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.

Denisha and Lamar Wolford

My name is Denisha, and I have struggled throughout my life with eczema and dry skin. For the longest time I couldn’t find a lotion that could keep my skin moisturized throughout the day. I remembered being embarrassed at how dry and rough my skin was. So I created a whipped body butter that solved all my problems, that softened my eczema patches, reduced the inflammation, and kept my body moisturized all day long. Read more>>

Yiran Xia

We all crave a bit of decoration in our lives, like a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, to add color to our everyday surroundings. Yet deep down, what we really want to beautify is not just our physical space, but our weary souls worn down by the monotony of life. As an illustrator, I create a visual world that serves as an ornament for people’s emotions, injecting joy and fun into our daily struggles and worries. Whether it’s a scene of pigeons flocking through the streets of New York, a depiction of moldy vegetables, or a portrayal of lost socks, Read more>>

Francesca Eales

I started making makeup over 10 years ago when clean beauty was relatively new and I had trouble finding products that worked for me. Back then I mostly stuck to loose mineral eyeshadow and lip balm. I did that on and off for years just as a hobby. I tried a few Etsy shops here and there but nothing ever stuck. Then in around 2018 I decided to get serious and start a business. I found a business partner and we launched a super small handmade makeup company. Read more>>

Kahim Sturgis

Michael Mason

I was in Facebook group of people asking for jet ski rentals, and noticed that all of the local rentals were already booked for the year. I realized that the demand in our area was obviously higher than the supply. This got me thinking about how we could differentiate ourselves from other jet ski rentals. We then decided we wanted to enhance their experience by focusing our business plan around maximizing their vacation time by minimizing the amount of time wasted on them picking up and dropping off their rental. Thus, Read more>>

Margaret Alvarez

My Artsy Coach started with an idea I had to share my art and processes with people through social media, during the pandemic. Like many I was stuck at home for five months. I am a full-time art teacher at a private school. I was teaching virtually and taking care of my son. The anxiety of the pandemic started to take a toll. I was pacing the floor one day and the thought came to me, “What if I prop up my phone and share a few art lessons with everyone else at home?”. Maybe this would help lift some spirits. Read more>>

Gisele Crespo

Growing up in Brazil, I saw first-hand the challenges of receiving access to healthcare. My grandfather was the town’s only pharmacist. Seeing him help people with their ailments inspired me to follow a career in healthcare. I just didn’t know which area yet. After working as a patient service representative at Boston Children’s Hospital, my calling finally found me. My husband was was named director of communications at Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute in Boston, a 2 and 4-year nonprofit college in Boston, created by funds left in Benjamin Franklin’s will. Read more>>

Lety Williams

Lifted by Lety came to be due to two reasons – I wanted to help a friend in whichever way I could and that friend believed in me to see it through. In 2021, A dear friend of mine needed decor for a special event she was coordinating. She was feeling overwhelmed with other matters and asked if I could lend her a hand with something. She told me she purchased a pack of balloons online and needed help with turning them into a garland for her event. Read more>>

Taryn Williams

Back in 2011 my best friend and I were looking for a place to order my Goddaughters birthday cake (my best friends daughter). While looking at different places and prices for her cake, we were like “wow these cakes are so expensive”. I’m not spending that money on this cake. In that same moment though my best friend said (jokingly at first) we should just make it ourselves for all that. Then we stopped laughing and seriously said “no we should make her cake forreal”. Read more>>

Kyle Fitzgerald

The idea for Alabanza was born during my sophomore year at Hampton University. I remember sitting on my tiny twin XL bed when the light bulb went off. My honors professor had given me an assignment for my community service class. The task was to design a community service program, and I cleverly imagined a way to mix my joy for music, faith, and friendship. I longed to make friends and mingle like most young adults in college, but I ran into a huge problem. Every “cool” opportunity was off campus. The popular place was called the “Harbors.” Read more>>

