Going from idea to execution isn’t easy. Part of the difficulty is that often there is no playbook to follow and while we can’t offer a playbook either, we wanted to create a space where aspiring entrepreneurs could read the stories of how some very smart, very thoughtful entrepreneurs form the community got started.

Dana Lowie

In the early 1990’s: Dana Lowie (me) and Steve Taylor vacationed in Seattle. That incurable “coffee bug” is hard to see, yet easy to feel. It took a big bite, so we brought it back home. Like many visitors to the coffee capital of the US, we set out on a quest to bring Seattle-style coffee to Greenville. Read more>>

Belinda Lau

The idea for ELIMS—or at least the broader vision of sustainable biotechnology—started forming years ago while I was working as a product manager at Medtronic, the world’s largest medical device manufacturer. Every day, I saw sterile plastic packaging being discarded, and I kept wondering: why couldn’t medical devices be packaged in a more eco-friendly way while still maintaining sterility? That question stayed with me, sparking my interest in the intersection of sustainability and healthcare. Read more>>

Elizabeth Myer

Rewind to December 2020: I was eight months postpartum and four months into our pandemic move to my parents’ house in Pennsylvania, across the country from our home in Los Angeles. I hooked myself up to an electric breast pump, seated at a makeshift work station that my husband had set up in the basement, and hopped into a Google Hangout that changed my life. There, I met my business partner, Betsy, also in the throws of postpartum. Both of us had been entrepreneurs / builders of things, and a mutual friend thought we’d have a good chat. Betsy came right out with it: she wanted launch a modern kit for breastfeeding. Read more>>

Wesley Ryan

It all started with a passion. We’ve always loved working with dogs, but it wasn’t just about training them to compete—it was about the joy of performing with them, showing off their talents, and spreading the love for dog sports. We all came from backgrounds where we competed at a high level, but honestly, the real fun was starting to fade as the pressure of competition grew. The organization we were part of wanted to focus more on competition, but we realized we wanted something different. We didn’t just want to compete; we wanted to showcase our dogs and promote the sport of dog training in a way that would make people fall in love with it too. Read more>>

Mikkita Moore

Mikkita L. Moore’s journey from idea to execution is a story of resilience, vision, and an unyielding drive to help others—whether that’s through real estate, her nonprofit, or her writing. Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Mikkita faced incredible challenges early in life. Becoming a mother at just 14 years old, she had to navigate trauma, domestic violence, and the absence of a father. However, rather than letting these obstacles define her, she used her experiences to fuel her personal growth and the ways she could give back to her community. Read more>>

Derek Sturman

I was originally interested in doing Video as a pass time, something I enjoyed right out of high school. So I bought a camera mainly just to do for fun, and at the time me and a friend would spend a lot of time outdoors in the mountains in northern Utah camping in the summers. While we were there I started to experiment with long exposure photography and just happened to catch the Milky Way in an image. I was hooked Instantly, and spent something like the next 6 months just chasing dark skies to get more images. Read more>>

Adrienne Rivera

My entrepreneurial journey began with an ad that opened my eyes to the possibility of making a deep impact while earning money online. Inspired, I launched my first business as an online fitness coach. Fitness and life coaching were my entry points into entrepreneurship, and I loved supporting my female clients in reaching their weight loss goals. Read more>>

 Jane Hall

In 2014, after relocating to the area the year before, Jane—a dedicated realtor—recognized a growing need for personalized assistance in time management and task delegation. She founded Coastline Concierge to help both locals and vacationers streamline their to-do lists, whether by handling everyday errands or curating unforgettable travel experiences. Long before services like Instacart existed, Coastline Concierge was already offering pre-stocking for vacation rentals, securing dining reservations, and crafting tailored itineraries. What began as a way to simplify life for others has since grown into a premier service dedicated to making every stay seamless and stress-free. Read more>>

Alienz Incorporated

Alienz Incorporated started as an evolution of the persona that emerged from our own explorations of self-expression. We began to weave our individual artistic inclinations into our clothing, makeup and social appearances in ways that disrupted societal norms, while simultaneously fascinating others and empowering ourselves. This social experiment resulted in our personae becoming notorious in the artistic circles of New York, which drew us into the world of fashion, performance-art, drag and costuming. Read more>>

Shaneisha Dodson

When I came up with the idea to create my first doll, I began to look for a graphic designer who could sketch out my idea. From there, I found a company to make a prototype. I continued to do research until the final doll was made. Read more>>

Laura Bennett

There’s so many directions I could take this. At a micro level, there seems to be “new starts” almost daily. But at a macro level I’ve been doing what I’m doing for quite a long time now. Starting my design business was both intentional and accidental in ways. I left my full time job as a Graphic Designer with the Walt Disney Company in Florida and 9 months later found myself in LA as the owner, and lead designer of my own Design Studio: Laura Bennett Design. That makes it sound easy or casual, but that’s far from the truth. I felt called to leave my corporate creative job to make room for more creative practices in the studio and really focus on the type of design work I wanted to be making. Read more>>

Sharon Allen

After working for different spas, I realized that I wanted to be a solo esthetician. It was the freedom to do what I wanted and run the business as I see fit that was enticing. I was fortunate to be surrounded by people that had their own businesses and were a guiding light in creating my LLC, business bank account, and EIN number. I started researching what product lines and booking site I wanted to use. I started as a home based business, but quickly realized I needed to rent a space to provide the luxurious experience I wanted to provide. I have been renting a suite for a little over a year now and many lessons were learned. I always heard “just start! you’ll figure it out as you go!” and you truly do! I learned and am still learning about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to building clientele. There are so many different aspects of building clientele. Everyone has to be on social media nowadays, but it is equally important to build in person relationships and be out in your community. Being surrounded by the right people is crucial. Your NET WORTH is your NETWORK! Currently, I am exploring different networking events and partnering with local businesses. I want to always remain a student – the only way to be for constant growth, professionally and personally. Read more>>

Emily Kyle

Starting my business, especially a business in the cannabis industry, wasn’t something I planned from the beginning. It all started as an enjoyable hobby. At the time, I was working full-time as a registered dietitian in a hospital. While the work was meaningful, it always felt like something was missing. There was this quiet restlessness inside me, a yearning for something more, but I didn’t quite know what that looked like yet. Read more>>

Mandi Young

I started, as many people do, just not quite satisfied with what was on the market. As my husband and I planned our wedding, we struggled to find a venue that felt true to us and who we were while also meeting moderns comforts and needs – like real bathrooms. Throughout the wedding planning, we kept talking about how we were shocked there wasn’t a venue out there like we wanted. We were already looking for land to move out of the city, and decided to expand our search for bigger plots of land thinking maybe we could build what we had been searching for. Read more>>

Nathan Sawaya

I used to practice corporate law in New York City. When I came home at night I would need a creative outlet. I needed to do something that was different from my work at the law firm. Something that would make me happy. Some nights I would draw, some nights I would paint, and some nights I would sculpt. One day I challenged myself to sculpt out of this toy from my childhood: LEGO bricks. I started doing large scale sculptures. Most nights I would find myself snapping LEGO bricks together even before I took off my suit or ate dinner. It felt good after a long day of negotiating contracts to build something with my hands. Read more>>