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.

Paulina Lainez

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I began to look for custom gold hoop earrings for myself but I wanted to make sure to support a small business and avoid purchasing from a big box retailer. Many businesses were struggling at the time and I wanted to do my part to help support a small business. Seeing a lack of representation in the market, I taught myself how to wire letters to create my own custom hoops earrings. Like many folks during the pandemic, I was able to start working from home and so I had time to search for a creative outlet. Read more>>

Briasia Russ

After graduating college, I realized I didn’t want to work a normal 9-5. I’ve always felt like I was destined for greatness. Although entrepreneurship sounded great, I still had bills to pay. It wasn’t until I started working my second 9-5 job I realized I was unhappy where I was. I didn’t like being told what to do from someone who didn’t respect me as an employee or even a human being. Read more>>

Christian Wilhelm

The idea of CJ Media came up during the Covid 19 pandemic. My cousin owns a successful BBQ restaurant and he needed help with a stronger online presence while he focused on keeping his business afloat during that difficult time. He let me run his social media pages, I designed his menus and even helped him setup his new online ordering app. My contributions were successful in generating business and he looked at me like, “Christian, as a small business owner, I can promise you this is the type of work we all need, but dont have the time for. Read more>>

Mary Ward

Here I was, retired at the age of 60 and looking for a creative outlet to fill up my time. I had always loved beautiful fabrics and fashion embellishments, so I decided to focus my artistic endeavors on using pieces from my collection to create distinctive evening bags. Why evening bags? I really had no idea other than it was always the “sparkle and sass” of textiles that spoke to me, and I felt evening bags screamed sparkle and sass. Read more>>

Karen Smoots

It was a snowy, wet winter when my boys were still in elementary school. They would come home with wet gloves or mittens on a daily basis that were stuffed in their backpacks. I remember vividly it was Friday and my youngest son Nolan got off the bus and handed me his backpack and ran back outside after grabbing a dry pair of gloves from our mudroom. Snow was on the ground and he just wanted to play outside. Read more>>

Mike Domitrz

While I was in college, my older sister was sexually assaulted. Months later, I would hear a speaker talk about the issue and thought, “I can do something about this.” I went to that speaker’s home and learned everything I could for a day. He provided me lots of materials to take with me. Keep in mind this was 1990 when sexual assault prevention was rarely discussed in society, including educational institutions. Read more>>

Gianluca Alla

When approaching a design project, my process typically involves a combination of thorough research, deep reading of the brief, and conducting various tests. The first step is to immerse myself in the project’s requirements, carefully studying the brief and understanding the client’s goals, target audience, and any specific constraints. This initial understanding forms the foundation for the entire design process. Read more>>

Sarah Thomas

My idea was not initially candles, although I had been pouring my own when I started my business. My original business was funny wine labels. Wine labels were a fantastic way to personalize something most of my friends already enjoyed, but with the added bonus of a laugh. Read more>>

Frank Caputp

In my previous job as a local News Director, I made a real connection with our local Sports Broadcaster over our love of sports. As few days before the Christmas 2019 holidays he passed away. It felt like a wake-up call, but I had nowhere to go. I did not want to die at my desk, overworked and underappreciated. Noticing that I was very upset, my wife sat me down one evening and asked me if I had won the lottery, what would I do? I smiled and played along, thinking of the one thing I always wanted: Read more>>

LaSheba Boyd

I love Christmas! I was the person that loved to take on the challenge of doing multiple Christmas trees in their home. I started with one and ended up with five. I had multiple people tell me that I had to offer this to other people. When I first started, this wasn’t a business it was a hobby. Never in a million years did I think people would welcome me into their homes to decorate for their home for the holidays. Read more>>

Omar Abou-Ismail

I was working as a geophysicist in Kaho’olawe Island Reserve , Hawaii, 2003/4 It was my first job after graduating from the University of Utah, 2002. I realized that I did not want this Career, although studied very hard for my bachelors degree, and mainly to impress my parents. My new found passion was health. I wanted to shift careers and become a naturopathic doctor. Unfortunately i could not, due to family circumstances, my dad was ill and after the project i was working on in Kaho’olowe ended May 2004, Read more>>