Ermia Hamidzadeh

As a child growing up I was always into art, and really good at drawing. Once I got into my teenage years where dressing to impress women became a thing I started to fall in love with fashion and styling which lead to my interest in owning my own high end brand one day. Read more>>

Max Heigh

I learned about the food & beverage industry early in my life, because my single mother of three managed several different concessions/brands throughout our come up. My first job was at a chain pizza place, making pizzas, then I moved up to a barista job. When I turned 18, I hopped into serving; and actually made some pretty good money. While I was cocktail serving, I was also going to community college, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with life. Read more>>

Melissa Violette

I came up the with the idea for Miane’s Shoppe while I was working in corporate America. Finding clothes that looked good was easy, but wearing business attire was not always the most comfortable. It was a challenge to find nice outfits that I could wear all day long and still feel as comfortable and confident as I was when I walked out the door that morning. My friends had the same issues. Read more>>

Brielle Yoder

Redefine Beauty started as a Blog in 2015! I took readers on a journey through topics related to internal and external beauty. Many of the blog posts explored topics and questions that I had asked myself over the years when it came to worth, identity, beauty, and purpose. My past has threads of trauma and abuse woven through it. Those experiences gave me a very broken view of the world, my worth, and self image, but God radically changed my life, healed my heart, and changed my perspective over time. Read more>>

Star Logan

Well I remember 13 years ago being in beauty school and knowing I wanted to be an entrepreneur. So for a vey long time I knew that was my path. Fast forward 7 years later, I was working for a major waxing brand and doing relatively well, the clients really loved me and I was very sought after. I would go home and talk to my son’s father about work and he would always say “They should call you The Vagina Whisperer”. Read more>>

Dana Cooper

I first started dreaming up Ritualist in 2018, two years before it officially became a business. I was living in Brooklyn and working as a music publicist at the time, but as much as I loved my work, it wasn’t making me feel fulfilled anymore: the music industry had gone through so many changes since I’d started, I felt isolated working from home behind a laptop all day, and my lifestyle and priorities were shifting, making it harder to keep up with the constant onslaught of live events. Read more>>

Malia Schreiber

In 2018, I was a single mom working myself into the ground at a fancy corporate position. I was making great money, but I was miserable. My son was taking taekwondo lessons at the time, and I would stay for every practice, taking photos and posting them on Facebook for my family and friends to see. After months of lessons, the owner of the gym approached me and asked if I wouldn’t mind taking a few photos of the whole class and posting them on their business Facebook page. Read more>>

Angel Bhathal

I never thought I would be a “Pageant Coach”. I did however know, I wanted to be an educator. Growing up I was raised by my grandmother who immigrated to Canada from India with my mother. My grandmother was never allowed to pursue an education back in her day. In fact, she was illiterate. I recall going to kindergarten and coming home everyday to teach my grandmother the alphabet I learned. Read more>>

Marcela Timbo

The idea of starting my organizing business came up after this one day when I was approached by a coworker who noticed how I kept everything tidy in my station work. A few weeks prior to this day, I realized that I was at a moment in my life where I had the freedom to start thinking about my passions and how I could do that professionally. I decided to sit down and write in a paper what kind of jobs I imagined working, type of availability I would have, flexibility with my personal life and especially things I loved to do that would fit a in “dream job”. Read more>>

Sam Degenhard

Campfire Ranch was born out of an ongoing frustration with the existing camping options that I could find when living and working in Los Angeles. My career after college landed me in Santa Monica working for Red Bull as an event marketing manager – It was an extremely fast-paced environment with a small team, 60-80hr weeks and 50%+ travel. In the few hours that I wasn’t working, I turned my focus to spending time outdoors Read more>>

Kate Snyder

People are often shocked that I would open an independent bookstore during a pandemic…but Plaid Elephant Books probably wouldn’t have existed with the pandemic. I was working for an arts nonprofit when COVID shuttered the world. After a year of working remotely, I was restless and lonely. I could see how much other families with children, in particular, had been harmed by the loss of social connection we all felt during the pandemic. Read more>>

