Are you thinking about starting a business? If so, we think you’ll enjoy reading about how these seasoned entrepreneurs thought about the question when they were in your shoes.

Shipra Mathur | Entrepreneur

It was a lifelong dream to launch my own business. Its deeply rooted in my upbringing. My fascination with fashion and style was ignited when I observed my mother’s passion for teaching fashion design. The desire to establish a brand reflecting my love for sustainability and quality has been a driving force. Read more>>

Sunday Boling Kennedy | Casting Director

Initially I started my own business because I wanted to be my own boss, to be in charge of my time and my schedule and to work on projects by choice. My first job in casting was at 20th Century Fox in the Feature Casting office, followed by assistant and associate positions on big-budget studio films with top casting directors, which were all confident-boosting experiences. I admired the work that my bosses were doing, and I heard the stories of how they got started. I knew that I would have to launch my own company if I wanted to follow in their footsteps. I also knew that if my first attempt at my own casting company was not successful, I had enough contacts to work for someone else until I was ready to try again. I moved to Los Angeles with the intent of being my own artist, not being someone’s employee. Also, when working as an assistant or associate, you are hired on a project. You do not pick the project or the filmmakers. As a casting director and co-partner of my company, I can pass on a project just as easily as I can pursue a project. I have more control over my artistic endeavors. Read more>>

Renadda Wiggins | The Art of Runway: Empowering confidence through inclusive runway experiences for individuals with special needs

Embarking on The Art of Runway was fueled by a passion for empowering individuals with special needs through confidence-building experiences. Recognizing the transformative impact of runway modeling, I aimed to create a platform where every person, regardless of ability, could embrace their uniqueness and shine on the catwalk. The belief in the inherent beauty of diversity inspired the journey of founding this business. Read more>>

Daman | ICF Certified Snr Relationship Coach | ADHD Coach

My journey into relationship coaching was inspired by a profound commitment to self-improvement and a genuine passion for helping others navigate the complexities of their relationships. I recognized that many individuals and couples were facing common challenges, such as self-esteem issues, emotional infidelity, lost passion, and communication breakdowns. My purpose became clear: to offer unwavering support and guidance to those seeking to transform their relationships into sources of fulfillment and harmony. Read more>>

Tianka McAdory | Film director, writer, and producer

I decided to start my own business as an independent film maker because I’ve always enjoyed the craft and the work that goes into bringing vision and creativity to life on the screen or on the stage. I wasn’t the type of woman to wait for opportunities from others so I decided to create those opportunities for myself. Read more>>

Vince (Fly Man) Kelly | Multimedia Designer & Art Director

I wanted to combine my passions for photography and world-building through my art to talk about what it means to be queer through direct and honest representation. I’v always been disappointed by the lack of queer representation in the media. I’ve also been discouraged by the ways that queer artists—actors, writers, etc.—are frequently denied the opportunity to share their talent or are often taken less seriously than their straight/cis colleagues. I wanted to create a work that would aesthetically deceive its audience into believing the art is a product of commercialism, while the writing discusses taboo themes that delve deep into what the triumphs and fears of being gay/trans actually entail. Bulletshrimp! started as a zine released in April 2022, continued into late 2022 and early 2023 through 3 experimental installations in the two student art galleries at Loyola Marymount University, and has become an anthology of short stories with the most recent version— Bulletshrimp! Red — released in December 2023. Read more>>

Allie Mirosevic | Founder & Journaling Enthusiast

I had always wanted to have my own business (in my early 20’s, I remember thinking, “I’m never going to have a 9 – 5” … haha joke was on me with that one!) I started Bliss’d in 2018 while working a full-time job as a bath salt company. While self-care has always been at the root of Bliss’d, it wasn’t until I got pregnant and had my son in 2019 that I discovered my true WHY for Bliss’d – and then it took me another three years to get the wheels in motion for this current version (they say slow and steady wins the race, right?!) Read more>>

