan to start a business. My husband and I ran a business for 35 years and sold the business in 2015. I think we were just in the habit of having a business so what began as a small house to go to in the winter turned into an internet café and then a full restaurant and chocolate factory. Her chocolate making adventure begins with a trip to visit Ecuador, there Mindo Chocolate founders, Barbara and José, fell in love with the tiny town of Mindo. Mindo is located about 2 Read more>>
Alendrea Dantzler
I always get super excited when talking about YAE Cosmetics because this is the business that really allowed me to grow as an entrepreneur. Not saying that my other endeavors haven’t allowed me to grow, but YAE truly set me on the map and kept me accountable as someone looking to create a genuine impact on my generation. Read more>>
Diego Diaz-Cooper
My story starts with the foundation of self-motivation and perseverance. My name is Diego Diaz-Cooper and I’m a 21-year-old inspiring and growing social media influencer and photo-videographer in Silver Spring, MD. Throughout my upbringing, I’ve always had a passion for creating. A passion for expressing my creativity through different means and outlets present to contribute towards putting out positivity within my community and into the world. I’ve accomplished these goals through the use of popular social media platforms such as Instagram (@d_coop21), TikTok (@dcoop_world), and YouTube (@Dcoop World). Read more>>
Jessica Robinson
The Laura Faye you see now was more of an end result to a very full process. If you didn’t already know, I’m a self-taught leather seamstress which came as a result of dabbling in other facets of the fashion industry, first. I went to school for fashion merchandising and left college thinking I’d go into Buying, Merchandising, or even personal styling (which I did, and still do on the side). Read more>>
Dustin Cox
My path to get to where I am today is not the most conventional – but that’s what makes it interesting. When I was younger I knew that I wanted to be a creative at some capacity. I invested a lot of my free time to drawing, painting, and really just creating anything that I could get my hands on with the supplies available to me. Growing up in South Dakota was great, but when it came to being an artist in South Dakota I couldn’t connect the dots. Read more>>
Steve Del Gardo
People often ask me, “What is your story?”, well, I crack a smile and tell them….it all started when I beat breast cancer in 2013. Read that again. Breast Cancer. Men can get breast cancer. When the doctor told me I had breast cancer, it wasn’t as shell shocking as what he told me after that. If I would have waited another month to see him, he would have told me to get my life in order. That statement chilled my soul. It made me realize that I needed to start LIVING, FIGHTING for what I want in LIFE. Read more>>
Tyneisha Jackson
Savory Delights started in 2019 but wasn’t llc official until 2020 after having my daughter. It started with desserts in a cup and making a few cakes, to selling plates of all different foods. I didn’t go full time with my business until November 2020 and it was the best decision I made for myself and my kids. Business was picking up by word of mouth and social media. Read more>>
Cece Kirkwood
We’re going to have to go wayyyyy back for this one. I began baking when I was very young, I’m talking 5 or 6. I first learned how to bake the chocolate chip cookie from the greatest baker I know, my mom. I baked with my mom throughout my childhood, but mostly just followed my mom’s directions, not really learning the “science” behind the bake until later. Read more>>
Brianna Chinkhwangwa
In 2016, during my tenure as the senior sideline sports reporter for The Ohio State University, I recognized a significant need for athletes to have a platform where they could share their personal stories beyond their lives as football players or athletes. It was crucial to me that other students understood that these individuals were students first and athletes second. I firmly believed in highlighting the importance of mental health, addressing homophobia within sports organizations, and fostering conversations around sexuality in sports. Read more>>
Swati Gupta
“My story began 10 years ago when I was about to embark on a beautiful journey of marriage. I was young and excited. In India, marriages are a big affair, and I was super excited to pick my dresses and jewelry for various occasions. I had dreams of a beautiful natural dewy makeup that glows from within. However, my excitement was dulled when I started getting severe acne just a few months before the big day. Read more>>
Eric Wise
Buckets On Deck is a movement and lifestyle founded in 2010 by hoopers, for hoopers. Created for the Love of the game and the everyday grind for those dedicated to getting buckets on every level, every court, and every continent. The founder of the Buckets On Deck is Eric Wise. Eric is a former college Division l basketball player and professional athlete. I started playing basketball at the age of five and have loved it ever since. Read more>>
Janay Shandy
I was encouraged by two of my friends Akaira and Danielle to start using my gift of speaking as a business. Everyone that I’m connected to always says my voice is encouraging, calming, and helps them find peace to keep going on their journey. It has been 1 year since I started posting daily affirmations on social media as motivational speaker and it has truly been a blessing. I knew I would succeed because this gift is not only natural for me , but this is what God has called me to do. Read more>>
Britton Slagle
