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.

Shanel Ramsarran

Experience and time helped prepare me for the download God placed on my spirit. I believe there was a purpose for my life from the moment I was born. Read more>>

Brensha Searcy

Starting out in the permanent makeup field was not easy for me. I remember taking my first 2 day microblading class, not realizing that this was not nearly enough time to gain a good foundation in this career. Read more>>

Katy Wells

Double You Marketing was formed from the simple idea that so much more could be accomplished if you could make a copy of yourself. Read more>>

Mynor De La Cruz

The idea came gradually and organically. I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit. Learning about a specific product to then use to be able to facilitate or resolve someone’s given circumstance has always fascinated me. Read more>>

Sarah Loughry

After leaving a career in corporate marketing, I freelanced as a writer and editor and ultimately landed at a digital marketing agency. Read more>>

McKayla Hale

The inception of Empowered by Connection wasn’t just a lightbulb moment; it was a culmination of personal experiences, frustrations, and a burning desire for change. Read more>>

Lindsay Mack

My first daughter (Jaylyn) was born in November of 2014. I knew I wanted to capture the moments of her life in better quality than an iPhone. Read more>>

Melissa Conklin

Opening a new business is intimidating . We had a dream about opening our own business for many years. In 2022 My wife who was law enforcement suffered 2 stroke’s. She had to medically retire. Read more>>

Tina Evans

I have struggled all my life with self-esteem, self-confidence & self-worth, despite having a husband who has always tried to tell me that I am beautiful, intelligent and worthy. Read more>>

Zayna Bernard

In 2022, I was looking at clothes on a rack, and saw a maxi skirt that you could see through, with a mini slip underneath. I thought to myself, “people don’t make modest clothing anymore. Read more>>

Ben Loyd

I was in my later 40’s and trying to exercise and eat right and I was not getting any muscle tone nor was I losing weight. Read more>>

Kay Phanor

Story of EGG Group: Empowering Great Girls Introduction: Identifying a Need Growing up, I witnessed firsthand the challenges many young girls face—peer pressure, unhealthy relationships, and a lack of self-love leading to destructive decisions. Read more>>

Richie Agnew

So to begin with, I’ve been in the pet trade for roughly 20 years and thought that I was destined to stay in it for a very long time to come. Read more>>

Gina Spence

In my 35-year career as a licensed cosmetologist my experiences truly fueled my passion to learn more about the natural hair care industry. Read more>>

Tricia Dege

I am a planner. I plan and I execute. Always have. My career is no different. I planned the steps and did the things necessary to advance. Read more>>

Alexandra Gilbert

I am a New Yorker, a Mets fan, a speaker, a mom, and a brunch enthusiast. I also has dyslexia and ADHD. Because of my learning disabilities, I’ve had to explore and navigate a world that is not all that accommodating. Read more>>

Dr. Nikki Smith

About 10 years ago a new methodology emerged called Design Thinking that offered a new perspective that put people, more specifically having a deep understanding of people at the center of problem solving rather than just thinking about the business objectives of that problem. Read more>>

Jordan Yates

I graduated college with a degree in Mechanical engineering and was certain that I would be headed off to be a full-time petroleum engineer after graduation. Read more>>

Mia Daaja

Well, it was less of an idea and more of a calling. I realized that it was something that I’d already been doing for many years but, had never thought of it as a business model. Read more>>

Eydie Matteos

My father was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in 2019, during one of the most difficult and stressful times in my family’s lives. Read more>>

Joelle and Lyndon Bradfield

We originally worked as wedding photographers for 3.5 years before pivoting into branding photography. Making that leap definitely came with some unknowns and we knew that we wanted to create a unique offer that would benefit a specific target audience. Read more>>

Jayme Sandberg

I went from not being sure I’d cross the street to watch a total solar eclipse, to independently publishing a children’s book on the topic that reached the No. 6 best-selling spot in all books on Amazon.com. Read more>>

Love Chance

I came to Hawaii when I was 19 to attend the University of Hawaii- I had transferred from UC Santa Cruz and intended on studying psychology. Read more>>

MoNae Bellomy

When I got married, cooking was done more out of survival than love. It was never something I put a lot of thought into but when it was time to cook, I’d just do it. Read more>>

Ayesha Charagulla

Being a mother of two, I was concerned about children growing up in environments that shield them from the realities of the world. Read more>>

Jerlean Noble

I was asked to be a stand in performing poet for someone who could not make it. I was a novice poet, so read a couple of silly poems just to fill for the absent performer. Read more>>

Lauren Anderson Bustami

When I first started my own lesson studio, I did it because I knew I could offer more to my students and also become more profitable than it was working for other people. Read more>>

Jennifer Pestikas

The Brave Women at Work business, podcast, and women’s anthology series started as a result of my burnout in 2019. Read more>>

Jayna Kropas

The food photography world is really niche industry and especially hard to get into. I knew this from the start and expected challenges, especially as a young adult hearing the people around me talk about how “if you chose a career in art you’ll make no money!” Read more>>

Jenny Nuccio

The journey that led to the inception of Imani Collective began with a trip to Kenya in 2009, a trip that would alter the course of my life in ways I never could have anticipated. Read more>>

Melony Van der Merwe

It was a calling I realized. As much as I came up with the idea, it was more about me meeting it when I was meant to. Read more>>

Amanda Polizzi

I worked in my past field and career as a photo agent of fine art fashion photographers for 15 years. Previous to that I had always envisioned myself working in the food/beverage/hospitality industry. Read more>>