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.

Jamie Ortiz

I first came up with the idea of a spray on sunscreen that was chemical free, easy to use and that was good for the environment when I was trying to find one to use on my toddler. Everything I found was either full of chemicals and bad for Mother Nature or if it had clean ingredients it left the skin looking like Casper the ghost with a white film on the skin. Read more>>

Myles McGregor

I knew I needed to find a way to generate capital to continue funding my music career after I was blessed enough to have a distribution deal after attending The University of Miami for two semesters. I decided to move back to Charlotte when the pandemic took place and that as when I saw the need for concierge services. Read more>>

SEBASTIAN MARIN

Throughout my life I have had many jobs but I have not found any that make me feel fulfilled. The design was always something incredible for me. Something that attracted me and caught my attention. At one point, I thought about studying after finishing school, but I didn’t. The years passed and that was still in me. Read more>>

Paz Boackle

I came up with the idea for my business while I was working as a bartender at a pizzeria. I was having a lot of heath issues and a family friend of mine offered me the job because they were short staffed and needed an extra hand. Despite the problems with my health, I accepted the job. The pizzeria had chalkboards everywhere that they used for their menus and information, but customers always had a hard time reading them, and honestly so did I. Read more>>

Thomasina Yuoung

my business came about while i was working on a client’s hair and she began to tell me about the problems she was having with her hair and how nothing was working I realized I myself was having some of the same issues so I began to research and find natural herbs that would help with not only my concerns but hers as well after a lot of long nights and trial and error I got my measurements right I started with two problems and now we have almost 30 Read more>>

Kevyn Lee-Wellington

I moved to Los Angeles as a result of Hurricane Katrina. I had just graduated in the Spring from the illustrious Tuskegee University. I moved home that Friday and the Hurricane happen on that Sunday. My paternal grandmother was missing and my maternal grandfather was missing. Read more>>

Ashley Schufford

So the story behind Surviving MJ is unique in that I didn’t intend to start a business. Truthfully, my life felt like it was falling apart, financially, mentally, emotionally, and physically and making candles out of my son’s baby food jars was somehow what came to mind to fix it all. I know it sounds crazy, so let me give you the backstory. Read more>>

Anna Rooke

I grew up on a standard American diet and was introduced to holistic medicine and sea moss when my dad was diagnosed with cancer in 2013. He was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer. He was doing chemotherapy and radiation and I watched how much this took a toll on his body. Read more>>

Kazemde Ajamu

The Black Dot Cultural Center launched in January 2017 after I shared a written overview of what the business would look like with Jhavaun and Marie Green of Green Love Kitchen. Jhavaun and Marie offered me the opportunity of a lifetime after reading the overview. They allowed me to set up my bookstore in front of their restaurant. Read more>>

Hazel

From my personal experiences during childhood and witnessing the transformative power of education, my deep-seated passion has always been to facilitate access to education, particularly for individuals in underprivileged communities and sectors. Read more>>

Pamela Rodriguez

A little back story. Ever since I can remember i loved pictures. My room was full of pictures of family and friends. I would always ask my mom to buy me a disposable camera. I remember going to my sisters house and she had this gray camera, I would always take pictures of her daughters using blankets a backdrops. Read more>>

Raginald Paz

It all started as me seeing myself entertained by things that I am passionate about such as food, travel, and collecting. I figured why not share this experience with others to hopefully benefit them in different ways through social media content creation. I did notice upon starting content creation that it is something I am actually good at and I enjoy doing. Read more>>

Ian Amor

The 2020 covid lockdown had just gone into effect when a friend of mine introduced me to the idea of setting up my own business. Between the two of us for the better part of the lockdown, we went back and forth on structures, plans, long-term goals, problems we’ll face, etc. Read more>>

Keara Noy

Event Planning hasn’t always been a passion of mine, but after indulging in it for the last 8 years, I have grown to love this amazing adventure! After planning many weddings, including my own, I remembered how tired I was mentally, even though this is my profession. I figured if I can do this I’m sure many other brides have taken on the responsibility of planning their own. Read more>>

Mckynzie Anderson

I’ve always been into art, and making new things since i was little. Through the middle and high school years I really picked up on drawing, painting and sculpting. I did that all the way through my early twenties, and then a good friend of mine, said I should really start show casing and selling my artwork. Read more>>

Leona Darnell

Do people care about one’s story? The muck and mire one must crawl through in order to gain some measure of success in their chosen field. Maybe. Maybe not. Yet here I am and I will give you the Reader’s Digest version in hopes that it might give the next person a reason to continue their quest in the arts. Read more>>