Katie Morgan

Boy meets girl. Boy makes cider to woo girl. Now he’s right beside her. Right Bee Cider. What started as a romantic gesture grew into Chicago’s first cidery. Small business, small batches, and a ton of love sent your way with every sip. Charlie Davis and Katie Morgan met in Chicago in 2011. After noticing Katie’s affinity for hard cider, Charlie used his passion for fermentation and professional experience to make her a hard cider as a surprise for her birthday. His efforts to woo her were successful, and the rest is history. Read more>>

Rachel Krull

During my study of interior design, I noticed a lapse in the market for everyday homeowners to get professional help designing their spaces. I created Monday Morning Interiors to bridge that gap and create a place where accessible and affordable design solutions could be provided. Our unique e-design platform allows us to meet each client through video chats, walk through their space virtually, and then create a truly one-of-a-kind design for them. Read more>>

Tiny Adams

The business I will touch on is my non-profit organization Leader Breeders Inc. Leader Breeders’ mission is to implement change for inner city youth in Baltimore. Our focus is youth development in any capacity. During the pandemic I drove around my neighborhood to get some fresh air. Throughout that drive, I had come into contact with way more young people than expected. In Baltimore we have what is known as the Squeegee Boys and young people that camp out at gas stations with hopes of earring a couple dollars through labor. Read more>>

Jaquial Durham

I started within the music industry, and my goal was to be the next P. Diddy, Master P, Dame Dash, Birdman, and Jason Geter. Essentially, all those music executives created multimillion-dollar record labels. I came up under the mentorship of Jason Geter, CEO of Grand Hustle and someone who gave us T.I., Travis Scott, B.o.B, and others. I saw what he was doing in the music industry and followed suit. As I grew older, I began to observe and study what Jay-Z was doing with Roc Nation. Therefore, I formulated my company to resemble Roc Nation. I describe it is it’s the Roc Nation of our generation. Read more>>

Colleen Kimberly Broersma

Hi everyone. My name is Colleen and I came up with the idea for my business after losing someone significant in my life at the age of 50. (This is a recap if you read the first article I shared last summer.) My loss inspired me to want to help others struggling with grief. I knew I wanted to create some shifts in my own life to empower myself toward a healthier and happier future, and to heal, but I had no clue what that looked like or even how to get there. Read more>>

Ed Wheeling Sr

I came up with the idea for Hubris after looking into investing, I read that you when getting in investing you should begin by investing in what you know, what you use, and what you buy. I was a whiskey drinker so I as looking into Crown Royal. Diageo owns Crown Royal so I was looking to invest. While doing that I had the idea of creating my own spirit and having someone invest in me. So that was the birth of Hubris. Read more>>

Jennifer Sharkey

Anyone who knows me, knows my passion and love for animals, especially cats! I fell in love with cats from the age of three, when my family rescued a litter of kittens and their mom from our cabin. We got to keep two of the kittens, and found homes for the rest of them. Since then, I’ve always loved cats, and they’ve always been a part of my life. Read more>>

Diamon Doss

Angles With Clarity is a event planning services that mainly specializes in 360 photobooth rentals. The inspiration behind Angles With Clarity comes from my youngest child Clarity Coleman who will be turning 3 years old soon and currently neurologically unresponsive. Little miss Clarity suffers from a severe brain injury she sufferered from when she was 4 1/2 months old due to breathing problems and bad acid reflux and is currently trach and vent dependent. Read more>>

Diane Nguyen

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been passionate about creating things for myself, my friends and family. I love watching people be surprised with something beautiful that they’ve never seen before, the look on their face when they realize what they are looking at. Looking back now I cant believe all that has changed since then. From making signs in high school to now making elevated signage for weddings and events – I can’t believe that I have a business. Read more>>

Mary Willets

I was asked to do the floral arrangements for my son’s end of season swim banquet at the University of Michigan. The budget was minimal and if we had any money left over it would go the the Girls and Boys Club in Detroit as scholarship money for swim lessons. I decide to make the flowers instead. Crazy yes. But very economical. Well they turned out beautiful, so I kept trying new things. Read more>>

