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.

Jessica Clements

Starting my business wasn’t a bold leap—it was more like a slow, strategic climb. I freelanced on the side for four years while working in the corporate world, building up my client base and figuring out what kind of work I actually wanted to be doing. When I had my son, everything shifted. I realized I hadn’t been happy in a traditional role for a long time—and I didn’t love the idea of paying someone else to raise my baby while I sat in meetings (that could’ve been an email) building someone else’s dream. Read more>>

Devin Cline

I was ready to take matters into my own hands… I have worked in the audio/video industry for a while, from production companies to video game studios, and I was ready to run my own company where I could work under my own style and use a workflow that I enjoy! I have always loved the ultra-stylized corners of the media industry and was inspired by small companies that thrive in that way – such as various guitar pedal, microphone, and clothing companies. There are more and more small studios that create big things and I want to be the next one. Read more>> 

Daniele Wilson

The inception of Design Events was rooted in a deep passion for creating experiences—not just events. Living in Atlanta, I noticed that while there were many event décor companies, very few focused on transforming a space into an entirely new world. I wanted to design events that didn’t just meet expectations but galvanized a room and left guests in awe—an experience that would “wow” the client as much as their guests. Read more>>

Radiah Rhodes

I didn’t start with a business idea—I started with a breakdown.

From the outside, my life looked ideal. I was a corporate executive, a trained engineer, a wife, a mother. I had all the degrees, the success, the structure. I’d done everything “right.” And yet every night, I found myself sitting in a corner of my bedroom crying—not because anything was falling apart, but because I couldn’t feel myself inside the life I had built. Read more>>

Jai Lockett

Whew, let me tell you… it didn’t start in a boardroom or with a five-step strategy.

It started with a burden.

I wasn’t chasing a business—I was carrying a call. I was in a season where God was stirring something in my spirit so heavy I couldn’t ignore it. I could see women who looked whole on the outside but were silently bleeding on the inside. I saw leaders silently suffocating under corporate systems. I saw daughters of the King who had forgotten their crowns. And the Lord whispered, “You’ve been assigned to help them heal, to help them rise, to help them remember who they are.” Read more>>

Michelle LaVecchia Odendahl

Let’s kick it back to January, 2021 during our worldwide pandemic. I was six months into my Health Coach Training Course with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I was working my full time career in conjunction to schooling, as an initial way to educate myself and family to step up our health and wellness. These learnings not only taught me the way, it also allowed my to learn that coaching was a true passion of mine. Whether setting visuals in my retail career while training teams or after I resigned that role, I was good at coaching others to see their own light and gifts that they couldn’t see themselves. Read more>>

Danielle Koffler

My business was created out of my own needs and wants as a maker. I sew clothes for fun and wanted a way to track what I make so I know what I want to do differently next time. After all, it’s hard not to make the same mistake twice if you don’t document the challenges and solutions you found. I am a product manager for software products as my day job, and at this point in my career, I know that you have to start with a small prototype prior to going big. You have to prove out if it is worth the investment and identify where you have made assumptions that might bite you in the end. The prototype should not be high fidelity or expensive; you have to figure out if it is usable first and foremost. Read more>>

Lindsey Chatham

In 2022, a small group of passionate individuals began dreaming and praying about starting a nonprofit dedicated to housing pregnant women facing crisis situations. At the time, a director had been appointed, and they were seeking a part-time assistant to support her, a role I was honored to step into. Read more>>

Justine McCord

My journey to entrepreneurship began in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. I was asked to train as a group facilitator at an addiction recovery class. I was skeptical about going out to teach during the public quarantine. I overcame the skepticism and trained. It was amazing to see the profound transformation that occurred in such a short amount of time, and I enjoyed spending time with the participants. Due to budget restrictions, I was not selected to teach the next class. I was disappointed. In 2022, I stumbled upon a master ‘s-level nursing program that focused on Holistic Nursing. Upon reading the program description, I felt a great sense of joy and excitement. Read more>>

Ashley J.B. Chen

The idea for Indie Pups started when my co-founder and I realized how many amazing indie games were struggling to get noticed. Coming from a larger game studio, we had experience running full-scale campaigns with big budgets, dedicated teams, and polished assets. We saw how much planning and strategy went into a successful launch. At the same time, we were constantly seeing indie games with incredible potential get lost simply because the developers didn’t have access to the same level of marketing support. Read more>>

