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.

Jocelyn Cosley

I have always loved coffee and was a barista when I was in college. My dad has been in the coffee industry for over 25 years so I have been around coffee the majority of my life. In 2014 I got an incredible opportunity to go to Nicaragua with my dad and stay on a coffee farm. The family that hosted us were incredible and I instantly felt a connection with them. Read more>>

Miriam Alvarez

I remember that feeling; the rush of excitement. An idea was born in my head, something clicked in my mind and a wave of energy went straight to my heart. “I’ve got an idea, I’ll create my own business. I’ll be an entrepreneur, it makes sense! I’ll never get bored! I’ll decide my own limits!” Read more>>

Maxwell Christen

Big Mouth Marketing was really a community effort! What I mean by that is I asked everyone – my friends, my family, small business owners, corporate owners, and more – anyone who could give me advice towards my goal of helping restaurants. I think anyone who just starts a business hasn’t thought about it enough – everyone has a perspective or direction that could help your business, and it is what you do with that advice that makes a difference. Read more>>

Lindsey M. Ohiosimuan

Coming to be a content creator, and brand designer is a profession that has developed over the years. It started with me creating content like monthly videos, photoshoots, and graphic designs to promote my brand Love by Lindsey Michelle, which I founded in 2020. I am a woman of God and I created Love by Lindsey Michelle as a platform to share God’s love, the things I love, and my faith to encourage others during the ups and downs of life. Read more>>

Abraham Lieberman

In the uneventful year of 2016, I was spending my time in the army, a space I found myself with an abundance of free time. To fill these empty hours, I began working as a freelance web developer, navigating the complex world of HTML and CSS. I played my part on platforms like freelance.com, upwork.com, and fiverr, and even tried my hand at translating, converting English to Hebrew and vice versa. Read more>>

Stormy Jones

I’ve been a hair stylist for the past 11 years. Pre-pandemic, I specialized in healthy hair care and short hair cuts. This was my passion for as long as I could remember. Right before the pandemic hit, I had reached a point of burn out behind the chair. I didn’t feel like I was fulfilling my purpose. I felt like there had to be more for me out there and there had to be a way I could use my passion to help people in a more profound way. Read more>>

Alexes Haggins

I thought that my family’s history in flowers was likely behind me. Then one day in the recent past I found myself arranging a bouquet for a client at the real estate company where I worked, and that simple project rekindled my passion for flowers and floral arrangements. Read more>>

Sarah & Justin Tilson

After being laid off due to Covid, Treats by Mrs. T orgininally started in December 2020 as a hobby and a way to give the community something to get excited about. I have loved to bake since I was a little girl, even decorating and selling cakes as a young mom, and making desserts for family functions. Read more>>

Shari K, Mr.Malik and Eaze Mentally Gifted MGP Inc

Mentally Gifted MGP Inc. was founded by three friends who had each experienced their own mental health traumas. They came together to support each other and realized that they wanted to help others who were going through similar experiences. They wanted to break the barriers of being voiceless about mental health and encourage anyone who feels alone that they are not alone and are loved by someone. Read more>>

Tyla Flood

I honestly never thought about doing photography as more than a hobby for a very long time. I took photos of my own kids and family and friends and that eventually led me to bringing my camera with me to the wedding of my friend Jodi’s daughter and I took some photos while I was there. Jodi upon seeing these photos began to push me to pursue photography and would OFTEN tell me things like “you look like a natural with your camera in your hands” Read more>>

Delonda Ford

I purchased a Cricut Explore Air 2 for my twin daughters as a Christmas gift in 2020. To my surprise, they didn’t want it and showed absolutely no interest in using it. So I just figured I would learn how to use it and possibly go into sales. I quickly learned 2 hard lessons very fast: 1. Sales are not my thing and 2. There is a very steep learning curve for learning how to use Cricut Design Space. Read more>>

Michelle Loucadoux

During the early months of the pandemic, Kristin Deiss and I were on a park play date with our toddlers. At the time, I was the associate dean of undergraduate studies at Hussian College and she was the chair of the dance department. We were discussing how we might find dance-specific mental health resources for the struggling dance majors at the college. After a lot of research, we found…there weren’t really any. Read more>>

