Starting a business or creative project is scary for many reasons, but one that is often overlooked is the anxiety related to whether this is really “the one.” To some, this isn’t a valid consideration while to others this is the only consideration.  Some argue that what you work on, along with who you work with are the two most pivotal decisions you’ll make and so we’ve asked folks to tell us about how they came up with their ideas and how they knew this idea was the one.

Japji Bas

Havana, 2007. Sitting in a café reading The Botany of Desire, taking a break from the noise and warmth of my in-laws’ home. And the idea arrived. Whole. Clear. I still have the tiny note paper where I sketched it out: a Venn diagram of Material Security, Relationship, and Flow, with Meaning as the terrain where these things flourish, or not. Read More>>

Adeola Wright

The idea for Julo shop actually started back in 2016, long before the company officially launched. At the time, I attended a Black business expo where Maggie Anderson spoke about her “Year of Buying Black” journey and the challenges she faced trying to consistently support Black-owned brands. That conversation stayed with me because I realized I had experienced the same thing myself. Read More>>

Misty Jarnigan

The journey to Krazzy Cakes began with my son, Jacob. When he was born, I decided I wanted to make his birthday cake myself. I’ve always been a creative and crafty person, and I thought creating his cake would be a special way to celebrate him. The only problem was that I had never decorated a cake before. Read More>>

Jenn Brown

Campfire Cuisine had been an idea for a long time before I got involved… My co-founder, Steve Starks, is a food lover with a natural talent for cooking. When he moved to Denver he was interested in spending more time outdoors, but wasn’t quite sure how to get started. Read More>>

Latonja Welch Smith

Be Jeweled Boutique was born during my empty nest season. As my children grew up and began their own journeys, I wanted to create something meaningful that combined my love for fashion, faith, and community. I saw a need for stylish, quality accessories and apparel at affordable prices, and I believed women shouldn’t have to choose between looking good and staying within their budget. Read More>>

Kristen Atkins

My ideas come from a mix of imagination, observation, and experience. I also like to combine representation which is so valuable and important to our culture and community right now. The goal I have is to not only make the story engaging and entertaining ,but to also reach the hearts and minds of young children when it comes to character building and self development. Read More>>

Kim Bogart

In 2014, there were THIRTY-ONE shootings in THIRTY days in my city, all gang related, and eleven-year-old kids were involved. These headlines inspired me to resign from a job I loved for fifteen years to become a full time missionary to the United States. The gang violence in our city inspired a meeting with our Mayor, non-profits and Duval County schools. Read More>>

Caitlin Garcia Ahern

Before starting Thread Caravan, I studied Sociology and International Business at Loyola University New Orleans. In my early twenties, I lived in New Orleans, New York, Hawaii, and Cambodia, working in a range of roles primarily connected to education and social impact. On the side, I ran a small clothing brand and nurtured my creative practice daily. Read More>>

Jon Kopp

28 years ago, Jon from Quality Epoxy® painted his first garage floor with hardware store paint. Today his 28-mil system is the global standard. In 1998, Jon was working Intel’s compressed work week in a clean room: 12-hour shifts, four days off, then three. “I had too much free time,” he says. Read More>>

Devonn Ritchie

I wanted to create activewear that’s all about that exact confidence shift. When someone feels that spark, like they stand taller, move bolder, and really take up space. I wanted the clothes to support that moment. Going seamless was intentional, no distractions, no lines, just you feeling strong and completely in your element. Read More>>

Philip Vann

People around me started breaking their 1st generation iPhone so I decided to start a business fixing them! Read More>>

Karla Hernandez

I came up with the idea for my business through my own struggles as a small business owner. Before opening my storefront, I was constantly searching for places to sell my handmade earrings and products, but I heard “no” many times and struggled to find consistent opportunities. Read More>>

BRITTANY GILLIAM

I wanted to create a fun, welcoming event that would bring the community together and help close out the summer on a positive note. At the time, there weren’t many large-scale vegan events in Baltimore that felt family-friendly, free, accessible, and genuinely fun for everyone, vegan or not. Read More>>

Rhoda Brimberry

When my sister-in-law and former business partner was getting married, she had a very unique idea of how she wanted to customize the look and feel of the event to reflect her and her husband’s love. She had a very cool, unique idea to create a speakeasy, jazz theme to include mismatched china settings, vintage silver plated flatware, oil lamps and vintage crochet tablecloths. Read More>>

Jade Jones

People often assume my passion started with sports, but the truth is it started with people. As an athlete, I had coaches who impacted my life far beyond the scoreboard. They challenged me, believed in me, and helped shape who I was becoming. As I got older, I realized I wanted to do the same thing for others. Read More>>

