One of the challenges we’ve seen to true equality of opportunity is that schools and books often can’t (or choose not) offer access to one of the most equalizing resources – first hand stories of how successful entrepreneurs made their ideas a reality. If you grew up in a family or community that had many successful entrepreneurs you may have been lucky to hear many conversations and stories about starting and executing on an idea, but there are millions of people across the country who haven’t had the same advantage and so our hope here is to create a space where those stories can be told in a more public forum for the benefit of any and every aspiring entrepreneur.

Carol Colombo

I actually started in this field when I was just 15 years old. My sister worked at a major camera rental house in Brazil, and I used to go there simply to pass the time. At some point, curiosity turned into genuine interest. I asked if I could help out and that was the first step that set everything in motion. Read more>>

Jessica Freund

I had been sitting on the idea of Moonstone for years. I always knew I wanted to build something of my own—a creative studio rooted in storytelling, intentional design, and soulful strategy—but I kept pushing it off. I told myself I was too busy with work or that I’d get to it “when things slowed down.” Read more>>

Courtney Fuller

I’ve always had a passion for cooking, health, and wellness. After graduating from culinary school and working in restaurants, I realized I didn’t want to stay in that world long term — I loved the creativity of cooking, but I wanted to work more personally with people and make a real impact on their health. That led me to pursue a degree in nutrition, which helped deepen my understanding of health, wellness, and how food truly supports the body. A couple of years later, I had the idea to start my own personal chef business — a way to bring together everything I love and create something that helps people eat better without the stress. Read more>>

Madison Broussard

After dancing for a while and becoming more recognized in the community, I started getting questions about whether I offered private lessons. At first, I brushed off the idea, but over the next few weeks, I began to warm up to it. My first students were a father-daughter duo, and from there, word spread pretty quickly. Read more>>

Seth Armstrong

Thirty was a mile stone year for me. I think thirty is the age when a boy becomes a man. I now jokingly refer to twenty year olds as merely post teens. The year started in an interesting way. I was hired on to help build a house, and after my first day they fired everyone on the crew and put me in charge. I had worked for another construction company before, but I had never been the head carpenter. And I had never built a custom home. The one thing I did know how to do was cut. I had become an expert cut man and I had confidence that I could make any cut that I needed to make. I also had an ability to teach others the things I knew. Read more>>

Amber Jackson

My journey as a natural hair business all started from a desire to find products that met my hair needs. As a type 4 natural it’s extremely difficult to find products that cater to tighter curl patterns and coarser hair. The constant dilemma of brands changing their formulas and a lack of options that could provide adequate moisture led me to making my own DIY products. With years of being natural under my belt, I’d learned the ingredients that my hair grew to love. Read more>>

Zachary Yabut

Project Pantree was started as a small project and product of the Ali Leadership Institute in Jersey City, New Jersey. At the time, I was just 17 and was invested in creating an organization that would not just serve as a beacon to lower the high food insecurity rates in Hudson County, but to empower youth to get involved in local nonprofits. When researching the severity of these issues, it was alarming that 74,000 individuals in the county were living in food-insecure homes. As the son of immigrants from the Philippines, I understood the situation that many of my neighbors faced, so I knew we had to take action. Read more>>

Aliyah Henson

Back in 2018, I was a sophomore at Morgan State University, I just transferred from Clark Atlanta university and wanted to find my footing in Baltimore. Moving to Baltimore was different, I didn’t know many people and the school was huge. At the time I was an eyelash technician while going to school, after hours of classes I would have people come to my apartment and I would do lashes for hours. One day, I wanted to go to an event that Morgan had going on and I couldn’t find any clothes. I would order clothes from the typical websites, go to the local malls but as a women that always seemed like I was so much taller than everyone I could never find pants that weren’t–you know, high waters. Read more>>

Eli Polite

I have never had a shortage of ideas. The real challenge is taking an idea and turning it into something physical. In order to do that you have to understand the tools that are available. not just what’s available. But what’s available within your price range. Not everyone has access to the best tools available because tools are expensive and sometimes hard to come by depending on what you need. So a lot of my ideas have to be just deconstructed in a way that they can be reconstructed using the tools Available to me. In many cases, I’ve had to make my own tools and jigs in order to create my vision. Read more>>

Mary Jo Hiney

My initial idea that launched in 2004 has completely changed and continues to do so, but the process of turning an idea into a product has remained similar.

