Starting a business is a commitment and requires dedication, resources and sacrifice. We asked some of the rising stars in our community how they thought through the idea of starting their own businesses.

Gretchen Salyer | Founder and CEO of June Care

June Care was started based on my own personal experience as a full time working mom, and a full time stay-at-home mom, but really born out of the pandemic. I was a full time stay-at-home mom when the pandemic hit. Although it was hard, I felt fortunate that I wasn’t trying to work a second job while caring for my kids. My friends and neighbors, on the other hand, were not able to leave their jobs and their childcare completely disappeared. And of course this was happening everywhere, resulting in more than 3 million working moms leaving their jobs over the past 2 years. Read more>>

Jennifer & Piper Horne & Welch | Meditation Guide (Jennifer) & Fitness Instructor (Piper)

ReJen²erate, a fitness and wellness business, came to fruition in March 2022 by longtime friends Jennifer “Piper” Welch and Jennifer Horne. We have both always been full-time moms with full-time careers, dealing with the constant challenge of balancing the demands of work and home. And while our jobs paid the bills, neither of us were creatively fulfilled in our professions. Read more>>

Jabari Jefferson | Executive Producer & Director of Photography

My thought process for starting my own business was that I completely dreaded working for someone. I’m an empath and an introvert. My emotions flow like waves, and I sometimes prefer to be alone. However, working for someone or a company that was not aware or considerate of who I am and how I operate would burden my performance as an employee. Read more>>

Yesenia Guerrero-Flores | Co-Owner of La Madrecita Shop and Mental Health Therapist

This small business endeavor began like many others, during the Covid-19 shut down back in November of 2020. As a family we decided to ensure the health and safety of our most important family member, my then 78year old grandmother. We needed to keep her at home and as safe as possible. My grandmother is a self taught seamstress and utilized her skills in her early years to help provide for her family. Read more>>

Archie Jay | Podcast Journalist & Producer

Before moving to Los Angeles nearly five years ago, I hosted morning radio, produced local news, and was a digital reporter for Fox News in St. Louis, MO. And as valuable as that experience was to my journey, it didn’t matter to my now surrounding community of LA, so I set out to create my platform and continue my on-air voice through podcasting while simultaneously working in production behind the scenes, figuring out my belonging. Read more>>

Olivia Kennaway | Founder & Designer

The thought process around starting Asha Eleven really centred upon creating a platform in which our community or those who engage with us may be able to be inspired or educated in a way towards a more sustainable future on both an environmental and social aspect. Encouraging and inviting them to really question their actions and allowing them to understand the influence of their consumer decisions. Read more>>

Katie Williams | Womb Healer & Feminine Embodiment Speaker

The formation of my brand Katie the Creatress started in April 2020. Leading up to that April, I had switched colleges 3 times in under a year as an Education major with a focus in dance teaching. After obtaining a Child Development Associate certification, I still felt a void. An acquaintance of mine shared a post from a friend of theirs who was an intuitive reader and energetic healer. Read more>>

Janet Stone | Global Embodied Yoga guide / Recording artist / Online platform / Compassion as a way of life

What was your thought process behind starting your own business? It was more of a natural evolution away from the film industry and toward a life I could raise my two daughters in. One that allowed me time to mother, bring them around the world, and surround them with loving, mindful people. Read more>>

Denniqua Sullivan | Candle Maker

Starting my own candle business was driven by a combination of personal experiences and a desire to channel my struggles with anxiety and PTSD into something positive. I find the experience of a candle therapeutic and calming. The glow and crackle of the wick allow me to remove myself from any perceived threat that occurs in my mind, and the act of breathing in the scent stimulates the Vagus Nerve which helps to relax me. Read more>>

Alexis Brooks | Integrative and Functional Women’s Health Dietitian & Endometriosis Advocate

I started my business out of necessity and personal experience. When I was at my worst during my journey to getting a proper diagnosis for endometriosis, I felt lost. I was hopping from doctor appointment to doctor appointment searching for answers. When doing my own research I quickly realized that there is a shortage of resources for women’s health. Furthermore, reputable resources were even more scarce. Read more>>

Bianca Rae | News Anchor, Founder of the Bianca Rae Foundation, and co-founder of Me and My Girls

Me and My Girls started as a mother-daughter passion project when my mom was looking for an exciting new project in retirement. My parents retired from Chicago to the Palm Springs area, officially living in paradise, and my mom was looking for her new purpose in this chapter of life. My mom, sister and I have always felt a sparkly accessory can easily elevate any outfit, and that is something attainable to any girl regardless of budget, shape or size. Read more>>

Chinwendu Kelechi | Igbo Artist, Historian and Anthropologist, Writer, Teacher, and Textile Designer.

