We asked some fantastic entrepreneurs and creatives to tell us about their first job in their field. Check out their stories below.

Brit Leo

This story starts with the woman who gave me everything, is my everything, and continues to be my inspiration to do what I do professionally. To set the stage, it’s Buffalo, NY 2011, a time when no school in the city was hiring educators . My mom, a sharp as a tact, recent graduate with her masters in education, couldn’t get hired to teach anywhere. She had the degree, the drive, the passion, she even had, and continues to have, that cool factor about her that kids and teens would appreciate in her field. With that said, when she wasn’t able to get a job, she carved her own path, creating a small, boutique spinning studio in the city of Buffalo. It was the first of it’s kind. It was also her first business ever and a huge roll of the dice. She was her only financial backing so if this didn’t work out, she had nothing to fall back on. Read more>>

Sina McCullough

After completing graduate school, my inaugural position was as the Director of Research and Development for a family-owned supplement company. Intriguingly, I hadn’t applied for the job as there was no formal job posting. Read more>>

Hailey Hechtman

For as long as I can remember, I have been interested in people — their perspectives, their experiences, their dynamics and their stories.

This fascination with people and a desire to support them to see their potential led me into the field of psychology. Read more>>

Jillian & Samara

Shortly after meeting on social media, Samara and I put together a yoga event held in my backyard. We invited friends, students, anyone who wanted to attend a free yoga event with a brunch afterward. Our goal was (and is) to bring people together and build a community centered on our love for mindful movement, and also creating a space where people felt comfortable being their authentic selves. Read more>>

Dr. Chichi Nwankwo Ezeike

I am a Certified Health Coach. When I started my journey as a health coach, I have never seen anyone who is a health coach or even understand what health coach was all about. The idea of becoming a health coach was birth out of my own health challenge. I was diagnosed with hypertension, and I didn’t want to take medicine for the rest of my life. I started looking for an alternative way of healing myself. It was during my search that I saw many health coaching institutes and I started reading about them and I saw a lot of testimonials that came out of those institute. I called two of the institutes that caught my attention and I later settled with one. It was a life changing experience. I learned that being healthy is not just about exercising and eating right, rather our whole aspect of life has to be in alignment in order for healing to take place. I actually signed up to learn about being healthy for myself and my family but as I was learning so much about being healthy, I wanted to share it with other people. This is how the idea of having my own business came about. It has not been easy as a business owner, but I have enjoyed every moment that I talk to my clients, and I saw the transformation that they are going through. It is very fulfilling for me. Read more>>

Ellen Saltonstall

In my twenties I was involved with studying and performing modern dance in New York City, and it was a time of frequent cross-collaborations between artists in different mediums – dance, music, visual art, and theater. The arts scene in Soho was very lively, so as a young adult just starting out after college, it was quite exciting for me. I studied and performed different styles of dance, and was part of a collaborative group of eight choreographers, many of whom are still close friends to this day. I also worked in a health food store and also taught movement classes for children. Read more>>

Courtney Artis and Corrona Boston

I received my first job as a Community Support Worker as a referral from my faculty advisor while in my master’s program at Howard University. Her name was Dr. Neverson and she spoke to us about community opportunities that we could be paid for, while gaining social work experience in working with clients and families. At the time, I felt nervous but excited to begin providing support to members of the community and start to really implement some of the interventions I had been learning and reading about. I was mostly excited about the relationships I would build as many recipients of community supports, sometimes feel judged or mistreated. I wanted to bring a completely experience to that space. My aspiration was simply to learn. Learn about the community and the resources being that I’m from North Carolina, not DC. I wanted to bring about change and empower people to reach high levels of satisfaction and peace based on their own definitions. Looking back, I am very happy that I ended up there for my first job in the field, it taught me a lot and really shaped into the clinician that I am today. Read more>>