At first, I had what I would call divine inspiration to package silk fabrics in small pieces for those who like to create with mixed media. Since I’d already been involved in the how-to industry, I had sources and was able to order the silks I needed easily. Read more>>

Nicholas Bressler

Starting The Event Co. was a journey fueled by passion and determination. It all began with a simple idea: to transform how people experience events by creating memorable, seamless experiences. The next step was turning that idea into a concrete plan. I spent countless evenings researching the event planning industry, understanding client needs, and identifying gaps in the market. Read more>>

Jeremy Matuszewski

Before I started Thunderstruck Ag I spent 15 years helping a company build their sales and marketing department from 5 million to 20 million in 10 years. It was then that I realized that there were a lot of small to medium-sized companies that had very innovative products but needed help with their marketing and sales. As I discovered there were many companies in Agriculture that had great products that were invented by farmers and manufactured on the family farms but were poor at getting these products in other farmers’ hands around the world. That gap between proven field solutions and wider access has stayed with me ever since and has allowed us to build a business that specializes in exactly that. Read more>>

Heather Barr

I feel like as an escape room owner, I am constantly going through this process. It’s not just the arduous process to start the business itself with the usual things like business licenses, website design, booking systems, building codes, etc. It’s also staying relevant by constantly creating new experiences to keep your customers coming back. In the escape room industry, most owners will keep their experiences the same for many years if they change them at all. That can be fine if you live in an area with high turn over like schools or tourism but can lead to declining revenue over time. Over the past 10 years that we have opened, the industry has come a long way and escape rooms are much more advanced than they used to be. Read more>>

Michael Csortos

There was a nudge. Not a big one, but big enough to get things going. As a writer, a wordsmith of short fiction and novels, the idea of becoming published and having others read and appreciate my work was a dream, and an elusive one at best. Basically, I wasn’t sure how to get the job done. I had been writing short fiction and occasionally would submit a manuscript or two every once in a while for consideration for publication with various periodicals and magazines. Often my manuscripts didn’t meet the stipulated guidelines, such as story length, the types of genera, the setting or numerous other criteria. Either because of laziness or my general need to be stubborn I wouldn’t make the required changes that possibly could have enhanced the chances of being published. Read more>>

Ryan Becknell

In the world of personal training, there are many markets that people consider niche. Mentors were constantly telling me to find my corner of the “industry” and lean in. The classics in fitness such as weight loss, muscle building, powerlifting, conditioning, etc. never truly spoke to me. At the end of the day, I have to quote Mike Boyle, “We’re in the life changing business.” I needed to find that extra gear to deliver that passion. Surfing would be the conduit to my success with new and current clientele. Colleagues and friends would often voice their skepticism regarding my idea to target surfers. Location was certainly a concern because Charleston, SC does not have great surf. Pure instinct just told me to bet on myself and let the chips fall. Read more>>

Rhonda Lawson

I came up with the concept of Meet the World Image Solutions during my final year in the Army, as I was preparing for retirement after 23 years of service. My job had always centered around media relations—preparing military leaders to speak to the press, coordinating press conferences, managing crisis communications, and writing news articles. I was pretty good at it, too! When I retired, I wanted to keep serving, but in a different way. I wanted to help small businesses, professionals, and even celebrities prepare for the spotlight. Not everyone knows how to prepare for media engagements. Read more>>

Emmanuel Torres

Funny story..something I’ve always wanted to do but never brought it to life. Until one day, my friends asked me “Why don’t you start a food page and start sharing your food experiences like going out to eat and cooking at home?”. During the pandemic, when the whole world was at home, I started to pick up cooking and smoking meat. For not having any cooking lessons or experiences I’m not half bad at it. So after some brainstorming, I came up with the name BIGBEANBITES!! Now it’s about being my image and showing it to the world. Read more>>