Mac Marsh

I’m an environmentally conscious individual with a deep passion for sustainability. While working at the Art Hotel, I noticed the excessive amount of water being wasted from using the “running water method” to thaw frozen food. The method requires fresh water run over the food until the food is fully thawed. Read more>>

Heidi Block

I am a lifelong tennis player, but I first discovered Pickleball in the summer of 2020 and loved it right away. When I googled the sport to learn more about it, I was very disappointed in the results. I couldn’t find any good content or relatable brands. I couldn’t find good information about how to play or what equipment to buy. The only apparel I found we’re goofy graphic T-shirts that said things like “I’m the Big Dill” , which was not my vibe. The only bags I found were masculine, one shoulder backpacks. Read more>>

Weslee Jane

I started my beauty career back in 2002 as a Cosmetologist shortly after I graduated High School. In school, I had a dream to open up a beauty service for women who were either single moms, in recovery, or trying to get back on their feet. Being a single mom myself, I knew that I wanted to focus on helping those who were struggling as I had. Read more>>

Quantina Harrison

When I First Started Making Lipgloss It Was 4 months after the Pandemic Started. It started out as just a hobby to pass time but eventually It grew on me and that’s when i started to dream of my own “Natural Cosmetic Line”. I’ve always been a huge lipgloss fan but the fact that I was able to sit down and create a product of my own sparked so many ideas that there was no way I would stop the journey. Read more>>

Amy Chen

From a young age, I had the incredible opportunity to travel the world with my family, which opened my eyes to the beauty and wonder of different cultures and landscapes. These experiences left a lasting impression on me and instilled a love of exploration. Travel became a treasured part of my identity. Read more>>

Anacia Weiskittel

I grew up dancing and doing gymnastics. It was my second home I loved the feeling, the chalk filled air and musky scent of the gym and the smell of hairspray and body spray in the dance studio dancers lounge. I loved the camaraderie of my peers and the feeling of pushing yourself harder than you thought possible. Music vibrating through my bones. It’s the moment when nothing else exists. Read more>>

Kayla Cadavona

Business Name: KaySocialBuilds Kay – Kayla Social – Social Media / Social Networking Builds – Helping Business Owners build an attractive and aesthetic platform to level up their business brand, and a professional home builders and designer (along with small business owners) reputation through their social media business platform. Read more>>

Brittany Chesney

1945 Event Co. was truly a dream in the making. I can remember being in elementary school and dreaming of owning my own party supply store. I have always had a passion for planning events. This continued through out the years and lead me to study hospitality and event management in College. My love for celebrating and organizing events lead me to finally start my own business in 2018. Read more>>

C Nichole

The concept of Refuge came from my husband and I being in a city so full of people yet we still felt so isolated and disconnected from nearly everyone we knew! When it came to connections, meetings, and building relationships, Nik (my husband) and I had missed out in a lot of ways. Neither of us really have family available to stay with our kiddos and meetings or get togethers typically meant that one of us had to miss out. Read more>>

Brooke Becker

I began my screenwriting consulting and editing business Scribe Hive in order to support creatives through the process of story and script development. I have been working professionally in entertainment as an actor and a writer for over ten years. Through my work, which includes working as a development intern with some of the top production companies in Los Angeles, Read more>>

Nathan Claycomb

I still remember the moment of inception quite well! My family and I were enjoying dinner on a very cold winter’s evening. My wife, Denise, was sharing stories about her workday with our boys. She turned to me and said, “It was so freezing today, and our team wanted lattes, but nobody wanted to go out in the freezing cold weather. So we were all sitting around talking, and we agreed that somebody should start up a coffee truck that brings really good coffee to businesses on cold days. So I said we girls should do it and call it Joe on the Go!” Read more>>

Victoria-Lee Lewis

This concept was created out of love for two of my favorite things. Vegan food, The 50’s era, and Iconic Pin-Ups from Old Hollywood. My catering company The Vegan Black Pin-Up is a 1950’s style dining and most enjoyable experience. Aesthetic focused on vintage America and southern cuisine’s incorporated with cultures from all around the world. Read more>>

Nathan Nowak

I started Wyco Wood Co. as a way to repurpose local trees and find a use for them as lumber. What started as more of a hobby soon turned into something more. As people in Kansas City learned we had a mobile sawmill we began to book jobs all over the city. With the addition of our second sawmill and the completed website, our business has grown tremendously over the last year. Read more>>