Kelly Harris Smith

As a kid, I had creative tendencies, but most of my extra time was focused on sports. I went to college as “undecided,” played on the Division 1 soccer team, but was always attracted to arts and design. This interest led me to explore my options and I majored and graduated in architecture. I worked as a designer in an architecture office for a few years before starting a small textile and accessory business. This led me to co-found a sustainable textile company, and then to furniture design and the world of interior design. Read more>>

Roderick Harris

The idea came from a group of us. We’re in Colorado Springs. We wanted something different. It’s easy to find a picture and put it on a shirt. It’s very hard to actually be creative. To the south of Denver lies Colorado Springs, sitting at an altitude of 6,035 feet. Manitou Springs, just 5 miles to the west of Colorado Springs, is approximately 6,500 feet. So we’re 6000ftbelow, it’s an underground thing. Back to the streets, the hip hop of fashion, tagging, break dancing. So we came up with an Ice Cream mountain logo. Made it graffiti style art. Read more>>

Elizabeth Bowler Celeste Futch

This idea for Hort | Culture was born out of the concept that working with and interacting with plants can promote peace, healing, and wellbeing. Not only for customers, but also for the young people who help run our business, who are fighting more battles than I can even begin to describe living in the shelter system. Read more>>

Temilola Adedipe

The inspiration behind ÀWA Marketplace was born from a personal struggle I had with my oily, acne-prone skin around the age of 17. I knew that whatever I was doing clearly wasn’t working so I started researching ways that I may be unknowingly contributing to my flare-ups. This led me to dive deeper into the world of gut-health, holistic wellness but most importantly, I discovered that many products that are found in big-name stores today contain irritants and toxic ingredients such as phthalates, Read more>>

L.S. Johnson

I pondered on so many different aspects of financial growth, and saving “big”, but was never really taught how important saving money really is…….. I started thinking when I wanted to come up with the name and concept behind the brand: Why save pennies when you can save dollars? For all those pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters put into piggy banks (I had a water bottle for a bank), if those was $1, $5, $10, and $20’s instead, it would be much more rich folks in the world! Honestly, I would be a six-figure guy by now. Read more>>

Lisa Forney

Starting a business is never an easy feat but witnessing firsthand how much of a positive impact scholarship hunting had on my daughter’s academic journey, I was inspired to help other families achieve the same success. Through years of research and countless trials, I developed a comprehensive formula for success that includes strategies for building a scholarship portfolio, researching potential scholarships, crafting compelling essays, and preparing for scholarship interviews. Read more>>

Stephanie Thomas

We started this business because we saw a need in our community for high-quality pest control services that were safe, effective, and affordable. We understand that pests can be a nuisance and pose health risks, and we wanted to provide a solution that would give our customers peace of mind and protect their homes and businesses. Read more>>

 Sandra Webster

RESTOREHer Place a 24-month Transitional Living was designed to provide a stable, safe, and structured residential program for homeless, formerly incarcerated, addicted, and domestic abuse single women, and women with children. It was birthed out of my own personal challenges with addiction, homelessness, and abuse. Read more>>

Kassandra Ramirez

Contagion Media Art Agency began as a concept in 2017 while I was attending NAU double majoring in photography and creative media & film. At the time, my professors continued to emphasize choosing one medium to focus on. I had been an artist for years creating music, photography, and videography. With passion and experience in all three mediums, I could not imagine just choosing one. Read more>>

Rich Grandy

About 3 years ago my business partner, Duke and I were trying to think of an idea for a business. We had both just come from an automotive agency. We thought about starting an EV car rental service (think of Turo but EV only). W worked on this for several months, planning logistics of how this would work, tracking the cars, payment, etc. then Covid came and all but shut down travel and, well, we had to think of an alternative. It then morphed into a b-2-c idea for drop shipping (more or less) EV chargers for homes. we started this up all on our own, completely out of pocket, and it slowly took off. From there, Read more>>