Erika Moreno

The idea for my business came from the passion I’ve had since I was a little girl to become apart of the beauty industry. It started with the love of painting nails and the creativity I came up with which then developed into my interest in makeup and hair styling. After high school I started working at Bare Minerals which spiked my interest in the industry. Read more>>

Nathaniel Nicholas

Music has always been something I have enjoyed and cherished in my life. I feel like working in music has been a calling I have felt since I was a child. I don’t necessarily feel like I chose a career in music, I feel almost like music chose me. It was actually around the age of 14 that the vision for what would become the blue print for BronzeRock,LLC came to me. The music industry is a complicated machine. Read more>>

Hannah Hon

Hi! As a creative person I’ve always had many, many ideas about what I could do in life, or things that I’ve wanted to do. Throughout my life I’ve always been interested in natural body care products and, in general, had a creative bent towards ‘making things’. ‘Things’ being pretty much anything from baking a cake to making handmade cards, from sewing a quilt to putting a puzzle together. I am a hands-on person and love using my hands to create a final product. Read more>>

Ray Mohler

My story begins when I was just four years old. I woke up one morning with pain in both of my hips and I couldn’t walk. My parents took me straight to the nearest hospital in New York, Cohen Children’s Medical Center. I was in the hospital for only eight hours, but it felt like days. Not only did I not know what was wrong with me, but I had nothing to do to pass the time. All I could do was sit there and worry while listening to other kids in pain. Read more>>

Alima Sanni

Music Love Harmony started as a music blog on June 28, 2014. I started by interviewing emerging music artists. The brand expanded to apparel in 2019. The purpose was to create an apparel brand that celebrates the art form of music while also empowering emerging artists. It’s been a long journey filled with ups and downs, but I’m grateful for how far the brand has come. I’m also grateful to receive audience feedback as Music Love Harmony’s apparel line expands. The brand has evolved over the years and it’s a work in progress. Read more>>

Michelle Brown

I was going through so much in life. I was feeling depressed and angry. I just wanted to escape life. I heard about meditation and at the time I couldn’t focus on my breathing. So much was going on it kept coming up as I was trying to meditate. I was determined to escape and learn. I went to the library I got this book called The power of meditation A 28- Day program by Sharon Salzberg. After reading the book I ran across meditation on YouTube a guy name Aaron Doughty he had a meditation called “How attract love in your life” he said listen to this for 30 days it will change your life. Read more>>

Tanya Shadley

As a performer from a young age, I knew creating my own content of quality entertainment experiences at affordable costs was necessary and TRS Productions was born. Also, being able to provide opportunities for not only community members, but especially the youth to have access to Quality training programs with the arts. These two ideals, quality and affordability, were the two main inspirations behind beginning the TRS performing arts empire. Read more>>

 Sherrelle Green

I came up with my Non Profit Organization Business, “Bluntly Vibes Kreations” from My own life story inspired me. Coming from such a dark lonely path. Learning to self love, mastering emotional intelligence ,also learning the importance of healing. Even learning to face child hood trauma and deal with it. So much more. I knew it was many more out here in this world that needed just the push, guidance, motivation, clarity or awareness on how to reach their higher healed self. Read more>>

Jennifer Davis

I spent 15 years as a TV reporter and honestly, I never imagined a career beyond that. Reporting was my dream. But around 2016, I realized I was ready for a new challenge. My favorite part of reporting was the storytelling and in a world with non-stop live shots, there were fewer and fewer assignments that allowed me to find and tell great stories. The negativity of news was starting to take a toll and the job’s scheduling requirements didn’t allow me to live the kind of life I wanted as a mother of two. I knew I needed a change, but I had to start from scratch to figure out what that would look like. Read more>>

Tina & Amy Assadpour & Ahn

We wanted to help dog moms and dog dads celebrate their pups and treat them like the royalty they truly are from the inside out. So we decided to create beautiful baked goods for dogs that prioritized using only healthy simple ingredients, and none of the artificial additives, chemical preservatives, or stabilizers you often find in dog foods and other available treats on the market. Read more>>

Jennifer Lovrle

I started Bodylicious Couture as a hobbies the fall of 2017, with a few sketches. I designed a top and were getting a lot of compliments from my co-workers and women I would see when I was out and about. When the women said they would buy it, I knew I had to make this a business. So September 19, 2018 I launched my high fashion women’s clothing brand Bodylicious Couture. Read more>>

