A dad can’t find a bakery to make a birthday cake that can accommodate his daughter’s allergy-related needs. Two freelancers realize they need a way to organize all of their client contracts and can’t find software that adequately handles their use case. Necessity is often hailed as the mother of innovation – but not all ideas come from necessity. Unfortunately, in our experience, often media coverage of the ideas that powered amazing businesses and projects often stops at a very superficial level. The founders noticed a need and boom – idea. Often the ideation process has a much longer, more complex story and so we’ve asked some entrepreneurs and creatives we admire to go into detail about their ideation stories.

Chris Maatouk, Jad Fares And Nabil Maatouk

We used to love collecting certain lighters for their designs and built-in packing tool. But living in windy, cold London, we kept running into the same issue—flames constantly going out and the spark wheel killing our fingers after multiple tries. Read more>>

Marlen Hurter

It’s quite a long story, it all started with an instant camera and some street musicians in the Camargue, South of France. My father was a passionate photographer and gave me my first camera when I was about 8 years old. Our first ever road trip from Switzerland took us to the Camargue. Everybody thought I was so brave as a kid, to walk up in front of a band and take photos……fast forward to my apprenticeship that I “could have” done in a photo development studio and I did not because all I wanted was to be outside in the nature. Back then all the photo development studios were all still in a basement and of course, in the dark. Read more>>

Elizaveta Malone

EZ Elopements began the day I tried to plan my own wedding — in a way, the company was born out of personal frustration — and a deep desire to make sure no other couple had to feel what I felt when I tried to plan my own wedding. Read more>>

Poorna Prakash

It started with a tiny golden globe pin on my backpack, a symbol of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 5: Gender Equality. That pin was a constant reminder to me each day of the cracks that persist in STEM—cracks in representation, opportunity, and role models for girls and LGBTQIA+ folks. I couldn’t get away from the feeling that something had to be different. Read more>>

Manivanh Samuel

The idea for my online boutique was born from both passion and purpose. I’ve always had a love for fashion and a desire to make luxurious, medium to high-quality items accessible without the high-end price tag. I noticed a gap—many people, like myself, wanted to look and feel confident in quality pieces without overspending. I created my boutique to solve that problem. But more than just business, this brand holds deep personal meaning. I named the boutique in memory of my daughter, Royalti, to honor her beautiful spirit and keep her legacy alive. Read more>>

Gina Casazza

I never set out to start a nonprofit. That wasn’t the plan at all.
EmpowerLit – Literacy & Beyond was born after I moved to South Carolina. Up north in the New England area, author visits are everywhere—schools prioritize the arts, and bringing in authors is a normal part of the school year. But when I got to the South, I realized how rare those experiences were here. A lot of schools weren’t offering author visits at all, and to me, that felt like such a missed opportunity. Read more>>

Lily Bohl

Hello! My name is Lily, and I first became interested in floral preservation and floral art after I married my partner in 2021. The bouquet from our wedding ceremony was absolutely gorgeous, and as I researched various methods for how I could hold on to it forever, I was drawn into the world of floral preservation, art, and design. Read more>>

Galina Marcus

The San Diego Art Directory was born out of necessity that, I think, has been in the air for quite some time. Being an artist myself and having the privilege of 20+ years of corporate marketing experience, I very quickly realized how little information about arts is circulating in San Diego County. This realization grew as I was interviewing artists and art professionals on my podcast, In The Art Scene. I couldn’t help but see the enormous amount of talent and cultural treasures we have and marvel at how few people, even in the art community, know about it. Read more>>

Patricia Bennett

I worked and volunteered with the underserved communities in New York City. Working with Seniors, the public school system, and the homeless population was different; they all had a story to tell, and I was there to listen. Seeing people in transit with their belongings trying to figure out really touched my heart. Read more>>

Jenn Mariani

The idea for the Keke Bag was born out of a moment all too familiar to parents and caregivers. I was traveling and taking my girls to restaurants, armed with a bag full of broken crayons and half-eaten granola bars. My oldest daughter was trying to find a light blue crayon to color the sky—and in that chaotic mess, I couldn’t find it. That was the moment I thought, there has to be a better way. I knew I couldn’t be the only caregiver facing this challenge. Read more>>

MaryFrancis Benning

I’ve always wanted to live in the woods where I can grow and raise my own food, but being from a metropolitan city that was only ever a dream. Until, my partner got a promotion that allowed that dream to become a reality. When we moved to our home in Powhatan, Virginia I saw the endless potential of the property. I knew where the chicken run would go and the duck run in relation to the large sprawling garden. Read more>>

Kara Grady

It all started in our den, not some lab or conference room—just two veterans sitting around, talking trash and dreaming out loud. John came across an ad for a Delta 8 hemp drink and muttered something about how we could do better. I said, “You should make a limoncello version.” He said sure, like it was no big deal. So I said, “Then start a company.” He rolled his eyes and said, “No.” Read more>>

Christy Lamb

It all started in 2009 when my oldest daughter was going to celebrate her 10th Birthday. I was looking for a farm that I could take her to with her friends for a surprise birthday. I already owned AZ Cake Diva, and decorated cakes for all occasions, but I also painted on the side. I found a lady via Craigslist who had a farm, and I ended up painting a mural for her in her daughter’s room. In exchange she hosted my daughter’s Birthday Party. This started a friendship. A couple years later she had moved, and had a nice little court yard. This time she hosted my second daughter’s 5th Birthday Party at her home. Read more>>