I set out to continue the cultural aesthetics of the Igbo people. Through extensive research, I realized how much we are at loss for a continuation of our traditional art forms, where more focus was placed only on preservation, so I began to explore, practice, and effectively continue the cultural aesthetics of my people. Read more>>

Conner Cherland | Music Artist

I started playing music gigs back in 2014 when I got out of college and was working a full time job. I would play one gig a month, and then two a month, and then one a week, and then three a week. Once I was playing three gigs a week I started to feel like I hit a ceiling – I could do more gigs if I didn’t have this day job, or I could get a promotion if I didn’t play so many gigs. I decided to spend my youth on the riskier option, leaving the safety of a matched 401k and provided healthcare. Read more>>

Albert Sawano | Founder and Principal Architect

My career trajectory had led to my working in very large, national and international architecture firms on some of the largest projects in California. What I began to realize after so many years of that was that these companies tended to focus on revenue and expansion as the goal, ahead of common sense things like actual design innovation and quality, client satisfaction, and a high-quality of construction documents as a means of construction cost control. Read more>>

Dr. Rahi Sarbaziha | Board-certified Integrative Medicine Doctor & Aesthetics Specialist

Starting my own business was a natural extension of my passion for Integrative and Aesthetic medicine. I wanted to create a space where these two worlds could come together and provide a holistic approach to wellness. Additionally, I have a creative side that I love to express through the procedures that I perform and marketing and branding. Running a business very fulfilling for me. Read more>>

Tony Del Pino | Bartender / Entrepreneur

This is such a great question. To be honest this is a twofold response. I initially started it as a way to make a bit of money on the side during the Holidat season as Coquito is synonymous with Christmas in the Puerto Rican community. At the same I loved being able to present a piece of my culture and identity with others who are not familiar with what Coquito is. Read more>>

Devin Reeve | Actor, Producer, Writer

Early in my career, I was told, by my then agent, that there could come a time where I might hit a brick wall as an actor. That I wouldn’t look young enough to play the college kid and wouldn’t look old enough to play a dad, so work as an actor could potentially slow down. Well, that actually happened in my late 20’s and when it did, I knew I needed to make some adjustments in my career if I wanted to remain relevant. Read more>>

Keanu Lynch | Photographer

I’ve always loved photography and taking photos, but never really had the confidence to actually become a photographer. I bought a camera one day and the rest was pretty much history. Read more>>

Sky Knox | Photographer & Graphic Designer – Inspired by Creativity. Fueled by Passion.

I have always wanted to build a business of my own. The exact idea of what the services and offers would be has definitely changed drastically over the years; due to consistent learning of new skills and branching out of older ones. However, the overarching factor as to my motivation behind building a business was to be able to operate on my own account. I have applied to job after job; some that I may have been more qualified for than other positions, but there were always restrictions. Read more>>

Jonathan Stutz | Frontrunner for the band Stütz Bearcat

Back in 2020 I was a fresh faced musical theatre actor living in New York. When the pandemic hit in March, April, I had to move back to California with some family to figure out my next moves. At the time my friend Andres Acuna(from Dirty the Queen) was also living here in SoCal and started showing me how to produce and write music. Wanting to utilize my family name, I decided on Stütz Bearcat. They were originally a luxury automobile company in the 1950’s that my grandfather was very amused by, since we were no relation to them but the name isn’t that common. Read more>>

Kathleen Higashiyama & Alec Totto | Co-Founders and Creators

First and foremost, we are a married couple who love cooking and getting creative in the kitchen. After working in law and tech, we decided we wanted to be our own bosses and create a community of people who are as excited about food as we are. Read more>>

Bochun Cheng | Artist & Fashion photographer

Before stepping into the journey of visual storytelling, I was studying design. Since I was little, I have had a keen interest in images and have learned some techniques such as sketching. During college, I majored in industrial design and thought I had chosen the path I was passionate about. However, I later realized that although both pursuits aim for beauty, the aesthetic in design differed from my personal preferences. Read more>>

Ashley Higashi | Owner and founder of Feast and Floral

I knew that hosting a party and all the planning that goes into it came naturally to me. I have a flair for making things “extra” and taking something simple to over the top. I also know that creating beautiful food and organizing events does not come easy to everyone and is in fact quite a trigger for stress for many people. I hosted an event at my home 4 years ago where I created a grazing table for my guests to gather around and mingle. Read more>>

Lissis Martin | DMV Recording Artist

I knew from the age of 9 years that singing was my passion. I decided to enter a televised singing competition when I was 15 years old in my hometown of Honduras, Central America and I won 1st place. After listening to the crowd and feeling what I felt on stage, I realized that I needed to become a Singer. Read more>>

Megan Simmons | Trainer, Investigator, and Corporate Consultant

My thought process was to create a business that was proactive from a policy perspective but also has the knowledge and skills to be reactive to investigative concerns. Read more>>

