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

Eric Capone

My journey into coaching youth soccer began during one of the most challenging times of my life. In October 2020, I lost my son, Noah, after a courageous three-year battle with cancer. His strength and perseverance taught me lessons in resilience, patience, and compassion—qualities that now define my coaching philosophy. Read more>>

Patrick Murphy

In my early 20’s I was bartending in Manhattan Beach. During that same time, I was also heavy into health and fitness for myself. I trained daily in gyms, enjoyed beach runs, beach volleyball and eating healthy. I found myself reading many books in the health and fitness fields. I knew that the bar scene, the late nights, frequent alcohol consumption and other drugs, was not the path I wanted to be around. Don’t get me wrong, the bar scene was fun but I wanted to serves others in a healthier environment. Read more>>

Jahiel Spence

Looking back, I never had a definitive plan on what I wanted to do. I used to work random jobs without a clear vision. I started working out in university and saw great results pretty quickly which had people intrigued. When Covid happened, I decided to finally get my personal training certification since people always asked if I can train them. I realized soon after that fitness was something I was very passionate about and things started to click. I’ve always been fascinated with human anatomy and though introverted, I enjoyed helping people make transformations and become more confident in their own skin. I initially started training family or friends in my backyard until I was offered a job at the gym. Read more>>

Gupa Ledezma

I was having coffee with my sister Paula and two friends, telling them about emotional intelligence concepts that I thought they understood—until at one point, they stopped me and said, “We have no idea what you’re talking about. Why don’t you host a workshop?” Read more>>

Jenay Aiksnoras

I never wanted to be a yoga studio owner. My plan was to complete my master’s degree, establish a career as a mental health professional and follow the expected path that higher education is supposed to provide.

While engaged in my undergraduate studies at Northeastern University in Boston I was introduced to the practice of yoga because some of my friends were taking the course as a one credit. I decided to audit the course. I remember that the room was always full and there were huge closets filled with mats, blocks, blankets and straps. The style was svarupa. I would arrive in whatever clothes I had chosen to wear that day and would spend an hour attempting to lengthen muscles that had never been asked to do so, to sit in positions I had never attempted and to quiet the chattering thoughts fluttering through my mind. Read more>>

Rachel Langston

I have loved school and everything about it for as long as I can remember! My first job in any field was in public education as a high school teacher. I was hired by a school system that was installing its first networked computer lab in the school. This was in the early 1990’s – before the internet, before cell phones, and before wireless computing – personal computing was slowly becoming a “thing” and, since most homes were not wired for “data”, schools created networked classrooms to take advantage of new tools like word processing, spreadsheets, email, etc. My job was to install the new computers, figure out how to connect them to each other, then teach the English department faculty how to use them for themselves and integrate them into their curriculum. Read more>>

Jessit Haizman

In September 2019, I was weeks away from getting married and my husband and I were both working tirelessly to pay off my student loans. My husband worked a grueling construction job 90+ hours a week, and we knew that because of how dangerous it was, we wanted him to leave this position as soon as possible. I myself was a full-time nanny for a family who I adore and was with for seven years + nights and weekends I would do freelance American Sign Language interpreting, which is what I went to school for. Not to mention, I planned the entire backyard wedding completely on my own. We were exhausted, and definitely looking forward to our honeymoon. Read more>>