Tara Hallarman

Pizza Night is a content studio. We started it as a way to make work that feels meaningful to us while helping brands connect more deeply with their audience through strategic storytelling. Read more>>

Makari Agnew

I’ve always wanted to be in the clothing game i was really getting better at it and i couldn’t had done it without my son kartier he motivated me in some many ways a hopefully he take over my business when he’s older Read more>>

Brandon and Brillyone Stumon

The idea of our business came from the my husbands (Brandon) love for popcorn. When my husband was kid every day after school he would do his homework then make himself some popcorn. Even with the advances of technology he still prefers to pop his popcorn on the stove the old school way. We always wanted to own a business and we had been researching different franchises to purchase. Read more>>

Deborah Willam

Years ago, I developed fibroids tumors which greatly and negatively impacted my quality of life. I suspected the issue were the hair & beauty products I was using. So, I started creating my own hair products using different oils and herbs. Sadly, the tumors were too big to be cured using herbs as by the time I had surgery to have them removed, they were approximately a total of 20lbs in size. Read more>>

Reena Vokoun

I initially came up with the idea for Passion Fit in December, 2012, and officially launched my company in August, 2014. I was working for Google at the time in digital advertising sales and business development and loved my job, but I was experiencing burnout from trying to balance my family with my demanding career. Read more>>

Rickie Cox

Milton and I had a catering business. We had other jobs also, So we did catering on the side. Jobs start picking up and working both full-time jobs and running a catering business was really wearing us down. We couldn’t find no one to hire, because no one cooks with love and take care of our business like we do. Being 2 middle aged men.. we said it has to be and easier way to make some money without running ourselves in the ground. So one day we came with the idea.. Read more>>

Jervon Gates

Summer 2019. Sitting at a local cigar event, I was talking to a friend and fellow business owner. We chatted about everything under the sun that day, but one idea that stuck was those ugly cigar cases we were carrying! I had been a social cigar smoker for numerous years and had upgraded from the plastic Ziploc bag to the hard traveling cigar case/humidor. Many of these cases are geared towards the man and his social cigar endeavors, with the visual appearance and the colors. Read more>>

Kevin James

I’ve been interested in music my whole life, but I didn’t take it serious until 2018-2019 when I realized college wasn’t working for me.  I always knew I wanted to do something within the music industry, I just didn’t know where to start. So I moved back to Georgia in hopes of something kicking off. A lot of passion sparked for me while working my internship at a recording studio in Atlanta. Read more>>

LaToya Anderson

I discovered my love for making Candles on accident. I was looking for a way to express my newfound creativity during the pandemic and candles appeared during a search for DIY crafts on YouTube. It really just seemed like a cool thing to try so I did. The moment I poured my first candle I was in love. I knew if I wanted to keep making candles, I would have to study the process and really make a product worth selling, Read more>>

Sherrill Mosee

I’m a problem solver. I love tinkering, creating and just figuring stuff out. After being laid off, I founded a nonprofit organization to help low-income single moms in college pay for childcare so they could continue their education and not drop out of school. My mother was a single mother, who was denied the opportunity to continue her higher education because of the lack of support and finances. Read more>>

Thais Saenz

While I was at home, engrossed in a podcast, I overheard the business owners proclaiming that the most beneficial decision they had made for their businesses was to hire a virtual assistant. This statement intrigued me, as I was unfamiliar with the concept and it lingered in the recesses of my mind. Later, when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, I found myself on a four-month maternity leave. Read more>>

Jasean Childress

Marketing myself wasn’t easy at first and it’s still not easy it came with a lot of difficulties and it still is I’m just getting started i was just making videos doing stuff that relates to others not really paying attention at that time that it really does have an affect on my audience. So i just kept going and going and now I’m working to build that outside of social media. Read more>>

Sierrah Chavis

Bossy Girl was birthed back when I was a teacher. I had a mentor group called Girls on a Mission in which I would mentor girls in High School on self-care,, self-love and being a girl leader. I was successful and made a positive impact on the girls I was mentoring. As a mom of three girls I knew it was important for me to show my own daughters that they could be all that they wanted to be and dream of by be a representation to them of the possibilities. Read more>>