Charlie Weisman

It all started when I was desperate to bring positive energy into my tiny New York apartment during the COVID lockdown. One day, I locked eyes with my plunger and realized that, like me, most people in NYC don’t have storage space so it permanently sits next to the toilet. Everything in the market was designed to blend into the background, but still awkwardly stuck out. That made me wonder: What if we went in the opposite direction? Read more>>

Sasha King

It was a matter of survival both financially and creatively. I had always had a flare for the creative. I had one goal, live a creative life. I saw that others were able to prosper from creating their art. I just knew it would work; I would not again allow a blow I took on (discussed later) during transitioning from high school affect me. This would be my fuel and after all I love to be the underdog. Opportunity to live my dream in real time got me excited. Read more>>

Rain Hou

This semester, I took a piano literature class at Columbia University. In one of our weekly reading assignments, there was a quote by the wonderful pianist Busoni that immediately caught my attention: “Every piece of music is a reimagination of something that already exists.” I believe this phrase pretty much sums up my creative process, which is to steal from the best and to generate materials based on works from other artists that I genuinely love. Read more>>

Elizabeth Laine

I came up with my business because I knew I wanted to work for myself, also being apart of fashion is something I knew I enjoyed whether I was paid or not.

I went to college with a major in fashion at the same time I worked retail to support myself. I was in a space trying to figure out what route I wanted to take in the fashion industry and one day there was a Designer that came in my job to drop off their products. At that time something just clicked in me and I knew I wanted to have my own business to sell products. Read more>>

Kira Marie Britt

I’ve always been drawn to art-illustration, theatre, film—each form opened new creative doors for me. I studied oil painting at Art and Design High School, joined the theatre program, and took filmmaking classes at DCTV. I loved it all and didn’t want to choose just one path. Read more>>

Jasmine Drayton

I always knew I had a creative gene and I wanted to create something different and unique. With my sense of style and fashion, I came up with an idea that I felt would change the game. I created JDLeathers Brand. It’s a leather goods company that now has expanded. I’ve created cross body bags, I also came up with my own shoe concept. I partnered with Alive Shoes. Just having the ability to show my skills and knowing I can accomplish anything. Read more>>

James Jin

My inspiration for Artflow goes all the way back to kindergarten. In class, I was labeled a “troublesome kid” who couldn’t sit still and doodled instead of taking notes. Every week my teachers called my parents complaining about my “disruptive” behavior. For the longest time, I thought something was wrong with me, and I found art as my way of letting all my millions of thoughts and emotions flow onto canvas. After years of denying my neurodivergence due to stigmas in my ethnic community, my parents finally allowed me to get my diagnosis last year. Read more>>

Brooke Vass

As a full-time commercial dance major, fitness instructor, and college student, it can be really hard to find time for the things that actually make me feel good. There are days where I feel like I’m doing everything and still nothing feels like it’s working—mentally, physically, emotionally. I started posting my barre-inspired fitness workouts on YouTube as a way to hold myself accountable in a way that felt grounding and healing, not overwhelming. Read more>>

Ryota Sakai

i originally owned a vintage store in soporro japan in 2000 , in 2010 i started delinquent brothers being inspired by vintage clothing i made 40-50s reproduction and inspired clothing . in 2016 came here to the united states alls while still having my store over sees i wanted to expand the brand. Read more>>

Jordan Walls

The idea for our business started out as a senior project for 2 classmates and I in college. We had the idea to go and combine 3 topics that each of us were familiar with and the final project ended up being something that everyone that we talked to said was a good idea. Everyone supported the idea in school, so why wouldn’t people from the general public like to purchase our product too? We felt this would work because we had confidence in our abilities to make a worthwhile product. At the time of creation, not a lot of people had similar products to the one that we were creating, and the ones that did had their own issues. Read more>>

Vittoria Giacomini

I believe inspiration is everywhere — literally. It’s something that follows me every day, even when everything feels still, quiet, or even a little monotonous. Because even on the most ordinary days, there’s always something that makes you pause and think. A detail, a gesture, a passing sentence. And as a storyteller, I live for those small things. Read more>>

Carolina Solis

In early 2021, I rediscovered my love for graphic design after my full-time position had been reworked to include creating social media graphics and signage for the company I worked for. I had taken a few design classes in undergrad, and was actually pretty good for someone who’d never worked with Adobe Illustrator before, but that was the extent of my design experience up until that point. I had so much fun exploring my creativity and learning more about design. In a sense, I just kind of fell into the design world, and I’ve decided to turn it into my career! Read more>>

Elizabeth Cannon-Washington

The idea for The Praise Break actually came out of a very real personal need — and I think that’s why it resonated so deeply with others. I was in a season where I felt caught in between. I loved God, I was growing in my faith, but I also felt disconnected from a lot of the traditional spaces the church offers for young adults. It was either too formal, too quiet, or it didn’t reflect the kind of energy and freedom I knew was possible in worship. Read more>>

Candice Cummings

Marketing and events have always been my jam. Even before I called it a business, I was helping friends and family show up online, plan launches, build websites, and show up confidently online. I helped my cousin when she was just starting KeishaCakes.com—helping her brand herself, create content, and bring her vision to life. And later, I supported a psychotherapist with everything from promoting her book and planning her events to managing her digital presence and social media. Read more>>