Morgan Lerner

Annie Slabotsky and I started GoNanas at the University of Michigan out of a lack of healthy baked good options on campus. There really weren’t any better-for-you sweet treat options for us on-the-go students, so we decided to change that. We spent 3 years combining familial banana bread recipes with an allergen free twist, to make the best banana bread in the game. Read more>>

Morghan Turner

Hello, my name is Morghan Turner. I am 7 years old, and I have my own lemonade business called “Lil Miss Lemons”. I have been in business for 3 years. It all started after I spent all my allowance shopping and wanted more money. I told my pumpkin (grandmother) that I wanted to sell something to make money. And lemonade was my idea! Read more>>

Rachel Mayta

I had asked my ocularist who I’d been seeing for 26 years at the time if they would be willing to make me an eye that didn’t match my working eye. I specifically wanted one that was gold, to help me feel like I got to choose the narrative when people looked at me. I wanted to have control of what they saw and I wanted to not feel like I was hiding from the fact that I was different. When they told me that they weren’t willing to create it, Read more>>

Sheila Lebrun-James

As a new mom, facing many challenges, adjusting to taking care of a little person was tough. I found myself wondering if my feelings about parenting were mines alone and knew that I couldn’t be in a box all by myself. My first book was written in 2015 after having 2 of my 3 children. It was basically a book detailing the frustrations of being a parent but reminding my children that even during those times where I might have seem frustrated or upset, Read more>>

Graham Breitenstein

Funny story. The genesis of “Drunk Astrology” takes place at my best friend’s wedding in 2017. I had already been a social astrologer for several years, aka asking strangers what time they were born and pulling their birth charts, but after having one too many drinks at the rehearsal dinner, the bridesmaids and I all wound up tipsy on the front porch of our South Carolina rental. I casually asked one of the girls, “are you an Aries?” Read more>>

Charles Grabitzky

I have always had travel in my blood. Whether it was living abroad (Mexico, Italy & Turkey) or traveling with friends & family, it was always an important part of my life. I became interested in whiskey over 20 years ago and really enjoy tasting different expressions from all over the world. It was my love for both travel and whiskey that generated the idea of taking people on whiskey tours. Read more>>

Whitney Bailey

Just Raw Cosmetics started as an idea in my mind and birthed into a wonderful all natural whipped body butter. Due to my own sensitivity with fragrances and chemicals my skin would become irritated or dry using store bought products. I desired to have soft, hydrated and glowing skin from head to toe. After trying many over the counter lotions, oils, etc. Read more>>

Shenita Moore

Children’s Clothing Giveaway, Inc. is more than a non-profit. We harness the power of our community to provide new and gently used clothing, shoes, books, toys, etc. to children in low income, displaced, homeless and foster families among us. Children’s Clothing Giveaway, Inc. started as a clothing swap (at Crenshaw Church of Christ in the Leimert Park area of Los Angeles), amongst a group of mothers with small children. Read more>>

Kay Blair

DWNTWNWRLD which stands for don’t waste no time with negativity started after a dark time in my life where I was searching for a creative and healthy way to express myself. I’ve always had a passion for the music industry and in 2016 you could say social media was at a sweet spot, especially Instagram (Meta). A friend suggested I put my search for inspiration, admiration of music and reach of the Internet altogether. Read more>>

Haley Pollack

When I was diagnosed with Stage IIIc colon cancer at 37, I had just returned from my parental leave. I had a 6 month old and 3 year old and after I heard those terrible words “you have cancer” my first thoughts were of my precious kids. When I scoured the internet for resources for my kids, I couldn’t find what I needed and the terrifying experience of a cancer diagnosis became an extremely alienating one as well. Read more>>

Giulia Saugo

As a native Italian creator woman who has traveled extensively and lived in the United States for two years, I developed a deep appreciation for the global interest in Italy and its language. Inspired by the admiration people expressed for Italy’s art, cuisine, and cultural heritage, I felt a strong desire to share my language and culture with a wider audience. That’s why I decided to create my social media channels as Giulia Explorer. Read more>>

Danielle Barcos

In 2017/2018 my friend saw how I posted “professional” photos of my dogs on my Facebook page and asked if I would want to take her maternity photos. She told me how great my dog pictures look and I told her it’s not the same as maternity! Lol But I took them and had a lot of fun and really fell in love with the whole human interaction. Read more>>

Gabe Scott

Growing up in a big family, my fondest memories of my life were likely at the dinner table or in front of food. My favorite part of each day was sitting as a family at the dinner table, talking about how our days went – the goods, the bads, making fun of and with each other, laughing, screaming, the whole thing. Read more>>