Stephanie Asohnfor

In early 2020, before Covid 19, I was in the process of relocating to another state. I was extremely excited and ready, I even sent my own share of the rent and furniture to my roommate to start getting things ready since she lived in the state. At that moment, all I had in my savings was $3000 and I sent it to her. Due to the pandemic and the sudden changes it came with, I was unable to move; and it was too late to get my money back because everything was already in the process. Read more>>

Jeff Stein

The origin story of Drone Studios is about identifying and applying your strengths, following your passions and finding a way to monetize them. When I was in my 20s, I made international travel a priority and immersed myself in as many cultures and unique experiences as I possibly could to expand my horizons and attain deeper knowledge of the diversity of our planet. Naturally, I wanted to document these experiences in a creative way and realized I had both passion and talent in videography. Read more>>

Alesasia

How I started getting into doing videos was one day I did a walking video for fun. I didn’t expect anything but once I put it in slow motion and added music it ended up being a good video. And ever since then I do my walk videos. But what makes the video so good is the confidence you walk with. Read more>>

Austin Armstrong

www.Syllaby.io is an AI-powered marketing tool that helps business owners streamline their video marketing on social media. I first came up with the idea for Syllaby a little over a year ago and this is how it came to be. I’ve been doing social media marketing for the past 18 years, I started on Myspace! And 9 Years ago, I started my professional journey working in video marketing for the behavioral health space. Read more>>

Alexis Wise

I often get asked how I came up the idea for Double Stitched. The inspiration behind my business came from a realization that there is a limited representation and availability of plus-size crochet options. I have always been passionate about the need for size inclusivity. As a plus-sized woman, throughout my own journey, I have noticed how limited the plus-size options are in fashion in general. Read more>>

Canden Byrd

I knew at an early age I wanted to lead and design something of my own. Entrepreneurship ran in my family, and I always looked up to my dad, who owned his own business and made his own rules. However, I had no idea what entrepreneurship would look like for me. When I was 23, anxiety and depression hit me for the first time. At that time, mental health still had a negative stigma, and those around me never talked openly about this topic, so I felt truly alone. Read more>>

Justin Boyd

I had gone into photography by accident honestly. One day I went with a friend after school to take some photos around downtown Long Beach and something just clicked internally, I knew this was what I wanted to pursue. Since then, I haven’t looked back averaging at least 1-2 shoots a week. When I had realized my passion for photography could also sustain me finically, I’ve put my all into the craft. I was working at a restaurant at the time and just felt like I had no purpose. Photography gave me one. Read more>>

Amelia Grace

As an introvert who always finds reasons to stay at home, one of the key components I need to create a peaceful and comfortable environment at home is the scent. I desire a fragrance that not only signifies cleanliness but also consists of beautiful notes that positively impact my mood, enhance productivity, and make my home even more inviting and comforting. Having worked from home for over six years and conducting most of my business operations there, I have spent a significant amount of time in my home. I invested in scented candles, sprays, and essential oil diffusers to achieve this ambiance. Read more>>

Melissa Kandel

I was working in corporate communications for several years and even though it was a solid job and a great position within a large organization, I felt like I needed to stretch my creative muscles and really dig into my writing. I started a blog and called it little word studio, reaching out to different artists on Instagram and asking if I could create a short story based on one of their works. It was fun and interesting and creatively satisfying but it definitely wasn’t anything close to a job. Read more>>

Dr. Roderick Heath

Growing up in a single-parent home, I often sought help understanding how to navigate the world. Throughout my life, I repeatedly questioned why my support system wasn’t there life many of my peers. As I witnessed so many of my peers fall victim to the notion that we weren’t good enough to be better than our environment, I decided to reevaluate my life, establish goals, and do some soul-searching. Read more>>

Natasha “Chef Preddie Waller

PreddieCooks,LLC was created as a way for me LIVE. In 2017, I fell into a deep depression that led me to harming myself. For months I did not want to do anything but sit in a dark room. One day I was able to get the courage to seek help and find a way to fix my pain. A former boss told me to do something that made me happy. So I got a tattoo on my arm that says ‘Yes Chef’ with a hat & knife. Read more>>