Kerri Rehak-Brooks

In spring of 2020, I started going to school for social work, which was a long-time aspiration of mine, focusing on family and human dynamics and childhood development. At this time, I had been in food management for over 10 years and was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with a social work degree after finished. Read More>>

Vivian Neill

Our journey with the Oxford Treehouse Gallery truly began with our own daily lives as working artists and our deep roots in the local community. Having been a part of the Oxford creative scene for over two decades, we always felt a strong desire to surround ourselves with the environment and aesthetic we loved, while finding a way to uplift the incredible talent around us. Read More>>

Melanie Herschorn

I was helping entrepreneurs with marketing strategy for their businesses when I began getting phone calls from authors asking me if I could help them market their books. Of course I said ‘Yes!’ I saw a big need in the marketplace, so I went all in as a book marketer. Read More>>

DeAnna Lee

I was working for a local country radio station as an on air midday personality. They decided not to renew my contract. In tandem with this work, I also taught a weekly line dance class at a regional country bar. I had been teaching this weekly class as a live remote feature for the radio station for two years. Read More>>

Lynn Perkins

When I became a working parent, I was surprised by how difficult it still was to find a trusted babysitter. This was around the time services like OpenTable and other online marketplaces were transforming how people booked restaurants, transportation, and travel. Read More>>

Kayla Gorham

I started my brand because I felt like there was a gap between affordable hair brands and true luxury brands. A lot of luxury hair products or experiences can feel out of reach, while more affordable options sometimes don’t give you that same elevated feeling or quality. Read More>>

Emily Grace

For me, the story of Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Love has two parts: the mission and the product. The mission came first. For more than a decade, I knew I wanted to build a social enterprise. After spending my career working alongside individuals with disabilities, I saw firsthand how often people are underestimated in the workforce. Read More>>

Louie Arbs

We started as regular collectors. We had our pull list set up with a local shop and for the most part things were going well. Then I discovered the comic groups on social media and from there it was on. At first I started just downsizing my extra books. Then I started buying collections locally I would find at garage sales or community sites. Read More>>

Melisa Boutin

Note: Figures quoted in Eastern Caribbean Dollars | 1 USD = 2.70 XCD Read More>>

KC Nnamani

For me, Café Nubia was never just about opening a restaurant. It was about creating a cultural experience — a place of connection, pride, and elevation. Read More>>

Viktoria Tabak

After relocating from Orange County to Santa Clarita, California in 2014, I went back to work full time in a restaurant setting, in order to slowly rebuild my catering clientele, as I was new to the area. After acquiring a few repeat clients, one of them said to me “Do you ever do everyday food and not just special occasions? I’m so busy with work, getting kids to different sports practices across town, and eating healthy food is such a struggle!” Read More>>

Lucas Gould

I was working in corporate finance at JPMorgan, and on the consumer side I kept running into the same broken experience every time I tried to buy cannabis legally. It’s a fully regulated, multi-billion-dollar industry, and yet checkout felt a decade behind every other retail category I shopped: cash-only counters, sketchy lobby ATMs charging a few bucks just to pull your own money, no rewards, no purchase history, no real way to engage with the brands and stores I liked. Read More>>

Khymberliann Bynes

Being “Just a girl” from Harlem, I’ve always been taught to dress like you own the place, think big and dream even bigger. Growing up I felt like people deserved more than just “getting by”. I noticed how disconnected people actually were from peace, nature, luxury, healing and community all at once.  Read More>>

Guerline T. Emmanuel

As the owners of Belle Vue Tours, a historical, cultural, and adventure tour company to Haiti, my husband Hogarth and I, have always been passionate about adding to and owning the narrative of Haiti. Through tourism, we saw firsthand how Haiti’s rich history and global impact in helping dismantle the transatlantic slave trade through its independence in 1804 is often missing, disregarded, or simply unknown. Read More>>

Cynamon Graves-Gilyard

Honestly, the idea for Cyntimental Events didn’t come from a business plan or a market opportunity. It came from something much simpler and much more personal — I just genuinely love making people feel celebrated. Read More>>

Lindsey Vertner

In 2007, I survived a car wreck that technically killed me. I often say “fatal” in air quotes because, obviously, I’m still here. But at one point, I was brain dead and paralyzed. That experience completely changed the trajectory of my life, even though I didn’t fully realize it at the time. Read More>>

Veronica Vitale

As an international artist and founder of humanitarian initiatives such as Artist United and Fireweed, I have never viewed creativity as something that belongs inside one category. Read More>>