Victoria Andrews | Wellness Professional | Founder of A L I G N Yoga

It felt like a natural extension of who I am and what I want to share with the World; it naturally evolved over time until it was inevitable. My business as it is today was honed and crafted over many iterations. I think that is one of the most important lessons: just start where you are. The eventual outcome can be conceptualized and finessed over many months, even years! It’s more important just to start something you are passionate about, even if it doesn’t feel “perfect” or completely finished. The beauty of entrepreneurship is that our ideas can always be informing the next stage of our brand; nothing is ever static, we can decide at any time to make a change or a tweak to improve it. Read more>>

Katherine Fleischman | CEO of Do Tell PR and Luxury Travel Writer (Freelance)

The inception of Do Tell PR was driven by a passion for amplifying the voices of small brands with innovative ideas that were often drowned out in the competitive marketplace. As a publicist, my thought process revolved around addressing a significant gap in the industry – the lack of affordable and accessible PR solutions for emerging businesses. Read more>>

Austin Aleman | Filmmaker & Photographer

I’ve always loved being creative. When I first picked up a camera I never thought about making money, all I cared about was producing quality work like those who inspired me. As time went on, people would approach me with opportunities to make money filming videos, which led to me to creating Reealmedia. Read more>>

Steven Harrison | Comedian, Producer, & Musician

It was to give people who are scrolling my page original and fresh content because we all want and need entertainment. Planning is crucial in life but risks are important too. You can learn about yourself from that and that’s how you grow but if you help someone also, it pays off more. That is more important than money. If my shows make you laugh or help you, i’m satisfied. Try new things but prepare for anything. Read more>>

Yuliya Kalbyka-Ciup | Elegance Coach

I’ve been in the states for 7.5 years, about 4.5 years ago it was unbearably difficult for me, I felt that if I didn’t change my life, I wouldn’t be able to cope further. I didn’t have anyone here at that time. I’m an emigrant. I gained strength and decided to do only what I like, allow myself to dream, follow my inner voice. I really wanted to become more feminine, I wanted beauty, brightness around me. I dreamed of becoming a real lady and marrying a gentleman. I had experience in modeling and teaching before, and I was thinking of opening a modeling school here, since I had already worked on various fashion projects as a coach. But I felt that this was not completely what I dreamed of. I started looking around to see what it was, what I was missing… And I found Elegance. I learned etiquette. and gradually became not only a modeling coach, but also an etiquette coach. I opened classes, started doing group and individual classes, then women’s meetings and my own shows. Of course, first I worked on myself, on my style, on my manners. I realized that femininity is my treasure, which I hid deeply. Elegance helped me rediscover this and served as a talisman for my femininity. Femininity and Elegance helped me survive in the states, become myself, organize my favorite business, get married and take mine to the level I wanted. And my journey continues! Read more>>

Pax DeLeon | Artist Manager, Event Organizer, Designer, & Slizzy

In all honesty, it happened accidentally. I started out dropping out of college trying to pursue fine art through paintings and those first few years were extremely difficult. In the process of teaching myself new mediums, I learned how to screen print and that was truly the beginning of starting my clothing brand and first business, NONPAX. I was playing around with doodles and drawings and started out printing on shirts and tote bags I had laying around. It was a quick transition to actually wanting to make clothes past printing after that. Read more>>

Sabina Horowitz | Artist

I started working on my own designs because I wanted to create merch for my film channel. The goal was to sell some shirts and put that money towards a budget of each film I’d make. But I got carried away. Read more>>

Kristen Krahl | Certified Lactation Counselor

Bemybreastfriend had started out as a passion project, it was suggested to use Instgram as a means of communication on a large scale. My initial intent was simply to share any and all breastfeeding education to anyone who was interested in listening. To my surprise I had gained a lot of traction which then got me thinking about how I could take this further. In addition to passing information to as many as possible, I began to see more possibilities which included branded merchandise. Shortly after that I knew I wanted to build on my education by earning my CLC, with which I will shortly begin taking 1:1 lactation consults. This has all been 100% organic growth and true passion, which I believe has made this day dream a reality. Read more>>

