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.
Tyler & Jennifer Marchant
At the time, I (Tyler, step-daughter) was working at a locally owned retail store that had been in business for 35 years and going to college for Finance. I quickly learned Finance was not my passion, but loved working in fashion. I always knew I wanted to work for myself, but did not know what that would look like exactly. Read more>>
Zakhy Collins
Well, the idea stemmed from me trying to create a dope business after being released from a 10-year prison sentence. When I came home, I started to utilize and engaged with social media platforms like Instagram. What I learned about Instagram, was people trying to express how they feel through pictures and images. Something that stood out to me was a lot of people wanted to express that they had money (whether that was true or not, lol) and that they were some type of boss. Read more>>
Noelle Roberts
It began when I was pregnant with my son. Read more>>
Ariel Cortez
The idea for this business started after the still birth of our first born daughter, Elaina, from a neural tube defect known as Anencephaly. I knew I wanted to preserve the flowers from her service as well as condolence bouquets. I started looking into different methods of pressing and preserving flowers and got to work. I knew I wanted to create memorials for her to give to close friends and family, and had the idea to decorate matings with the pressed flowers and place a photo of our daughter in it for each one of them. Read more>>
Alison Andreasen
After working in the Promotional Products industry for a few years, I noticed the industry seemed to be a few steps behind others that I’ve worked in previously (marketing, PR, sales roles). It lagged in technology advances and even tough our target market was professionals in the marketing space, marketing in the promotional world was very far behind trends. I thought I could do it differently. Read more>>
Maija Spears-Suggs
Hello, I am Maija Spears-Suggs, the visionary founder of PrettyGal Gains, and I am embarking on a profound mission to redefine women’s wellness and cultivate body confidence. Since our establishment on July 1, 2021, PrettyGal Gains has been at the forefront of crafting specialized supplements that facilitate healthy weight growth in the buttocks, breasts, and thighs. Through our meticulously formulated products, we have empowered innumerable women to embrace their bodies and embrace a holistic approach to a healthier lifestyle, devoid of harmful chemicals and additives. Read more>>
Rahma Majid
I came up with the idea of making content at a very young age I use to sit around and make YouTube videos that are probably still up on there and think I was going to be famous one day. Modeling kind of came in to the picture a little bit later I was always really confident growing up and I would love getting my picture taken but then I started getting bullied and that made me forget about my love for not only myself but photography and pictures altogether but family never stopped telling me that a should start modeling professionally and that they believed I would make it in the industry so in 2023 I took the leap and decided to start. Read more>>
Suzanne Colucci
I know, I know…….It seems like a cliche thing for a spiritual shop owner to say this, but Spiritual Guidance brought me to the doorstep that now greets customers at The Zen Den San Pedro and I’ve not looked back. Read more>>
Anessa Fike
I didn’t start a business in the same way that most entrepreneurs do. In fact, I wasn’t even thinking about it, and hadn’t thought about it, when the opportunity came before me. I was working with a company at the time where I had my first roles in human resources and worked my way up to Global Recruiting Director for the whole organization. And when my husband and I decided we wanted to start a family, we didn’t want to do that in the city we were living in at the time. Read more>>
Jack Beguedou
As someone who loved to connect with others, I quickly found that good connections always happen around food and spirits. I wanted to know more about the spirit I was consuming and make that knowledge as a subject of conversation. One problem I found is every time i go online to look up more information about spirits, not a lot of folks looked or sounded like me. The idea came to mind to create a new voice in the spirit industry. A voice of diversity inclusion love of spirit and people from all around the world THE HOOD SOMMELIER was born Read more>>
Fit and Fun Playscapes LLC.