Sachiko Muramatsu Kramer | Jewelry & Accessories Designer

I started Sachi Love back in 2011 when I was looking for another creative outputs in my life. I was designing footwear and I still am but there was something missing in my life and wanted to design and create something that was completely original. I started sewing back in high school and majored in apparel design and fashion merchandising at Cal State Long Beach. I had so many fabrics and lace trims that I collected over the years and I was organizing my sewing closet one day and I found some earring hooks and notions next to my lace trims. Read more>>

Heriberto Rubalcava | Co Creator of the Brand Pipiripau

Our journey into entrepreneurship began organically, driven by our shared passion for creating unique designs for t-shirts. Initially, it was just a hobby, but over the course of six years, our love for designing evolved into something more. As we ventured into expanding our offerings to include stickers, pins, and prints, we realized the immense joy and fulfillment we derived from our work. This realization fueled our commitment to transforming our passion into a full-fledged business. Read more>>

Corey Spiegel | Founder / CEO Light House

Every woman needs her own “Board of Directors,” not in a business sense, but for her personal life. I worked in the corporate world for 25 years and when I was considering leaving the entertainment world to start my own business, I wanted to surround myself with smart and open-minded women who could share the ups and downs of what this might look like for me. Read more>>

Ashley Von Helsing | Photographer and Designer

I’ve always had my hands in projects in hobbies since I was a teenager, so starting a business from a passion happens naturally. I’m really passionate about atmosphere design, and so jumping into interiors from being a photographer for so long felt like another extension of set building, but livable. For me, having a sanctuary and escape from reality starts at home, so the business started in my own home, with my own design mistakes and lessons turning into actual skills and styles. Read more>>

Alexa Weishaar | Social Media & Marketing Manager

The inception of our non-profit organization, Fostering UNITY, stemmed from a deep understanding of the challenges faced by foster families and youth in Los Angeles County. Recognizing that foster parents encounter complex systems and limited resources while youth struggle with trauma, instability, and educational barriers, we embarked on a mission to address these obstacles head-on. Read more>>

Suzy Bessett | Founder/Principal The Metabolic Connection®️, Certified Eating Psychology Coach and Award Winning Documentary Filmmaker

I founded The Metabolic Connection®️ because what is going on in our bodies (hormones/endocrine system) and externally, (our relationship with food, who we are as eaters) are inextricably linked. Without understanding both, we are unlikely to succeed with any diet, supplement, or workout program. Read more>>

Edi Roque | Cinematographer & Director

As a cinematographer, I have always been passionate about creating visual stories. I love the process of working with a team (or, sometimes, by myself) to bring a vision to life, and I am always looking for new ways to tell stories in an interesting way. Read more>>

Danielle Duran Zecca | Chef / owner

My husband was the one who offered me my first chef position , in nyc. At his first Restaurant he owned , during that experience is where I really saw what it meant to be a chef owner , it felt like everyday I had to wear a different hat to keep the business running like a well oiled machine . Some days I was the repair woman , the pastry chef , the host , the bartender, which was a great time and really showed me how to own my own business. To understand that capacity of each job and to appreciate the people who came to work with us , because I understood their role . Read more>>

Aaron Sosa | Photographer & Teacher

I have been working independently since approximately 2007. In the beginning I worked for many years for different institutions in my country Venezuela. Always as a photographer. Then I started to work for international photo agencies. One of the most important was the German News Agency DPA. Then I decided it was time to work on my own and I built up a portfolio of clients both in my country and internationally. Read more>>

Alberto Anaya | Composer & Post Production Audio Engineer

The absence of a one stop versatile audio post production solution for filmmakers that includes the scoring (music) as part of the services provided. Read more>>

Bleu Magdalena Briggs | Photographer

I’m really. good at two things, how to make a perfect cappuccino and how to make people look sexy. Read more>>

Kirk Nishikawa | Co-Owner

Too many beers were consumed, a drunken promise was made and Brewyard Beer Company was born. Isn’t that how most children are brought into this world? 😛 Read more>>

Soukena Jean-Jacques | Artist/ Creative Director

I was in fashion school in New York, Studying Fashion Merchandising / Designs in 2012 . I wanted to be a designer, and still do, however I absolutely knew nothing about the fashion industry. Read more>>

Tamera Smith | Non Profit Founder / CEO

I’m a domestic violence survivor. And I wanted to start a non profit organization to help women and children of abuse . To show them if I can make it . They can two by raising awareness through fundraising through events and community outreach with a walk next year etc . My goals are high and my mission isn’t complete until I help women of abuse and their mental health and disparities. Housing homelessness , education , helping them to get in there feet and create for them a better life Read more>>