William Hicks | Co-Founder and CEO of Magic Mind

I started my career in the cubicles of Wall Street doing investment banking. It was the best job I could hope for out of college, but I continually felt unfulfilled. It felt soulless. What was I working so many hours for? There was no mission I could get behind and no tangible output from my efforts. I decided to take the leap from stability to purpose and work in early stage companies where my successes and failures would translate directly into black and red ink on a P&L. It was a leap of faith, but one that I’m very grateful I had the courage to make. Read more>>

LaRhonda Ronnie” Frost | Education Consultant & Mobile Engineer”

My biggest inspiration for launching Frost STEAM Labs (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics) and Frost Equity Initiative was to address the lack of diversity in the tech industry. I’ve worked in tech for over twenty years and have never worked with a Black female software engineer, and only once with a Latina. Read more>>

Dre Moore | Producer & Music Engineer

I live in Music City; everyday many talented musicians and artists make it happen to the best of their ability in Nashville’s music scene. Truthfully, almost everyone here is some sort of creative. Nashville has a thriving Gospel and Christian community that consists of vocalists, engineers, recording artists, and writers and the same is true Jazz, Pop and RnB. It is even worth mentioning that Nashville is home of the Fisk Jubilee singers (from which the city gets its nickname – Music City) and the two-time Grammy winning Tennessee State University Aristocrat of Bands. Even though the city is trying its best to musically diversify itself, Country Music is still the dominant force that moves the city. Unfortunately, when you really drill down and take a closer look… the Hip-Hop community seems to hardly get a chance to partake and bask in the city’s worldwide fame. I believe that if this is truly Music City, the best and the brightest of all genres should sprout out of Nashville – including Hip-Hop artist. And yes, there are a some really great and talented Hip-Hop artist in the Ville (and surrounding counties) but I feel that the Nashville’s country scene overshadows our vibrant Hop-Hop talent. Read more>>

Kyle Larson | Registered Nursing & Founder

Driven by a vision for the future of healthcare, my experience in the medical field revealed a pivotal shift towards preventative care. Recognizing the inconvenience of traditional clinic visits, I saw an opportunity to revolutionize accessibility in healthcare. The concept was simple yet profound: bring medical care into the comfort and privacy of one’s home, leveraging advancing technology to make this possible. Read more>>

Eva Carballeira R | Illustrator & tattoo artist

It was a pretty organic process for me. I was born in A Coruña (Galicia), north-western Spain. Always been the kid with the painting skills in my school and the family. Then embarked on Bellas Artes at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid (without a clue about how to develop a realistic art career I could sustain and feel comfortable with, and all the anxiety in the world about it). I was already doing little commissions here and there back then. Read more>>

Neema Omid | Advertising Agency Owner

I started my advertising company after selling my hair salon and convincing the new owner to let me do the marketing for their store.

From there I never looked back and started helping hundreds of business no matter the size or industry implement useful marketing tactics. Read more>>

Conner Souza | Hockey Player and Skills Coach

Well starting my own business is something I’ve always wanted to do at some point in my life, but I didn’t expect to do it now if I’m being honest. My girlfriend has her own business in the personal training world and owns her own gym. I currently play hockey competitively and have started coaching kids here and there, and we both thought it would be fun to combine our areas of expertise. Unfortunately I had to have major lung surgery (due to pneumonia complications) in August of last year. This caused me to miss this hockey season and not play. This time off gave me and my girlfriend the perfect opportunity to start this business of ours combining hockey training and working out. Read more>>

Luca Conte | Artist and Gastronome

Well, I have been self-employed in The Netherlands before, but I sadly had to close the company when I moved back to Italy. After a couple of years working under contract, I realized this is not a country where you can easily work for an employer while dedicating to your artistic practice professionally. So I felt I needed to make a choice, or at least take a stance on where I wanted to direct myself in the future. I had a few project requests upcoming so I decided to take the chance of opening a freelance company that could allow me to delve into my artistic practice simplifying the legal legitimacy of what I do. Read more>>