I began my career as an architect specializing in materials and systems and also had experience as a planner. Lots of spreadsheets and not very creative. I like to say that I “graduated” that chapter of my working life, as the VP of Engineering at a large NYC real-estate consulting firm after my husband and I decided that I would be a stay-at-home mom, raising our 3 sons. When our oldest son entered kindergarten, I got involved with the PTA and one of the first projects I was tasked with (and because the principal knew my background and asked me!) was to renovate the playground and paint games out on the blacktop. Read more>>
Jennifer Daly
Stand Up. Stand Out. Stand for Good. With those phrases in my mind and a dream in my heart, I decided to take a risk and start my boutique, Fierce Angels. After several years of women complimenting my wardrobe pieces at pageants, I began to think I may have an eye for unique and stand-out pieces. Beyond building a great wardrobe of glam pieces, I desired to create a brand that encouraged women to do good in their community. Read more>>
Kate Orlando
Travel has always been a passion of mine. During Covid-19, like many others I was temporarily laid off from my job, which forced me to sit and figure out what I wanted my life to look like. As an extreme extrovert, nothing excites me more than stepping into a city and getting to explore it the way that locals live; the best cafes, bars, and secret underground spots that get overlooked and are 100% worth the visit. Since Covid-19 hindered world travel, I took to my own home base of Los Angeles, thus bringing Kate’s Best Day Ever to life. Read more>>
Angela Perez
Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be an inventor, I made a marble track for a school project, and I fell in love with building something from my hands. So, I did research on how to be an inventor, Purdue was great in Mechanical Engineering. During my 1st or 2nd semesters, there was AutoCAD, Fusion360, and SolidWorks (3D Computer-Aided Design software), and I immediately loved it. I practiced how to learn the tools and seeing how each one works in the software. Read more>>
Lin Chen
Pink Moon was born from a long journey of self discovery and rediscovery. Following a series of toxic relationships that took a toll on my overall well-being and after experiencing insomnia, depression, and other health issues I learned to embrace my heritage of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and incorporated Reiki, Aromatherapy, Crystals, and Astrology into my daily rituals. These practices and tools combined helped guide me back to a place of self-love and acceptance, empowerment, and joy. Read more>>
Jose Chavez
When I used to take my third-grade bilingual students to the school library, I noticed that there were few books of children’s poetry, especially bilingual poetry. Before I finished my teaching career of thirty-five years, I decided to become a writer of children’s poetry. I seriously began to write poetry in 2012 and believed that there was a great need for quality books in schools and there would always be a market for bilingual books that would benefit students, parents, and teachers. Read more>>
Barbie Hahn
Over a decade ago my husband Mike & I were on vacation and we decided to stop by a roadside market! I purchased a sweet & spicy habanero jam that we devoured in one sitting that same day…. I got home from that trip and began experimenting with flavors in my own kitchen to re-create the addicting experience of the jam I had eaten from the roadside market and tinkered with the recipe for years! When the pandemic happened, quarantine gave me a reason to finally nail down the recipe and send it out to friends, family, colleagues – just for fun! Read more>>
Wendy Hively
I’ve been a creative my entire life, but discovered jewelry about 15 years ago. Turning that hobby into a business was never my plan, as I’ve worked full-time as a scientist for over 30 years. But the siren call of entrepreneurship drew me in and I paired my love of jewelry-making with my legacy as a military spouse to start Charliemadison Originals. The business was named after my daughters – Charlotte and Madison, which was my husband’s idea and is a nod to family ties and our belief in community. Read more>>
Nadia Rubio
My nonprofit lets me keep studying coastal exploitation and share my scientific discoveries with a wider audience. I wanted to be free to pursue my own projects, so I needed to be financially independent, which meant raising my funding. For people not familiar with the science world, this means earning research grants and awards to develop scientific ideas. I’ve been raising funds for my projects since I was young, but it’s different now because I’m solely responsible for the project and its outcomes. Read more>>
Mimillia May
In 2013, when I was three months pregnant with my first child, we got the news every parent feared. My daughter was diagnosed with a genetic abnormality called Turner Syndrome, and we were told to prepare for the worst because the survival rate was so low (about 1 in 2,500). While researching the cause of gene mutation, I discovered the hazardous nature of many ingredients found in my skincare and cosmetics. Read more>>
Devin Herz
Our main focus was creating engaging, outrageous direct mail and marketing collateral materials to help businesses get their message seen. Back in the day some of our direct mail campaigns included DVD players in an Attaché case that we sent to target prospects and they would play the DVD in the DVD player that would convey a message or invitation with a specific Call to Action. Read more>>
Emily Stephens
Whenever a large shift happens in my life it usually starts as a daydream. Generally it starts small and feels farfetched. I keep returning to it over and over again until the pieces start to feel tangible. I started thinking about making cakes about three or so years ago and just couldn’t stop. That’s how I knew it would happen. Then I worked toward getting my skills to a place where I could feel comfortable offering product to the public. There are other bakers making beautiful cakes in Atlanta, but it didn’t feel like a fully saturated market to step into. Read more>>
Vina Murad
As a consumer of the style of fashion I do – Larme kei, cottagecore, coquette – it was easy for me to spot gaps in the market, and see where other companies could be doing better, be it styles, fit, ethically manufacturing or offering a wide enough size range. Since I’m basically my own target demographic – women in their 20s and 30s, I was able to understand fairly easily what my audience would want, since they’re things I myself wanted more from in the industry and from the stores I bought from. Read more>>