Nate Wannlund

Since I was in college I wanted to have a beverage brand. I thought it would be craft beer but by the time I gained the experience and had the connections, my tastes and the tastes of the drinking public had changed. When I was working directly with beer consumers and manufactuers, I realized that the Spirit Based RTD market was going to take off. If the laws and the taxes wearn’t so ruthless, it would have done so a long time ago. Read more>>

Maurice Jones

As a self-taught filmmaker, storytelling has always lived in me—but for years, it had to wait. My demanding career with the Los Angeles Airport Police Department left little room to pursue my creative aspirations. Still, I never let go of the dream. And when I retired in 2022, I made a promise to myself: I would finally chase what I’ve always loved—making movies. Read more>>

Sharon Canty Simms

In 2009, my daughter, Sempathy and I started cooking and catering for family and friend’s events. At that time, it was not a business; it was something that we loved to do together, but after the death of my daughter Sempathy in 2012, I stopped catering. I no longer wanted to cook for others without Sempathy. My joy was gone. She was the reason why I was catering in the first place, and I felt no need to go further without her. It was a very difficult time in my life, and I was angry with God. I wanted nothing to do with catering because it reminded me too much of my daughter. Read more>>

Gary Frederick

Rise Detailing started as a side job. I was working for a car dealership detailing at the time and I had a passion to learn more about detailing. I attended YouTube university and learned about paint correction and ceramic work. Basically the process of repairing scratches and other paint imperfections and applying a protective coating after. Those services were catered to more high end clients and their personal cars and not so much the dealership world. I used pictures of my work at the dealerships to advertise on Facebook my ability to wash cars and also do those high end paint correction jobs. Read more>>

Jacob Wallace

I had an off the wall idea for a specialty fulfillment business. I was interested in niche B2B companies like the ecommerce business I worked at (abc Window Cleaning Supply). I thought that maybe a self service distribution center concept could make regional fulfillment centers cost effective and reduce transit times for those companies. Ultimately, I didn’t think the idea was workable in that form, but I still loved the idea of a self service fulfillment concept. Read more>>

Cinthia Gamboa

It all began in 2019 in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. A simple meeting with Carlos, the new manager of a local coffee co-op in the blue zone of Costa Rica, sparked an obsession. As he spoke of his plans—a better wage for farmers, education for the community’s children, and an empowered role for women—I saw a path to a business with true purpose. Read more>>

Mason Galle

It goes back to when we opened up our coffee truck. My wife and I were 21 and 22, and we had a dream to start our own business. Coffee has always been a big part of our lives, and we have shared many beautiful moments at our local coffee shops. I asked her to prom at one, and we visited another right after I proposed. We spend so many moments catching up with friends, making business plans, or just enjoying each other’s presence at these spaces. We wanted to bring that feeling to a coffee truck, and that’s how we decided on our name: Parea Coffee. Read more>>

Carina

You know, I spent way too long caught up in this idea that my coworking space had to be some perfect, fixed location with fancy furniture and all the right amenities. After visiting over 50 different spaces across the states and some internationally, I was consumed by this vision of what it should be, and it was holding me back. I couldn’t move forward because I was so stuck on this ideal setup that didn’t even exist yet. Read more>>

Sarah Haddad

When my family finally got cable TV when I was 15, I became obsessed with the Food Network. I watched every cooking show, baking show, competition show, and would say “I could do that”. I loved baking cookies, cakes, then attempted things like eclairs and puff pastry. I moved on from Food Network to Youtube and continued to learn and try new things. I really enjoyed baking for myself, friends, family, just to try new things and bring into the office I worked at to share. I was not at the point where I thought this could be something I actually pursue. Read more>>

Sarah Irene Garcia Huerta

While studying architecture, I began creating models and working on individual and collaborative projects under specific contexts. Over time, I developed a growing urge to express my ideas in a more experimental and personal way. This led me to start designing simple furniture pieces as a means to engage with materials directly—learning about their versatility, colors, costs, and availability in my city. This hands-on approach quickly became an essential part of my creative process, especially whenever I wanted to explore new concepts. Seeing an idea materialize at a 1:1 scale became one of my main sources of inspiration and motivation. Read more>>

Tetiana Vasyliuk

It all started one evening back in 2018, as I sat at a restaurant table in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. I was still on maternity leave, reflecting deeply on what I wanted from my life and career. That night, something inside me shifted. I realized I didn’t want to go back to my previous job — I wanted something more. I dreamed of building something of my own. A business. A brand. A future I could shape with my own hands. Read more>>

Matt Smith

Matt will talk about growth- how we are changing the sleep industry. Hiring the right people and finding people that are smarter than me is what it took to go from ideation to execution. Read more>>