Isabella Mastropaolo-Bender

Boots to Grasses Therapeutic Horsemanship program was born when I saw a need in my home community. I was lucky enough to grow up with horses. I spent a large part of my childhood and teen years learning from and about the horses in my life. When I was 13, our family adopted a 6-8 year old boy from Haiti who came to us with many challenges – psychological, developmental, and medical. Read more>>

Eugenia Doreen

High schools dropout rates are three times higher for foster youth than any other group of students and 97% of foster youth do not go on to receive a college degree. Well, I was blessed enough to beat the odds and now I’m teaching foster youth how to do the same! Read more>>

Tim Struby

Eight years ago, my girlfriend at the time stood in my living room and made an announcement. “I can’t take it anymore,” she declared. “This has to change. Now.” She wasn’t referring to our relationship. She was talking about my furniture. I had a fantastic mattress, but it sat on a flimsy metal frame (on wheels!). My dresser was a college relic. Read more>>

Amber Thornton

I came up with the idea of Amor Cabello Collection because as the seasons changed a lot of my clients wanted hair extensions versus braids as protective styles in the colder months. I then came up with the idea of having my own hair extension line and offer a one stop shop for my clients where they can purchase the hair directly from me and get their installs. Read more>>

TJ Snyder

It was summer of 2019 and my constant love and dedication for Philadelphia sports was a huge part of my life. I wanted to channel that energy and excitement into something I could build up. I thought of the name phillycrew, created an Instagram page, and got to work. From there I gained 10,000 followers in 1 year! Read more>>

Arielle Simmons

Formonsa Designs started as a college class assignment for CAD in design. We were assigned to create and present a design brand. The name origin stemmed from a dorm room conversation with my friends. We were helping a friend brainstorm some ideas. He shared that he wanted to use Latin names for his characters. I found that idea unique and it inspired me to try it myself for my assignment. Formonsa is Latin for beautiful or handsome. Read more>>

Jessica Scheidler

My co-owner Mariah and I had been talking about different business ideas for years. We would continuously come back to our love of fashion and the difficulty finding clothes in the Jacksonville area. Together we decided to start Blue Ember Boutique as a way to help other women in Jacksonville ‘find their inner flame.’ Read more>>

Anna Clark

Photography was a bit inevitable for me. I’m from Los Angeles, California, which has so much art to offer. I also come from a family of incredibly artistic people. My Grandfather introduced me to cameras and the joy of recording wonderful moments and scenes when I was very young. By the age of twelve I had my first camera and began exploring the world around me through the lens. Read more>>

Leah Bauman

Four years ago, I was in a relationship that ended in me being assaulted. After the incident my I couldn’t recognize myself in the mirror anymore. Besides the cuts, bruises, and hair loss, my body went through a complete shock, and stress phase which caused me to gain an autoimmune disorder. My entire life I was always into beauty to an extent, my college education was in hair and skin so I turned to the “chemical” way of healing my skin. Read more>>

Dino & Coretta Dean The Black Foodies

While on vacation in Miami we were searching for a black-owned restaurant to support. And there was no resource to help us locate one. So we decided to chronicle our experiences in black-owned restaurants to share with others that felt the same way as us. Read more>>

Traci Coppage

I conceived the idea to establish this business with the aim of disseminating information to people that they were unaware of. My goal was to assist my community by providing guidance on how to initiate a business, secure business funding, and emphasize the importance of entrepreneurship. Furthermore, I aspired to establish multiple businesses, leaving a lasting legacy for my children to inherit. Read more>>

Kaiman Dukes

2 years ago I was in a dark place mentally and had lost a sense of self. In the process of recovery & building a new friendship, I found myself blowing the dust off of some childhood passions, which lead me to start sketching more. Some time went by and I begin to imagine myself as an entrepreneur on a broad scale, using the original talents and gifts God had given me. The birth of Urbane Living begins, after some soul searching & research I started creating and planning my Graphic Design business. Read more>>

Dami Adesoye

I got the idea for the company in a rather serendipitous way. As a music producer, I have developed a song called blue film and wanted to shoot develop content that would go along with the song. I ended up doing a shoot in the Ukraine via one of my colleagues. This was in the middle of the pandemic, so I was unable to do the shoot myself. I ended up directing the shoot over zoom, and while directing I decided to include professional photos as well. Read more>>