Shawn Janik
I started off very young as a web developer, and later became a well-rounded CG artist in the film and game industry making it to my dream studios, such as Pixar, Disney & Activision. At Flustr’s core, gaming and film are the two things that are bound together. Read more>>
Marquise Ryan
I officially started “Father Figures Brand” last year of 2022. I believe the idea was very much influenced by my daughter and one of my best friends Di’von Johnson of Positive Politics. I pretty much always wanted and dreamed about being a father and having the perfect family, although things don’t always work out as planned I believe God always has some things up his sleeves for us. I took my everyday life with my daughter and turned it into something bigger. Read more>>
Chandler Thomas
The genesis of my business idea was as serendipitous as it was insightful. It all began with a casual scroll through TikTok, where a post about electric vehicle (EV) chargers caught my eye. In that moment, a realization struck me: EV chargers are the vending machines of the future. This simple yet profound thought was the spark that ignited my entrepreneurial journey. Read more>>
Yonatan Girma
Adulis.com, my venture into the world of green coffee beans, was born from a deep connection to my Ethiopian roots and a desire to contribute meaningfully to my homeland. As an Ethiopian immigrant in the USA, I noticed the trend of educated individuals not returning home, prompting me to explore ways to give back. Read more>>
Natasha Kepekci
The concept for HSÜAN came to me a couple of years ago while I was in a really dark place. I felt disconnected from myself and from others and I was desperate to figure out how I could start feeling better. That’s when I discovered traditional Chinese medicine. TCM is the theory that sickness stems from an imbalance in a person’s life force energy. The goal of TCM is to restore harmony, keeping in mind that the body knows how to heal itself and that every part of the body is connected. That is when I began delving into various herbs and practices. Read more>>
Sheila Vaske
I remember sitting in a Panera about 19 years ago with a client I had networked with. We were discussing “life” and what we felt our true callings were or dreams per se. I’ve always been what most would describe as a “dreamer”. But, I like to think I’ve been more of a “visionary”. Back then, I didn’t understand spirituality or consider myself to be, I just knew I had a close relationship with God, and that our purpose here is for something bigger than we perceive. Read more>>
Selene Coccato
I have always been a traveller, for 11 years I had a travel agency and when I changed jobs by opening a literary café I continued to travel and get to know different places and cultures. Every time I returned, friends and former clients asked me to tell them about the trip, not only the places but also the activities, restaurants and foods I tasted. Read more>>
Ronit Menashe
My journey in the wellness space began after earning my MBA at USC, where I embarked on a remarkable marketing career at Nike. During that time, I discovered Functional Medicine and never looked back. This educational journey eventually led me to join forces with one of the pioneers in functional medicine, Dr. Mark Hyman. Read more>>
Chyan Lo
My works stem from my observations and reflections on life, society, and people. I believe that creators and their stories are inseparable. One must first understand oneself and the surrounding environment, including social roles and positions, in order to tell a story with an appropriate perspective and emotions. My stories focus on exploring the female experience, examining life patterns and challenges within different social frameworks, intimate relationships, and the identity of being Taiwanese. Read more>>
Bill Wright
I spent 15 years in the professional wrestling industry. In that time I noticed a variety of problems including wrestlers working for free for shady promoters, wrestling fans not being able to find local wrestling, and talent and promotions not having any kind of transparency. Read more>>
Sydnee Haynes
Growing up in New Orleans Louisiana , 9th Ward area trauma is a everyday thing, from crime to loss to even Hurricane Katrina. It is almost as if being born in New Orleans , Louisiana give you the stamp of trauma for life. The first person I lost to gun violence in the city of New Orleans was my uncle who lost his life in front of his house. As a 6 years old kid I did not understand death in the sense of it being so final. Read more>>
Megan Hardy
I have always been active – from a young age I was the kid that spent more time in a tree than I did on the ground. I played soccer and danced, went to college for dance and danced with a professional company post grad. So fitness has always been a part of my life in one way or another. Since I can remember, I have had an interest in health and the human body. In undergrad I was taking classes on dance, anatomy, and somatic studies while also working at the campus gym. Read more>>
Ayellet Rubinstein
I was already in retail for many years, co- owning a business , but wanted to start my own thing. I had the buying/ selling experience and wanted more control with the esthetics of the physical space I would choose. Read more>>
Jamie Richards
I worked in the corporate world for over 20+ years and was feeling quite burnt out and was quite honestly always under paid. In 2017, I had approached my boss at the time to ask for a salary increase because I felt I wasn’t being paid at market rate, and I was turned down. When I was looking at other opportunities, I stumble upon a Wix web design course and immediately got excited. Read more>>
Blanca Huaracha
Hello, my name is Blanca, I am a Latina woman who immigrated to the USA for approximately 5 years. I have always liked the world of fashion and I started with my idea of opening an online boutique so that girls who love fashion like me could find a place with fashionable shoe designs and for all kinds of events. Read more>>
Rayniel Johnson
Coming up with a business name was one of the most challenging things for me. I wanted to ensure that the name of my business was suitable for the cosmetic industry yet impactful enough to not only grab the attention of my client base but also to capture their hearts. It wasn’t until the second day of planning that I began to strategize and figure out a name for my business.I can remember as clear as day how it all happen. Read more>>