I adopted Suetra and Karma in September of 2001. Karma picked me out as I walked through the Denver Dumb Friends League – those eyes… My mom made sure I visited with Suetra, too (they were in the same, “cell”). I fell in love instantly. After that, it was just my girls and me. We went for many walks, cuddled a bunch, and learned to overcome some pretty significant things in life. Suetra was quite timid and had physical ailments weighing her down, but she found safety, comfort, and confidence in me. Read more>>
Shontae Jackson
Its the height of the pandemic, all I see is pain, death, tragedy after tragedy. All I felt was the grief of others, on top of experiencing my own form of trauma, and grief. I was just overcoming being homeless for almost 6 months, I was mourning the loss of my 16 year marriage and I was truly in a dark place. Then I experienced my own personal death and loss, in the form of gun violence. I lost someone that I had come to love and care for in the form of a step child and now he was gone. Read more>>
Brandon Richter
Like a lot of screen printers, I fell into the profession. I developed an interest in visual and musical arts pretty early on, and started feeding those interests in high school with some guitar and photoshop electives. Fast forward some 8 years and I was in my mid twenties, a few bands deep, a few dozen dead end jobs in and trying to make ends meet without subduing to a soul sucking career with all the nonsense that comes as a package deal with a 9-5 job. Read more>>
Jada Love
What started off as an “By any means necessary” endeavor turned into what is now my successful graphic designing business. I was determined to get my first business Love Thyself 101 off the ground but I had no money to do so. In 2019 I took a leap of faith and told myself “you can do anything you put your mind to”. Once I instilled that in my mind I started creating my logo, flyers and labels for my products. Read more>>
Neyeli Carrillo
My name is Neyeli Carrillo; I am a mechanical engineer, a certified travel agent, and the creator of Traveling Factor. The idea of this business came to me after several failures; I had a full-time job at a fantastic manufacturing company and moved from Mexico to the USA to work for this company; I was living the dream! Sadly one day and without previous notice, the goal ended, and it hit me in the worst possible way; suddenly, I had no job, and my entire life settled in another country (not my home country). Read more>>
Gladys De la Peña
Arts, crafts and decorations have always been passions of mine. As a young child, I was always looking for ways to put items together to decorate my room. I was very good at repurposing ordinary objects and assembling them into something decent to decorate with . It’s no wonder why wreaths captured my undivided attention. I was not only fulfilling my passion, but developing my gift. Read more>>
Victoria Beaty
My business idea for The Botanical Bar, a houseplant company, was born from personal experiences, a passion for nature, and a desire to create a safe and inclusive space. As the Founder/CEO, I recognized the importance of reconnecting people to nature and saw an opportunity to build a business catering to the needs of communities of color. Read more>>
Fabian Biondi
The honest answer, I was 18 years old and I had just graduated high school. I was with maybe a circle of about 16-20 people in the circle, we were passing around weed (I believe in weed as a medicinal healing process), and I remember hitting the blunt my last go around and I just blurted out, “I’m gonna start a record label that’s gonna change the game in how we treat our artists, a completely new system that’s fair and honest for the true value of work.” Read more>>
Fantasia Tellis
When I was about 8 years old my mama was selling Avon, pictures and more. Anything she did I was right beside her. When she did Avon full time I would help her pack orders and help her deliver it. That’s when I fell in love with the idea of having a business. She’s the main reason I want one and have such love for it. Read more>>
Catherine Marienau
I met, Gail Zelitzky, my co-founder and co-host of Women Over 70-Aging Reimagined when Gail entered graduate school in her late 60s; I served as her faculty advisor. Our friendship developed over shared interests in women’s issues. After Gail graduated, we decided to start a podcast to feature inspiring stories of women ages 70-100+. Older women are sadly overlooked and stereotyped in American society. Read more>>
Mary Wilson
Inspiration for The Arch came from a blend of my banking career and my love for catering and event planning. The passion I felt while helping bring people’s dreams to life through weddings and events was far more satisfying than any commercial banking success. I found joy in the smallest details – floral arrangements, venue decorations, and event planning. Read more>>
Anita Erickson
The idea for The Marketplace came out of my previous business, Red Chair Workroom. The Workroom was a co-working space serving the design/build industry. My main target customers were interior designers and architects who were looking for a place to work outside the home, and also for a sense of community that can be missing when one works alone. Read more>>
Shemara “Kandyy” Pittman
I came up with the idea of starting my freelance photography business in 2016 because I’ve always loved taking photos of almost everything, I have an eye for beauty and art I see art in so many things. When I was younger before camera phones were popular I’d take my grandmothers camera and take so many pictures, when I’d visit family in New York for the summer I take pictures of everything and they always came out beautiful so as I got older I of course got an iPhone and I started taking more pictures of nature, Read more>>